Then, without another word, he turned on his heel and stormed off toward the facility, knocking into Keradoc’s shoulder as he passed.
Keradoc let it go, his eyes never leaving mine. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Just… just take me—” I caught myself before I said the word balanced on the tip of my tongue.Home.“Take me back to the castle. Please, Keradoc. I just need to be alone right now.”
28
HUDSON
I’d never been big on cultural shit like the ballet or the opera or all them gallery tours. Back in New Orleans, that’d always been Saint’s bag. My boy liked to take his rich vampire clients out for a show—all part of the fake-ass fantasy that scoring a bunch of Black from a fae dealer was a classy affair, not some shady back-alley drug trade.
Who the fuck had time to wade through that much bullshit? To sit through some boring-ass, artsy-fartsy show, oohing and ahhing and jerking off about metaphors and color palates and artistic integrity just to seal a deal both parties knew was a sure thing anyway?
I never understood it.
But now, watching Haley work her magick?
Goddamn, that felt like watching a fine artist carve a statue out of marble or paint the ceiling of some sacred place, her every move a study in elegance and grace, her eyes dancing with a passionate light that warmed every part of me.
Shewas a work of art. A gift from the gods the rest of us had no business even looking at, yet there I was, lurking in the shadows in a state of awe and wonder as she brought her blood magick to life.
I’d just flown back after wrapping up Keradoc’s latest assignment—helping his guards secure a newly discovered field of corpsevine just north of the Boiling Glass Sands—when I noticed the tell-tale red glow shining from our balcony. I knew I should’ve left her in peace, let her practice her spells alone, but I couldn’t help myself.
Now, I stayed hidden behind a pillar of obsidian while she kneeled in a pentacle made of dirt and muttered her latest spell, two bowls of blood on the ground before her, both glowing red.
When she finished her spell, the bowls glowed brighter, but then fizzled out quickly.
“No,” she hissed. “No no no…Damnit! Why? Why have you forsaken me? Havethouforsaken? Hast thou? Ugh.” She tilted her face to the moons and shook her fist.
I couldn’t help the laugh that slipped out. She was so fucking cute.
She heard me though. Let out a little yelp and jumped back, hand pressed to her heart.
Busted, I stepped out of the shadows and shrugged, like,what are ya gonna do?
“Didn’t see you there, Gargs.” Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of me, then my girl cracked up. She swept a hand up and down, indicating my naked form. “Wow, so you’re pretty much always free-balling it these days, huh?”
“What can I say? I like the feel of the wind on my—”
“Biceps. I get it.”
I laughed again—couldn’t be helped. Hell, the woman had made me smile more in a few weeks than anyone else had in my entire existence. “Gargoyles ain’t got the same hangups about flesh that you humans do. Not that I don’t appreciate and venerate certain forms of it, mind you. Just that I don’t feel a sudden need to duck and cover after I shift back into human form.”
“Nor should you.” She crossed the balcony to meet me in the middle and grinned up at me, stretching up to loop her arms around my neck, seemingly undisturbed by my nudity.
“Careful,” I teased. “Keep greeting me like this after a hard night’s work, and I might start getting used to it.”
“Like I’m getting used to seeing your naked, tattooed ass on full display?”
“No one said you had to look.”
“As if I could tear my gaze away.” She let out a dreamy sigh. “Maybe you’re onto something though. MaybeIshould try it. Saunter around the castle in the nude. Give Keradoc’s guards something to gossip about besides the size of their swords.”
“Hate to rain on your parade, but that’sdefinitelynot happening. Long as those creeps are near, you’re staying fully clothed. Matter fact, why aren’t you wearing a coat? And a scarf? And maybe a cape, just to cover the bases?”
“Excuse me?” she teased. “That’s hardly fair.”
“Just saving lives, babygirl.” I picked her right up, tucking her close against my chest as I carried her to the far edge of the balcony. “Anyone other than my boys so much as twitched aneyelidnear your fine naked self, I’d snap their heads off, dump out the shit-for-brains inside, and use their empty skulls as beer mugs and no, I wouldn’t feel bad about it. Not even a little.”
