Page 135 of By the Moonbeam and the Mist
Dazmine and I slipped inside, gave each other nods, and broke apart to begin the hunt before anyone could notice us together.
I squeezed through the mass of mingling bodies inside. Couples danced to the music of instruments that floated and played above everyone’s heads on an endless loop of elaborate wind. Others lounged in chairs or on stools scattered along the edges of the room, clinking drinks together and tossing their heads back in the kind of nervous, giddy laughter reserved for more formal occasions.
Across the room, I caught sight of Wilder in a suit and tie doing exactly that.
“Hey, darling!” Rodhi pushed through the crowd to throw an arm around me. He leaned in close to my ear, his breath bordering on drunk already. “No sign of her yet.”
Dammit. Even though we’d all decided it was best if Rodhi was as hands-off in this little endeavor as possible, he was the one who’d secured us these invitations, and I’d hoped he might have pinpointed Quinn’s position for us.
I hugged Rodhi back. “Don’t worry about it. Thanks, though.”
With that, I continued to crisscross through the crowd, smiling at faces I recognized and nodding politely at ones I didn’t whenever their gazes snagged on me for a little longer than would probably be considered normal. Shit. Did I look too out of place? Maybe I was walking too fast or frowning too hard.
Or maybe you’re a hot girl who seems to be at a formal alone.
I wasn’t even surprised that Steeler’s voice caressed the walls of my mind. In fact, it filled me with something like… relief, knowing that he was somewhere within range.
Hot?I jabbed back.You haven’t even seen me yet.
Not in person. But I may have taken a few small peeks into other people’s minds to find out exactly why they’re gaping at you like that.
They’re not gaping,I scoffed.They’re scrutinizing.
At that thought, I grabbed a drink from a nearby bar and pretended to take a sip, slowing my pace to a muddy crawl. No sign of ruby-red hair. No hint of Quinn’s drawling voice with the slight rasp to it. It was time to go deeper.
Skimming a glance over my shoulder to make sure none of those eyes were still fastened onto me, I plunged into the shadows of a hallway and up a flight of spiral stairs. Rather than take the staircase to the famous, gated roof where braziers would be flickering beneath the starlight, I snuck down one of the side hallways to investigate the rooms.
I almost stopped in awe.
Unlike the hallways in the Wild Whisperer house, self-burning torches lined the stone walls here, while statues tinkled with water that simply floated back upward in hundreds of little droplets once they hit the floor.
Shaking my head, I crept forward. Some doors were open, and I peeked inside to find couples—or sometimes three or more—twisting and moaning together on one of the beds. In one, I accidentally caught the tail end of an orgasm that sent flurries erupting from the woman’s bouncing nipples and flames erupting around the man’s—
Okay, yeah, Quinn wasn’t in that room.
Shut up, I told Steeler, feeling his stifled laugh echo inside me.
When I poked my head in the sixth or seventh room, a pack of upperclassmen who were smoking and playing card games looked up.
“Hey, you lost or something?”
Every one of my bones snapped to a halt. Deep within the maze of my mind, memories were swirling into frenzies, dislodging themselves until my eyes swiveled back to the group of men.
There were four of them, all unfamiliar besides…
I didn’t realize I was floating forward until the one who’d asked me if I was lost smirked and jabbed his neighbor, the one I was staring at.
“My buddy here isn’t really into blondes, but…” Water spurted in neat little arcs from his fingers, landing with separatesplatsat my shoes. “I can show you a thing or two about how to getreallywet if you’re up for it.”
In my head, Steeler’s dark, fathomless presence seemed to crouch and pulse with a territorial rage that shivered through my veins.
But my eyes couldn’t unstick themselves from that so-called buddy, who finally looked up with bleary contemplation.
The Object Summoning boy.
Fergus’s friend. The one who’d sent sticks to whack Gileon and stones to pummel Emelle and me.
Hehad been the reason for those bruises cascading up and down my body last year, not Steeler.Hehad been in on the plan to kill me along with Jenia and Quinn.
