“A bit. What’d you give up in exchange? Something like that must have had an enormous fee, and yet you look, well…” He lets his gaze wander deliberately over my face and hair, shoulders and mouth. “Perfect to me. Soul still attached and everything.”

Sel rolls his eyes. I step forward. “I’m telling you, I didn’t make a deal.”

He lifts a hand and sits back in his chair, feet on the desk. “Which of my competitors wrote the contract, and which demon shared their power with you?”

“No one did. I didn’t sign a contract.”

He goes perfectly still. “I hope for your sake you’re lying.”

I shake my head. “I’m not. I didn’t sign anything!”

The temperature in the room kicks up another degree, the respite from before gone. His voice is a low, controlled purr. “An unregulated bargain, Briana? In this day and age?”

Dizziness threatens the edges of my vision. It’s so hot in here. Sel’s hand is steady at my elbow; he answers for me. “There was no bargain.”

I swallow. “A demon didn’t give me anything.”

Valec crosses his arms. “Then where does your power come from, hm?” He sniffs the air. “You’re human, but you smell… augmented. Layered.”

I press my lips into a line. Arguing with him doesn’t seem to be helping.

Valec takes my silence for refusal, and his patience thins from barely there to nothing at all. Irritation and confusion evaporate at once. He’s on his feet between one blink and another, leaning with both hands on his desk. I gasp and step back.

“I am being kind.” His eyes flash ruby, then brown. “There are ways to find out more about your power without asking you directly. If you did not sign a contract for those powers, then I am not bound to treat you with, well, any respect whatsoever.” His eyes glow a faint red, and this time they stay that way.

“We’re here to talk to Lucille!” I blurt.

Valec goes still. His eyes dart between the two of us, suspicion bordering on pure aggression.

“Why would Lucille agree to see you when you cannot follow the sworn rules of entry? She is the Grand Dame of this territory, of which my establishment is a part, and any of the procedures I follow are approved by her. So, you see, Lucille has as good as endorsed whatever punishment I hand out.” He glances to me. “But I’ve lived long enough to learn to live as the willow, not the oak. Perhaps you need more incentive to consider my offer. You’re up, Selwyn Kane.”

“No!” I challenge, but Sel’s arm is already a steel bar against my belly, pressing me backward toward the exit.

“I’ll be fine. Go,” he says, and starts to pivot us around so that I’m facing the door.