Page 49 of Tragic Ink
Chapter 16
Vaguely,I was aware of someone clearing their throat. It took me a moment to come out of the haze of the kiss. When a hand closed over my elbow—and I realized both of Rhys’ were wrapped around my hips—I jumped, yanking back and whirling on the third hand. A man stood there, masked and dressed in a tux with a red bow tie. His hair was slicked back, and his skin was pale. A vampire, maybe? His dark eyes were sharp enough as he studied me. I dropped my very human glamour long enough to let my senses read himproperly.
I stiffened. A vampire, yes. Not that I was concerned. But he had another scent on him. One I recognized all too well now. The dark fae we werehunting.
Rhys took a step forward so that he was blocking me from the man. I could only guess he’d noticed it too. “Can we help you withsomething?”
The vamp rolled his eyes, not bothering to react to Rhys or the way he’d drawn up his chest andshoulders.
“Here,” the vamp said in a bored voice. He thrust a slip of paper at Rhys and wanderedoff.
While Rhys unfolded it, my eyes tracked the vamp, but he made a straight line to the door and ducked out of the ballroom. Huh. Someone whose aversion to this party outweighed myown.
Rhys growled, and I snapped back to the note he’d beenhanded.
“What does it say?” Iasked.
“It’s from Elsmed. He has new information. Wants us to meet him out back.” Rhys didn’t move,though.
I bit my lip. “Do you think it’s atrap?”
“If it is, that means our guy knows Elsmed is helping us. It also means—I hate to say it,but...”
“He couldbeElsmed by now,” Ifinished.
Rhysgrimaced.
“The only thing we know for sure is that he isn’t you or me,” I said, trying to stay calm even though my heart was threatening to pound right out of mychest.
Suddenly, the partygoers filling the ornate ballroom before us were more threatening than festive. And I wanted nothing more than to be gone from thisroom.
“Right, but...” Rhys trailedoff.
“But what?” I asked, because if Rhys was nervous, I wasnervous.
He hesitated. “In order to protect ourselves from whatever’s waiting out there, the smart thing would be to split up. I go out to meet Elsmed andyou—”
“Do not say ‘stay behind,’” Iwarned.
“Actually, I was going to say you should watch my back,” he said. “Let’s slip into one of the rooms upstairs with a balcony. You can let Ethan loose and watch me from there. If anything looks wrong, you have your tattoos and can help get me out ofthere.”
I mulled that over, but he had a point. Our entire plan tonight had hinged on improvising once we knew where “Walter” was hiding. I’d already assumed part of that would include splitting off to appear weaker to the dark fae we wanted to draw out. So, I couldn’t complain about this detour. Well, I could, but it wouldn’t do muchgood.
“Deal,” Isaid.
“Let’sgo.”
I let him take my hand, and together we navigated our way back to the door. Thankfully, Michaela was nowhere to be found, so we didn’t have to explain our early exit. In fact, the lobby and stairs were all deserted, and we found our way upstairs without muchtrouble.
Out on the balcony, Rhys waited while I let Ethan out, and we watched as he took flight, soaring up and out of sight quickly. Then we both stared down at the east side of the inn’sproperty.
Immediately to my right, a third-floor turret rose and I had to lean around it to scan the rest of the lawn. From the balcony’s view, the large lawn was bordered by a narrow driveway that led down to a row of cottages on the right. On the other side of the cottages, a line of trees separated the inn’s property from the rest of theblock.
To my left, the street and shop lights of Main Street sparkled in the distance, reflecting off the snow below, bright enough to see for a long wayout.
Even with my fae sight and the brightly-lit night, I couldn’t spot Elsmed or anyone else among the trees that lay beyond the property’sedge.
“Something moved down there,” I said, “But I can’t tellwho.”
