His cheeks—which are not his but some Lucin human’s I once met—pinken beneath the scraggly beard I coaxed out of his jaw. “It wasn’t the rattling cock bit that arrested me.”
“Clearly not, or you would’ve stayed behind to see what all the fuss was about instead of insisting on shadowing me. Not too late to turn back.”
“You’re not getting rid of me.” Lev tugs at the cuffs of the tight blousy shirt he borrowed from the bartender, after I introduced the latter to unattached Alexei. “Stop trying.”
I, too, wear one of the carnival uniforms, but unlike the aforementioned bartender and Lev, the woman I borrowed it from had a similar body type to mine, so the red pants and matching top fit me perfectly.
I gust warm air into my hands, regretting having shed my leather jacket and gloves, but both had felt too luxurious for the human lands. Besides, I’d planned on flying over, which would have removed the need for winterwear in the first place.
If only Lev hadn’t been terrified of heights…
If only he hadn’t insisted on escorting me…
“I’m not a Faerie, Lev,” I remind him. “If it devolves into a barstool joust, I’ll gopoofand fly off.”
He stops fussing with his shirt to shoot me a droll look. Evidently, he’s neither amused nor impressed by my ability to dematerialize.
“I really wouldn’t hold it against you if you?—”
“We’re here.” His chest broadens with a fortifying breath as he reaches around me for the door handle and pulls. “After you,Yegma.”
I startle that he’s called mewitch. I mean, Iamhalf-sorceress, but it’s the first time he’s referred to me that way. “Might not want to call me that in public.”
His pupils throb. “Right.”
I twist back toward the notorious tavern…Alyona Korol’s last known haunt. Do I expect to find portraits of her and revolutionary tracts papered across the fiery-orange walls? No. But do I expect to find her—or a crumb that will lead me to her? Absolutely. I’m an optimist like that.
Only a wrap-around shelf topped with old liquor bottles decorates the walls. The watery sunlight bending through the frosted windowpanes catches on the floor tiles, accentuating their many cracks. It doesn’t reach the diners, though, of which there are many. They sit so close that their elbows brush as they gorge on food and liquor, their mostly bald scalps shining under the oil lanterns strung from the rafters.
“Authentic enough for you?” Lev asks, as the old half-blood barkeep twists a rag around a glass, observing us from behind his wooden counter.
I slap on a smile. “Exactly what I was in the mood for.”
Lev’s nose, which I’ve enlarged with magic, scrunches as he lifts his gloved hand and observes a sticky smudge soiling the tan suede. Something he picked up on the doorknob? He plucks the gloves off, then attempts to jam them inside his trouser pocket, but the pants are too tight.
When I transformed him from Faerie to human, I hadn’t expected to alter his height, but lo and behold, he sprouted a full head taller. Not only that, but his voice acquired another texture.
He flinches when a deep burp echoes through the cavern. “I’m surprised your festival friend recommended this place. It doesn’t seem like his crowd.”
I wonder if Lev means because the boy I introduced to Alexei fancied sparkly eyeliner and baubles, while no one in this room seems to have bathed in months.
I scan the slate board nailed to the wall. Though I’m fluent in Glacin, I cannot read it. And not because it’s a different alphabet, but because the letters refuse to stand still.
“Shall we sit?” I ask.
He closes his hand around my elbow. I can’t tell if he means to guide me to a seat, yank me out of the tavern, or if he just needs something solid to hold on to while he recovers from the culture shock.
“If you don’t feel comfortable, I’m honestly happy to stay here alone,” I tell him.
“There are only men.”
“They’re not a lynch mob.”
His eyebrows slant. “I’m still not leaving you in a room full of strangers.” He surveys them with caution. “Can we agree on only one drink?”
“Deal.” In a hushed voice, I murmur, “How bad can it be?”
“Is that a trick question?” He bobs his chin toward two empty seats, then slides his hand from my elbow to the small of my back to guide me toward them.
