Page 96 of A Reign of Roses
“What about you?” Kane said, raising one graceful brow in my direction.
“What about me?”
“Kane tells me you tried to shift,” Griffin said. “Back in Lumera.”
Mari folded her arms in thought. “If you’re something with multiple heads, will you tell me if each head has its own brain, or if you have one brain, and the other heads function more like ancillary limbs? I’ve always wondered about that…”
“You’vealwayswondered about that?”
She shrugged. “I wonder about a lot of things.”
“Don’t deflect,” Kane chided. “Now’s as good a time as any to test your abilities. You have quite the arena here to practice in.” He gestured to the broad, glittering night sky, the city lights below rivaling the stars that hung high above.
But that thought only made my gut clench. I’d fallen enough for many, many lifetimes. “It’s late…”
“You know I’d catch you,” Kane offered softly, his shoulders rolling back as if he could feel his wings behind him.
“Come on,” Mari said with impish glee, as if encouraging me to eat sweets for supper. “It’ll be fun.”
“Fine,” I sighed. I wandered into the middle of the roof, giving each of them a wide berth. Stones forbid I shift into something gargantuan. Once there, I closed my eyes and tried to channel Dagan. He’d instruct me to clear my mind.
Focus on whatever emotion I found in the wake of my churning thoughts.
Gratitude and hope, sorrow for all we’d suffered, fear, as was always there. I amended my stance—Griffin had been right about that—and concentrated on pulling from the atmosphere. The chilly winter air, the moonlight on my nose and shoulders.
Not a single sensation to be felt. Not in my back or anywhere else.
“I don’t think it can be done unless…”
“Unless what?” Kane asked, silver eyes narrowing.
“I’m not sure. Unless I’m in some sort of danger, I think.”
Kane’s expression turned a little stricken, and I regretted sharing that. Reminding him of what I’d been through.
“We should take a break anyway,” Mari said brightly, focusing her gaze on the city filled with light below us. “To be here, in the capital of a kingdomknownfor its music and taverns and cafés—”
“And brothels,” Kane offered, his earlier amusement once again dancing across his mouth.
“Great,” Mari said, exasperated. “Take me to a brothel. Honestly. Anything but more training. I spent the last two months doing exactly this for hours and hours on end.”
“I’ve never been in a brothel,” I mused before turning to Kane, moonlight glinting off the bow of his full lips. “Have you?”
I was sure he had. I could conjure seamlessly Kane’s mesmerizing jaw and dreamlike silver eyes pulling the attention of every working courtesan in the sordid, solicitous place. So darkly compelling they’d offer themselves to him for less than their going rate…
“Many, many times. But never for the women.”
“What for, then?”
“Far worse vices. Gambling, brawls, too much drink.”
Griffin laughed to himself from his perch against the roof’s edge. He’d picked up Kane’s sword and begun sharpening it once again.“One night, I had to hunt through three different Solaris whorehouses looking for him. Found the bastard underneath a featherbed, drunk as a fish in a wine barrel, talking some courtesan into quitting to become a seamstress.”
Mari folded her arms and scowled. “I’m sure you frequent brothels often.”
The sword nearly clattered from Griffin’s hands.“Me?”
Mari’s eyes flashed, curiosity more than piqued. But her arms stayed firmly locked across her chest.
