Page 47

Half an hour later, Taly was still waiting on their drink order, pushed into the farthest corner of the bar, her chin resting in one hand.

“You’ve been gone a long time,” Aimee said by way of greeting, hopping onto one of the barstools.

“Humans get served last.” To demonstrate, Taly held up a hand, trying to signal the man at the other end of the bar. When nothing happened, she stood on the brass footrest that ran the length of the battered wood counter, waving frantically with both hands.

The ruddy-faced Lowborn never turned her way.

“See,” she said and fell back on her stool.

Aimee frowned. “Well,” she said after a moment, “that simply won’t do.”

She lifted a finger—a single, demure finger.

The bartender immediately came running. “My Lady—”

But Aimee shushed him, sliding that finger to Taly. “Do you know who this is?”

“Aimee, you really don’t have to—”

But Aimee shushed her too, never taking her eyes away from the bartender, who was now looking between the two women, confused and increasingly panicked.

Taly knew the moment he realized his mistake. Humans didn’t typically wear silk and velvet, and they didn’t drink with Highborn. And now that Aimee had made a fuss, people were looking, whispering, craning their head and trying to get a closer look at what was happening with their “Savior.”

Taly sighed as the bartender muttered an apology and scrambled to refill their glasses. She’d been enjoying the temporary bubble of invisibility. Fey were horrible with human faces. Most forgot what she looked like the moment she left the table.

She turned to Aimee. “Was that necessary?”

“Yes,” Aimee said, taking one of the shots of liquor the bartender placed in front of them, on the house . “The attention makes you uncomfortable, and I find that quite fun.”

Taly reached for her own glass and lifted it in a toast. She could respect that. “You know, Aimee, you’re not half-bad once you remove that stick from your ass.”

“And I like you better once I’ve had a few of these.” Aimee clicked her glass to Taly’s, and, tipping their heads back, they downed them, shuddering at the Shards-awful taste.

“Yeah, that’s not getting any better,” Taly croaked, turning the empty glass over on the bar.

Aimee gave her an expectant look. “So?” she asked with a glance at their table. At Skye .

“So… what?” Taly asked, feigning ignorance.

“You and Skylen?”

“What about him?”

Aimee rolled her eyes. “You know what my brother always told me?”

“No, but I have a feeling you’re about to tell me.”

“He always said that if I wanted to marry Skylen, I’d have to marry you too.”

Taly sighed. “This is what I was afraid of. We manage to go one day without trying to maim each other, and you’re already proposing marriage.”

Aimee reached for one of the two glasses the bartender placed in front of them, purchased by a group of Lowborns at the other end of the bar. “So, what’s it like?” she asked.

“What’s what like?”

“You know. The sex . I’ve only been with one shadow mage, but it was…” She smiled. “… an experience.”

Taly downed her glass, grimacing when it was immediately replaced. Another drink bought by that same group. And maybe it was the alcohol making her honest. Otherwise, she never would’ve confessed, “I wouldn’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? What was that I walked in on earlier?”

Taly shrugged. “An attempt? We haven’t exactly been able to, you know…”

“No, I don’t know. I have a terrible imagination. You’re going to have to paint me a picture.” Aimee slid a bar napkin towards her as if that was precisely what she expected.

Taly craned her head. What the hell was taking that bartender so long? All she’d ordered was a few more pitchers of beer.

“So, wait,” Aimee said, words slurring a bit. “Are you seriously telling me that during all that time he wouldn’t get into bed with me, it wasn’t because he was already in bed with you?”

“Uh… yeah?”

Aimee squinted. “How does that make sense?”

“I think maybe he just didn’t like you , Aimee. You’re kind of a lot.”

“Huh,” was all she said, like it wasn’t the worst thing. In fact, losing to herself rather than Taly almost seemed to make it more palatable. Aimee raised her voice to be heard over the din of the bar, “There’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“I’m not going to marry you,” Taly said. “It’ll never work out.”

Aimee frowned. “Your loss. I would make an excellent wife. But that’s not what I meant. This morning, you offered to help me with my magic. I was wondering if the offer still stands.”

Taly’s brows flicked up. Today was Aimee’s day to surprise her, it seemed.

“Don’t get me wrong—I still think it’s pointless,” she went on. “But I’ve been trying to improve on my own without any progress. I figure it can’t hurt to try something new.”

Taly considered her, poised to toss back another shot. This wasn’t an easy thing for Aimee to ask. She understood that. Still— “Are you sure you’re comfortable taking advice from the one who killed your father?”

