Tate eased back, not wanting to get caught between the two predators in case they decided to settle their differences with violence.
Night was the first to look away. Tate’s lips twitched at the sight. Finally, her friend was showing a bit of sense.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave,” Mia bit out. She stalked away without waiting for a response, her passage as silent and effortless as her arrival.
“I don’t know if you’re dumb or brave.” Tate watched Mia stalk away. Despite the anger stiffening her spine, every step was precise and effortless. “She’s a Veles, same as you, with all the pride and stubbornness that comes with it. Even if you don’t like her, there’s no reason to be mean.”
Night avoided her gaze, his ears lowering.I’ll apologize.
“Good.” Tate nodded in emphasis. Although she acted like his concession was a foregone conclusion, privately she was surprised. Night usually pretended ignorance when he did something wrong. It was something all three of them had in common. If you didn’t acknowledge the fault, it must mean the fault didn’t exist.
He must care more about the Veles woman than he let on. Tate watched Night out of the corner of her eyes, noting how he kept looking in Mia’s direction.
“Only you would dare insinuate the Harridan’s assassin’s stalking skills weren’t up to your standards.” Tate lifted a hand to hide her snicker. If she thought about it, it was pretty funny. Mia’s reaction and the way her arrogant friend had gone silent would stay with her for a long time.
I still say it’s impossible that any two-legger could pick up on my presence.
“You also said he wasn’t quite normal either.”
That doesn’t mean anything.Night lifted a lip, exposing a fang in an expression Tate had learned meant disgust—or anger. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Night.
Dewdrop lifted a hand in greeting as Tate and Night reached him. She was about to speak when a suspicious face beyond his shoulder caught her attention.
A man was staring intently at their group. Tate didn’t know how long he’d been there, but his interest was obvious. The rest of the gathering might as well not have existed, ebbing and flowing around him as if he was a boulder placed in the middle of a river. It was that very immovability that attracted Tate’s notice.
As if feeling her eyes on him, his gaze shifted, meeting hers. He turned away, hiding himself in the crowd almost immediately.
It wasn’t fast enough.
Tate recognized his amber eyes, the chestnut brown hair with caramel highlights, the muscular frame. She knew if she looked at his hands, she’d find each finger shorter than it should have been with scarring at the tips. Declawing a Silva was a practice that had long since been forbidden, making the fact he’d had it done all the more mysterious.
Their acquaintance hadn’t been long, but he had left an impression. Kidnappers who you suspected of being the shadowy mastermind behind an insane man often did.
“Peter,” Tate whispered in near disbelief.
“What?”Are you sure?Dewdrop and Night asked at the same time.
They whirled to try to spot the man Tate had seen.
At that exact moment, an unseen force punched Tate in the chest. Ilith cried out as a feeling of home washed over them. An invisible tether tugging as if trying to summon them.
Tate could feel Ilith reaching for that sense of homecoming when a loud boom shook the palace. The thread leading to that feeling of home snapped as the windows of the ballroom exploded inward amid screams from the crowd.
Tate staggered and fell to her knees.
“Tate!”
Tate!
Tate curled around the gaping hole the tether had left, trying to get her equilibrium again. Whatever that had been had left a wound in her psyche. Ilith whimpered in the corner of her mind. The dragon curled in on herself and didn’t respond when Tate sent waves of reassurance.
Tate opened her eyes to find Dewdrop’s concerned face in front of hers. Night had placed a paw on the hand she’d used to steady herself against the floor.
“I’m alright. How are the rest of us?”
“I’m safe.” Daisy’s voice was thin and high, not giving much credence to her words.
When Tate glanced at her, it was to find the girl’s eyes wide, fear stamped on her face. Despite that, her gaze was steady and there was no sign of her dragon taking over to protect them. Tate considered that a win.
