Page 48

“Getting you laid,” Aimee whispered gleefully. “Here.” She undid another of the buttons on Taly’s blouse.

“Stop it.”

“And then just a little adjustment there…” Blue glowed around Aimee’s fingers.

“Seriously, did you just make my breasts bigger?” Taly batted her hands away.

The two men approached. They were handsome in that way that all Fey were handsome. Lowborn, but their fine clothing indicated wealth.

“Swift,” the older of the two said, holding out a hand to Taly, who took it gingerly while Aimee grinned in the background. He was tall, with broad shoulders, black hair, and laughing violet eyes. “And this,” he said, gesturing to his golden-haired companion…

“Ren,” Taly said, and it wasn’t as hard as she’d been expecting to force a smile. It came naturally, and she immediately found herself pulled into the arms of a man she hadn’t seen since the day she ran away from him covered in blood.

He twirled her around, lifting her off her feet. Taly was laughing, breathless, when he set her down.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t remember,” he said, grinning broadly.

She chuckled. “How the hell would I not remember you? It only took me three months to work up the courage to talk to you.”

“And me another two to figure out that a pretty girl was trying to get my attention.”

Aimee cleared her throat. “Taly?” she said, looking far too pleased with herself. “Care to introduce me?”

“Sorry.” Taly stepped away. “Aimee, this is Ren.” The man in question smiled. “He’s the son of one of the local butchers.”

“My Lady.” Ren took Aimee’s hand, giving it a quick kiss. “I believe you’ve met my cousin.” He gestured to Swift, who nodded.

“I’m only here for moral support. Feel free to ignore me,” Swift said and held up a finger, ordering another round.

“Ren and I,” Taly said, sliding back onto her stool, “courted? If you could call it that. For about two weeks until—”

“Until my small-minded shithead of an uncle ruined the moment when I finally tried to kiss this beautiful girl.” Ren’s head dropped. “I still haven’t forgiven him for what he did. He’s never been allowed back into our home. I want you to know that.”

Taly’s heart squeezed. Oh, Ren . There was a reason she’d fallen so hard for him.

He was handsome, funny, a little self-deprecating.

And he always said exactly what he meant.

At 17, she was utterly smitten. That is until his uncle, visiting from the mainland, caught them just about to kiss in the alley behind his parents’ butcher shop and proceeded to throw pig’s blood on her new tunic.

As she ran away, he’d screamed something along the lines of, “I’d rather see my nephew fuck a pig than a Shardless.”

And that had been the beginning and end of Taly’s pitiful excuse for a love life. Until recently, she supposed…

“Swift,” Aimee said and stood, gesturing to their table’s drink order, finally filled and organized neatly on a tray. “Would you help me carry this back to my friends?”

The man nodded, giving Ren a firm clap on the shoulder before he and Aimee began pushing their way back through the crowd.

As soon as they were gone, Ren stepped closer, leaning against the bar. “You look good.”

Taly smiled. She’d lost countless hours daydreaming about this man. It was muscle memory. “And I don’t think you’ve cut your hair since the last time I saw you.” Reaching for him, she tugged on an errant blond lock curling around his shoulder.

“You never told anyone about my uncle, did you?” he asked, getting right to the heart of it, because that’s how he’d always been. “My parents looked over their shoulders for months, waiting for the Marquess to come banging down their door.”

Taly shrugged. “I didn’t see the point.”

True, she’d been embarrassed and hurt, and she hadn’t tried to pursue anything with anyone since. But she’d known even then that his parents would bear the brunt of the consequences, and they didn’t deserve that. Not when they’d never been anything but kind to her.

“Besides,” she said, sipping from her drink, “Ivain would’ve stopped ordering from your parents’ shop if I did, and everyone knows your family makes the best pork sausage on the island. Why would I sabotage my own breakfast just because one asshole decided to have a tantrum?”

Ren laughed, leaning closer and smiling in a way that Taly recognized. Her and Ren—that door closed a long time ago. But now that the world was going to hell and those things you always said you were going to do suddenly became more urgent, he was trying to nudge it back open.

Before Ebondrift, it might’ve worked. Before the library. Before Skye.

“Ren, I—”

She didn’t get a chance to finish. Fingers brushed the back of her neck—warm, sure—just before they tightened.

And then pulled .

Not hard. Not rushed. Just decisive .

The world shifted as Skye turned her, drawing her away from Ren and into him in one seamless motion. Before she could so much as gasp, his lips were on hers—slow at first, then deepening.

Taly’s pulse kicked as his other hand found her waist, pressing just enough to keep her against him. His touch dragged lower, catching on the laces of her bodice—then tugging, firm enough that the corset’s tension shifted.

