The Cost of Conjuring: A Bargain Beyond Blood

4. Stop flirting with me you annoying elf

I walk up to the bar, determined to make this a quick exchange and not a repeat of last week's disaster. His gaze shifts from the glass to my face and the promise of a smile curling his lips freezes.

Oh, right. I'm still smeared in blood.

"Sit." He nods to the stool in front of him and disappears into the small kitchen behind the bar.

"I'm not staying," I croak, fighting the urge to cough up more blood.

I eye the stool, my body calling me an idiot for not sitting down and resting while I can. For once, I don't have the energy to fight it, but make a point of taking the stool beside the one Li wanted me in. He's running the taps and the rush of water through the pipes presses against my ears.

I have no idea how he got around my guard last time. How he got me to talk about things I promised myself to never tell anyone. Like how desperately I needed an amplifier. Whatever he did, it won't work again.

I place the container of Phoria on the counter. The red sand-like grains glint in the dim light. I do the same with the book, partly because it's jammed into my hip and partly because I want to see his reaction.

"What happened?" Li doesn't even glance at the book as he returns, not that it means anything. I'll have to be smarter if I'm going to catch him in a lie. I'm absolutely sure I did not tell him I was looking for it. The red towel is now in his hand instead of draped over his shoulder.

"Why would something have happened?"

"Because you look even worse than usual." His voice is low, but it carries in such a way that I wouldn't be surprised if a person at the other end of the dance floor could hear him clearly. There's no trace of the usual teasing.

Great, now I've been demoted from mock flirting to pity.

"Well, thank you. Your pickup lines have really deteriorated."

The crooked smile I get as a reward almost has the same effect on me as the stone in my pocket.

Li leans over the bar until I have to draw back to keep him out of my personal space. "So now you want me to pick you up?"

The red of his eyes is moving around, swirling, barely keeping within his irises and I can't look away even though I know I should.

The smile drains from his face like water out of a broken bucket.

"Are you alright? Tell me what happened." His words pull on me like a freshly drawn summoning circle but I manage to resist, for now. I push the Phoria towards him, making my intentions very clear.

Instead of taking it and wiring me my well-deserved money, he leans forward again, way too close, and swipes at my left cheek with the wet towel. I freeze. Which I guess is better than falling backward off the stool. The cotton is warm and if it wasn't already red, it would be now. He moves on to my right cheek like this is a perfectly normal thing to do.

"You did a spell for Nina? What did she want?"

That unfreezes me and I pull my face out of reach, remembering he is doing this to get information, just like last time. Like every other time he's gone out of his way to be suspiciously nice.

"Why don't you ask Nina? Then you can catch her up on exactly everything I say and do so she doesn't miss out."

He probably will. And then he'll find out what an absolute disaster I made. And that I'm an idiot for forgetting to remove the circle. I already dread next week's drop-off.

If he is affected by my tone he doesn't show it. Instead of throwing me out, Li drops the towel beside the Phoria.

"So it wasn't worth it?" He glances at the book, then back at me. "I assume you didn't do a spell for a book you could order off Amazon."