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Even the ridiculous amount of money they were offering me wasn’t enough to push me into saying yes. As much as the money would help my current situation, it wasn’t everything.
“Still, no thanks.” I stepped toward the door again. “It’s not worth it.”
The Moon Oracle’s lips pressed into a line for a moment before her calm mask returned. “Fine. Would you do the job for information about the death of your parents?”
Chapter2
Arden
Information about the death of my parents was worth more than any amount of money the Moon Oracle could offer me. I was orphaned when I was a baby and didn’t have any family. The orphanages I’d grown up in didn’t know who my parents were, either. As I got older, I was passed around to foster homes before going out on my own when I was sixteen. Despite voluntarily choosing to take me in, all of my foster parents treated me like a nuisance, so I didn’t try asking.
Finally getting some answers made my heart flutter.
Still, I told her I’d think about it and left for my shift at Muddy Mugs Coffee. The walk through Rouhaven’s long avenues gave me plenty of time and space to think. Something about the bustling activity made it easier to get into my own head.
Stealing from the Royals was still suicidal. It required getting into their palace, which was charmed and protected by enforcers at every turn. And then I had to deal with whatever spells were around the artifact, since I highly doubted they’d leave something that had the power to take them down out in the open. If I got that far, I’d have to sneak all the way back out without being caught and flayed alive.
I was good with spells and my fists. As a fae who didn’t have any power over any of the elements or the ability to shift into an animal or other being, I had to be. But was I good enough to pull this off?
I tried to imagine a life where the gap in the fabric of who I was didn’t exist. I didn’t assume that knowing would make me happier, but it would make me content, at least.
Though I was used to being alone, that didn’t take away my curiosity about what my family would have been like if they had been around. All I knew was that my parents were dead, my mother’s last name was Hardy, and I’d ended up at an orphanage somehow.
How did the Moon Oracle know something I didn’t? I’d done research from time to time, but I hadn’t gotten far at all.
Was knowing my past really worth dying over? I’d made it this far without the knowledge, and I’d done just fine. I’d built a life for myself with my own two hands. Maybe what I had was more than enough, especially if having that information meant dying.
I pushed open the door to Muddy Mugs, the scent of roasting coffee beans and the noise of the espresso machine washing over me. The familiarity of it calmed my nerves. I’d been working here since I was sixteen and liked it. It was the kind of place where people felt comfortable lingering, catching up with friends in the big leather chairs, or working away in a corner.
Luckily, it was a slow day. Two of our regulars, some students from the nearby university, were hanging out in the corner, not getting anything done from the look of it.
“Hey!” my best friend Lucy said from behind the espresso machine once she stopped pulling a shot.
“Hey.” I slipped behind the bar, gently bumping her with my hip as I passed. “What’s up? Light day?”
“Yeah, thankfully. You’re lucky you missed the morning rush.” She dumped the espresso shot she’d just pulled into a big travel mug. “It was hellish.”
I went into the back to put my bag down and passed by the open office door. My boss, Chad, was behind his desk, his girlfriend-of-the-moment in his lap, giggling at something he’d said. His girlfriends were always giggling. Was it an age thing? He always went younger, maybe between eighteen and twenty-two. Twenty-three if he liked them a lot, though they never stuck around for long, regardless of their age.
Chad and I were friends, so I knew he wasn’t a total creep. Maybe they were drawn to him because he ran a successful business that catered to their age group. No offense to Chad, but he was fairly average looking.
I hung up my bag and went back out to the front to help Lucy. The familiar routine of making drinks and small talk with customers momentarily pushed the issue I was having out of my head, but it came back with a vengeance once the line ended.
“You okay?” Lucy asked, pouring herself some iced tea.
I leaned against the counter. “Yeah. I just have a lot to think about.”
The bell above the door jingled before I could tell her more. It was Tommy, my usual point person in the Forsaken Lunars. He was perfect for his job. He was the kind of fae who could go almost completely unnoticed because of his bland features, such as his mousy brown hair and dull brown eyes. Tommy was an average height and weight—neither muscular, skinny, or overweight—so he blended into almost every crowd. His only distinctive feature was the tattoo on his shoulder, which I only knew about because it peeked out of the collar of his shirt if he wore a V-neck.
He nodded at me in greeting, and I nodded back. He came in regularly, probably because I gave him a small discount for hooking me up with jobs.
“Hey, how are you?” I asked, going up to the register.
“Not bad. It’s good to see you.” He tucked his hands into his pockets and looked up at the menu, as if he didn’t get one of two options every time he came in. “I’ll take a latte, please.”
“Gotcha.”
I rang him up, and Lucy made his drink. Tommy and I never talked about the Forsaken Lunars when he was here, but I desperately wanted to ask him what he knew about the gig the Moon Oracle had offered me.
