Page 36 of The Evernight Court

“I’m pretty weak, so…” I let my voice trail off and drank another mouthful of the ale—God, it tasted so bad. But I was so damn thankful for the low lights in here or for whatever illusion had made my eyes look a little colorful to Toss.

He snorted. “You’re telling me.” He touched his fist to the middle of his chest. “Skinwalker. Supposed to shift into this mighty wolf beast that the whole world fears—and what do I get?” He grinned. “I’m really good at howling.”

The next second, he raised his head to the ceiling and he howled. He actually howled right there in front of me—and not only that, but a dozen other people from all over the bar raised their heads and joined him in the howl.

I laughed so hard my shoulders were shaking, and others did, too. The howling lasted a good minute, and when they were done, everyone applauded. Toss bowed his head deeply with a proud grin.

“Impressive, huh?” he said when the people turned to the couple playing the strange pianos again, the melody heartbreaking but incredibly beautiful, too.

“Very. I have to say, I didn’t see it coming,” I said, laughing still.

“I aim to surprise,” he said with a wink. “So, I hear you guys are great in bed. I’ve never been with a succubi before. Wanna teach me a few things? I get off at midnight.”

Oh, God.

I almost choked on my own spit before I burst out laughing one more time. He was joking. He had to be joking, or if he wasn’t, I’d pretend he was joking so he’d pretend he was joking, too—because what the hell else was I supposed to do?

Toss shook his head, but he was smiling, and his cheeks were a touch red when he said, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” Which definitely sounded like hehadn’tbeen.

“I’d love to give you tips, Toss, but like I said—I’m weak. And not very experienced,” I added that last one in a whisper.

“Pfft, nonsense. With a face like yours you’ve had plenty of people to feed from,” he said, then went to tend to one of the other customers demanding an ale from the bar. I had only a minute to turn to the stage before he returned. “Come on, spill it. Tell me your secrets.”

“I swear it, I have none,” I said, my mind strangely going back to the Paradise, to that spy room Mama Si had taken me to where we watched Hannah and those two men having sex.

Suddenly I was uncomfortable on the stool. The thought of that scene always made me feel…uneasy. And turned on. And just plain wrong.

“Eh, you’re no fun,” Toss said, then prepared a glass of wine for another customer.

“Hey—who are those two?” I asked to change the subject before he had the chance to ask me another mortifying question.

“Lenna and Ralf,” Toss said, taking the silver coins from the man with the wine in his hand. “They’re the best soundmakers in the Isles. They’ve been here three weeks and they’re staying for another four.”

“Soundmakers?” What the hell was that?

Toss looked up at me from the middle of the bar still, washing one of those wooden cups in the sink now. “Soundmakers—you know. They play instruments and create their own sounds off them.”

The words left his lips and he said them like they weren’t that big of a deal, like it was something I should have known all along. But to me, those words meant everything.

The idea of playing an instrument and making myown sound?

My God, was that really possible? To make my own music, my own sounds, my own melodies—different, special,morethan anything else the world’s ever heard?

Soundmaker.What a beautiful name.

“They are amazing,” I ended up saying as I watched them, eyes on each other while they played, clearly in love. You could feel it in the air about them. You could tell by how they smiled at one another.

Like Grey used to smile at me.

My stomach twisted and turned so suddenly that I drank more ale just to drown the feeling. It didn’t work.

“The ale does that,” Toss said from the other side of the counter. “It steals your joy at first. But you wanna know what the secret is? Because I’m a generous guy and I always share my secrets.”

I smiled, shaking my head. “Okay, Generous Toss. What is the secret?”

He leaned closer. “The second cup gives it back tenfold,” he whispered, then moved back with a grin, making me laugh. “Especially when it’s on the house!” he called as he rushed to the other side to tend to another customer calling for his attention.

I laughed, drinking more of the ale that frankly didn’t taste all that bad now that I was halfway done with it. Or maybe I’d just gotten used to it?

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