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Juniper hooks an arm through mine, and I look at her. “You all right?” she asks as Hannie is whisked away by a petite woman who is thrilled to see her.
“Yeah,” I breathe. “All good.”
“Don’t go dobbing on me to Caz in that head of yours.”
I laugh. “Trust me, he’s the last person I want to talk to right now.” My chest tightens after those words, making me short of breath. I don’t know what the feeling means. Maybe it’s from all the running we just did?
I let the feeling roll over me, shaking it off. It seems to only happen when I talk shit about Caz…or maybe my body is realizing the lies and reacting to them. Truth is, it wouldn’t be so bad to talk to him. Too bad he’s an asshole.
We enter the kitchen, where there’s a beautiful display of drinks on a waist-high table. The tablecloth drips with silver and gold, the glasses lined up neatly, some of them stacked. An ice sculpture is in the center, a swan with the beak of a crane. It’s all so beautiful that I don’t even want to touch it, but Juniper swipes a glass for herself, and I follow suit, picking one up and sipping it. The alcohol is sour, and my face puckers.
“What the hell is this?” I ask.
“Vinnel,” Juniper says. “Disgusting, but it really puts you in your element.”
“It’s really gross.” I place the glass back down. “Is there anything else to drink? Some wine?”
Juniper turns for another table, picks up a gold goblet and a steel bottle, and pours red liquid into the goblet. She carries it to me. “There you are, miss prissy.”
I take the goblet from her, sticking my tongue out before giving it a sip. “This is much better.”
“So, are there parties like this in your world?” Juniper leans against the wall, casually sipping.
“No.” I take a thorough look around. A guy in the corner is blowing fire into the air from his mouth with a bronzed liquid. Three women are belly dancing—one in the main living area, one in the kitchen, and another outside. A gay couple makes out by the back door, their tongues lodged down each other’s throats. A group hovers over a bar counter, sniffing gold dust up one nostril. When they inhale, their eyes sparkle like stars have exploded in them, and they grin. “Nothing like this.”
“Vanorians know how to party. I will give them that.”
“What made you want to come out tonight?”
Juniper shrugs. Sips. “I don’t know. Just needed a little fun, I suppose. It’s always so serious in Blackwater. Always about business and bloody rubies. Sometimes it’s nice tonotthink about any of it.”
“I get that. It’s the same with my job. I take days off, just to lie in my bed and read…or drink…or get high.”
A laugh bubbles out of Juniper. “You’re basically the female version of Caz, only he gets lifted off red tablets.”
“What are red tablets?”
“They’re a medicine created by Mythics that cures someone’s aches and pains. Caz has a sensory issue—doesn’t like to be touched much—so he has to take them, but they come with lots of side effects. The main one being that if you take too many, you’re lifted higher than the clouds.”
“Oh.” I shift on my feet. “Well, regardless, I’m sure he’s ready for me to get out of here.”
“Nah.” Juniper pushes off the wall, chugs the rest of her drink down, and then grabs another glass. “If he is, it’s only so he can be serious Caz again. It’s all he cares about. Seriously, it’sbetter that he’s out of Blackwater right now. That place will end up driving him mad if he lets it.”
The kissing couple is now making their way outside, stripping out of their clothes and slinking into a glittery pool. I can’t help watching them as they sink under the water, lip locked and tongue tied, then re-emerge, their hair shimmering in the night, like its coated in glitter.
“Do you date anyone?” I ask, turning to Juniper.
“I don’t date,” she says, waving a dismissive hand. “Waste of time, especially with Blackwater men. But I do get laid here and there by a guy who works at Blackwater Tavern.” She grins, taking pride in that. “Only thing is he’s the equivalent of a wolf in heat, so yeah, he’s suitable in bed, but downright awful with women.”
I swallow a mouthful of my drink and turn my head as Juniper does to focus on the people in the wide-open living room. The song changes to some kind of folksy song with a lot of bass, and I spot Hannie still chatting with the petite woman, both of them laughing, joyous.
A guy walks into the kitchen just as I’m about to take another mouthful of wine and bumps into me. I gasp as my drink tips over, spilling onto my shirt, sinking into the material. He brushes past Juniper to grab a drink, chugs it down, and then grabs another. Juniper looks at my shirt, her eyes stretching, before turning to him.
“Excuse me, love. Did you not feel yourself bumping into my friend here?” she asks, her head going into a slight tilt.
“No, Juniper—it’s okay.” Wearestanding in the way of the drinks. “Let’s just move.”
“We will. After he apologizes to you.”
