Loren rolled her eyes. Hellsehers and their insane healing abilities. “I don’t know why I even waste my time worrying about you,” she said.
She found another pot for Mr. Crispy in the storage room and Darien helped her replant it. After they’d placed the plant back on the sill, Darien returned to playing tug-of-war with Singer while Loren breezed through the last of the dishes.
“Why are you dressed so handsomely tonight, Darien Cassel?” she said as she scrubbed the last dish in the sink. “Are you going to Blackbird again?”
“Not tonight.” There was a smile in his voice. “But I thought you might need a night off from everything that’s been going on lately, so I have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise forme?I didn’t know it wasmybirthday, too.”
Darien snickered.
“What’s the surprise?” She looked over her shoulder at him as she rinsed the last plate and set it onto the rack to dry.
The way Darien was looking at her turned her bones to jelly. It didn’t seem as though he’d expected her to turn her head, for it took him a while to hide the delicious look in his eyes—and she swore he’d been staring at the slope of her ass in the pleated mini skirt she wore. It was plaid and pink, and she’d paired it with a white bodysuit that exposed nearly her entire back, right down to the waistband of the skirt.
And she might’ve been guilty of having selected this outfit with the sole intent of seeing that precise look in his eyes.
Loren’s body turned hot all over. It felt like the world stopped as they stared at each other. In reality, it probably hadn’t been more than a few seconds before Darien spoke.
“It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you, would it?” She wasn’t sure if she was imagining that his voice was lower and rougher than usual.
And when she spoke, her voice came out breathier than she meant it to. “Why are you being so good to me?”
His mouth sank, and his brows knitted together. “Because you deserve it.” He said it as if it was obvious, and she felt her heart swell with rosy warmth. “You deserve everything.”
Until this moment, she hadn’t thought it was possible to feel so happy and so terribly sad all at the same time.
“Better not keep me waiting, then.” She stepped up to where he was sprawled on the floor, her wedge heels clicking on the wood panels, and offered him her hand. “I’d like to see what this surprise is, Darien Cassel.”
—
Loren had never once ventured beyond city limits.
There were plenty of good reasons for this, and she knew she wasn’t the only one who’d stayed within the city’s forcefield their entire life. Wicked and terrible things dwelled beyond it, worse even than the demons that prowled the sewers. The creatures that hunted outside of city limits and the barren landscape farther inland were so ancient and cruel, not a single text knew what to call them. They weren’t demons, nor were they wights, though there were also a fair number of those.
They were the Nameless, the ageless beings a person could summon at a Crossroads. The same creatures Erasmus Sophronia and Elix Danik had likely sought out to obtain access to the prima materia. Considering the men had once been mortal, Loren wondered how they’d managed to convince the Nameless to give them such a thing, for the Nameless were rarely interested in talking, and rarely did they bother to make bargains with those who were foolish enough to seek them out. The Nameless were wise and unholy beasts that saw every sentient creature only for the blood and bone and aura that would feed their unquenchable hunger.
So, as Darien sped down the six-lane twilit highway outside the forcefield, on search of the surprise he’d said he had for her tonight, Loren found that she couldn’t relax.
They were in his truck this time—a vehicle she hadn’t been aware he owned. The truck was huge and as black as his car in every way, with smoked taillights, tinted windows, and massive tires complete with flat-black rims. He held his arm out the window as he drove, feeling the rain falling on his skin from a cloudless sky.
It took her a moment as they barreled down the highway, the sun setting swiftly in the distance, to notice that Darien was watching her.
“I need you to relax,” he said softly. “I promise nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
Loren’s breathing was shallow. “I didn’t know being calmer would convince the Nameless not to eat me.” She’d meant it as a joke, but the concern in her voice was clear as bells.
“Itdoeshelp. Think about anything but them.” He reached over and took her hand. For a moment, she thought he was simply going to peel her white-knuckled fingers from the seatbelt, but he laced them with his own instead.
And it worked. She stopped thinking about the Nameless, her thoughts consumed by the feeling of his warm, rough hand clasping hers. With her skin against his, that energy she felt every time they touched coursed between them without restraint.
He looked at her then. Long and hard, as though her eyes held the answer to some silent question he was asking. And she found that she couldn’t look away from him any more than he seemed able to look away from her.
In fact, he barely broke her gaze, except to maneuver traffic, until they reached the exit he was looking to take. Their vehicle was the only one this far out, the steep road before them dark aside from the glow of their headlights and the full moon.
No Blood Moon tonight, thank the gods. They were a rare occurrence, which was a great mercy in their world. Loren knew Darien wouldn’t have brought her out of city limits tonight if he’d seen one in the forecast.
Darien parked the truck on a hill overlooking the highway below. The city was a speck in the distance, its usual light pollution unnoticeable from here. And yet it was still so bright.
