Page 75 of Shadow Warrior
It was just the whole the-knights-are-letting-their-hair-down thing. It made me uncomfortable.
The kitchens, thank goodness, were empty. Okay, so they weren’t empty because the fey creatures bound to work here were around and invisible. But still.
Food was laid out on a long wooden table—meats and cakes and tasty-looking savory pastries.
“Hi, kitchen staff.” I held up a hand in greeting to anyone who might be here to see. “I’m just here for a snack.” I gingerly picked up a plate from the wash rack and moved over to the large table. I reached to pick up a pastry and cried out at the sharp sting on the back of my hand.
Someone had hit me.
“Whoa.” I held up the injured hand. “Fine. Not the pastries. What can I take then?”
A tray of sliced meat, bread, and cheese slid a couple of inches my way.
“Thank you.” My hand was still smarting as I lifted some food and filled my plate. This would have to do.
I made to leave when a shadow cut across the periphery of my vision to the left. I turned too late to catch it. One of the creatures, no doubt.
“Indigo?” a female voice said from behind me.
Deana. Did that mean Hyde was here too? Great. Plastering a natural expression on my face, I turned to face her.
“Hello, Deana.”
She stood draped in a flattering jade dress that hugged her figure and complemented her skin tone. Her hair was swept up into a chignon, and her eyes were done up in that smoky eye effect, which I’d only ever achieved when I slept in my eye makeup.
“You look nice.” I meant it.
“Thank you.”
Okay, she was sayingthank you, but her face was moreI want to punch you.
“Is there something wrong?”
She took a deep breath, looking torn, and then she exhaled heavily. “Yes. Yes, there is.”
I shrugged. “I’m listening.”
“I need you to stay away from Hyde. Don’t seek him out. Don’t be alone with him. Don’t even look at him unless you have to. Do you understand?”
Déjà vu assaulted me. “We’ve had this conversation before, Deana. I know the score.”
“And yet you’re still chasing after him.”
Chasing … Anger lit up my insides like a fucking Christmas tree, and my inner bitch surfaced. “I’mchasinghim?Have you considered the fact that he might be pursing me, cornering me in my room, in empty corridors, that he might want me just as much as I want him?”
She blanched and flinched like I’d slapped her. “I know.” Her voice was small. “I know he wants you. But wanting you is going to get him killed.”
“Orion’s law, I know, and we’re staying away from each other. Trust me. We know the score.”
“You may know, but Hyde … Hyde, the fool, thinks he can change things. He’s petitioned to see Orion himself to ask for an exemption from the law.”
My pulse thudded to an epic stop before starting up ten times faster. “What?” My voice was breathless. “Can he do that?”
“Oh, he can. He’s put in the paperwork. The fool thinks he’ll walk out of Orion’s den alive.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You think that no Hyde or Bourne has ever fallen in love outside of our bounds? Hyde isn’t the first, and he won’t be the last, but he is one of the fated few who’ve directly petitioned Orion for clemency, asking to be set free, and Orion has set them free. Free from life.”
