Chapter 35 ANOTHER DEAL, SAME DEVIL
MERRIELYNN.
I fiddled with the pendant hanging from my necklace as I walked down the hallway next to Emorie.
The smooth surface of the pendant was cool between my fingers, and I found myself tracing its edges, as if somehow it could calm the storm brewing inside me.
The name kept echoing in the back of my mind, the same name that had haunted me in my dreams.
Lorelai.
I didn’t even know who she was, but it didn’t matter. The moment I woke up from that nightmare, the image of her drowning had been burned into my mind.
It felt too real, too vivid.
Why was I having these dreams?
What was the point? And why couldn’t they stop?
I rubbed the pendant one last time, almost like it could soothe the unease crawling up my spine, before shoving it under my shirt again.
“I can’t believe we’re almost done with the auction prep already,” Emorie said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “It’s going so much smoother than I expected.”
I nodded absently, too distracted by the name that kept tugging at me.
Lorelai.
Lorelai.
Lorelai…
I wasn’t even sure why I couldn’t shake the image, why it kept looping in my mind.
I tried to focus on the present. Emorie and I were heading to the architecture hall, where the committee was busy preparing samples of their design concepts for the upcoming auction. I needed to focus on the task at hand, not whatever weird premonition my brain was throwing at me.
The architecture hall was bustling as we walked inside. Students milled around, some carrying papers, others discussing ideas. The committee was busy as usual, and my eyes immediately landed on the large plastic tarp stacked in a corner, covering the bundle of wolfsbane Emorie and I had collected. It seemed so out of place here, but I was grateful for the role I played in its acquisition.
I glanced around at the busy students, taking in the atmosphere of the room. Honestly, being chair of the auction committee wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d imagined. Sure, there was a lot of work to do, but it was a lot easier now that I’d been appointed the position. The planning for the auction was going smoothly, and I could see it all coming together.
I muttered to Emorie as I broke away from her to survey the work. “Everything’s going well, right?”
She waved off my concern, her eyes scanning the room before landing back on me. “Of course. It’s going great. No major issues… at least not yet.”
But that was before I saw the other girl approaching Emorie from across the room. I didn’t recognize her at first, but I could tell she was one of the members of the committee. When she reached us, Emorie immediately pulled me aside, her demeanor entirely different in an instant.
“Mere,” Emorie whispered, her voice low. “We have a problem. A big one.”
I felt my stomach tighten, my chest suddenly feeling heavy as I looked between her and the other girl.
I couldn’t help but notice how the girl was eyeing me with that strange curiosity, her gaze lingering just a little too long. I wasn’t surprised. After what happened in the locker room yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole school had been talking about me.
Before then, in fact.
The way Cormac and I interacted—everything that had transpired between us—was probably one of the hottest topics in Pinnthorpe.
It was infuriating.
It was all over the gossip mill. I was the girl who had the guts to trash Cormac Graves’ car and get away with it. The girl who had splashed a drink in his face. And the same girl who’d gotten him suspended from the football team in some form of the analogy. Most people believed I’d crossed him and walked away unscathed. But that was just the illusion they all bought into.
The reality? It wasn’t like that at all.
They didn’t know what was happening behind closed doors, and that for every single thing I’d done to Cormac—whether deserved or not—I was paying the price for.
Bitterly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked Emorie, trying to shake off the heaviness that had settled in my chest.
Emorie’s expression darkened. She looked at the girl who had come with her, then back at me. “One of the auction pieces is missing. The replica of the Palace Moonstone. It’s gone.”
I froze.
The Palace Moonstone was the centerpiece of the entire auction, the highlight of the event. It was meant to draw the crowd in, to make the auction something worth attending. If it was missing… I couldn’t even imagine how bad this was going to be.
“Great,” I muttered, my chest tightening. “Just what we need. A missing moonstone.”
“We’re fucked,” Emorie deadpanned.
A part of me wanted to argue, to suggest replacing it with something else—anything else—but I knew that wasn’t going to work. The moonstone was irreplaceable. Without it, the entire auction would be a disaster.
It was the highlight piece, and it wasn’t even going to be up for grabs.
I looked around, trying to think of options. Emorie pulled me to the side, lowering her voice so that only I could hear. “I think you should ask Chaos.”
I froze, my heart skipping a beat at the suggestion. “What?”
“You heard me,” she said. “He’s also chairing the committee, and if you ask him, I’m sure he’ll bring the original moonstone from the Palace. He’ll be willing. You’re both in charge of this whole thing, right? And he’ll do it if you ask.”
