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"Does it apply to them?"

"Yes. They are simply the sort of creatures who prefer to discover that after violating it."

That sounded depressingly familiar.

The Fae continued before I could ask what happened to someone stupid enough to test a four-thousand-year-old bargain. "Your mother anticipated the possibility. Her final instruction was that I discourage anyone who attempted to circumvent the provision."

"Discourage them how exactly?" If this thing thought I'd let it take me, it had another thing coming. I would nail it with my perfect boot in the forehead before I allowed that to happen.

Something changed inside the gray. I couldn't see an expression on the creature's face, but amusement moved through the room anyway, cold and distinctly unpleasant.

"There were fourteen interested parties on Friday. There are now four. Two of those have stopped returning correspondence."

I stared at it.

Then I thought about the extinguished candles in the corridor and the wax that had run toward the doors. Whatever had come through the coven hadn't been trying to get inside. It had been clearing something out.

"That was you in the hallway."

"They came to persuade her to hand you over." The creature turned toward Danika. "I did not permit it."

My grandmother stood in the middle of her ruined office with blue fire wrapped around her hands and stared at a being that apparently frightened creatures who frightened everyone else.

"You've been protecting me." Her voice came out so high-pitched it was comical.

"I have been protecting the provision. You are adjacent to it."

Danika's eyebrows rose. "That is a less flattering explanation."

"I did not come here to flatter you, witch."

I should have left it there. Any sensible person would have.

Unfortunately, nobody had ever accused a Byrne woman of knowing when to leave well enough alone.

"If the contract goes to auction," I said, thinking aloud now, "then anybody who qualifies can bid."

Danika's head turned toward me. I saw suspicion arrive before I had even finished the thought.

"Hazel."

I ignored her and looked at the creature. "You buy it."

That got everyone's attention.

My grandmother stepped toward me, but I lifted a hand before she could start. "No, listen. You're already driving away the other bidders because they might try to use her contract to get around my mother's bargain. So don't just discourage them. Outbid them. Buy the contract yourself. What better way to protect the contract, right?"

The creature said nothing.

Neither did River. He stood on my other side with his attention fixed on the Fae, and I had the uncomfortable feeling that he was waiting to find out whether my latest idea ended with me dead.

It would've been a fair assessment.

My heart was beating hard enough to hurt, but I kept my eyes on the creature.

My mother had spent every hour she'd ever lived making sure nobody could own me. That bargain had worked. It had protected me before I knew I needed protecting and kept protecting me long after she was gone.

But Danika had spent twenty-six years standing outside that protection.