All those muscles wrapped in velvet like a present. The luxurious fabric clung to him, the amber color bringing out the blue of his temple scales and eyes. It softened the breadth of his shoulders but didn't diminish it. Nothing could diminish Taroc. If not for his Wraith Lord pendant, he would have been mistaken for a nobleman; he was that comfortable in his clothes. I loved that about him. He was never awkward. In armor or fine velvet, he was the same man and exuded the same brutal confidence.
Taroc had requested a table on the mezzanine, so we had a view of the diners on the floor below as well as the city outside the windows that made up the entire wall across from us. We were in a mixed city again, but this time, I didn't think the stares were purely about my race. Taroc was hard to look away from and several of the stares we received were covetous. Still, there had been unwanted looks as well.
Word of who I was had spread, so the combination of my pendant and my race usually made eyes widen and changed scorn into approval, sometimes even delight. That was great and all. It was nice to be thanked by people and fawned over. But the moments before they figured out who I was could be aggravating. Downright insulting sometimes. And so the glory of being Ember, the only human Wraith Lord, was eclipsed by the fact that I was an exception. The rest of my race was still being treated like scum.
“What's wrong?” Taroc asked. “You don't like the food?”
“No, the food is great.” I stretched my shoulders and smoothed my tunic. “I'm still getting used to these clothes. We can't all be as confident as you.”
“Thank you.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “But that's not it.”
Taroc had already proved he was more discerning than other men I knew. I shouldn't even try to dissemble with him.
I made a mirthless snort. “It's foolish. I know the way the world is. I'm not bitter about it. We've talked about this before; you know I'm not bitter. And I know better than to get upset about things I can't change. But lately, it's been getting to me more and more.”
“What are you talking about? Has someone offended you?” His shoulders bunched, and I knew he would leap out of his chair and go after whoever I named or pointed at.
“No, it's nothing. Don't get upset.” I waved him back. “In fact, I think when you or one of the others are offended by how someone reacts to me, it makes it more real. I notice it more because you notice it.”
“So, you'd ignore otherwise?”
“No, just see it differently.” I shrugged. “I'm just starting to realize how sheltered a life I've lived. I mean, I held myself back even from my own people. I never had the interactions most people take for granted. I never fell in love, got my heart broken, experienced liars or cheats. Never been betrayed.”
“So, you never really lived.”
“I guess not. Now, I am. Boy, am I living. And I'm seeing not only what people in general are like but also what the relationship between my race and the immortal races is like.”
“So someone did offend you.”
“No. I mean, yes, but it's not their fault. Society is what it is. I'm only sitting at this table because I'm the human Wraith Lord. If I were just a human, I wouldn't have been allowed through the doors. I wouldn't have been allowed in this city for that matter.”
“That's true. What isn't true is your thinking that you can't change it. Youarechanging it, Ember. Being here, showing all of these people what humans are capable of, and that the Goddess loves your race as much as the others, is changing things. That's why I get upset. I want to shout it at them all. I want the whole world to know that you are proof that your race isn't just fodder in the Corrupter's war. But I have to be more patient. I can't expect people to change instantly. That's not how these things work. Maybe when we end the war, the change you've started will be complete. Either way, humans will be accepted again. It will just take some time.”
My anxiety and irritation melted away. “Thank you, Taroc. You're right. I need to focus on making changes. And being out here, among the other races is making a change.” I straightened in my seat. “It's not hopeless.”
“It's never hopeless.” He took my hand and squeezed it.
As if Taroc's words had conjured a rebuttal, the soft murmur of distant screams filtered through the windows.
We both turned toward the glass and looked down. People were running through the streets, not just on the sidewalk, but amid the carriages. And the horses attached to those carriages reared as they were turned about. People fell beneath hooves, carriages knocked into each other, and the herd became a monstrous thing, clogging the street below. Behind it, lit by streetlamps, was a shambling army of corpses.
“Fuck!” I shouted and stood.
The whole restaurant went silent, and every eye fastened on me.
“Everyone stay inside!” Taroc ordered as he ran for the stairs. “Do not leave the building. Bar the doors after us!”
“My lord, what's going on?” the host asked as we hurried past him.
“The Corrupter is attacking.” Taroc fumbled at his pouch for money.
“Never mind that, Wraith Lord.” He waved us away. “Go with our gratitude.”
Taroc nodded and burst through the doors with me. As soon as the restaurant doors closed behind us, I heard the thud of barricades going up. This city didn't have the advances of a Dhon city, so there were no lifts to take us to the street. Taroc and I had to race down several flights of stairs.
“Did you bring your counterspells?” I asked him as we finally reached the street.
He nodded. “You?”
