Page 42 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

His distant chuckle tickles the back of my head.

“Put down the dagger, Adina.” I’m surprised when the words come from Cora. I turn my attention to her, but the dagger stays put.

“We need him, and all of this is just wasting time.”

“She’s right, I’ll be fine. I promise,” Tori says.

I ignore them both, turning my attention back to the arrogant idiot with the smile on his face.

“I don’t trust you, and I’m not leaving her side until she’s safely on that wagon. We either go together, or I start cutting little pieces out of you until you reveal the location. Have it your way.”

Now you are speaking my language,Athriel beams.

Cora mumbles something, but I don’t care. I already got Tori into this with my stupid threats, and I’m going to make sure I get her out of it.

“Gods, why do I find you so damn attractive when you threaten me? It’s almost guaranteed that I’m going to die at the hands of a beautiful woman. I just can’t resist.” He shakes his head and laughs. “Put the dagger down, you can come as long as you can keep up.”

I scoff. “You know I can keep up.”

“Don’t I know it.”

After around twenty minutes of walking in silence, we finally stop on a quiet cobblestone street lined with fire-lit lampposts. Sometimes I forget what the flames of a real fire look like since I’m forever surrounded by starlight.

According to Finn, guards rarely patrol here since it’s the side of the court where the non-potent live, and in the eyes of the vamps, their lives are far more expendable. I try to ignore the twist in my gut at the thought of any life beingexpendable.

Some are.

Not human ones,I snap.

That depends entirely on who you ask, I’m afraid.

I push Athriel’s words to the back of my mind, the truth of them too painful to accept. I shift my attention to the white stone building we are standing in front of, its windows slightly ajar, giving way to a warm glow and a chorus of laughter.

“What is this place?” Tori asks.

“I don’t know,” I say.

A quiet creaking steals my attention, and my eyes lift to a wooden sign swinging against the gentle night breeze, itschipped surface still bearing the ghost of faded red letters.Rita’s Tavern.

My head whips in Finn’s direction as the memory of reading about Taverns in one of the books back at the bloodhouse fills my mind.

“Please don’t tell me that you’re trying to stop for a drink in the middle of what we’re doing?”

He rolls his eyes at me.

“You know, your low opinion of me is really starting to hurt my feelings, Barron,” he says with a stupid smile on his face. “We’re here because it’s exactly where we need to be. You two just focus on looking normal.”

Tori and I exchange a look.

“What in the realm are you talking about? We are normal.”

He laughs at this.

“No, you are two privileged little purebloods and we’re about to walk inside a tavern full of humans who have never spilled a drop of blood to feed a vampire.”

Tori’s eyes widen at his words.

“Your point?” I ask.