Page 89 of The Queen’s Shadow

“I’ve asked if we can open the bond but he gets pretty pissed every time I suggest it. I don’t want to violate his privacy.”

Jeremy pursed his lips, glancing down the hall after him and Cerenah. He let go of my arm and nodded.

“Alright. We need to keep an eye on him though. This is more than just stress.”

I nodded. “I know. I see it too. I just don’t want to push him too hard. It took a long time for us to get to the level of trust we have for each other. I don’t want to risk messing that up. Believe me, if you think he’s a pain in the ass now, imagine how bad he is when he’s fighting you every step of the way.”

“You know I can fucken hear you right?” Rycon snapped from the other end of the hall. He pointed to his silver studded ear, rolling his eyes. “Shifter, remember?”

I shrugged at him apologetically, before pulling Jeremy out of my room and locking the door behind us.

“We’re just worried about you.” I replied as Jeremy and I came up to join him, before heading down into the lobby.

“Well, don’t be.” He growled darkly. “Save it for Kasha. She should be the only fucken person you’re worried about right now.”

Raven

Cerenah was right. The Gilded Harlot was more of a tavern than a brothel. I tried not to scrunch my nose at how busy it was so early in the morning. Daemons who clearly hadn’t been to bed yet were stumbling in from wherever they had spent their nights. The tables were crowded with males sipping on pints of ale and scantily clad, barely conscious females hanging off their arms.

The longer I spent in this city, the more I was grateful to have the life that I did. Despite the fact that it was currently in shambles, and I felt like I was fighting tooth and nail every day to survive, at least I had something worth fighting for.

Looking around at the patrons of this tavern, there was a sadness that lurked beneath the surface. Everyone was smiling, but no one here was happy. I wondered if they had anyone to go home to, or someone who worried about them.

Glancing up at Rycon, who was scanning the crowd as well, I could tell by the look on his face that his mind had not gone down the same sympathetic path mine had.

His now dark, smudged eyes were angry and calculating. His nostrils flared as he tallied the scent of each daemon we came across, before pointing at a round, empty table at the back of the room.

“Sit.” He said, without taking his eyes off the crowd. “I’ll get us some drinks so we stand out less.” And then he was gone.

I tucked into the table with Jeremy and Cerenah while a tired looking female came by with food menus.

“He is pushing himself too hard.” Cerenah observed, opening one of the menus. I nodded in agreement.

Behind us, a table with two males playing cards erupted in boisterous laughter as one of them won their hand. I focused on their conversation without turning around.

Rycon had taught me that for the most part, if you were trying to stalk someone, or track them down, you spent most of your time listening.

‘It’s 80/20.’ He had explained. ‘Eighty percent being bored out of your skull, twenty percent violence.’ If I was being honest, the last five days had been one hundred percent nauseating… not that I was keeping score.

The number of lewd, seedy conversations I had forced myself to listen to while still having nothing to show for it was getting increasingly tedious.

Rycon re-appeared with two pints of ale clutched in each hand by the handles. He moved to slide into the empty seat at the table when one of the males who had been playing cards next to us spoke up.

“Don’t boast so loudly, Raek. You don’t want to disappear like Koliath and the rest of his posse.” Rycon’s eyes flashed as the male named Raek pulled his pile of winnings toward himself. Rycon’s reaction to the daemon’s comment was so subtle, neither Jeremy nor Cerenah noticed. But I did.

‘Interesting.’ Amon whispered into my mind.

‘Yes.’ I responded, keeping my menu up, making it easier for me to subtly observe my surroundings without being too obvious.

“Relax, Venrin. I’m sure the Queen has better things to do with her time than hunt down loyal citizens for enjoying a streak of luck.” Raek laughed.

“Perhaps,” Venrin chuckled, “Though if you keep cheating, I have half a mind to turn you over to her Shadow myself.”

It was my turn to freeze.

‘What the fuck does that mean?’ I asked Amon, and he gave me the equivalent of a metaphysical shrug.

‘He’s referring to you, isn’t he? She called you that, I heard her. She called you her Shadow.’