Demon Marked by Meljean Brook Read Free Book Online Page B

because I don’t have answers for you.”
    No. She was telling him now because if she entered into the bargain, she couldn’t lie.
    â€œI don’t care,” Nicholas said. “If you don’t know where she is now, you can still agree to help. And I’ll help you in return.”
    â€œWhat if we don’t find Madelyn or discover who I am?”
    â€œIt only matters that we help each other, not that we succeed. It only matters that you don’t conceal information or lie.”
    She nodded. God, what a terrible bargainer she was. She hadn’t asked the same from him—probably because finding out who she was didn’t really matter.
    It mattered to him. If she was telling the truth and didn’t know who Madelyn was, then tracing this demon’s history might lead him to Madelyn, anyway. They were obviously connected.
    The glow receded from her eyes, leaving them clear and blue. “And if we fail, are we stuck together for the rest of our lives?”
    â€œIf we exhaust every possibility, we’ll agree to release each other from the bargain,” he said. Even if they never did, her life would be much longer than his. Surely her immortality was a detail that every demon couldn’t forget. “So, you help me, and I’ll help you. Are we agreed? You have to say it.”
    She took a deep breath before slowly nodding. “Yes. We have a bargain.”
    She’d actually agreed? Nicholas stared at her, replaying each step, making certain he hadn’t missed anything. He hadn’t expected that she’d go through with it. But she’d said it clearly: Yes.
    Surprise shifted to triumph. He had her.
    â€œAre you Madelyn?” But no, that was the wrong question. She might not be able to lie, but technically, the demon he sought had never been Madelyn St. Croix; she’d just stolen a human woman’s identity. He clarified, “Are you the demon who impersonated my mother?”
    â€œWhat do you mean, am I your moth—” She broke off. “Can’t you tell by looking?”
    â€œI know demons can shape-shift.” How ignorant did she think he was?
    She blinked. “We can?”
    Jesus, even a bargain didn’t stop her from playing stupid. A direct question, then. She couldn’t evade that.
    â€œAre you that demon?”
    â€œI don’t know. I don’t think so.” Her lips pursed briefly. “I don’t know who I am, so if I can shape-shift, I suppose that means I could be anyone. But I saw Madelyn St. Croix, or someone who could have been her twin, and she wasn’t me.”
    Whoever she saw could have been any demon shape-shifted—but most likely, the other demon had been Madelyn. So Nicholas had to accept that this wasn’t Madelyn . . . and that she truly didn’t know who she was.
    He fought his disappointment. Even if this demon didn’t remember who she was, that didn’t mean she had no other useful knowledge.
    â€œWhere is Madelyn now?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    For God’s sake. With effort, Nicholas concealed his frustration. “Who gave you the code to the house?”
    â€œI don’t know. The pattern was familiar, and I just . . . entered it.” She demonstrated in the air, as if inputting a number into a keypad, then spread her hands. “But I don’t remember where I learned the code.”
    Nicholas frowned. The bargain bound her to the truth. But how could she have no memory, yet know something as specific as a numerical code? “Did you come to this house in the past month?”
    â€œNo.”
    Then Madelyn had. “When was the last time you were in contact with her?”
    â€œAlmost three years ago, when she left me at Nightingale House.”
    Exactly as she’d claimed earlier. Nothing she’d said contradicted anything from before the bargain. Nicholas hadn’t expected that. Either she was manipulating him in some