Page 38 of A Blade of Blood and Shadow
It had been years since I’d thought of that night. It hadbeen so terrifying that I’d stuffed the memory away. Rather than admit that I didn’t know how I’d done it, I told everyone I’d pushed him.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said after a moment, shoving the memory back into the past where it belonged. “I don’t know anything about unweaving wards.”
“You don’t need to.” Kaden leaned forward and lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “I know a faerie who’s in possession of a cipher that can unweave any ward. I just need a witch to use it.”
I raised my eyebrows. It sounded too good to be true. “And this faerie is a friend of yours?”
“Not exactly,” he admitted.
“So why would he do us any favors?”
“He wouldn’t.” Kaden’s gaze flicked to the side. “But we’d just need toborrowthe cipher.”
“You mean steal it.”
Kaden’s head bobbed from side to side. “Semantics. He won’t even know it’s missing. Trust me. We can even return it, if you like.”
I let out a long sigh. Stealing from a faerie was not on the list of things I’d like to try. “And how do you plan on stealing this magical cipher?”
“Lucky for us, this faerie is hosting a little soirée tomorrow evening, and he’s invited me.”
“And you want to go to this party and steal his cipher,” I guessed.
“No, little huntress. What fun would that be?” Kaden’s eyes smoldered in a way that made my insides feel uncomfortably warm. “I wantusto go to the party and steal his cipher.”
Chapter
Twelve
The air was heavy the following evening as I left Imogen’s apartment building. My leathers stuck to my skin in all the wrong places, but being too hot was better than picking grit and rock out of your wounds after some vampire dragged you across the pavement.
I found Kaden leaning against the side of the building, looking infuriatingly casual with his wings splayed against the brick. A slow grin spread across his face as he took in my attire — and the dozen or so blades strapped to my thighs.
“I see you came to party,” he said, pushing off the wall.
“You can never be too careful,” I replied, irrationally annoyed by how relaxed he seemed as he led me around the corner. He didn’t have a weapon on him — at least not that I could see.
“That’s the spirit,” he chuckled, tucking in his wings to avoid brushing the cracked stucco walls of the crumbling buildings we passed.
All my senses were on high alert as he led me down apoorly lit side street. The uneven cobblestones were terrible to run on, and this part of the Quarter was unfamiliar to me. The buildings here weren’t painted in the beguiling colors of the vampire clubs. Most were dark and grimy from neglect, and a few looked as though they might be condemned.
“Your fae friend lives overhere?” I asked when he led me down a dead-end street.
“No,” he called over his shoulder. “We’re swinging by my place first.”
I nearly tripped over a loose cobblestone as I came to a halt. “Why?”
“To change into something more . . . appropriate.”
“What’s wrong with this?” I protested, gesturing down at my leathers.
Kaden turned and made a show of looking me up and down. “We need to blend in to avoid rousing suspicions, and you, little huntress, are dressed like a cat burglar.”
I rolled my eyes, and Kaden’s laugh echoed off the buildings as he led me down another winding street. He brought me to an imposing gothic-revival building perched on the corner.
Its pointed tower seemed to stretch into oblivion, piercing the star-flecked sky. Tall windows jutted out from every floor, and gargoyles leered from between the wrought-iron accents that curled out from the upper stories. The heavy wooden doors were chained shut, but a casual flick of Kaden’s wrist, and the solid metal links simply melted away.
Cautiously, I followed him through the battered doors into a dark lobby. Glass sconces sputtered to life withfaelight, illuminating the black-and-white marble tile and gilded wood-paneled walls.
