Inadvertently, my focus flicks to the corner where I last spotted Demi and the East Wind. No sign of them. Where might they have gone? Back to the palace? Some gloom-shrouded corner? It matters not. Eurus is free to go where he wants and spend his time with whomever he chooses.
“Would it be in poor taste for me to ask who you’ve bet on?” I ask Kip.
“No.” He keeps smiling, this god, which makes my mouth bend in response. “It would be in poor taste not to.”
I’m about to respond when a tendril of air teases the curve of my nape, and I freeze, heart aflutter. Moments later, I sense a wall of heat at my back, a presence that is both comfort and agony.
“Bird.”
The rough grate of my name in the East Wind’s mouth pebbles my skin. Outwardly, I am calm. Internally, lungs and heart are at war, each fighting to claim space inside my chest. By the Mother, am I so quick to forget what I overheard less than an hour earlier?
“Eurus,” I clip out, sipping my drink with an air of indifference. “Where’s yourdear friendDemi?” The snide tone is so foreign it mustbelong to another. Why am I treating the goddess like an enemy? Demi is good. She is my friend.
Shoving those tumultuous thoughts aside, I gesture to my companion. “This is Kip. Have you met?”
The smaller, more affable god tilts his chin at Eurus. “Once, long ago. You likely wouldn’t remember.”
“On the contrary,” the East Wind replies coolly, “there is very little I forget.”
The musicians announce a brief interlude, and conversation rises to fill the gaps previously crammed with chords. As I take another sip of wine, Eurus steals my glass and downs the rest. He returns it to my hand as if it is perfectly normal for his lips to warm the same rim mine did seconds before.
I glare at him. “I was drinking that.”
“And now you’re not.”
I draw myself higher in my seat. Clearly, I’ve done something wrong, though I haven’t the slightest idea what. “You owe me another drink.”
“It’s time to g—”
“Now.”
He frowns, taken aback by my demand. I suppress a victorious smile as he signals the barkeep, who is so overwhelmed by customers he does not immediately notice. Eurus scowls. Kip glances at me, an eyebrow raised.
“Another wine, please,” the East Wind calls out. Two, five, seven tumblers are sent into awaiting hands. Only then does the barkeep pass Eurus a glass of wine.
He sets the drink in front of me. I blink down at it. “I was drinking white.”
A vein throbs in his temple. It looks like a great, fat worm. The image tickles me, and I tamp down a snort of laughter as he demands another glass—white,and make it snappy.
Less than a heartbeat later, my drink appears. With a sweet smile at my surly companion, I lift the glass to my mouth and sip. To hiscredit, he waits for me to finish my drink before saying, “Let’s go, bird. We’re late.”
“For what?” I wasn’t aware we had other plans.
He leans forward then. The scarred edge of his mouth grazes the shell of my ear, and I inhale sharply through my nose, the desire to tilt my head back and allow him easier access warring with the impulse to shove him away, the image of him and Demi a brand behind my eyes. “I’ll tell you when we get back to the palace,” he rumbles.
Stay, or go? I look to Kip in indecision. “You’re sure I need to be there? Kip could walk me back to the palace.”
The dark-skinned immortal smiles brightly. “Absolutely—”
“No,” Eurus snarls. “We go together.”
Fine. I don’t have the patience to deal with this, and I do not want to attract any more attention to myself than I already have. With a venomous glare in Eurus’ direction, I slip off the stool and gather my coat.
Kip’s smile tilts in sadness. “I hope to see you around, Min.”
“Me, too,” I whisper, but Eurus is already dragging me toward the door using his winds to nudge aside any who block our way forward. We push out onto the street, into the driving rain.
“Will you manhandle m-me all the way to the palace?” I snip. “Or will you allow me to walk on m-my own?”
