I bought another sugary drink for Nemi and leaned on the border wall while she drank. Then I spotted movement from the nearby alley—the thug I’d harassed.
I tucked Nemi away and followed him.
The thug accelerated away, but I slowed down. Only feet away was a gap between buildings. I took a step closer, and a deep voice echoed from it.
“I ain’t a servant to be summoned at your fuckin’ will.” Slade emerged from the darkness.
“Didn’t know which door to knock on,” I admitted.
The big shifter held something in his hands. It reflected in the dim lights that penetrated the alley—blue, and then green.
Ice traveled down my spine as he twisted the metallic feather slowly back and forth between his fingers.
“Heard your female accomplice met a rather bloody end,” he said. “That why you changed your mind?”
I regarded him evenly. “I didn’t say I’d changed my mind.”
His blue eyes flicked to mine. “Then why are you looking for me?”
“Looking for work elsewhere. Thought you might hook me up.”
He assessed me. “You got Gretik problems?”
“Why you asking?”
“They’re sniffing around your dead friend like demented Bumblespiders.”
I fought to keep my features stoic. If he thought he’d benefit from selling me out to the Priests, he’d do so in a heartbeat. I was playing with fire.
My heart was in my mouth when I said, “My Gretik issues began and ended with her.”
His gaze flicked to the spot where Nemi sat very still against my neck, before they dropped again to the feather. “Birds often flock together.”
“We weren’t the same kind of birds,” I countered. “So?”
His vivid gaze narrowed, before he offered, “Got no love for the Gretiks. Crazy bunch of fuckin’ zealots. But don’t want them on my tail, either.”
“I’d rather avoid being interrogated.” I wasn’t lying. “I need to put some distance between me and them.” Also, true.
He watched the feather flicker in the sunlight. Then he said, “Just so happens Victor is pulling up stakes for a bit, and he’s leaving my father in charge here while he moves to another stronghold.” He paused, as if for effect. “In another realm.”
The bastard was clearly going to make me ask, so I did. “Got any openings?”
Slade straightened and met my eyes. “You’d be working for me. You know the score. Don’t go gettin’ yourself into deep shit, because I won’t be digging you out.”
I matched his stare. “Acceptable.” It wasn’t, not really, but it was what I expected.
He offered a single, brief dip of his chin. Then he led me deeper into the alley.
The big shifter had turned his back, but I was under no illusions. As I followed him, I was aware of others falling in around us.
Only time would tell if I would become one of them, or die by them.
I had traded a jungle for a swamp.
Drosfi had been lush and humid, but in the five hours that I’d been in Antlin, it had yet to stop raining.
By raining, I meant sheeting down. If I raised my hand, I could barely make it out through the downpour. The puddlesand hand-dug ditches that ran everywhere indicated that this was a frequent occurrence.
