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“Well served, officer. Now off with you—I’m sure you have your men to attend to.”
Falcon waved him away, just as I’d waved Starling to stay where she was. Liam disappeared back into the darkness, while I settled onto my seat to nurse my whiskey through the remainder of the feast, careful not to look directly into Starling’s inquiring gaze.
Chapter 33
In Which I Am Taken by Surprise
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“Oh, for heavens’sake, Starling, I just went to get some whiskey.”
“You should have taken me with you.” Starling walked with stiff stubbornness beside me, ostensibly to show me the new tent location.
“What, you’re my babysitter now?”
Starling stopped. Her face crumpled. Was it me, or did her hair look less blond suddenly?
“Hey—” I reached out to touch her arm. “I’m sorry. I just…” I rubbed my face with my hands. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Starling wiped away a tear. “You’re just under a lot of pressure.” She placed her hand over mine. “I understand. I really do.”
I let it go, even as I was tempted to confide in her. As we continued our walk, Starling fell silent and I indulged in the sweet sizzle of anticipation of seeing Liam later. Or tried. Now that the moment had passed, I felt a bit less enthused. Hopefully this wasn’t a bad idea. And me, for the one-night stand?
Not really in character for me.
Of course, none of this was, anymore. I had been reborn into a new world. I could be whoever the hell I wanted to be. One orgasm with a man—a human man—and I’d have another data point on the sex-and-magic thing.
I ignored the sneaky voice whispering that I wasn’t being exactly rational. Who could blame me? I deserved a little fun, didn’t I?
Still, when it came time to sneak out like some guilty teenager, my stomach clenched. The camp was as silent as it ever became, which wasn’t much. Starling, though, had long since gone to bed and I’d dismissed Larch’s guys. Good thing I’d already established a rep for being temperamental and sending servants packing, willy-nilly.
I kept the Ann Taylor sorceress dress on, so I could pretend to be working still, if anyone checked on me. And fiddled at my workbench for the same reason. My grimoire had been set in a place of honor, writing tools next to it. The vial of dragon’s blood stood off to the side, where it couldn’t be carelessly bumped.
I didn’t feel like messing with either one.
On a sudden thought, I jumped up and rummaged through my trunk. My heart fluttered in a bit of panic, until my fingers closed over the wooden box. I yanked it out and unwrapped the glass globe from its cocoon of silk.
Undisturbed by the move, the crystal swirled with living night, glinting feral blue. I could feel the silk sweep of Rogue’s obsidian hair, almost scent him through the glass.
Shaking off the sense that I was somehow being unfaithful to Rogue, I nevertheless tucked the marble into the pocket of my skirt, even as I turned at the slight noise behind me.
A kind of creature I hadn’t seen before stood inside my tent flaps.
He was a shriveled, sooty skeleton. Like a doll made of pipe cleaners that had been set on fire and quickly doused. My skin crawled at the sight.
The creature beckoned me with a silent gesture. I stopped and pulled on my cloak, wishing it to black for discretion. I kept the heels high, though my feet ached from being in them all day. This was, after all, a date. I looked in the mirror and tried to drum up my earlier excitement, but the woman in it stared back at me with dark green sobriety.
The glass marble in my pocket felt obscurely comforting. Odd since Rogue would likely not wish to bolster me on this particular project. I turned back and grabbed my dagger, putting it in my cloak pocket for good measure.
I followed the thing through the shadowed back pathways of camp. We avoided the parties that still continued. The shrieking, dancing and merrymaking faded to the edges.
Beyond the twin circles of light from both camps, a shrouded figure stood next to a dark horse. Liam tipped back his hood, his curls silver in the starlight. He held out a hand to me and I took it, the size of it startling me. Had I expected long, slim fingers?
Get a goddamn grip.
He drew me toward him and I hesitated, glancing to see where the stick creature went.
I might also have checked for amber eyes watching from the shadows.
