Page 49 of Wicked Enemy

“Ralph,” I replied, studying him as if I could read the reason for his presence here in his gray eyes. “Why are you here?”

Ralph was the owner of that fancy restaurant in the Entertainment District where I had taken Eve weeks ago when I was trying to get her on my side. It was the restaurant that had gotten destroyed when the House of Fire had shown up and attacked us in the middle of our dinner. Since Sophie handled the money I had paid him for reparations, I hadn’t seen him myself since that evening when the battle took place.

“We heard that a worldwalker is targeting you.” He flicked a nervous glance down at the three dead mages on the ground, and swallowed as if fighting down nausea. “And that he is going to kill a few of your people every day until you give him Gemma.”

Damn, word traveled fast in this city. But there was no point in denying it, so I just said, “That’s right. But then if you know that, what areyoudoing here? Don’t you realize that he might mistake you for one of mine and killyouinstead?”

A nervous ripple went through the crowd.

But Ralph, where he stood at the front, only squared his shoulders and raised his chin. “We know.”

“So why would you risk it?”

“Look, most of us here would probably piss our pants if you showed up unannounced on our doorstep.”

It took every ounce of my willpower to stop the baffled laugh that tried to erupt from my throat at his very unexpected statement. Instead, I just raised my eyebrows in silent question.

“You’re violent and insane and downright terrifying,” Ralph went on. Keeping his chin raised, he held my gaze with surprisingly confident eyes. “We will never work for you. We will never kill for you or steal for you or hurt anyone for you.”

I just cocked my head and watched him curiously, wondering where he was going with this.

“But we will bow to you,” he said with the same force and confidence I could read in his eyes. “We pay you for protection, and as opposed to all the other dark mages,youactually protect us. You pay for damages when your war destroys our homes or businesses, even when it wasn’t technically your fault, and you give us access to your healer when we get hurt. You demand obedience, but you actually keep your end of the bargain too.”

Surprise, and something else, something warm and unexpected, spread through my chest.

“You’re a villain,” Ralph declared, still holding my gaze. “But you’reourvillain. And we need you to survive and win this gang war, because out of all the dark mages we’ve had the misfortune to come across, you are the one we trust the most and the one we would rather have rule us.” Spreading his arms, he indicated the mass of shop owners and other random civilians behind him. “Sowewill hide your people from the worldwalker.”

Shock and utter incredulity clanged through my soul.

Chapter20

Steel whooshed through the air. I leaped back, barely dodging the swipe at my ribs, while bringing my sword around for a counterstrike. Metal clanged as the blades clashed. I tried to disengage them, but mine had already been shoved sideways. I stiffened as I felt the edge of a sword press against the side of my neck.

“What’s wrong?”

I stared at Ulric from the other side of the blade. His kind brown eyes were so full of concern that I wanted to scream. Or cry. Or spill all of my secrets to him. Or all of the above. But I couldn’t, so instead I said, “What do you mean?”

He removed his sword from my throat. All around us, our half of the South Side Department was sparring as well. The sounds of clashing steel and grunts of effort echoed between the stone walls that boxed in the courtyard. A cool wind whirled through the buildings, making the already overcast day feel even colder.

“Your head’s not in the game, kiddo.” His bushy brows were creased in confusion as he watched me. “You’ve been making amateur mistakes and losing sparring matches that you usually crush. What’s going on?”

I drew a hand over my hair and then shifted the sword in my hand so that I could fix my ponytail again. Sweat trickled down my spine and temples.

Ulric was right. I was distracted. For a multitude of reasons. For one, I still felt guilty for sleeping with Levi while my colleagues had been putting their lives at risk to stop an escape attempt. And at the same time, I was also a bit annoyed that none of them had come looking for me when I had been kidnapped. That they had all just assumed that I had stormed off like a brat because Chief scolded me. And I was pissed at Levi too. Pissed that he had told me to stay the hell away from him as payment for saving his life. No one told me what I could and couldn’t do or where I could and couldn’t go. But I was also deeply grateful to him that he had come to save me, even after everything that had happened between us.

However, I could never say any of that to Ulric, so instead I went with another issue that had also been bothering me. “Well, it’s just…” I drew in a breath and wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. “We’ve been getting reports that the worldwalker is attacking and slaughtering the people who work for Arden.”

“Yes.”

I stared at him. What did he mean, yes? Didn’t he see a problem with that? Holding his gaze, I shook my head and spelled it out for him. “Shouldn’t we do something about that?”

“No.” He frowned, looking as confused as I felt. “Why would we?”

“I…” Staring at him, I didn’t even know how to finish the sentence.

“They’re dark mages.”

“Not all of them.”