“I need a favor.”

Samael watched me, his silver eyes steady on my face as the wind rustled his hair. A few strands caressed one of his sharp cheekbones and I clamped down on the urge to push it off his face. His hair had grown a few inches in the last few weeks.

“Hello, bounty hunter, I’m well, thank you. And how are you?”

“Yeah, yeah, can you help me or not?”

He narrowed his eyes at me, and then his lips curved. I scowled. I hated when he smiled. It did something exceedingly uncomfortable to my chest.

“As always, I’m here to cater to your whims.”

The words held a bitter aftertaste. I stepped away. “Forget it.”

“No.” He caught my wrist. “You will tell me what you need.”

“I hate the way you order me around, you know that, right?”

He simply raised one eyebrow. I wrestled with the urge to kick him in the shin.

A headache was blooming in my right temple and I rubbed at it. “The safest place for the kids is your tower. I think they saw something last night, and someone wants to shut them up.”

Samael raised his eyebrows. When he spoke, his tone was haughty. “When I need someone to be so scared they piss their pants, I may give you a call. When I want to talk to two traumatized kids, you can stay far away,” he mocked me.

Well I deserved that. “On consideration, I may have been hasty. Look, I can’t risk my sister, or the kids,” I blew out a frustrated breath and he simply angled his head.

“I will help you in this.”

“Thank you.”

He held up one hand. “But we will make a deal.”

It always came down to deals with him, and I somehow never saw them coming, even though he was a demon.

“What kind of deal?”

“On Friday night, I am signing a treaty with the unseelie king. There will be a ball. You will attend as my date.”

Today was Wednesday. I ground my teeth. “It’s always some kind of bargain with you.”

“Yes. Because it’s the only way you’ll spend time with me. Why must you be so stubborn?”

I pointedly looked down at the intricate gold design on my arm. “Why do you think?”

Silence. I chewed on my lower lip. Samael let me think about it.

I didn’t want to go to his stupid ball. But the fact remained that the demon was doing me a solid. I was still pissed at him, but if the kids were safe, I’d be able to focus on hunting down the deadbeats who’d tried to hurt them. Not to mention, if I was going to a ball filled with dark fae, there was a chance I could get a lead which could tell me who my father was.

“Fine.”