Her breath hitched. He felt it—of course he did—and his lips curved against hers, satisfied.

Then, as smoothly as he’d taken, he pulled back.

But he didn’t let go.

His grip on her nape lingered, thumb stroking just below her ear, an idle, absentminded caress that said mine without a single word.

He finally turned toward Ren. Not with anger. That would imply Ren mattered.

No, the look Skye gave him was something else entirely—bored amusement, as if he’d walked in on a child getting ideas above his station.

“Skylen,” he greeted, voice a smooth, lazy drawl.

Ren straightened, eyes going cold. “Ren Blacksong.”

Taly felt the change before she saw it. The way Skye’s breath went silent. The way the fingers at her nape stilled, his entire body locking up.

Then realization flickered through his eyes—she knew the moment he placed the name.

Skye’s smile was slow in coming, but when it did, it was sharp enough to slice through bone. “Oh,” he murmured, soft as a promise. “ I know who you are .”

From the table, Aimee’s laughter rang out—bright, delighted, and utterly unhelpful.

Taly could’ve strangled her. She knew this had been the plan. To see if she could awaken that legendary Fey possessiveness, rile Skye into staking a claim.

She had absolutely no idea she’d just lit a match and tossed it onto dry brush.

“Stop it,” Taly warned, slapping Skye’s chest. Then again when he continued to stare poor Ren down like he was trying to decide the easiest way to dispose of a body . To Ren, she said a bit sheepishly, “I might’ve told one person about your uncle.”

Granted, it had been years later—that night in Della when Skye had tried to weasel his way back into her good graces with a bottle of brandy and a drinking game. But the story eventually came out, and Skye had just gone quiet—so terribly quiet. And then he’d promised to pay Ren’s uncle a visit.

Lucky for the uncle, the Seren Gate was out of commission for the foreseeable future, so she still had time to talk Skye out of murder. Ren, however, might be in danger, and he knew it. He’d already moved back a step.

“He’s all yours,” Ren said, holding up his hands. “All I ask is that you tell me where you bury the body so I can piss on his grave.”

That seemed to mollify Skye— somewhat . His eyes still gleamed, something dark and restless coiled beneath the surface. Like he hadn’t entirely decided against violence, only whether it was worth the mess.

“Whew, what a night.” Kato popped between them.

He downed the rest of Taly’s drink, ruffled her hair, and then clapped Skye on the shoulder.

“Whatever this is, would it be possible to move it back to the table since the drinks only manifest when your lady love is near? And you ,” he said, turning to Ren. “I think Aimee stole your friend.”

He pointed to the table where Swift was now sitting in Taly’s empty seat with Aimee draped over his lap.

“You’re welcome to join us,” Kato went on. “You can sit by me. Trust me, no matter how much my brother may want to kill you right now, he wants to kill me more. And I’m still here. You’ll be fine.”

Kato swept an arm across Ren’s shoulder, and Taly swallowed a laugh at his expression—wavering between humor, confusion, and a definite edge of fear at being sandwiched between two shadow mages.

“Us men,” Kato whispered drunkenly. “We need to stick together. We’ve got to hunt in packs, if you catch my drift.”

“I’m not sure I—” Ren began, trying to pull away.

Kato yanked him back. “Just follow me, my lad. Together we will conquer this bar. To battle!” And with that, Kato dove back into the crowd with Ren in tow, leaving Skye and Taly staring after them.

Kato was a lot of things. An asshole, a liar, a sadist. But he’d also just potentially saved them from a barfight and spending the rest of the night in lockup, so for now, she was grateful.

After a moment, Taly turned to Skye. “ Sooo … what just happened?”

He leaned against the bar, every motion too measured. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really? Because that was—and I mean this—the most stunning display of alpha male posturing I’ve ever been lucky enough to witness.”

Was that color on his cheeks?

“If I didn’t know any better… Em, were you jealous?”

His lips thinned, eyes flicking downward. “What’s going on here?” He pointed to her breasts.

Taly followed his gaze. Huh. They really were perkier.

She grinned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Hmm.”

Another drink landed on the bar. She nudged it towards him and slid off the stool. “I’m going to the toilet. If I don’t make it back to the table, it’s safe to assume Ren and I eloped.”

“Not funny,” Skye grumbled, taking a moody sip.

“I know the world’s a little crazy right now,” she said, fluffing her hair, “but afterward—I figure we’ll start up a little butcher shop together. He’ll do the messy bits while I work the counter and taste test the product.”

“Still not funny.”

“Goodbye forever!” she called over the din of the crowd.

Looking back, she finally saw Skye crack a smile.