Page 34 of Demonic Prince

I don’t know what that means, but Rook nods.

“Hungry?” asks the innkeeper.

There’s something greasy about the way he says it, something I don’t understand.

Rook shrugs. “I’d like dinner first.”

We choose a table in the corner of the inn. He offers me the chair nearer to the fireplace. I shake out my rain-wet hair and hang my cloak on the back of the chair. My fingers curl tight around the wood.

“Sit,” he says gruffly. “Please.”

I lower myself into the chair and rest my hands on the edge of the table. “It’s hard to relax with all this noise. My cave is quieter.”

He glances around us. “Don’t mention where you live. We don’t want word to reach the queen’s knights.”

“Why did the innkeeper call you that?”

“Call me what?”

“Cambion.”

The chair creaks as he leans back. “It’s an insulting name for a half-incubus.”

“How can he tell?”

“Not many men have horns, silver skin, and red eyes.”

“No, I mean how can he tell you’re half?”

“If I were fully incubus, I wouldn’t be able to hide my wings. Besides, he’s seen me before. Here, I’m just another monster hunter.”

“But you’re the Gray Prince.”

Firelight gleams in his eyes. “They don’t know that. Let’s keep it that way.”

“And they don’t know I’m a monster,” I mutter, glancing around the inn.

Unease twists in my gut. The Raven’s Head doesn’t feel safe for a dragon shifter like me.

Not in the slightest.

CHAPTERTWELVE

Abusty barmaid brings us each a bowl of stew. She makes a show of bending over the table as she serves Rook, flaunting her cleavage.

The barmaid glances at him through her eyelashes. “Your dinner, milord.”

“Thank you.”

She winks at him and saunters away.

I take my spoon. Steam curls from the stew, which has carrots, beets, onions, and, most important, sausage. The broth shimmers with droplets of what must be pork fat. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t hungry.

When I eat a spoonful, I wince. “Damn. Scalded my tongue.”

“You did?”

“Ridiculous, since I breathe fire most days.”

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