Page 8 of Wicked Enemy

Ben nodded again.

I glanced at the gilded clock on one of the shelves as a bout of nervous apprehension whirled through me. I had to get back to my Court. What I did to the House of Onyx yesterday should make the other gang leaders hesitant to attack me. But the operative word in that sentence was of courseshould. There was no way to guarantee that they wouldn’t attack, and if they did that while I was somewhere else, my people would be slaughtered.

The couch creaked as I pushed myself to my feet. Across the low table, Ben scrambled to get to his feet as well.

“Make that plan quickly, Ben,” I said as I started towards his front door. “And make it good. I don’t tolerate incompetence.”

“Yes, sir. No, sir. I’ll have a plan by the time your man Shinji gets here tomorrow night.”

“Good.”

Without waiting for a reply, I pushed the door open and strode back into the night. Sounds of people talking came from the streets around me, but this one was thankfully still deserted. I picked up the pace as I started towards the next corner.

Restless energy bounced around inside me.

I hated feeling like this. It had been years since last time I felt this exposed. This… vulnerable. It made those old emotions swirl closer to the surface again, reminding me of a past that I had been trying to forget for over a decade now. Reminding me of how powerless I used to be. I swore that I would never feel that way again. But now here I was, with my empire dangerously diminished and enemies circling me on all sides.

Shaking my head, I rounded the next corner.

And came face to face with a woman who made my heart stop.

Chapter4

Warm and cheerful chatter enveloped me on all sides, but all I felt was the cold slimy guilt in my stomach as my thoughtful colleagues tried to cheer me up. Everyone believed that I had just been outmatched against Levi. They had no idea that I’d had him helpless at sword-point and that I had chosen to let him go. They had no idea that I had betrayed them all. That I had betrayed the whole constable force. Everything we stood for.

“Don’t worry, Eve,” Jamila said, smiling at me from across the table. “Chief will come around. He’s just mad right now, but give him a week or two and he’ll see sense and withdraw his punishment.”

I tried my best to force a smile. “Yeah. Let’s hope so.”

The restaurant we had gone to after our shift was almost full, but it still didn’t have the same feel as the taverns and bars on the south side. Everyone in here behaved, spoke, and dressed properly. No drunken laughter. No shameless flirting. Just casual conversation over food and drink where everyone kept the noise to a minimum. It should have been comforting, knowing that I was far away from the south side and the damning influence of Levi Arden, but all it did was to make me feel even more like I no longer belonged here.

“It must have been terrible,” Frank said, abruptly pulling my attention back to the people around me.

I blinked, momentarily disoriented by the sudden onslaught of memories from my time with Levi. “What?”

“Working for Levi Arden. When we heard about the situation with the locks, we all felt so bad for you.” Everyone at the table nodded and hummed their agreement while Frank watched me with intense blue eyes. “Being undercover and spending so much time with someone like him must’ve been so awful. What did he make you do? What was he like? Really like, I mean?”

My heart stuttered in my chest. What was Levi Arden like? He was arrogant and domineering and utterly sure of his own supremacy. But he was also unexpectedly kind to strangers who could do absolutely nothing for him. And he was genuine in a way I hadn’t expected. Vulnerable at times even. He made me want to bang my head against the wall, or even better,hishead against the wall. But he also made me laugh. And he never made me feel as though there was something wrong with me. He saw me. Even the dark sides. And didn’t recoil. What was Levi Arden like?

Emotions surged up inside me, blocking my throat and making me feel like I was choking.

“Yes, it was awful,” I managed to croak while pushing up from the table. “I’m sorry. I need to get some air.”

Several of my colleagues attempted to stand up as well, but I waved them back in their seats with a forced reassuring smile before I all but ran towards the door.

That terrible guilt tore through my chest like a pack of wolves.

By the Current, what had I done? I had fallen for the enemy. I had fallen for Levi fucking Arden. And I had let my feelings towards him cloud my judgement and throw my nine-month mission out the window. My colleagues and all the civilians on the north side were going to get hurt once he decided to exact his vengeance. And all because I couldn’t control my feelings for a dark mage. Fucking hell, if my father could see me now, he would’ve been so ashamed of me.

Cool night air washed over me as I shoved the door open and escaped out onto the street. A few people were standing right outside, talking to each other, so I instead hurried towards the nearest corner. I just needed a moment to myself. Just to breathe for a bit and get my head back on straight. Then I could rejoin the others and pretend that I had hated every moment of working for Levi and that I was just a victim of Chief Anderson’s fury and not a traitor to our whole profession.

Rounding the corner, I dragged in a deep breath.

And then stopped dead in my tracks as I came face to face with the man who had ruined my heart.

“Levi,” I blurted out.

His normally so sharp grey eyes went wide with shock as his gaze found mine. “You.”

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