Page 67 of Nocte

I growl but gesture to a pile by the door. Garments stolen from some place. A store. The humans display their clothing rather than have it assigned. They pick their status, either honestly or dishonestly. They wear their wealth on display.

“Good,” the mortal says, rubbing her hands. Slowly, she stands, barely as tall as my shoulder. Those curls threaten to explode as she reaches back to cup the mass in the palm of her hand. Then she sighs. “I’ll help her get dressed.”

She says those words as if they mean something. A command.

One I don’t understand. Don’t care to process.

“Dress her,” I say.

She flinches, a blush creeping across those pretty cheeks. “You should leave. Offer her some dignity, at least!”

Dignity. As if the fae deserves it. As if I haven’t offered her everything and anything.

However, this mortal... She is dangerous. That corrupted magic leeches from her, tainting the air. If she touches me, she might rip and tear. How fun. How irritating.

She’ll cost me more time.

After looking at Niamh, I step back.

Her eyes are on me, sparkling and alert. Alive and pleading. She wants me on my best behavior. She wants me on her leash.

But…

For now, I’ll play along. Cassius is waiting and lurking. He’ll be here soon. So soon.

It will be then that I will have the bloodshed that I crave.

CHAPTER24

Niamh

Ihave never seen magic being worked up close. Even Day would never break that rule by showing me. I wouldn’t expect him to.

A vamryrer’s skill works in far different ways, more obvious ways. They can manipulate and convince. They can soften the hardest of hearts and charm the un-charmable.

Perhaps that explains his hold over me? I want it to. I crave a simple answer for the way my heart races around him and strains without him.

I am alive and breathing, my pain gone. But I don’t feel right. At peace. I keep staring at the door he’s disappeared through.

I keep waiting for this dream to end and the nightmare of reality to descend.

“Are you okay, honey?”

That’s right. I am not alone. A beautiful woman crouches on the floor beside me, her smile wary, her eyes kind. But she is also uneasy, as she should be. She sees the danger lurking in Caspian’s gaze.

She saw the damaged pieces of me.

She assumed he was the cause. He wasn’t.

I try to say as much. “I…”

“Oh, don’t try to speak yet.” She winces, guilty. “My magic… How I healed you, it can be pretty intense. Your windpipe was broken and I, um, had to fix it.” She wrings her fingers together as she lurches upright and begins to pace.

Watching her move, I am struck dumb by recognition. She isn’t wearing robes. Not green or red, white or gray. She wears a brilliant blue tunic paired with blue pants.Pants.

She is wearing mortal clothing.

After noticing my stare, she stops short. She tugs at the sleeve of her tunic and frowns. “Well, let’s get you out of those bloody clothes, hm? Then I can at least begin to explain. My name is Colleen, by the way.”