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Strictly speaking, I didn't even need to submit myself to the last six months of...community service? I let my brother bully me into throwing the council a bone, so they could pretend they were in charge of me. I could have argued the assignment. Instead, I had a better plan in mind: revenge.

Damian knew it was coming. He just wasn’t sure of the details: when I would strike, or what I would do to get back at him for this.

The fact that I could make Damian squirm for ans extended time was the one single reason why I didn’t submit an appeal—which would have required a vote by all five founding families, and they would have gotten me out of it because none of them wanted the precedent.

There was no other reason why I didn’t make a fuss. Certainly not the fact that I knewshe'dbe here.

In fact, I wasn't certain at all that I'd see her. Granted, last I heard, she had entered enslavement—pardon me,employment—as a Guard trainee, but there were several departments, divided between each of the twelve gates of Highvale, and the Guard itself—an amphitheater next to the Hall of Truce, right at the center of the city.

She could have been assigned to a gate. I didn’t know. I wasn’tthatmuch of a stalker. I just happened to…observe her when she was in my general vicinity. It was instinctual. I just wasn’t accustomed to the presence of a threat, and all my instincts tingled when she was near.

Usually, I was the apex predator in the room.But that girl? She was something else.

I was curious.

“But you have to come to my club,” Gideon insisted again. “You’d love it. It’s just like you: all dark and mysterious.”

Will heeverdrop this?

I crunpled a blank piece of paper into a ball, willed it to catch fire, and tossed it at his head to vent some frustration.

Gideon caught it without even looking up.

The blond colossal pile of muscle looked dumb enough to be called Chad, but after getting to know him I could attest he was of perfectly average intellect, if a little too courageous for his wellbeing.

“You saved my bloody life,” he repeated. “Least I could do would be buying you a damn drink. Why won’t you let me?”

“Do you know how much paperwork I’d have to file if I let you die?” I pointed out. “It was entirely self-serving. No drink needed.”

Ordinarily, Iwouldhave cashed in a favor, but as the warrior insisted in repaying them at the bar, I passed.

He might genuinely have wanted me there, but he’d be the only one this side of the city.

All right, that wasn’t quite accurate. Plenty of valers liked me just fine in dark alleys, secluded corridors, or in closets. I was the guy they wanted to touch, whisper to, and make deals with in the dark. But if I showed up in one of their bars, the hypocrites would gasp, faint, and give me a wide berth.

Several times per year, I was forced to mix with their kind, because the new bloods sitting on the ruling council of Highvale loved nothing more than to appropriate the traditions of the founding families. Solstice balls, Samhain fetes, the smaller and greater Dionysia, the Sabbats… Starting all these celebrations in the Hall of Truce was written in the city charter, which meant we had to be there. Yet the valers acted likewewere the interlopers, when they didn’t even begin to understand the significance of each of the celebrations.

Still, we weren’t about to go against the edicts of our patron gods, so we began in the Hall, before moving the party down to unders.

It was no exaggeration to say I’d happily poke out my eyeballs with a fork rather than endure the valers’ contempt of my own free will. My time uptown was mandated by the magistrate. The end.

“Don’t make me do it,” Gideon said, his tone changing a little. “I don’t want to, but I will.”

Ihad to wonder if the bloke had finally lost his mind. One too many spells cast his way. Why else would he attempt to threaten me?

I turned my full attention to him, mildly curious. He didn’t show any outward sign of insanity, though I couldn’t help but notice an alarming degree of smugness.

All right. Curiosity piqued. “Do what, exactly?”

“We both know I canmakeyoutag along, Regis.”

I was about to tell him that not even my mother had ever attempted to make me do anything I wasn’t inclined to, when he continued.

“I’ll just callher.”

I swallowed, leaning back in my seat as I took in my partner with a newfound degree of begrudging respect. So, he noticed the girl made me squirm, did he? It was the first time hementioned it, but there was no question who he was referring to. There was only one woman in the entire city whose simple mention made me pause.

I scrutinized at Gideon, jaw tight. That was plain blackmail, and Gideon was a self-proclaimed good guy. He wouldn’t actually resort to that.