Page 2 of A Taste For Lies (The Apex Kingdom #1)

Chapter 2

ALORA

S ighing, I sink deeper into the tub, soaking away the dirt and sweat of the past three weeks before squeezing fragrant jasmine soap into my hands and starting on my hair. I take the time to massage my scalp with my fingernails and slowly work the lather through the long, thick tresses. The water could definitely be warmer—Shenmi making her feelings known yet again—but it’s still divine.

“Lor! You’re back!” Eleni’s trilling voice, thick with the local Shanterran dialect, interrupts my ministrations. She bursts into the bathing room, then promptly flushes a light pink to the roots of her white-blonde hair upon finding me in the bath. She spins around and faces the doorway.

My lips curve up of their own accord. “Len. It’s just a naked body. You’ve got one, too.” I duck under the water to rinse, then, before she can react, surge out of the bath, dripping wet, and make as if to wrap her in a bear hug.

She shrieks and bolts out of the room. Laughing like a loon, I grab a towel and dry off before throwing on my favorite silky floral robe.

The decadent feeling of clean clothes against my clean body is a luxury I will never again take for granted.

Eleni leans against the wall of the green room, arms crossed over her ample chest, big blue eyes narrowed. Still chuckling, I hold open my arms in peace. Without hesitation, she walks into them, squeezing me tight enough to steal my breath. “I missed you. This place is never the same when you’re gone.”

“Oof, I missed you, too.”

One final squeeze and she steps back. Though not without giving me a pinch. “That’s for teasing me.”

“But you make it so easy.” I grin. Whenever men get a look at Eleni, they make assumptions about the curvaceous knockout. But at twenty-two, she’s still innocent as a girl, with the heart of a hopeless romantic. “Any romantic liaisons while I was away?”

Eleni bites her lip. “I’m thinking of approaching Bowen Sun.”

I jolt backwards. “Absolutely not.”

“Come on, Lor.” I would never describe someone with a voice as sweet as Eleni’s as whining, but this comes pretty close. “I have nothing exciting in my life. I create beautiful clothes so other people can go off and have adventures in them. Including you! I need my own adventure. A romantic adventure.”

Unlike the rest of us criminals, Eleni isn’t a spy or a thief or a cutthroat. She’s the guild tailor, a talented seamstress who constructs all our disguises. Costumes designed to look as good as the real thing, with silhouettes made for stealth.

And pockets. Lots of pockets. Never underestimate the power of a beautiful garment with pockets.

I wrinkle my nose. “Not Bowen Sun.”

“Why? You think he wouldn’t be interested?”

I snort. “Bowen is interested in anything on two legs. He’s too experienced for you.”

She rolls her eyes. “They’re all too experienced for me.”

I huff a laugh, kneeling to sort through my trunk for this evening’s disguise. “You’re not wrong. But Bowen is a notorious rake.” My attention flicks up to meet my best friend’s gaze. “Is that really who you want for your first romance?”

“Maybe?” Eleni falls to her knees at my side, helping me sort through the layers of folded fabric. “Lately I’ve been wondering if I might be tired of waiting for the perfect man. Maybe a more experienced partner is just what I need.”

Eleni is nearly my opposite in every way—the innocent sunshine to my jaded darkness, physically fair to my dark hair and bronzed skin.

But the one thing we share has built an unbreakable bond between us: our foreign heritage and resulting outcast status in the guild. With her silvery hair, Eleni is easily recognized as a daughter of the Thalassarian islands. In Shanterra, where all the locals have dark hair and eyes paired with ivory skin, she stands out more than I do.

I pause my digging and catch Eleni’s small hand. Eyes as deep as the Thalassarian sea collide with mine. “The right person is always worth waiting for, Len.”

She squeezes my hand—a silent acknowledgement. As a young guild member aching for acceptance, I made a very different choice. Eleni’s romantic life is hers to navigate, but I will be damned if I let someone like Bowen Sun hurt her that way.

“Besides”—I drop her hand and go back to sorting through the fabrics—“everyone knows Bowen is terrible in bed.”

