Page 35 of The Evernight Court

One of the two bartenders had noticed me sitting at the end, though, and he was smiling ear to ear, moving the big curls of his long hair from in front of his eyes.

“You’re new,” he told me, then reached out his hand. “I’m Toss. Second drink is on the house.”

I was smiling as I shook his head. “I’m Doll,” I said without having to even think about it. It was the fake name I’d used in Faeries’ Aerie, too.

“Welcome, Doll. What will you have? Some good ole ale or something fancier?” And he showed me the wooden cup in his hand, one that most people here were drinking from.

“Ale sounds great,” I said, though I had no clue what the hell ale even tasted like. It couldn’t be that bad if all these people were drinking it, right? And that sign on the door said I was supposed to stay for it, too.

Toss filled up the wooden cup from a barrel in the middle of the counter, then put it in front of me. The top of it was full of white foam, just like beer. “Two silvers,” he said, opening his palm at me with a smile on his face.

“Oh, right.” I reached for the leather bag in my pocket and pulled out one of those gold coins. That surely counted as money. It had to be it.

Swallowing hard, I pretended I knew what I was doing,and I put the gold coin in the palm of his hand with a forced smile.

Toss’s brows shot up. “Ooh. Big-girl money. Nice.” And he spun around in a dance move and went to the other side, to the cash register, to make the payment.

The relief was instant. Ididhave money to pay for this ale, and while Toss came back to me with what was probably my change, I took a sip of the dark brown liquid once the foam faded away.

It wasawful.Absolutely disgusting. The vilest thing I’d ever tasted—and I was still smiling.

Toss put a handful of coins in front of me. “There ya go,” he said, then rested his elbows on the counter and his chin in his palms and looked at me all lovingly while I gathered the coins he’d brought back.

It had to be a mistake, though. Four gold coins, these half in size of the one I gave him, and eight silver ones. He surely gave me back too much, didn’t he?

I didn’t dare say a single word.

“Okay, so out with it,” he finally said. “What are you? Let me look at you.” And he came closer and closer until his face was all I saw.

I fucking panicked.

What am I?!

I’m human!

No, no, wait—Iwashuman, and now I’d become an Enchanted, and…and I had no clue what that meant. I had no idea whatmagiccould do for me, other than to give me the ability to sense it in other people.

“Hmm. You don’t look like anything in particular. Are you—” Toss said, the suspicion in his warm green eyes growing.

“Succubi.” The word slipped from me by accident. Ibrought the cup to my lips and drank a mouthful, barely noticing the awful taste of the ale.

“Oh!” Toss said, brows raised and narrowed and raised and narrowed as he analyzed me, and I thought that was it. I thought he was going to call bullshit on me and the whole bar would hear it.

And what were they going to do—try tokillme or something?

After all, they all blamed me for Grey’s banishment, just like I blamed myself. And if there was no other Evernight here to stop them, would they attack me if they got the chance?

Fuck.I shouldn’t have come here. I shouldn’t have?—

“Yep—I see it,” Toss said.

You’ve got to be shitting me.

I forced a smile on my face so fast it was kind of pathetic.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see it. Not very obvious, all those colors, but I see them,” said Toss, waving his finger at his own eyes.

The colors. The million colors in the eyes of Mama Si and Mike and Assa—even Hannah. I’d barely noticed them on her, but I’d always seen them on Mama Si. Was that a succubi thing?

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