Page 28 of Arcane Entanglement
He rose, came over, and took Ginny’s gloved hand. His smile turned seductive as he leaned down and pressed a gallant kiss to her knuckles, the hooded look he gave her from beneath his lashes full of sensuous Irish charm.
“I told you to call me Finn the last time we—ow! Ow! Ow!”
Ginny had grabbed his hand and was bending it backward.
The low murmurs around them told Evander they were drawing unwanted attention.
“Hmm, Ginny—” he started.
She ignored him, her voice low and hard as she fixed the redhead with a cutting stare. “Mr. Callaghan, our transactions have and always will be purely business. Please stop insinuating otherwise.”
“I was just jest—” Finn started, chagrined.
“What’s going on, Razor?”
A dark man with intelligent sable eyes was approaching from the left. His quiet, watchful demeanour was reminiscent of a panther, while his sinewy build suggested he was a seasoned street fighter.
Evander could tell he was the more dangerous of the pair.
Ginny released Finn’s wrist.
The Irishman gave her a wounded look before addressing the newcomer.
“Nothing special, Sly. I was just greeting the lady, is all.”
The man frowned at his associate before studying Ginny and Evander.
“I’ve not seen you before.” Ginny was studying the stranger with a glint in her eye that made Evander uneasy.
If the man registered her burgeoning interest, he did not show it. “Solomon Barden at your service. How may we be of assistance?”
Evander traded a vigilant look with Ginny. He stepped forward.
“I would like to request a meeting with Mr. Stonewall.”
A wary stillness came over the two men.
Solomon’s gaze burned into Evander’s face, like he could see behind his facade. He cut his eyes to Ginny.
“Lady Hartley, are you aware that you’re breaking the rules of the guild by bringing someone who hasn’t been vetted here?” he said thinly. “It’s clear this man is an aristocrat.”
Ginny met Solomon’s irritated glare unflinchingly. “It’s an emergency.”
“Your employer is going to want to hear this,” Evander added quietly.
Solomon observed them for a moment longer before cocking his head, a trace of arrogance flitting across his handsome face.
“And whom shall I say wants to meet him?”
Ginny’s shoulders knotted a fraction.
This was the part they’d been uncertain about.
Even though he had never had any dealings withNightshadein either a personal or business capacity, Evander’s identity as a Special Arcane Investigator was bound to be a sore point for members of the guild. After all, thralls and slum dwellers distrusted the Met and viewed most police officers as their enemy.
He could hardly blame them.
Recent changes in the laws of the empire may have meant no one could throw a thrall in lockup without just cause anymore, but the damage done by centuries of violent oppression and forced servitude could not be unravelled in a matter of years.
