Clenching her jaw, she touched his hand, already feeling his dark magic flowing through her like waves of electricity. She slid the reaping pen into his enormous fingers, folding them around the pen until they loosely gripped it. She held the contract up to the pen’s nib, and in a haphazard scrawl, she scratched the letters B A E L. Bingo.

She had no idea if that counted as a legitimate signature, but it was at least worth a shot. He was immortal, so he shouldn’t care too much, but if he was pledged to Nyxobas, he’d surely want to reclaim his soul for his shadow god. And that meant he’d need to do what she wanted if he wanted to retrieve it.

Taking a steadying breath, she folded up the contract and shoved it into her pocket before drawing the kaiken dagger. Dread inched up her spine.

What she had to do next was even more horrifying than touching his hand.

According to the books, there was only one way to wake someone from Perrault’s Enchantment.

Tonight, Ursula would have to kiss the Sword of Nyxobas.

She clutched the dagger, her entire body rigid with tension, before exhaling slowly. I’ve got this. Surely demons like him were bestial creatures, and the scent of fear would only stoke his predatory instincts.

She leaned over him, somehow repelled and attracted at the same time to the shadowy tendrils of power coiling off his muscled body.

“Relax,” she reassured herself. “He’s bound in chains, and I’ve got his soul.” Still, she placed the tip of the dagger against the soft flesh between his ribs. If he attacked, it would take only one thrust to puncture his heart.

She leaned closer. He smelled of sandalwood, a scent both ancient and exotic. His eyelashes twitched. She almost jumped across the room, but then she realized it was her own nervous breath that had made them flutter. She eyed his lips. For a man made of pure muscle, they seemed oddly sensual.

Marshaling her resolve, she closed her eyes, leaning closer. Her heart threatened to gallop out of her chest as she pressed her lips against his warm, soft mouth.

Chapter 36

For a moment, nothing happened, then a powerful thrill rippled over her skin, and she jumped away from him.

Bael’s eyelids snapped open, and he surveyed her with glacial, pale eyes that sent raw fear snaking in her gut. Her pulse racing, Ursula’s grip tightened on the dagger.

His eyes flashed with ancient wrath; his voice rumbled through the room like thunder. “What did you do to me?”

She tried to stop herself from shaking. She couldn’t show him her fear or he’d find a way to rip through the chains and pulverize her. “We’ll get to that.”

“Who are you, little girl?” he barked. “Where is the other hound?”