I, meanwhile, was still trying to catch my breath. And regain the feeling in my limbs.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Alastor’s eyes shifted to me, but only briefly. They continued on to our surroundings. “I can’t imagine why you’d be interested in doing anything in a filthy alley.”
“It’s actually pretty clean, as far as alleys go,” his brother replied. “But clearly, you have no sense of adventure.”
Alastor looked very much like he wanted to roll his eyes, but apparently he was too dignified to do so. “You told me to come find you when your contact got in touch. I had no way of knowing you’d be…” —another glance in my direction—“preoccupied.”
“My contact can wait a few minutes,” Radven said, gesturing for his brother to leave. “Give us some privacy. We’re in the middle of something.”
Wait—he actually intended to continue what we’d started?
“I… You can go,” I stammered to Radven. “We can finish later.” I was wild enough to go at it in a dark alleyway, but I was definitelynotwild enough to go at it in a dark alleyway with the guy’s brother lingering nearby, fully aware of everything we were doing.
Radven looked disappointed, but he didn’t push it.
“Then I look forward to later, butterfly.” He pulled me close to him again, kissing me deeply despite Alastor’s presence—maybe evenbecauseof Alastor’s presence, because he made a show of it, threading his fingers through my hair and dipping me slightly back. I tasted myself on his tongue. Despite the awkwardness of having an audience, it still left me breathless.
There reallywasno shame with Radven.
“Did you want me to come with you?” Alastor asked his brother once Radven had released me again.
“I can handle Dirk on my own,” Radven said, flashing a wicked smile as, with a flick of his wrist, that dagger suddenly appeared in his hand again. “You should go enjoy the Festival, Brother. Have a drink, meet a nice girl. A little fun would do you some good. We’re back in Therador—we all deserve to celebrate a little.” He glanced back in my direction and added, “Marigold, make sure he doesn’t just run back under the Hill. Take him dancing or something.”
And with that, Radven disappeared into the street. Leaving me alone with a sullen, irritable Alastor, who looked like he’d just been told he’d have to spend the rest of the night babysitting a rabid raccoon.
I studied him. He’d changed out of the mud-streaked clothes he’d had on this morning, but unlike his brothers, he hadn’t done anything special to dress up for the festivities, sticking instead to dull—if polished—shades of gray. And of course, his usual Resting Asshole Face was just the cherry on top.
I guess every group’s got a party pooper, I thought, smoothing out my skirts.
“I have no interest in dancing,” he said stiffly.
“I never asked,” I retorted. I was secretly relieved, though, since I wasn’t ready to return to the hilltop and potentially run into Octavian. “You can just go back under the Hill if you want. I promise I won’t snitch on you.”
Alastor gave a heavy sigh and crossed his arms. ”As delightful as that sounds, I suspect neither of my brothers would forgive me for abandoning you in the middle of all of…this.” He gestured to the street behind him as if it were some sort of violent mob.
I wanted to make some snarky comment about not needing a babysitter, but who was I kidding? I knew it was stupid for me to go off on my own in this strange place. And I really wasn’t ready to call it a night. At the very least, I needed to work off some of the tension in my body. Being interrupted when we were, right at the moment I was about to…
I shook my head, chasing away those sensations. I needed tomove.To do something to distract myself and ease the trembling tightness I was feeling.
“Talon and his crew shouldn’t be far,” I said. “I’ll just find them again.” And hopefully avoid Octavian in the process, if luck was on my side. I just couldn’t face him when I felt…like this.
Alastor scoffed. “If Talon is anything like I remember, he can hardly be trusted in this situation. He’s probably so drunk he can hardly stand.”
Talon had definitely done a lot of drinking this evening, but last I’d seen him, he’d been holding his liquor just fine. “Octavian trusted him with me.”
“And whereismy brother, exactly?” Alastor asked. “I was under the impression thathewas the one who’d come looking for you.”
“He’s…up on the Hill, I think.” I was realizing now that I shouldn’t have brought up his name at all.
And the look Alastor gave me confirmed that he probably had some idea about why I’d suddenly gone as twitchy as a hairless chihuahua.
He gave another sigh. “I know it’s none of my business—”
“You’re right. So let’s just leave it at that.”
“—but I think it would be easier for all of us right now if there wasn’t any unnecessary drama.”
I felt a prickle of irritation. “Who said there was drama?” Okay—maybe there was alittledrama, buthedidn’t know that.
