Terms and Damnations

Three months into this nightmare, and I still can't tell my ex-husband why I quit the firm.

"Spiritual contract law" doesn't exactly fit on a LinkedIn profile. Neither does "I can see the threads of fate binding people to their doom." But that's exactly what I do now—I see the deals, the desperate promises, the soul-deep contracts that mortals make when they've run out of options.

My latest client is a surgeon who promised Erzulie Dantor anything to save her son's life. Anything. The goddess of mothers took her at her word, and now she wants the surgeon's hands—literally. Every life she saves from here on out belongs to the goddess. It's elegant. Brutal. And technically ironclad.

But I've found a loophole in the original terms, buried in the way the oath was sworn. If I can prove the contract was made under false pretenses, I might be able to renegotiate. The problem? Erzulie Dantor doesn't appreciate being told she's wrong. And Papa Legba is breathing down my neck, reminding me that my job is to facilitate deals, not torpedo them.

Baron Samedi, of course, finds the whole situation hilarious. He keeps appearing at the worst possible moments—in my bathtub, in my car, once memorably in my therapist's waiting room—to mock my "crusade" and place bets on how long until the other lwa crush me. But when Erzulie's followers start targeting me directly, he's the one who shows up with a warning. Not help. Just information. He claims he's protecting his "investment," but there's something in the way he looks at me that makes my skin prickle. I tell myself it's disgust. It's definitely disgust.

My grandmother never told me that being a crossroads demon would mean choosing between my conscience and my survival. She never mentioned that the gods would start testing me, pushing back, making examples out of mortals who dared to have a demon advocate on their side.

But I'm not backing down. I've spent twenty years fighting for clients in boardrooms and courtrooms. The venue has changed, but I haven't.

Even if it kills me. Even if the god of death himself won't stop watching me like I'm the most interesting thing he's seen in centuries.