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ELEVEN

Sorsha

I wouldn’t have called Jade’s Fountain exactly posh , but it did have a vibe you needed to dress to match if you didn’t want to stick out like a total rube. Inventive but sophisticated was probably the best description. I didn’t get dolled up very often, but over the years I’d picked up a few suitable dresses for my nights on the town with Vivi.

For this evening, I pulled on the forest-green one that set off my hair—and my collarbone with its square neckline. The geometric element was repeated in the black buckle of the dress’s wide belt and the cut-out pattern in the bottom few inches of the knee-length skirt. Flashes of my thighs in their silky black tights showed through those peepholes as I turned in front of my bedroom mirror.

Between the outfit and the makeup I’d carefully applied, toeing the line between striking and overboard, I looked a lot more sophisticated than I generally felt. Luna would have liked it, though, even if the colors weren’t the bright ones she adored. I adjusted the cap sleeves, pepping myself up with a murmured lyric: “Neat seams are laid to please. Who am I to disagree?”

It wasn’t just Jade’s clientele this get-up would please, apparently. The moment I stepped out of the bedroom, Ruse let out an approving whistle from where he’d been hanging out by the living room doorway. “Not that I had any complaints before, but you do clean up nicely, Miss Blaze.”

I pressed my hand to my chest in a mock swoon, although the appreciation in his voice had given me a quiver of pleasure too. “Be still my beating heart.”

The incubus ambled closer. I could almost feel his eyes roving over me like a whisper of a caress. “I think it’s much more fun to speed that pulse up. I hope you’ll be down for some fun alongside all your hard work. You’ll deserve it.”

“Not at the bar,” I reminded him with a jab of my finger. “You’re staying put.” I’d insisted that my entourage let me navigate this part of the investigation alone. They might be able to pass for mortal among people who weren’t in the know, but there were bound to be at least a few shadowkind—including Jade herself, of course—enjoying a night out at the bar.

And Vivi. If she found out about my new roommates, I’d never keep her out of the perilous situation I’d stumbled into.

Ruse winked. “I’ll just have to wait up for you then.”

Thorn came out of the kitchen, where he seemed to have declared the one chair his official domain, to see what the fuss was about. His gaze skimmed over me and shifted to the incubus.

“She isn’t going out to make merry or invite intimate relations,” he chided. “This is about finding—and rescuing—Omen.”

Ruse rolled his eyes. “Forgive me, my lord, for daring to distract the fine maiden from her quest. I’ll just have to find another young lady to bestow my affections on.” He sauntered back to the living room and swept Pickle’s mannequin into his arms.

“You look absolutely exquisite tonight, my darling,” he said. “No one could possibly compare. May I have this dance?”

I raised my hand to my mouth to cover a giggle. The incubus dipped the headless, armless figure low, filling his voice with exaggerated passion. “How can I resist you? And yet—how can I possibly kiss you when you have no mouth? My heart breaks!”

My giggle turned into a full-out laugh. Thorn’s scowl deepened. “You’re ridiculous,” he informed Ruse, and turned back to me. “And you do look as if you’ve fashioned yourself to draw attention.”

My amusement dampened. I folded my arms over my chest. “I don’t see how what I’m wearing could be a problem, but maybe you should remember that I know a lot more about what I’m walking into than you do. This is how people dress at Jade’s. People will trust me more if I look like I belong there instead of like I’m some clueless newbie.”

Thorn let out a grunt that was barely conciliatory. He cut his gaze toward Ruse before returning it to me. “I suppose it’s for the best that this one won’t be along to divert you, then.”

Something in his tone pricked at me. He hadn’t said it in so many words, hadn’t given any indication before now that he knew what Ruse and I had gotten up to in the privacy of my bedroom, but he knew what the incubus was. It wouldn’t have been hard for him to guess. I was abruptly certain that I’d heard disapproval of our prior diversions under that statement.

As if there was something wrong with me getting a little enjoyment out of the company I’d been forced to accept. While I was running around the city and beyond it trying to solve their mystery for them, on top of that.

I let my lips curve into a smirk I intended to rival Ruse’s. “Maybe I should bring you along. You could obviously use some practice in loosening up. Constantly going around like you’ve just put your best friend in the ground doesn’t help us find your boss any faster, you know.”

Now I was getting the full Thorn glower. “Do you have a problem with my comportment, m’lady?” he asked stiffly.

“Yeah, actually, I do. Considering all the favors you’re asking of me, the least you could do is act like you’re at least a little happy for the help.”

“And what would ‘happy’ look like to you?”

I waved my arm in his general direction. “Allow a few words to come out of your mouth that aren’t criticizing or ordering people around. Convince your face to appear somewhat less solemn than a gravestone. Just as a couple of options.”

Thorn drew himself up even straighter, which with his considerable height meant that his head nearly brushed the top of the doorframe. Even Ruse, who’d set the mannequin back in place, tensed at the sight. Snap peeked out of the living room and promptly ducked away to return to the TV he’d become enamored with.

“I haven’t meant to disturb you,” Thorn said, his voice even deeper and more gravelly than usual. He motioned to the living room. “I’m not one for chatter like these two. I say what I need to in order to see important matters through. And right now the matters we’re facing give me no cause for happiness. The one who set me on this quest is lost, I was wrenched from my attempts to locate him for so long the trail has gone cold, and at any moment I might lose any of you as well?—”

He stopped abruptly, his expression shuttering, as if he’d said more than he’d meant to. I’d definitely heard more than he’d actually said this time, but it hadn’t been derision. The undercurrent of pain and fear had been palpable.

He blamed himself for what had happened to Omen. He felt responsible for his companions—and for me—and no doubt he would beat himself up all over again if we got hurt.

I could have told you those things already, as facts, but I hadn’t grasped how deeply he felt that shame and commitment until just now. It wasn’t simply an abstract idea of loyalty he was following to the letter. He was truly worried—about whether we’d find Omen, and also about what might happen to me at the bar tonight, to Ruse and Snap if we didn’t unravel this mystery in time.

My own frustration simmered down. I still had the urge to give the guy a cheeky prodding and tease him into cracking a smile, but I could accept that it wasn’t going to happen. And why should it? I hadn’t felt like joking around or chatting or anything much besides lashing out when I’d first lost Luna.

“If you let yourself show a little more of that emotion from time to time, it’d be easier to take the grimness,” I said, without any bite. “I admire your dedication. It’s pretty impressive that you’re working so hard to keep us all safe. Maybe we’ve all been a little on edge for good reasons.”

His stance relaxed a smidgeon. “Perhaps.”

“Well, then all I can say is that I’ve been figuring out how to keep myself safe for twenty-seven more years than you have, so I hope you can trust that I’m the authority on the subject. And I can handle asking a few questions around Jade’s bar just fine like this.” I gestured to my clothes and then couldn’t resist arching an eyebrow. “I promise I won’t stay out past curfew.”

Ruse muffled what sounded like a snicker. Thorn sighed but inclined his head. And I reached for the front door with a sudden burst of nerves.

I’d been to Jade’s dozens of times. I’d never run into any real trouble there. But somehow as I walked out to the stairwell, I couldn’t shake the twist of anxiety that Thorn might be right to worry, and everything else might be about to go horribly wrong.