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“Unless there’s a vampire here or a servant from a house, but these will take care of that.”
She stared at the uniforms he presented and the logo that wasn’t House Hendricks. At his cajoling, she hastily donned hers in an empty alley and scrutinized the outfit he had on: basic slacks, a basic shirt, and a vest.
“Matthew and Rebekah like to wear them when they want to check out the market.”
Comprehension dawned at what he wasn’t saying, and she followed him out, baffled. True to his word, the humans went on with their activities, not sparing them a glance as they strolled through rows of stalls bright with lights and rushed conversations. They avoided other figures in uniform and stopped at a stall with handcrafted jewelry pieces, where he haggled the price of a bracelet to uphold the servant status. The smile on her face was contagious when he clasped it on her wrist.
“You have done this before,” she accused.
“A few times before. Matthew and I scoured the streets and looked for those their house could save. Now they do it on the regular. The man’s amazing.”
The hand on his arm had him meeting her solemn blue eyes. “So are you.”
“It’s all his. His house takes them in, not me.”
“But you are there for him. You are making a difference.”
Her belief in him staggered, a beautiful balm to his heart that had always kept itself protected.
“Not enough.”
“Tonight, it will be more,” she promised. “Sticky sweets?”
Nate blinked when a red substance hovered in front of him, and she gestured at him to open his mouth. Anticipating the taste of blood, pleasure rose when it was something caramel-tasting instead, the taste sticking to his tongue even when he had already swallowed it.
“What is it?”
“Sugar. A source of energy bursts, especially for those who work in heavy labor or are on their feet the whole day.”
He noted that there were a lot of stalls selling those and bread, but none of the nutritious stuff that he and his staff were used to eating. Nate offered a silent prayer that tonight would go well and he could change this, too. For now, he looked at Winter, who stopped in front of the boat construction site.
“Summer and Dante stayed here in disguise. They were initially just supposed to help each other out but fell in love in the process—her the naïve girl who knew nothing about this world and only came here to find me, and him a prisoner from the Wasteland who wanted her out of the Otherworld as fast as possible.”
“Oh? And you are okay with this?”
She shrugged. “My sister isn’t a fool. And he’s not so bad. Their hearts found each other like all those romance books.”
His opened up, and he stared at her as she looked at the stacks of unbuilt boats and lights installed. Her nose was upturned, and a smile lingered on her lips as she studied the setup.
“These lights were not here before.”
“Matthew’s idea. Some houses whose servants run errands at night helped out.”
A yearning filled his soul when her face lit up as she followed the strings running all around the pathways, wishing she would look at him like that, too. He trailed after her, attention juggling between watching their surroundings and her until she circled back to the boat area.
“Winter.”
The yearning changed to a different kind of emotion when she turned to him, and her face did light up with joy. It reached out to him, squeezing his insides until he couldn’t take in air. He took her hand, guiding her out of the open space and to a corner stall that had already closed.
“Nate…” she whispered, but the rest was lost in the kiss they shared. Her mouth opened for him, soft and trusting, then bolder as she nipped his lower lip and willed him to keep kissing her. He growled low in his throat, then broke off the kiss as it switched to desperate.
“Not here.”
“The castle’s too far away,” she protested, then went so quiet, he could already see the wheels in her mind turning.
“Do you know a place here?”
“A storage space for some stalls on the other end. The family sleeps early. They wake up early, too, just before the sun comes up.”
