Page 72 of Heartless Enemy

While frantically trying to get my heart to stop making so much bloody noise, I strained my ears and listened for anything that would indicate that Ulrich had woken up.

One minute passed.

Two.

I released a long breath. Apparently, Ulric was exhausted enough that he hadn’t heard that damn creaking noise. I shot a glare down at the offending piece of wood before quickly making my way up the final steps.

The upstairs was as dark as the downstairs, but not as silent. As I slunk through the hallway, I could hear the deep breaths of someone who was fast asleep. My heartbeat slowed slightly.

While keeping an eye out for any other creaking floorboards, I closed the distance to Ulric and Marla’s bedroom. The door was open, so I drew myself up next to it and glanced inside.

Silvery moonlight slanted in through the window and illuminated the sleeping face of Captain Ulric Smith. He was lying on his back, the sheets pushed down to his waist and twisted around his legs.

Wicked satisfaction pulsed inside me when I noticed that the other side of the bed was empty, with the covers still pulled up neatly. Marla truly had left him, then.

I stifled a smug chuckle as I slipped across the threshold and made my way towards Ulric’s side of the bed.

It really was extraordinary what a simple rumor and a paid-off pleasure worker could do.

Stopping by the side of the bed, I looked down at Ulric’s sleeping form. His chest rose and fell with the steady telltale signs of deep sleep, but his features were anything but smooth. He looked troubled. Restless. If it was due to Marla divorcing him, the stress of the coming invasion, or perhaps even the news of my dismissal, I didn’t know. But it didn’t matter.

I flicked a glance towards the bedside table, confirming that there were no documents there that I could read through. Then I returned my attention to Ulric.

My hand drifted towards my sword.

Forcing it to a stop, I flexed my fingers instead.

I was itching to draw my blade and ram it through Ulric Smith’s lying fucking heart.

I had wanted him dead when I found out what he had done.

I still wanted him dead.

But Levi had been right that night in the pouring rain.

So instead of shoving a sword through Ulric’s chest, I forced my fury back behind my ribs and then slipped back out into the night.

Chapter29

Metal clanged faintly as I set down another piece of armor on the pile beside the table. Then I brushed my hands together and sent my magic flowing into the next lump of metal, molding and shaping it into the form I wanted. It was tedious work. Especially given that it was practically all I had done for the past two days. But a war was coming, and we needed to be ready for it.

My gaze drifted from the metal before me to the woman rearranging glasses behind the bar.

I smiled. At least the view was nice.

Eve placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head as she studied the glasses she had moved to a different shelf. I watched her. That black and red leather outfit accentuated her honed body, and that, combined with the way she was standing, made power radiate from her. Tall, athletic, proud. Fucking hell, it should be illegal to be that hot.

After another few seconds of contemplation, Eve shook her head and moved the glasses back to the shelf that they had been on originally. I chuckled.

Turning around, she arched an eyebrow at me. “You could help, you know. Instead of just sitting there laughing.”

“I could.” I smirked at her. “If you ask nicely.”

She scoffed and narrowed her eyes at me.

“You also said you wanted to make the tavern your own,” I added before she could decide to shoot a fireball at me. “I figured that’s something you’ll best accomplish by yourself.”

Yesterday, the day after Eve took over ownership of The Black Emerald, she had temporarily closed it down so that she could go through the whole place and start putting it together the way she wanted it. All our other plans were already in motion, and the only thing that remained was for me to make these sets of armor, so we didn’t see any harm in her taking this much needed break from all the warmongering before the battle at last broke out.