“I’m asking if you like it.”
Zenon shrieked and yelled, “Vampire.” Squawk. “Two paths.” I jumped and gulped. I was beginning to not like birds.
Vander rose out of the chair and in a few strides he was beside me. He took the top from me and held it against me. After a moment of inspection, he nodded and leaned closer. “It’s beautiful. Now can you put it on yourself, or do you need me to put it on for you?”
I gripped the fabric and stared at him in shock. I couldn’t tell if he was serious or... was heflirtingwith me? He slowly smiled, and I started breathing again. “This corset ties in the front, not the back.”
He tilted his head with a smirk as if to say,I know.
“So I think I can manage.”
“You’re sure? Because I can help you take your clothes off too, if you need that.” He smiled even wider. “I’ve been thinking about it ever since I got a glimpse of you in the bathtub.”
My cheeks warmed as a wild rush coursed through me. What had gotten into him? Heart pounding faster and faster, I took a small step back toward the archway. “This corset could be tricky after all.” I liked flirting with him.
“That depends. Are you going to say please?”
I nibbled my lower lip and moved back again. He mirrored my step. “I might even say pretty please. But I think you’re too scared.”
He laughed and full body chills tingled over me. My heart beat even harder, waiting for his response. “Says the girl who can’t even handle me reading a passage from a book without going into a panic.”
I sneered at him and hid my smile as I turned on my heel and stepped behind a dark curtain into a small dressing room. As I changed into the new clothes, I’d forgotten all about thatpossible dark future and shifted to thoughts of him undressing me. A convenient distraction. That’s all it was.
Dressedin my new fashionable attire, Vander and I found Falcon, Celine, Taewyn, and Scout, and some of the other apprentices and trainers at Enchanted Elixirs. Magical white fog swirled around my legs. Harp strings were plucked by an invisible hand and purple lighting coming from glowing stones along the edges of the ceiling made me feel giddy. I’d never seen anything like this.
I sipped on a drink aptly named Dragon’s Breath and jumped when I hiccupped a literal ball of fire and slapped my hand over my mouth in shock. I’d never seen Vander laugh harder.
Celine was currently giving Shadowhawk a rather seductive lap dance to the slow harp music. I wished I had her confidence and ability to just let go of what others would think. Taewyn was already three drinks deep, leaning on the table next to a young woman dressed in a purple mage’s robe, showing her a scar on his arm and telling some farfetched story of how he got it. Falcon, Scout, and five other trainers sat at the bar top, talking amongst each other, while Vander and I stood off to the side, not dancing, not sitting with the trainers.
I thought I would be having more fun during the one time I’d come into the city for that purpose, but Vander seemed on edge since we left Murial’s, and when he was anxious so was I. It was like his emotions bled into me. I figured it was either her strange prophecy about me or something to do with Dravyn Knox. The Commanders hadn’t given details of when we would go after the vampire who took his sister, only that we would.
Last night he said it could be weeks before the actual mission, and he didn’t sound like he wanted to wait. I didn’t blame him. Dravyn had disappeared for years, and this was his chance to get back at him. What if he disappeared again? Where had he gone?
A group of warriors were gathered at a table next to us. They wore white and gold coats with the warrior-symbol badge over the heart. “I heard the strangest thing yesterday. My friend Lo from the second east battalion said he saw flying horses.”
“How much did he have to drink?” another said, and the table laughed.
“Could be made up for sure, but he was dead serious. He says the vampires have new horses with wings, that they’re vicious and even have fangs. The vamps captured half of a village and were able to get away. Archers took down a few of the beasts, but they weren’t allowed to bring them back. He said he wasn’t even supposed to talk about it. Scares the civilians. Flying horses could get over the wall.”
“We have enough archers even if it were true—” One of them noticed me staring and nudged the man talking.
“Hey, mind your business, girl.” The brawniest of the five with a scruffy black beard snapped at me.
With a flush, I quickly looked away. I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but since when did vampires fly on winged horses? Since when did winged horses exist at all? It sounded like a tale old folks would say to scare children.
“Don’t talk to her like that.” Vander’s tone was sharp, and the hair on the back of my neck stood. He grabbed me by my waist and moved me to his other side, away from the table full of warrior men.
The black-bearded one looked him up and down. “What’s a rich boy like you going to do about it? Bribe me? I don’t need your coin.”
Vander tilted his head like a predatory bird. “You don’t want to know what I could do about it.”
My stomach dropped, and my eyes flicked back and forth between them. I didn’t want them to fight because of me, but as I’d learned before, Vander didn’t let men threaten or disrespect me.
“I bet daddy has taken care of your problems all your life. Better just walk on, boy.”
“Call me boy one more fucking time.” He was lethally calm, and that scared me more.
Scout turned his head and slid off his stool and stood on my other side. I was now flanked by two deadly assassins. I clutched my drink. I suddenly understood perfectly why Commander Ace didn’t like us wearing our assassin uniforms in public.