My stomach twisted into a knot.
I couldn’t believe she was suggesting this. Asking Chaos—Cormac—for help? That was a line I didn’t want to cross.
But Emorie was right. I had no other options. If the auction was going to go smoothly, I had to get my hands on the original moonstone. And there was only one person who could make that happen.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t go to him.”
Emorie pressed, “Mere, think about it. You’re in charge of the auction. You can’t let it fail. If you go to Chaos and ask him for help, he’ll do it. He has to.”
“He won’t.”
“Then can’t you… bat your baby eyes at your mate and get him to comply?”
“Emorie!” I cautioned, glancing around to make sure no one heard.
“What? I wasn’t loud.” She slid in, “But isn’t that how the whole…mate thing works? Can he say no to you?”
I blanched at her.
Was she serious?
“You know nothing about mates, do you?”
She shrugged.
Well, neither did I.
I didn’t have the energy to argue. We needed the item, and there was only one way to get it by now. “Fine,” I said. “I’ll try.”
And maybe lose my life while I’m at it. But I didn’t bother saying that last part out loud.
The rest of the afternoon was a blur. I had to find Cormac, and I had to ask him to bring the moonstone. And, like I expected, when I finally caught up with him, he wasn’t interested in helping.
Not even a little bit.
“Why should I help you?” he asked, his voice cold and dismissive. “What’s in it for me?”
His green eyes bored into mine, and the weight of yesterday’s interaction pressed against my chest.
But goddess, I wasn’t ready to unpack any of it at the moment. At all. Ever.
Instead, I tried to remind him of the stakes. “You’re suspended from the football team, Cormac. The auction going well could be your ticket back onto the field. This is important. You need to help me.”
But he just shook his head. “I don’t care.”
Frustrated, I grit my teeth.
How blockheaded was he?
No moonstone equaled a flopped auction… why was he being stubborn now of all times?
I stormed out of the room, not willing to stoop to the level of begging when I wasn’t the only one who had things at stake here, but not before deciding I had no other choice but to go to the headmaster.
I explained everything to him—the missing moonstone, the impact it would have on the auction—and begged him to approve a replacement. But instead of helping me, the headmaster chastised me for losing such a valuable item. “You’ll find it,” he said, his tone stern. “This is your responsibility, Ms. Forbes. You need to fix it.”
And I was suddenly desperate.
Desperate enough to seek out the devil one last time with my heart in my throat.
Please, goddess, impart this prince with a little bit of wisdom. I thought in the form of a silent prayer, waiting for him to step out of the locker room hours after my meeting with the headmaster.
It was a habit of his.
One I hated that I was familiar with.
Maybe he wasn’t allowed in the locker rooms because of his suspension, but if that was the case, then it was only during school hours. Because he worked out alone every day after everyone had left since he’d been benched from the team.
I wasn’t hopeful, not at all. But I was running out of options. I couldn’t let this auction fall apart.
He came out of the double doors after what felt like hours of me idling by the benches. I watched him run a hand through his hair, the curls damp from what was probably a recent shower, wearing a pair of grey sweats and a wife beater that left the intricate swirls of ink running up his arm on full display.
I swallowed past the sudden dryness in my throat.
Cormac’s eyes narrowed when he saw me approach.
I told him my plan, cutting to the chase.
He eyed me carefully, looking at me slowly from the top of my ponytail to the soles of my ragged tennis shoes.
He wasn’t going to help.
And I thought strongly then that I’d just wasted my time again.
But then, he surprised me by saying something I never thought I’d hear.
“I’ll give you the moonstone,” he said slowly, his voice low.
My eyes widened.
“But on one condition,” he added abruptly.
I raised an eyebrow, my heart pounding. “What condition?”
“You sit with me every day at lunch for a week,” he said with a smirk. “In my spot. At my table.”
My heart sank.
Why… what kind of bargain was that?
He could have anything at all… and he chose…
At face value, it seemed like such an easy request, but I knew it wasn’t.
Sitting with Cormac meant involving myself with his friends, with his circle of people I didn’t want to be around.
But logically, I didn’t have a choice.
It was a relatively fair deal.
But curious.
Still…
If a week of sitting at his table was all it took to get the moonstone and save the auction, then I’d do it.
“Fine,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “I’ll do it.”
And just like that, I’d made a deal with the devil.
Again.