Page 5 of The Umbra King

“What are you smiling at?” Keith said to Dume. “You have horns, for aether’s sake.”

Dume shrugged. “And you have dog breath.”

Rory and Kordie were both leaning over laughing as Keith flippedthem off.

“I like your hair today, Kordelia,” Keith said with a flirtatious grin. “The purple brings out the green in your eyes.”

Kordie grabbed an olive from the bar tray and threw it at him. “For the last time, I am not having sex with you.”

Keith dodged the assault and wound his arm around her shoulders. “You might change your mind.”

It was the same song and dance they did every day, and Rory suspected there was something there under the playful banter.

“Do you close tonight?” Dume asked.

“Yeah,” Rory replied. “But I’m off tomorrow.”

Kordie perked up. “You never have Fridays off.”

“I know.” Rory leaned on the bar. “We need to do something that doesn’t involve Whiplash.”

“Like what? Go to a different bar where we have to pay full price?” Keith joked.

Rory popped him in the arm with her bar rag. “We could go dancing.”

Dume groaned, Kordie clapped, and Keith pointed at her. “I like where your head’s at.”

“It’s settled,” Kordie declared. “Let’s meet at Wonder at nine o’clock tomorrow night.” Wonder was a popular nightclub a few blocks away from the bar.

Rory slapped the bar and straightened. “Sounds like a plan.” A customer waved her over. “I’ll be right back.”

After serving a few others, she walked back to her friends and noticed their attention focused on the essence screen behind her. “What’s so interesting that even Dume is glued to the ES?” she asked, but when she turned, her words died in her throat.

“The Butcher killed someone else,” Keith said grimly. “What kind of sick fuck sews someone’s hands to their shoulders?” He shuddered. “Could you imagine having to poke a needle—” He stopped to gag.

Kordie wrinkled her nose. “That is what you’re the mostconcerned about? The Butcher is murdering people and stringing them up on meat hooks.”

Dume was quiet as he looked at Rory. “I’m walking you home from now on.”

She waved him off, trying to look unbothered despite wanting to crawl out of her skin at her friends’ disgust. “MyFeystrength makes me stronger than most other mystics. I do not need, nor do I want, an escort.”

“And if The Butcher is aMuninand wipes your memory clean before they attack?” he challenged, making her grimace. “You wouldn’t remember any of your training.”

Muninscontrolled memories, but surprisingly enough, they hated being around people and stuck together. AMunincompound was located outside of the city, and they kept to themselves. Even if she were not the culprit herself, Rory doubted aMuninwould care enough about others to commit a string of murders.

“You know as well as I do that’s not the case,” she replied tersely. “You’re not escorting me like a child, and that’s final.” His knuckles turned white around his glass of water.

“After what happened to Cora, I can’t risk losing you too,” he said quietly.

Kordie and Keith averted their gazes, knowing Rory’s sister was a sore subject for both her and Dume. “I’m not Cora. Don’t forget I bested you in training last week. I can take care of myself.”

“Once,” Dume stressed. “We’ve been training together since we were sixteen, and you’ve only beat meonce.”

“I thought you only trained as kids,” Keith said. “I want to watch next time.”

“We don’t train anymore,” Dume said, shaking his head. “It was for fun. As teens, she begged me to teach her what they taught me in enforcer training, and once my classes stopped and I joined the force, so did our lessons.” He looked at Rory suspiciously. “How did you improve so much since the last time we sparred?”

They were interrupted by a customer turning up the ES as itcalled The Butcher dangerous, warning the public to walk in pairs, and Rory sighed when Dume gave her an“I told you so”look.

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