Page 104 of A House of Cloaks & Daggers

“Don’t tempt me,” he purred, the faint whisper of his breath threatening to knock me over. “I can hear your heartbeat like it’s legato, and I’d love to make it staccato.”

Oh, fuck. High Mother, spare me.

He was drunk, and I was…

I didn’t know what I was, except for being grateful that my long sleeves concealed the way my skin prickled and the light dimmed the fire warming the skin from my hairline to my chest.

Wren leaned away with perfect balance and made a point of averting his eyes from my face. With a theatrical bow, he turned on his heels and strode back through the path of faeries who were watching the exchange with enlarged eyes and open mouths.

The dread sank in, like a leaden weight crashing to the bottom of my stomach, as some of those eyes remained glued to my face as Wren made his way back to the dais.

My vision went slightly blurry.

They were staring at me.

They had been staring at us.

The whole time.

An entire room filled with faeries had witnessed the exchange, and it would have appeared far too intimate for the High King’s Hand and his mate. The way I stood up and aligned my body with his, and the way he bent his head to mine and nipped at my ear…

Morgoya’s green, catlike eyes were filled with fear when I found her standing to the side of the dance floor. Batre had a hand over her mouth.

Wren was oblivious. He didn’t care.

He fell back into his seat and made a gesture for the room to continue as it had been, prompting most of the faeries to start moving again. I stood there and took their glances like arrows to the chest for a moment longer before I looked up at the High King.

Lucais was staring into his empty glass, his knuckles as white as death as he gripped it.

It was the dark-haired woman between them who caught my attention, though. Her head was angled to the side, a strip of grey fabric tied around her forehead, and her dark eyes were deep and full of contemplation as she examined me.

Enyd. High Lady of the Court of Wind. It’s a pleasure to meet you.

The words came into my head like a thought, but in a voice that was not my own.

Don’t panic, Aura. There’s no time to explain, but as you seem to be the only person from your Court with whom I cancommunicate like this, I need you to share this message with your mate.

I blinked at the woman across the room, then flicked my gaze to Lucais. He was studiously ignoring me, and it made me want to scream at him.

Your mate,Enyd repeated in my mind.

Glancing at Wren, I pressed the back of my knees into the couch to steady myself and swallowed the hard lump in my throat before my eyes fell back on the High Lady of the Court of Wind. He was watching me out of the corner of his eyes, fist curled around the edge of his seat, and it brought me the strangest sense of comfort to know that at least I wasn’t being totally ignored by both of them at the same time.

Two of my sentries are dead. They were stationed on the outskirts of Lucais’s ward as a precaution—

The voice in my head became choked, then abruptly broke off. My eyes widened, my body swaying back towards the couch as I tried to capture Enyd’s gaze once more. Pain flared in her eyes, visible even at a distance.

Three are dead,she corrected with a wince.Two are on their way to the House right now.

The next thought was my own.Caenim.

A small army,she agreed.Led by a Malum General.

The breath disappeared from my lungs. I didn’t exhale; it just vanished. Looking towards Lucais again, I tried to let the fear curling in my gut show in my eyes. I couldn’t communicate via thoughts, even if I wanted to. I was very good at reading body language, but that was useless when he refused to look at me.

By the time I gave up and returned Wren’s piercing stare instead, it was too late.

The warning rang out in my head, in the voice that Enyd had used to infiltrate my mind somehow—

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