Page 30 of Poison Nights & Twilight Alchemy

Flirtation, indeed… What words of flirtation had she ever spoken to Cornelius? She hadn’t ever. They had only discussed things like the weather, inquired after the health of his family and friends, meals, and his work. She would just have to come up with something from the forbidding poems she’d read, or the amorous stage plays in town.

Dulce’s pulse raced faster the longer she kept her palm against Reed’s chest, as she felt thethump-thumpof his heart. She edged her face closer, mirroring what he’d done to her, only she veered her mouth to his ear, a hairsbreadth from brushing his skin, before whispering, “Ever since we met, I’ve been curious to know what your lips taste like.”

His breath hitched, and Dulce nimbly drew out his wallet, then proudly backed away from him to wave it inhis face. “How was that?”

“See?” Reed grinned, placing the wallet back into his pocket. “I almost believed what you spoke to be true.”

Because it was, she realized.

Dulce cast her gaze to the carriage before he could see the truth.

“So how did you learn how to do all this?” she finally asked.

“One learns many unsavory things growing up in the Glen. I’ve found that hunger and necessity are the best teachers.”

“When we return to Moonglade, will you teach me how to fight?” she asked. “I’ll pay you, of course.”

He lifted a tendril of her golden hair and twirled it around his finger. “If I don’t see another ghost on this journey, I’ll teach you for no payment at all.”

“A fair trade indeed.”

As they resumed their journey up and over the hills, Alder Bay finally crept into view. Black, white, and gray stone buildings dotted the town, and when they eventually passed through a bustling market, Reed’s eyes widened. “Not everyone here is human.”

“It’s the result of the abuse of magic centuries ago,” Dulce explained, smiling sadly, “Mother told me stories of Alder Bay, and how a quartet of witches sacrificed their families for wealth, but the magic went awry, throwing off the balance. Magic is sacred. Its power is meant to be respected. To do otherwise is to play a very dangerous game indeed.”

Reed turned to her in alarm. “Why is every story about a witch appalling?”

Dulce grinned. “I’m not so terrible, am I?”

“You’re certainly my favorite witch.” He winked.

Her cheeks grew heated, and she hurried to put her mother’s spell book inside her satchel.

Outside the carriage, plenty of humans milled about, but they weren’t alone. Creatures that would appear otherworldly in Moonglade or the Glen were ordinary here. Fur, scales, and horns could be seen in wide variations. Some folk had protruding teeth, others were towering or smaller than cats. A furred orc kissed a human girl’s hand while she giggled, offering her a flower that bloomed in sparkling blue.

“I’m such a fool for only believing in what my eyes could see.” Reed’s voice drifted through the carriage, full of wonder.

“No, not a fool,” she said. “Just human. But now you’re a successful merchant who’s traveled the world, so try not to look too surprised.”

“That one haswings,” he hissed. “I apologize if I’m not able to look sufficiently bored.”

A single brow rose up her forehead. “You have a few moments longer to practice then, Mr. Jones Taylor.”

After passing a flower shop, its windowsills blooming with pots of dark purple petunias, Lucas drew the carriage to a stop in front of the White Cat Inn, its walls ivory marble.

Dulce placed a velvet bag of coins in Lucas’s hand for him to venture to the servants’ quarters before she entered the establishment with Reed.

The scent of roses permeated the air, and black and gold filigree lined the cream damask wallpaper along the mirror-adorned walls. Plush crimson chairs around a glass table decorated the center of the room atop a fur rug, andbeyond that, a desk behind which a faun-like creature stood, his spectacles dangling at the edge of his snout, his horns curved.

Reed gawked at the creature, and Dulce elbowed him in the ribs.

“Ow,” he groaned.

“Exude at leastsomeboredom,” she murmured.

“I thought I was.”

“What you were doing was more like an exceptionally surprised blowfish when it’s been pulled from the water.”

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