I narrowed my eyes but didn’t respond. I wasn’t sure which part annoyed me more — that he’d managed to follow me without my noticing or that he assumed I was friends with any of Silas’s hunters.
“So, what’s the plan?” he coaxed. “You certainly don’t look as though you’re ready to prostrate yourself at Silas’s feet and beg for his forgiveness.” He eyed the dozen or so daggers strapped to my thighs, and his gaze felt almost like a physical touch.
“Stay — away from me,” I growled. “This isn’t a good time.”
Then, against my better judgement, I turned and gave Kaden my back. But I’d barely made it two steps when he said, “You won’t be able to find it, you know.”
Irritation flared hot in my chest, tempering the icy terror that had been threatening to choke me since I’d found Imogen’s apartment empty. “Find what?”
“Silas’s safe house. You won’t be able to find it.”
“What are you talking about?” I huffed, wheeling around to face him again. I kept my expression carefully murderous so he wouldn’t see my raw self-doubt.
“Because of the wards,” he said, as though it were obvious. Kaden jerked his head in the direction I’d been headed. “Silas isn’t stupid. He’s got a witch under his control who keeps cloaking wards around his safe house. Why else do you think the clans haven’t exterminated him and his hunters yet?”
Inside, I wobbled. I’d honestly never given it much thought beyond Silas’s carefully cultivated reputation for brutality.
“Silas doesn’t have a witch,” I said, unable to keep the slight tremor of doubt out of my voice.
“Of course he does. You just didn’t know.”
I gritted my teeth and crossed my arms over my chest, as if I could somehow protect myself from the reality that Silas was even more horrible than I’d given him credit for. “If that’s true, then why is this the first time I haven’t been able to find the house?”
“Because you were loyal to him before. Now that you’ve betrayed him . . .” Kaden trailed off. “You could circle that house every night for a month, and you’d never find it. Eventually, you’d forget what it looked like and what street it was on until it faded from your memory completely.”
I just stared up at Kaden. That explained how I’d ended up in front of the gas station and the house with the Rottweiler. The wards had misdirected me. But if he was right that I’dneverfind it no matter how hard I looked . . .
“Well, that’s just great,” I seethed, wishing I’d kept Gorm’s cronies alive so I could use them for target practice. “How am I supposed to find it now? There has to be a way.”
Something like delight flashed in Kaden’s eyes, and he started walking backwards down the sidewalk with a quick jerk of his head. “Have dinner with me, little huntress, and I’ll tell you.”
“What?” He couldn’t be serious.
“My, you really are a bit slow tonight. I think those wards are doing their work.” He swept his hair out of his eyes and flashed a devilish smirk. “Come eat with me, and I’ll tell you how you can save your friend.”
Chapter
Eleven
Against my better judgment, I followed Kaden the four blocks back to Crimson Row, trailing a few paces behind him. As he passed under a sign for one of the vampire clubs, the neon light flashed off his night-black hair, making him look even less of this world than he usually did.
For the first time, I reallynoticedKaden beyond his good looks and that off-putting magic that seemed to both threaten and seduce as it hummed against my skin. Rather than the vibrant, ostentatious clothes most fae in the Quarter wore, Kaden dressed in all black.
The night he saved me from the demons, he’d been dressed in black fighting leathers that made him look like some sort of avenging angel. Tonight he wore a plain black shirt rolled up at the sleeves, slim-fitting pants, and boots. The shirt was finely made but had no buttons or adornments — just a slit beneath the throat that revealed a few inches of broad, tanned chest and the swirling hint of a tattoo.
With every step, he exuded the confidence of a warrior and the arrogance of royalty. Vampires and mortals gave him a wide berth as he strode up the sidewalk, pausing only long enough to let me catch up.
I’d expected him to take me to some secret spot known only to the fae, but instead he turned toward The Red Velvet Diner — a divey hole-in-the-wall frequented by mortals after a long night of drinking and cavorting. Flashing red lights beamed down from the slowly rotating sign out front, gleaming off the shiny metal facade of the diner. Kaden magicked away his wings and thrust open the door for me, and I eyed him warily as I stepped into the diner.
The smell of fry grease and syrup wafted over me on a gust of warm air, and the combination was strangely appealing after everything that had happened the last few days. The sign by the door said “Please Wait To Be Seated,” but Kaden spun it around so that it read “Please Seat Yourself” and sauntered over to a huge corner booth.
He flopped down on the seat as though he owned the place, spreading his long arms across the back of the bench. Even though his huge black wings had disappeared, I found myself picturing what they would look like thrust out behind him against the red vinyl booth.
Cautiously, I sank down on the bench across from him. I didn’t like that the seat put my back to the door, but I suspected the most dangerous creature I’d encounter tonight was sitting right in front of me. My hands itched instinctively toward my weapons, but I forced myself to lay my palms flat on the table.
Kaden cracked open one of the oversized menus,perusing the offerings as though he were trying to decode some ancient text. “Hm. Breakfast or lunch?”
“It’s ten o’clock at night.”
