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Shuffling with the horde pushing against those wanting to get out, we slowly moved up to the guards. Glancing from below my hood, I held my breath as we pushed past them, the back of my neck prickling as I took in their stiff manner.
No emotion lay in their eyes as they watched villagers come and go, but I could see them searching, waiting for something to stand out. Their eyes dragged over me, my lungs clenching, feeling like they would see right through my layers, knowing I was the one they were searching for, but they slowly drifted past me, moving on to someone else. Air slipped from my lungs when we finally crossed the gates into the market.
The fortress grounds buzzed with activity. Stalls, wagons, and tables were set up in every available spot, with thin lanes in between for the customer to walk. Produce, meat, bread, grains, dairy, weapons, clothes, and black-market items were jumbled together with no structure or reason. The scents of roasting chestnuts, fried sausage, and burning fire from the blacksmiths coated the air in smoke.
“We have an hour. Get what you need and meet me by the gates,” Vlad muttered to us. “And don’t do anything stupid.” He strode off.
“He’s nice,” Raven commented dryly.
“Come on.” I led her into the tight cobbled pathways, aware of the guards watching from the wall above us, waiting for a thief to take his chance or someone to step out of line.
We weaved through the stalls, filling our backpacks with torches, rope, canteens, dried provisions, extra clothes, and new weapons. The money we got from the man in room 105 was starting to run low by the time we grabbed a sausage for lunch.
When our hour was up, the clouds had moved back in, dropping the temperature and our window of daylight for the walk back considerably. Devouring the last bit of my snack, I longed to consume about ten more to even take the edge off my hunger. That was another thing I noticed had returned. My appetite. The drugs and lack of caring about living had slimmed me down, but now I was ravenous. I wanted to consume everything I saw, And the way Raven bit into her food, her tongue licking up the sauce, made me crave more than a few sausages.
I was hungry for more than food, thirsty for more than drink. A bottomless pit for every sin.
“I don’t know what’s in this. I don’t even care.” She popped the last chunk into her mouth, her voice low, muttering through her bite. “I’m still hungry.”
“Me too.”
Her eyes darted up to mine, hearing something in my tone. Whatever she saw in my eyes made her swallow the piece down her throat roughly.
“You got some butter here.” One hand cupped her face as my other hand skimmed over her lip, wiping it up. I didn’t even consciously think before I sucked the butter off my thumb. When the realization hit me, a voice somewhere in my brain asked me what the hell I was doing.
We froze, staring at each other, my dick aching. The need to suddenly kiss her cracked down on me like a whip. I wanted to feel her lips against mine, taste the spices she just devoured against my tongue, hear her breathy groan, begging to slake her hunger as well.
Her eyes tracked mine as if she could see every thought going through my head, aware of how hard I was for under the jacket. Her teeth drove into her bottom lip, still covered in a slight sheen, drawing my attention to her mouth.
The hand holding her face slid further back, my fingers curling into the base of her neck, my mouth only inches from hers. So close I felt the heat of her breath, her heart racing against my chest. The pull to her was like a magnet, my lips barely grazing hers.
The pounding of hooves clattered over the cobbles, jerking my head up. A dozen black horses galloped into the courtyard, their riders wearing black uniforms trimmed in red and gold, only worn by private soldiers of the leader of Romania.
“Fuck,” I hissed under my breath, yanking Raven against the wall with me, keeping my body slightly in front of hers, like two lovers conversing, hoping to blend in with the crowd.
The horses pranced in, each carrying a soldier, and each one ground against my spine. Something about them rushed air quicker in and out of my lungs. They weren’t as stiff as the ones outside, but something was off, a smell or a familiar way they held themselves. And then my stomach bottomed out.
Iain rode in, his chin high in the air, his uniform cut to fit him perfectly, his hair styled back under a hat. It was only a blink, a mere second, but for an instant, I saw someone else. My heart leaped into my chest and then dropped like it had been shot out of the sky.
From this angle, with his sharp, chiseled profile and blond hair… he looked like Lucas.
Pain pierced my heart, acid burning up my throat, and I felt his loss all over again. The disgrace over not honoring him yet. For even contemplating I could ever move on or find someone else, especially after only a year.
A hawk squawked overhead, tipping my head up, the bird circling the fortress, scanning for prey, the wings spanning larger than a normal hawk. A hawk-shifter. My chest halted, recognition dropping weight into my stomach.
The memory of that night, the battle booming around me. I laid in the blood of Kek and Lucas while Iain and Sonya escaped, along with Sergiu and…
Nyx.
The hawk-shifter who used to work for Killian, once a faithful soldier to him. But her vendetta against Warwick and Brexley for killing her lover changed her loyalty. When she tried to kill my friends, I shot her, thinking she was dead. She showed up at the battle, choosing to follow Sonya when they fled.
She hadn’t crossed my mind since, forgetting about her, but now terror beat in my chest like her wings. Finding me, the man who left her for dead, whose family were the ones who took hers away, would be sweet vengeance.
Dipping deeper into my hood, away from her keen eyes, I hissed to Raven. “Keep your head down.”
The neigh of horses twisted my head to the side. Riders came to a stop, dismounting from their horses, leaving Iain the central focus, Nyx swooping in for a closer perusal.
“There are dangerous criminals at large,” Iain spoke to the assembly with a patronizing tone. “We are conducting mandatory checks from now on.”
