Page 78 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
“Are you thick, darlin’?” Pete teased, his judgments hurtless. They were more like badges I’d pin to my breast. “Christ, if we were playing a true game right now, you’d have cost yourself a hefty pot. Aye, I’m holding a queen and a ten, but that smirk on your face just warned me to fold.”
Humming, I shielded my lips with my cards. “How about now?”
“With you batting your lashes at me?” Exasperation heightened his pitch. “Now I don’t just suspect you of pocket aces but think you might’ve also robbed me.”
Days of pent-up misery erupted from me in laughter, a necessary release that disrupted the peace descending on the tavern.
Other patrons had either retired to their rented chambers or taken up bedrolls by the banked fireplace. Sionna scavenged leftovers amid the dirty plates while the troubadours collected their tips. Jade, Reed, and several others ambled about, closing up shop. One wench—a petite Middling with pouty lavender lips, a lovely set of feathered wings, and a bird tattoo on her left cheek—glared at me. I’d distracted her from gathering tankards.
Also noticing her, Pete clicked his tongue and took my cards from me. “Ignore Freesia. She’s the type who wants the things she can’t have. Until she can, of course. Then she can’t be bothered with them.”
Emboldened with ale, I stared back at the scathing Middling. Her pout only deepened. “Are you the thing she can’t have?”
“For tonight, it seems.”
“Well, you know—” I bit my lip. “You don’t have to stay here and keep me company. It’s been fun hanging out with you, but if you’d rather—”
His smile crooked, he leaned in. “I’d rather be right where I am, making you laugh ‘til your cheeks fair burst.”
Those bursting cheeks flushed.
“Besides, you deserved a drink and a good time tonight.” He raised his tankard to me, the brightness of his eyes dimming. “As Jade’s already put the former to bed, I hope you get your fill of the latter.”
I clinked my tankard with his, watched as he drank. “Thank you. I—I really needed someone to be nice to me tonight.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed like something was stuck in his throat.
Not long after that, my head grew too heavy to lift. My surroundings were fading in and out when Pete rose from his seat, the card deck fanned out beside my backpack, which I’d shrugged off my shoulders when we’d begun playing. Next thing I knew, I was floating toward a cozy spot beneath the tavern stairs, cradled in capable arms.
The crack of a knee brought me back to awareness. I gasped through my haze as Pete laid me on a leather bedroll. “I don’t do one-night stands,” I mumbled, curling into the musty pillow waiting there.
“Do I look the sort who beds dozing beyns?”
“Just thought I’d make that clear.” Then I lost myself to slumber’s pleasant grip.
Pete
Atleastnowthathis damned Danann mark had succumbed to his sleeping potion, Pete could drop the caring stranger act. Lying always weighed on him, despite its necessity.
Exhaling the night’s tension, Pete strolled to where Jade and Reed stacked trenchers behind the bar, pretending they weren’t watching him. He cleared his throat, laid a handful of orange seeds on the counter—they’d cover his tab.
“Thank you for not blowing my cover,” he murmured.
Reed frowned once more at the sleeping Danann.
Jade braced her ponderous body on the counter. “It’s no issue, Pete. We all do things we’d rather not from time to time.” She pinched Reed. “Aye?”
Reed grumbled, “Aye.”
“Did you find out who she was?” Jade asked.
Pete shook his head. “She told me her name was Rose, but I kent she was lying.”
“Aw.” Jade grimaced. “What could the Shadow Prince want with a sweetie like her?”
Pete toughened his heart, softness something he could ill afford. “She can’t be that sweet, Jade. She’s Danann, ken. Even being as cordial to her as I was, just before she fell asleep, she warned me against ravishing her. The Unseelie scum that I am, she assumes me prone to rape.”
Jade clicked her tongue bitterly.
