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I lifted the horn. I was, in fact, very well versed in the art of socializing. I just didn’t expect to have to make use of those skills tonight. When Gideon insisted on setting up this party, I figured it would be two or three of his friends, not four dozen.

“Six months!” I said over the cheers, which died down. “When I was sent to the Guard, I thought I’d be bored to tears. But you guys are actually hopeless enough to have thoroughly entertained me.”

There were chuckles all around.

“To the end of an era.” Then I brought the drink to my lips, andfuck, that was good.

I didn’t expect the sweet, fruity, slightly spiced flavor.

Everyone drank with me, then returned to their chatter, thank all the gods.

I kept drinking, unable to stop myself until the horn was empty. “Damn!”

“I’m gonna need one of those,” Ronan decided.

“Me too. Another one, that is. What was that?” I turned to Kleos.

“Mead. It’s not too strong, so I stick to it, otherwise Gideon drinks me under the table. Hey,” she said casually to Ronan, offering her free hand. “Kleos.”

We moved to the bar together, the man behind it busy pouring pints and flirting with a couple of runner girls whose names I never bothered to learn.

We took a seat, ready to wait for our turn, but Kleos hopped on the counter, and leapt down to the other side before my widening eyes.

Fuck, she was far enough away I couldn’t miss what she was wearing.

Skinny white jeans, the kind that stopped a couple of inches from the ankle, paired with leather wedge heels. Her long-sleeved black top was plain enough, but hid absolutely nothing of the curve of her bust. And her fuckingtits.

The reinforced sports bra I’d seen her in before had done criminal things to those tits. Her sweetheart neckline was modest, but I genuinely had not associated Kleos Valesco with tits until this second, so it still seemed obscene.

She turned to face the row of drinks, and then, the evil, evil thing dropped her upper body down to open a fridge.

Returning with a large bottle and another tankard, she saw me—never mind,us—gawking at her like hormonal teenagers at their first glimpse of aPlayboymagazine. Naturally, Kleos completely misconstrued our staring.

“Oh, I’m allowed here. My dad owns this place,” she explained, serving all three of us.

“Yo, Valesco, can I have some of that?” someone called, and she scurried toward him.

“Marry her, or I will,” Ronan deadpanned.

I grabbed his wrist, and let myself suck in on his life force for seven delicious seconds, wordlessly making my point.

Watch it, Nachtigall.

11

KLEOS

ARegis and a Nachtigall in my club. Who would have imagined?

Well, technically, my father’s club, but he only bought it because Gideon and I begged him to. The Silvervine was a necessity.

Life as a Valesco came with a number of privileges, and the price we paid was public scrutiny. It was a little easier for Gideon. He didn’t deal with the level of attention I was under. His father, Leo, was my dad’s little brother, and hadn’t inherited the bulk of the family’s business. Plus my father was the one who went into politics, and chose an eminent wife.

Uncle Leo repaired clocks, and had gotten married to a dragon shifter—which in Highvale,wasn’tall that impressive. Had Auntie Hilda’s beast been the kind of fire-spitting, monument-breaking, twenty-feet-plus creature of legends, it would have been one thing, but she turned into a white eight-foot-tall scaled wyvern with a spiked tail and ridges all over her back. Frankly? She was rather cute; not that I’d tell her to her face. I did value my skin. Besides, she’d likely get back at me by making all trainees do extra endurance training.

So, people certainly paid attention to Gideon, but he didn’t feature in theVale’s Gazetteweekly. I did.

People analyzed my clothes, the company I kept, the food I ate—anything I did in public. When I was younger, they relished in all my missteps. My father had to pay a fortune in bribes to keep the worst of my magical accidents from the front page.