Page 133 of Veil of Death and Shadow

“How,” I glanced up at the ominous figure, “lovely.”

Thorne narrowed his eyes, and I shivered under his stare. His vibes definitely suited his career path, that much was clear.

Sensing that I’d gotten all that I was going to get out of either of them, I focused on navigation, and we spent the rest of the journey in relative silence. And in that silence, I felt the heaviness of the unspoken closeness between Kieran and I fall over us both. We couldn’t exactly talk about it now. Something told me that would only sour Thorne’s mood more, if such a thing was possible.

Kieran made it very clear early on that any kind of relations were forbidden between a guardian and his charge, and I had a feeling that Thorne wouldn’t take sex-club magic as a solid excuse for rule-bending.

Truthfully, I was almost thankful for the discomfort of the situation. It slowed my anxiety spiral that had been deepening every second since we’d left Incendiary.

Between Rex and Lav, what the hell had Sora gotten herself twisted up in? And how the fuck was I going to get her untangled from it?

Why hadn’t she come to me about it?

Probably because she knew me well enough to know that I’d do everything in my power to stop her. But now look at the mess we were in. Best case, I’d show up at this bar and find her casually sipping on a beer beside Lav the vampire. Worst case . . .

I did my best not to linger on it.

When we finally found ourselves outside of the bar, exhausted and sore from an unexpectedly long walk, I froze, the sudden flare of recognition like a knife to my chest.

Kieran glanced down at me. “Everything okay? You change your mind?” Then, after a beat, “We can go home—maybe Sora came back? Or we can try again tomorrow.”

“No.” I swallowed, trying to bring some moisture back to my tongue. It had been years since I’d even thought of this place, but now the memory came flooding back at full force. The bar hadn’t changed much, but I didn’t feel that strange, intense draw to it that I remembered feeling all those years ago. “It’s just . . . I’ve been here before. It,” I licked my lips, “took me by surprise is all.”

A burly redhead burst through the door, the loud bang of the door echoing in the otherwise empty lot. There were two men with him. He dragged them both by the collars of their shirts, as if they were a pair of unruly school boys.

“You know the rules,” the redhead said with a snarl, “not in here. Lucky Claude is in yet, or he’d slap a ban on you both. That, or he’d just take your heads for pulling this shit in his bar.”

He tossed them with the sort of casual force one might use to toss a bag of trash into a dumpster. A cloud of dust and gravel softened their landing. Not wasting a moment, the two men locked into a wrestling match with each other, moving with a speed and ferocity that no human could ever manage.

The redhead nodded in our direction, his eyes roving over me in a way that was very obviously assessing me beyond my threat level. “You coming in or not?”

I tugged at my dress, wishing it covered up more of my body than it did.

“This is a bad idea,” Kieran said, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. “I can’t protect you in there.”

“We’re not leaving.” I whispered the words out of the corner of my mouth. The last thing I needed was the bouncer thinking I was talking to myself.

“Agony—”

“You said I needed to find my joy,” I said. “There’s no joy without Sora. Feel free to wait out here if you want.”

I stepped around the fighting muscle tornado and smiled up at the bouncer. “I am.”

He gave me another weighty appraisal and opened the door.

“Well,” Thorne said, breaking his silence, “at least this should move things along nicely.”

A low growl vibrated in Kieran’s chest as I stepped over the threshold into a bar I’d promised years ago that I would never enter.

23

MAREENA

Present Day

The inside of the bar was a lot larger than I imagined it being. The main room was filled with an inviting energy, given the aggressive welcoming party outside. Cozy wooden tables were scattered throughout the room, mostly filled with lively and laughing faces. It was hard to imagine that they were most likely all demons. They all looked so—human. I also didn’t get why Villette’s tone had been filled with such warning when she mentioned this place. Everything seemed so normal, so jovial.

The lights were dim, which meant the electricity was functioning, there was a group playing pool in the back, and judging by the half-full pitchers at most of the tables, there didn’t seem to be any shortage of booze or beer. It reminded me so much of the time before that my stomach actually ached at the sight of it.

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