Lora laughed but the sound was drowned out by a group of fae stumbling past them, cheering loudly. “It’s from Earth—the music. I suppose the theme is human pop music.”
As Lora watched a group of fae dancing ecstatically, she couldn’t help but think of Maja. She would have loved this, the set-up, the atmosphere, the music. Maja would have grabbed her hand and dragged her onto the dancefloor in a flash, all the while on the lookout for any hot guys.
Lora wished she had her phone with her. If only she could text her friend and give her the run-down of what was going on and laugh at her friend’s encouragement. She would have to describe everything in vivid detail once she was home. In the meantime, Lora had to stick to short update messages like the ones she had sent earlier while she was getting ready.
“Why would anybody choose this?” Eyden asked as he looked around, his attention shifting from one thing to another.
“You tell me, it’s your town.”
“This isn’t exactly my scene.”
She definitely couldn’t imagine Eyden enjoying this, dancing to catchy pop songs that Lora knew all too well. But no matter how good the music was, Lora wasn’t in the mood to dance either. Her goal was lying heavy on her spirit. The cheery scene around her that only minutes ago had made her laugh, now made her resentful. She didn’t have the privilege to indulge in fun, to forget what she had come here to do.
Her eyes scanned the room. Pretty much everyone was wearing clothes in similar designs to her dress and Eyden’s rather plain attire. Some of the men were wearing more interesting pieces than Eyden’s button-down, midnight blue shirt, but nothing compared to the sparkling golden piece of clothing that caught Lora’s eye.
The fae wore it half-unbuttoned and when the light swept over him, she noticed the shiny material was more copper than pure gold. He wore tight black leather trousers, something she hadn’t seen anyone wear. Skin tight trousers apparently weren’t a trend in Liraen, but he didn’t seem to care one bit. He looked utterly comfortable, laughing with a group of fae next to one of the bars, his drink almost spilling over his multiple gold chain bracelets as they sparkled in the light.
“That’s our target,” Eyden said, following her line of sight as he moved closer to her so she could understand him over the noise of the club.
Lora took in the tousled yet styled pale hair, a hint of pink visible in the dark light. “Yes, it must be him.” Although the wordtargetwasn’t one she would have used. The way Eyden said it made it seem like they were about to attack him. That didn’t sound like a sensible plan, seeing as they were surrounded by fae and who knew what abilities they possessed.
“He sure looks rich.” Eyden turned to her. Standing this close, his eyes looked even more striking as a beam of light swept over them. “We should keep an eye on him and follow him home.”
Lora thought she might have misheard him over the noise around them. “You want to stalk him?”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures. Ilario was right. That guy”—Eyden briefly glanced in the fae’s direction—“he’s not going to sell us the crystal. Better to take it from his home while he doesn’t suspect a thing.”
That sounded like too long of a process for Lora. “What if he’s not keeping it at home? Or what if he hid it well? We need to talk to him and see if we can narrow it down, at least.”
“And how exactly do you casually bring up a healing crystal? He’ll be suspicious and our window will be gone.” Eyden took a small step back and half turned, pointing to an empty round booth to his left. “Come on. Let’s sit down andcasuallyobserve what he does.”
The group surrounding their target walked off, leaving the fashionable fae by himself as he ordered another drink.
Eyden walked towards the booth, fully turning away from her. She thought he might still be talking to her but his words got washed away by the music. It must have taken him a moment to realise she wasn’t following him, but by then it was too late.
Lora was already across the floor, stopping right next to their target.
Chapter12
Lora
“Hi,” Lora said as she leaned one arm against the bar’s sticky counter and locked eyes with the fae. In her peripheral vision, she could have sworn she saw Eyden’s eyes blazing in anger.
“Well, hello there,” the boldly dressed fae replied, smirking, clearly already buzzed. He thanked the bartender and took a sip of his indigo drink.
Up close, Lora noticed his half-open shirt revealed more than his athletic build. There was glitter smeared across his bronze chest and she could see two-thirds of a butterfly tattoo. She wondered if it was real. It was funny, she could definitely imagine a famous singer in her world sporting an outfit like this on stage. If that was his intention, he had nailed it.
“Like what you see?” The fae gave her a sexy grin.
Lora realised she had been openly staring at him, looking him up and down. Embarrassment washed over her, but she pushed the feeling aside.
“Maybe. You’re not bad to look at,” she said, shrugging, trying to sound as flirtatious as she could muster given she would much rather exit this conversation. Exit the club. No, exit the fae world altogether.
“Not the word I was looking for, but I’ll take it.”
Lora forced a smile as she went along with his game. “How would you describe yourself, then?”
The fae didn’t need to think twice as he quickly answered in a somehow both light and serious tone, “Devilishly handsome, sexy as hell, ravishing. Any one of those will do.”
