Page 64 of Cursed Shadows 3

But those thoughts wash away the moment Eamon slams the bottles down on the table and uncorks them.

He starts to pour out the clear liquid into tumblers.

Scooted to the edge of the bench, Aleana watches the dancers just as the beat switches up for something more bass-thumped. Slowly, her face scrunches up and she ignores the fresh drink that Eamon pushes to her. “This music is awful.”

Bee just grins, and I wonder if her cheeks hurt from all the forced smiles she’s crafting for us. Part of her job, I think. Not only to get us into the club, secure us a booth on this upper level overlooking the dancefloor, but to keep the drinks coming, smile and laugh and entertain.

I listen to the fresh beat of the new song, the bass strong enough to thunder the floor beneath my boots.

“What is the singer saying?” Ridge shouts his question, face creased against the blast of the music, and he lifts his hand as if to gesture to the song assaulting us. “His nether region is perspiring?”

Eamon fights off a laugh. His face strains and he lifts his glass to his twisted mouth.

Bee barks a laugh. “It’s a popular song. It’s hip-hop.”

Ridge echoes, speaking the words as though they are utterly foreign to him, “Hip. Hop.”

Eamon adds an extra frozen cube of ice to his drink. It splashes some droplets over his hand that he ignores. “If you think these lyrics are crude…” Whatever he says after that, I don’t hear, because his volume drops below the beat, and he joins Ridge up on the back of the booth.

Bee fills the last tumbler and hands it to Dare who comes up to her side. “Fuck Her Gently is a favourite of mine.”

Dare’s eye flash, and the force of it almost breaks the glamour I spindled to dim those golden irises of his.

I doubt anyone else notices that his fingers tighten around the glass he hasn’t yet lifted to his lips.

I’m in two minds about it, abouthim. I have witnessed his skills of seduction, watched him break hearts like they were nothing more than glass ornaments in his iron grip; I have watched him seduce females above his social standing and in another land entirely, then grin as they wept for him.

Never have I seen him struck silent by a female.

And as I watch him, I’m certain he doesn’t quite know what to do about his obvious crush on Bee. That’s what I sense here, not a target, not ordinary desire—acrush.

Maybe he hasn’t had a kinta before, let alone one who lives in the human realm, so he is learning her as Daxeel learned me all that time ago.

Aleana asks, a blush creeping over her cheekbones, “Are all the songs about body parts and bedding?”

Bee shakes her head, a stray strand of mousy hair falling over her shoulder—and Dare watches the icy-blond tip caress her clavicle as though it’s the map to Mother’s ear.

“You lot would better like rock.” Her crooked smile is wicked and she sweeps it over the males. “It’s dark.Violent.”

Dare moves closer to her, an almost imperceivable step.

The kinta doesn’t notice, but I do.

Aleana’s face is as blank as mine.

I throw the bother from my mind because I frankly don’t care much about the music anymore, not when I spot—just somebooths down—a human man smoking something that looks like rolled stalk.

It strikes a hunger through me. “Bee! Is that valerian?” I point my finger to the human down the way. “Can I get some?”

She blinks her long lashes at me in a way that has me deciding on her flirtatious nature. Even with females, she just… flirts. I wonder if it’s a natural thing for her, if she isn’t all that aware of it—or maybe she is, and she’s devious like that.

I find I like the latter.

Now that I think of it, I might sort of like the kinta.

I would like her more if she didn’t steal away my Eamon.

“You can get some from me,” she croons, andyes, I decide, she is a flirt. “Half-piece of gold for one.”

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