I did as he asked, my eyes locked on his mouth, my skin heating up in a way that had nothing to do with the spicesormy guilt.
Elian grumbled under his breath, but that was another thing I wasn’t about to let him get away with.
Keeping my gaze locked on Jax, I grinned and said, “Elian, that’s agreatidea—thanks for offering. I’d love something to drink. Lemonade? Preferably spiked? And something for the demon as well. I think he’s a little… thirsty.”
Jax laughed. “Oh, I think I’m keeping this one, Saint.”
Good.
Because I was pretty sure I’d be keeping him, too.
11
HALEY
After I’d demolished most of the food and sucked down just enough boozy lemonade to fortify all those emotional buttons Elian liked to push, we cleared the table and got to work.
For all his many,manyflaws—and I do meanmany—Elian was at least taking this seriously. In the time since I’d dropped the Midnight-or-bust bomb last night, he’d already sketched out a map for me, and now he spread it out on the table and gave me the grand tour.
It was a vast realm, rippling with jagged mountains and drowning in nearly bottomless lakes, some made of blood, others made of fire. Aside from a few small outposts established by the soldiers of the many ongoing wars, there was only one urban center—Amaranth City—built in the north along the shores of the Sea of Tranquility. The Razorback Mountains protected its western border; a range called Dead Claw protected the east.
The remainder of the realm stretched out to the south, each section of the map more treacherous than the last—tar pits, ice cliffs, meadows filled with poisonous flowers and razor-sharp grass. At the southernmost edge was Boiling Glass Sands, a desert so hot the ancient sands had long ago turned to glass. Elian said the Midnight fae had relinquished the region to the dragon lords millennia ago, but no one knew for certain whether the fire-breathers still existed; anyone who got close to the glass simply… melted.
Three-thousand-degree heat would do that to a body.
Blackbone Forest lay about thirty miles south of the city. According to Elian, it was mostly just bare trees and scorched earth, very little flora or fauna, largely ignored by the many factions fighting for control and the many beasts that would otherwise devour our bones.
That’s where we’d be portaling in. According to Elian, anything closer to Amaranth had a higher probability of being watched, or—considering how often war erupted there—was too much of an unknown quantity. We couldn’t risk portaling into the middle of a battle.
As for the city itself? Amaranth was warded against portals.
“And all these rebel factions,” I said. “They actuallywantthese lands? Talk about shady real estate dealings.”
“Wars have been waged over less,” Jax said. “By monsters and men alike.”
I studied the map intensely, trying to picture myself trekking across such an inhospitable place.
Guess I won’t be needing any more cute dresses now…
“Your primary objective in Midnight,” Elian said, “is to locate Keradoc, get close enough to work your magick, and steal his blood, all without him detecting our presence.”
“Oh, is that all? Easy peasy.” I dropped my head into my hands and groaned. Seeing the map just made the situation all the more real.
The Goddess had to benutsto think I could pull this off.Ihad to be nuts.
Maybe that’s what she’d been counting on.
Bring me your demented, your unstable, your overly-eager-to-prove-their-worth-after-suffering-years-of-crushingly-low-self-esteem…
Damn, I really wanted another drink. But I was pretty sure a hangover would be about as useless as the cute wardrobe for getting me through Midnight.
“Hey. I know it’s overwhelming,” Elian said, coming around to my side of the table. “Looking at it all at once, sure. It feels damn near impossible.”
“Not just near, Elian.Actualimpossible.”
He crouched down beside me and put a hand on my knee. Not sexual, not dominating, just… encouraging.
The gesture made my eyes glaze with emotion. It was like a glimpse of the Elian I used to know. A glimpse into the past.
