[ Her skin prickles a bit. She'll owe him. Annaliese is no fool – she's well-read enough to know what that means and to know what inevitably happens to thoughtless girls who make thoughtless deals with demons. Maybe one day she'll look back at this and curse herself, imagining that a drowning at sea would be preferable to the price she'll someday pay for having avoided it.

But it's not just her luck she's turning here, is it? If she were the only on aboard this ship, then maybe she'd hesitate. But with all the crew of the Omen to consider... it really isn't a question at all, is it? ]

I don't have much in the way of payment, I'm afraid. They've been polite enough not to enquire, but I'm what you might call a "runaway". I've very little to my name, let alone anything that might interest you.

[ The boat lurches again. Her hand tightens around the ring and when the stone digs into her hand, a breath makes its way out of her lungs. A simple ring, even one given by a prince, surely isn't much to a demon as powerful as this, but... if she can trade him a story, as well as a ring– ]

... I'll give you the last thing that remains of the life I ran from. And a secret that no one else knows. Is that acceptable?