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“Pleasure doing business with you.”
Atticus pokes his head in. “Boaz just stepped through the door.”
Zander curses.
“To the right and follow the corridor until you reach the back alley,” Bexley says, her rich, violet-blue eyes landing on me where they linger as her lips curl back. Two fangs slide out from her upper jaw, lethal but oddly delicate, their pristine white glimmering like jewels against the lantern’s glow.
I struggle to school my expression as my heart races. They’re not as unsightly as I first thought. Threatening, nonetheless.
Kaders grabs Bexley’s narrow waist and hauls her onto his lap, yanking up the layers of her dress. She wriggles her thighs around his and with his first groan, it’s safe to assume he’s seated himself in her. They’ve dismissed their audience entirely.
My cheeks are flushed as I scoot sideways across the bench to exit, but not before I see Bexley gingerly sink her teeth into the side of Kaders’s burly neck, earning a second guttural groan from deep within his chest.
Zander grabs my hand and tugs me out just as Bexley begins to rock her hips. On impulse, I swipe three gold coins from the table on the way and slip them into the inner pocket of my cloak.
Atticus leads the way, ushering us to the right as instructed. We dart along the hall, passing a slew of occupied stalls. By the time we step out into an alley that smells of rotten garbage and urine, I’ve seen at least a dozen immortals feeding off humans, a few of them in copulatory poses.
“Elisaf said this was a tavern.”
Atticus chuckles. “It is.”
“If tavern means brothel.” And not even a respectable one with private rooms.
“Where did you think we would collect the most pertinent information? Over a loaf of dark rye at the market’s bread stand?” His grin is smug beneath the lantern as his eyes roll over me from head to toe. “Was that too much for your delicate disposition?”
“I’m not delicate,” I snap. I’ve stumbled upon more than my share of lewd acts—blow jobs behind convenience stores, hand jobs against the wall at the club, sex within the shadows of a public park or the dingy stalls of the subway restrooms. “I just wasn’t expecting it.”
Zander gently slips my hood over my hair and then takes my hand. He’s wearing an oddly pensive expression. “We need to get back to the horses.”
The three of us run along the backside of the buildings, the cats and rats scattering out of our way. We pass two men and a woman tangled in a complicated menage of limbs and flesh. I assume there are fangs somewhere in the mix, but I can’t decipher who is doing what to whom without pausing to shine a light on them. Regardless, the sounds they’re emitting are ones of seedy pleasure, not distress, and they aren’t the least bit bothered by our fleeting presence.
We emerge onto a side street.
“I’ll get our horses. You two wait here.” Atticus disappears into the night, leaving Zander and me alone.
It’s quiet here but people linger, stealing glances at the two cloaked figures standing at the street’s edge.
“Royal guard, up ahead.” I nod to the two men approaching on horseback, but Zander has already noticed them. He wordlessly leads me across the street and into another alleyway, this one cleaner than the last but narrow, Zander’s shoulders nearly brushing the brick on either side. We’re twenty feet in before he stops. “This should be far enough.”
Far enough that they don’t catch the honeyed scent of my Ybarisan blood, he doesn’t say.
There’s nothing to do now but stand here, in a confined, dark space with Zander looming over me, until Atticus returns.
“I can’t believe we’re running from your own captain.” I feel the bubble of laughter threaten.
“You know how unpleasant Boaz can be.” Zander’s voice is low and gravelly.
“I’ve noticed.” Thankfully, Zander has kept him away from me. “You like sneaking around down here, don’t you?”
“I enjoy the freedom of being anonymous, and unseen.” He pauses. “As do you.”
It’s what I’m used to. It’s what I know. I smile into the darkness. “This was fun.” I feel more like myself tonight than I have in a long time. “What do you think about this Gesine tip?”
“She could be traveling under an assumed name.”
“That’s what I thought too, though I wonder what happened to the other caster she was with.” I think back to the conversation in the booth. “Kaders knew what Bexley had planned for him, didn’t he?”
“Yes.” I hear the humor in Zander’s voice.