“Lor!” She smacks my shoulder. “Have you slept with him?”

I shudder. “Absolutely not.” I wish Bowen was the worst man I’d slept with.

“Then how do you know?”

I waggle my eyebrows. “Girls talk.”

Like it always does, Eleni’s bubbly laughter eases the ache in my heart. Not completely, but somewhat.

“This one,” she declares, unearthing a black-and-burgundy masterpiece. “Go ahead, try it on.”

“I need to eat first.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I came prepared.” Eleni jumps to her feet, pausing to hang this evening’s gown to let the wrinkles out. Before she can fully turn around, I’m already elbow-deep in the grease-covered paper bag she brought.

“I wuv you,” I tell her earnestly around a mouthful of flaky dough .

Her trilling laughter chimes again. “You’re always dying for pastries when you finish reconnaissance.”

I swallow a too-large bite. “You would be too if you’d been surviving on nuts and jerky for the better part of a month.”

Her smile dims. “Well, I don’t think surveillance is in the cards for me.”

I pause my rabid chewing. “You’re a goddess at tailoring, Len. No one else can do what you do. Trust me, the last place you want to be is up on a freezing rooftop, peeing in a bucket.”

She sighs. “No, you’re right. I don’t really want to be a thief. No offense.”

I wave her comment away, stuffing more of the heavenly goodness into my mouth.

“But I meant what I said earlier. I need some adventure in my life.”

I eye her with suspicion. “Is Shenmi giving you a hard time again? Because everyone knows how important you are to this guild, and Xinlei would be furious if he knew she was devaluing your work.”

“No.” I give her a hard look. “ No ,” she insists. “It has nothing to do with Shenmi. I’m just…ready for something more. And if that something isn’t going to be Bowen Sun—”

“It’s not.”

“Right. But I’m tired of not having a partner. When you’re not around, which, let’s face it, a lot of the time you’re gone on a job, I’m bored out of my mind around here.” Eleni sits on the small bed, twisting her hands in her lap. “I want to see the fashions in different societies. Expand my craft. Someday, I’d even like to visit Thalassar, but I would settle for Veridia. At least they’re a coastal country with trade and different cultures.” A place where her silvery hair wouldn’t mark her as other. Where she might have a better chance of finding that elusive partner she’s always wished for.

I finish off the final bite with relish, wiping my hands on the bath towel. I’ve been anticipating this conversation for the past month, and I don’t want to have my mouth stuffed with pastry while I have it. Joining Eleni on the bed, I take her small hands in mine. She meets my gaze with trusting ocean eyes .

“I think we should go.” Her mouth pops open. “To Veridia,” I add, in case that wasn’t clear.

“Lor,” she breathes. “You’ve never been open to leaving before. What changed?”

I drop her hands and rub at my chest. “It’s getting worse.”

“The ache?”

“Yes. It’s always been there, but lately…” My heart pangs as if it’s been squeezed. “When I was up there alone on that rooftop, the hole was so gaping sometimes I felt like—” I don’t need to finish. Since she joined the guild eight years ago, Eleni and I have been close as sisters. She knows the piece that’s missing.

“What do you think Xinlei would say?”

I rub the aching spot again. “I don’t know. I’ve never broached it with him before. I feel guilty just asking. But I think, I hope , he’d understand. It’s not like I’m running off to join the Veridian Guild. I just need time to find some answers.”

“And you’re sure Veridia is the place to find them?”

“I’m not sure of anything, Len.” And damn if that doesn’t sting more than the constant hole inside my rib cage. “I don’t remember anything before Xinlei found me wandering around Shanterra when I was fifteen. Do I have parents out there? A brother? A sister? A best friend?”

She clasps my hand again, lacing our fingers. “Your best friend is here.”

I smile back half-heartedly. “I speak fluent Veridian. I look Veridian. If I’m going to find answers, they’ll be in Veridia.” I reach for the charm on my neck with my free hand. “You know that I was wearing this lynx necklace when Xinlei first found me. I’ve been thinking, the Elite record every Apex that ever emerged, along with their inner creatures. Maybe my parents were Apex in Veridia. Maybe one of them had a lynx for their inner creature. Maybe that’s why they…abandoned me.”