Aimee scowled. “Oh, please. You don’t actually expect me to believe I hurt your feelings.”

“I was so hurt,” Taly insisted. She couldn’t say it with a straight face. “Nah, you’re right. Coming from anybody else, maybe it would’ve stung. But from you, I just can’t make myself care.”

“Yes or no,” Aimee pressed.

“I have to answer now ?”

“Yes.”

“When I’ve been drinking and am clearly not capable of making sound decisions…” It was all coming together. “I see your plan,” Taly said. “Smart.”

“Family helps family.”

“And now we’ve moved on to guilt . Fantastic.” Taly reached for a bowl of nuts, popping one in her mouth. “You don’t get to complain about my music.”

“Now you’re just being absurd.”

“ And you have to compliment me. Right here, right now—give me praise.” Taly spread her arms, ready to receive it.

Aimee glared at her. “It’s amazing, you know.”

“What?”

“How little you’ve changed. You still act like you’re five years old.” Aimee took a sip of liquor. “There, I did it.”

Taly let her arms drop. “We’re going to need to work on your definition of a compliment.”

“And that’s when she told me I was too ‘clingy,’ Can you believe it? Me, clingy ?” Kato finished his ale and slammed the empty glass down on the table.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Aiden asked, head propped drunkenly in one hand as he watched Taly and Aimee at the bar.

Skye knew the answer to that. They were probably talking about what a half-cocked, overly excited dipshit he was. And Aimee, the opportunistic harpy , was no doubt advising Taly to cut her losses because this sort of thing didn’t get better.

His heel bounced beneath the table. He couldn’t believe he’d fucked up this badly. The one time it mattered, and what did he do? He fumbled .

His mind replayed the countless women he’d bedded successfully. They could all vouch for him. This didn’t happen. Not to him. He was a shadow mage—he had absolute control of his body.

Except with Taly, it seemed.

“You could at least pretend to be listening,” Kato grumbled, folded over the table. Apparently, he was a sad drunk.

“We are listening,” Aiden said, eyes on the bar, same as Skye. “Eula broke up with you.”

“Brutally,” Skye added. To Aiden, he said, “Can you read lips?”

It wasn’t a skill he’d ever bothered to acquire since he could normally overhear even distant conversations. But the bar was crowded, and the din of noise echoing in such a small space made it difficult to sort through the sound.

“Yes,” Aiden answered and raised himself up. He slumped back down. “Never mind, Aimee must be using a privacy distortion.”

“How can you tell?”

“They’re both smiling.”

Fair point.

Kato grumbled, “Why does everything always have to be about the women in the room? Couldn’t we, I don’t know, maybe just talk about us men for one solitary moment?”

“You’ve been talking about Eula for the last 20 minutes,” Skye pointed out.

“And we could all be in very real danger right now,” Aiden explained. “This doesn’t happen. Them—talking to each other. No one’s screaming, nothing is being thrown… Seriously, should one of us go check? My sister is really good at glamours. They might not even still be in the room.”

“Something’s weird with you,” Kato said, staring at Skye through bleary eyes. “You smell, how should I put this delicately… more frustrated than usual.”

He was frustrated. It had been too long since he’d had sex. Eighteen months—no, nineteen? Shit. When was the last time? The winter ball in Misthaven, maybe? With a dark-eyed redhead also looking for an excuse to duck out on the festivities. She’d mounted him on a garden bench. Quick, dirty, done.

He was out of practice. And now with every moment that passed, Aimee was over there convincing Taly that he would never be able to satisfy her when really all he needed was a chance to warm up first.

The corset wasn’t helping. The corset might actually kill him before the end of the night. Too much blood flowing below the waist rather than above it.

Aiden said, “Their lips are moving.” Skye sat up. “They’re talking about… shoes? Does Taly like shoes.”

“She wears them,” Skye said. “Holy shit, they’re laughing.”

Aiden shook his head. “One of them is definitely dead.”

“Or just really drunk.” Kato pointed to the end of the bar. “That group has bought them four rounds now.”

“Oh my Shards.” Taly whirled and put her back to the bar.

“Subtle,” Aimee said. “That, what you did there, totally natural.”

“Shut up,” Taly hissed, but Aimee giggled into her glass.

“Is that really him?”

Taly risked a peek over her shoulder. “Yup. That’s him.”

The group that had been sending them drinks all night—she’d finally figured out why.

“I’m going to call them over.”

“ Don’t you dare. ”

But Aimee ignored her, waving, then laughing at Taly’s panicked expression when two men peeled away from the group to make their way over.

Taly slapped her hand down. “What are you doing?”