Page 30 of Shadows and Flames
No one. Aside from the male whose seed was running down the inside of my thighs.
“Are you going to tell him?” Tana’s tentative question, tears already collecting on her lash-line, threatened another sob from me. Would Elián want this teary mess of a person that I now was?
And, because I’d never been a good person, I shoved the answer to Tana’s question away. Closed it in the steel vault in the back of my mind, even if the lock had a tendency to break at the slightest provocation.
“Are you going to be okay? If I go with him?”
She frowned, tracking my evasion but throwing away her objection with another roll of her eyes. “Oh, goddess, Leen. After all the offers I’ve had? I’m going to spend tonightverysatisfied.” I paused, weighing the truth in her words and found it whole.
My shoulders relaxed, and she clucked, kissing my cheek. “I just worry about you. But,” she hooked her arm around mine again and pulled us to face the room, “enough of that.”
We resumed our act, a pair of wealthy sisters, traveling and enjoying the pleasures of Morova. Tana whispered all she’d learned about our mark who’d remained surrounded the entire night. By suitors, colleagues, other aristocrats.
The tailored fabrics in rich colors and patterns made for a mosaic of cultures. Though I wasn’t the most patient when it came to the posturing of the wealthy, the variety of languagesspoken in the ballroom pulled on the same desires that sent me to live in Nethras nearly one-hundred years ago.
“And was he among those to offer himself to you?” Our mark was handsome, youthful and posessing a certain confidence that I could see as appealing.
Tana’s grin was enough to reveal her fangs, and I tracked the lustful glances she garnered. “Not yet.”
I grunted, and we mutually decided to enter the fold once again. The Shadows and other assassins might’ve operated by a different code, but where I was concerned, seduction was a perfectly acceptable means to the same end—fulfilling our contract.
As Tana rejoined the circle, bringing me with her, we both fought to keep our expressions pleasant. Our postures relaxed and eager.
Elián and his Shadow brother stood, flutes in hand, as they hung on every word of our mark as he gestured widely, spinning a tale of his last travel. I flicked my attention, counting the guards at each entrance to the ballroom, as well as those that circled the room with trained posture. Covert but obvious.
Now, why would a mere merchant, wealthy or not, need twenty guards for a simple party?
Tana stiffened against me, and I returned to those around us. Elián wasn’t looking at me, but my senses pulled to him all the same. My hand twitched at my side, wanting to reach out for him. My throat prickled, remembering his fangs piercing my skin.
Would he bite me again? A steady look from Elián had me forcing back a whimper
“Shit,” Tana cursed under her breath with a smile on her face.
Lylithans were difficult to kill, but one of those guards could come over, sword in hand and ready to plunge it into my heart, and I wouldn’t see it coming.
Elián raised his brow, smug bastard, then pointedly faced our mark. Who was making starry eyes at his Shadow brother.
After the tale of his travels ended, some art collector took up the story, detailing the purchases he made from our host. And anger rose up my throat as Tomás attached himself to our mark, fanged smile on display. His outfit was a bit more daring than Elián’s, jacket and embroidered tunic open to his sternum.
Without looking, he handed his flute to Elián so that he could trace a finger down the center of our mark’s chest.
“Fuck this,” Tana muttered and wove her way over.
Lylithans, and Vyrkos for that matter, were few here. Not quite legend, but our fangs and need for blood were interesting to the humans. Even the smattering of other creatures—an elf, a few witches, and a wolf shifter—snuck a range of glances our way. Most of them wary.
I halfheartedly engaged in a conversation with a woman marveling at my garment, commiserating with her frustration in finding a good tailor these days. “Such a shame,” I sighed and watched Tana out of my periphery. With the tightness bracketing Tomás’s smile, and the delight on our mark’s face, she was making headway.
Truthfully, with my Shadow just a few paces away, I was more than happy to leave the seduction to her. She was far more charming than me, even on my best day.
As the night passed, the guests got drunker, and both Tana and Tomás were now held in our merchant’s embrace. With one in each arm, the merchant excused himself, pulling my cousin and Elián’s brother with him.
Before they got lost in the crowd, Tana shot me a questioning look over her shoulder. I nodded as a warm body settled behind me.
She needn’t worry. Even with all the unspoken, the hidden, I knew I would be safe with him.
Chapter Thirteen
TOMÁS