Eleni squeezes my hand. “I’m sure they didn’t want to, Lor.”

No one knows why certain people emerge as Apex when they hit puberty. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it—it’s certainly not passed down in families. I suppose a priestess would call it a blessing from the goddess Faunera. Doesn’t sound like much of a blessing to me. But it does mean that my being human doesn’t necessarily mean my parents were.

I push out a frustrated breath. “It’s not that I miss my family, whoever they are. The ache, it doesn’t feel like a missing memory. Or the feeling when you long for someone who’s not there. It feels like a piece of my soul has broken off. It’s getting so I can hardly breathe around it.

“I’m going to ask Xinlei tomorrow after I bring him the pearls.” Saying the words out loud feels right. “Will you come with me?”

Eleni’s eyes sparkle. “ I’m the one who told you that we should go to Veridia!”

“You don’t think your family will mind?”

She scoffs. “They’ll hardly notice. Giselle is too busy with her own family, my mother is too busy with her grandbabies, and my father’s head is always buried in his work.” Eleni’s father moved his entire family here from Thalassar when she was a baby for a position tutoring the Elite Shanterran nobles. They all believe she’s a regular seamstress, picking up odd jobs for the local Elite.

“It’s going to be dangerous,” I warn her. “And Xinlei’s not going to want to lose both of us at the same time.”

Eleni brushes my concerns aside with a wave of her hand. “You’ll need a tailor if you’re going to pull this off. Shenmi and the rest can make do with the many disguises I’ve already made for them.” A sly smile that is very unlike my friend pulls at her mouth. “And perhaps while I’m gone, they’ll learn just how valuable a good tailor really is.”

A few hours later, as Eleni is helping me tie the last of the ribbons on my gown for the evening, I silently promise that I, personally, will never forget the value of a skilled tailor .

Like everything she makes, the work is exquisite. The structured bodice is black with a sweetheart neckline and drooping off-the-shoulder straps that give the illusion of feminine charm without restricting movement.

The deep burgundy skirt has light layers that make a delicate swishing sound when I walk. More importantly, they hide my soft suede work leggings and boots.

“Let me do your hair and makeup,” she suggests, and I give in immediately.

I could say it’s because she’s more familiar with the styles worn by the Shanterran Elite. The truth is, I’m feeling a little nostalgic on the night of what could be my final job in town for the foreseeable future. I want to shut my eyes and let her pamper me.

She starts by sweeping kohl on my lashes, smudging it at the edges. Powder lightens my skin and covers the freckles that sprinkle the bridge of my nose from too much time spent outdoors. A deep burgundy lip stain matches the skirt and finishes off the dramatic effect.

Shanterran Elite fashion is in a theatrical mood at the moment, and I can’t say I mind it.

Eleni pulls out the ribbons twisted in the bottom of my long, blessedly clean hair, revealing loose, bouncy curls.

“Pull back at least the top half so I can add the hairpin, please.”

She nods and begins weaving many intricate braids from my temples, drawing them together at the back of my head, where they will fade into the curls down my back. She slides an ornate golden hairpin—a backup stiletto—into the braid. Nearly as precious to me as my custom lockpick set, it was a priceless gift from Xinlei on the eve of my first solo job.

There. That will hold it out of my eyes and still be in keeping with the tousled look the Elite are so fond of. I tug a few fine strands out of the braids. Just enough so the look appears effortless.

That’s the trick. To appear as though you spent mountains of coin and countless hours to look this way, and simultaneously none at all. It’s the height of absurdity, and I can think of nothing else that better defines what it means to be Elite .

“All done.” Eleni squeezes my shoulder. I should probably get going. It’ll take a while to make my way back uptown, and I need to stage my arrival at the perfect time.

“Now, off with you!” She makes a shooing motion. “Go steal those pearls so we can get on the road and get you some answers!”

A skilled tailor may be valuable. But they’ve got nothing on the worth of a best friend.