“Dark skies, of course they’re not. But they’re like my sisters.” He put an arm around each of them and hugged them to his sides. “I love these gals.”
The devastation that washed over Clary’s face was so obvious to me. How didhenot see it?
“Just…steer clear,” Dori warned. “Royal seafolk tend to be single-minded when they want something or…someone. But all you’ll get is a broken heart.”
Royal, eh? “Yeah, well, I’m no pushover, and when I say I’m not interested, I’m pretty single-minded about it too. If that’s what you meant by dangerous, then trust me, I’m good.”
Dori didn’t look too convinced, but then, she didn’t know me that well. No one did. I wasn’t one to wear my heart on my sleeve, had never been in love, and had no plans to start now.
“Come on, this way.” Dori wove through the masses, forging a path for us.
We went past the bar which was still heaving with people. The clink of glasses and the rise and fall of conversation melded to create a buzz in the air.
I could have done with a shot of something strong. “I guess we’re not getting drinks then.”
“It’s too busy,” Benedict said.
“I guess I’ll grab a victory drink later.”
I spotted several people with bright hair—pink, green, purple—but no blue. “Hey, is there a significance to the hair color? I assume they’re all seafolk right?”
“Not sure about all the colors,” Dori called over her shoulder, “but blue is the color of royal seafolk. This part of the sea is Arnav’s domain. The Ocean Guard answers to him. They have done so for decades.”
We passed shadowy booths draped in fabric, and the sounds coming from within made it obvious what was going on inside.
I was no prude but, seriously? “Can’t they do that in their towers?”
“It’s not what you think,” Dori said.
I arched a brow. “They’renothaving sex?”
“The ones in the booth are because the feeding has escalated, but look over there.” She gestured toward a candle-lit, incense-heavy area beyond the booths, where a woman knelt between a man’s thighs, her mouth latched onto his wrist as she fed.
The man watched her with a small, satisfied smile, stroking her hair with his free hand.
This was nothing new. “A dhampir feeding on a human? So?”
“Nope,” Dori said. “That is ahumanfeeding on a dhampir.”
“What the fuck?”
“Little-known fact,” Benedict said. “Vampire blood is intoxicating to humans and can, in some cases, give them temporary supernal abilities.Dhampirblood has a similar effect—except dhampir blood isaddictiveto humans. So, some dhampirs use that to coerce humans into becoming free veins and playthings, since the addicted human will do anything for a fix.”
“They call them blood whores,” Dori said, her tone flat.
I knew about veins—humans employed by pureblood vampire houses to act as walking blood bags. They were kept in the lap of luxury and well taken care of, but they were still food. Expensive food. I guess trapping someone in addiction was the cheaper way to get what you wanted.
It was sick and twisted. It took everything I had to stop myself from marching across the room and wiping that shit-eating grin off that smarmy fucker’s face. But I’d learned to pick my battles, and this wasnotone of them.
I gritted my teeth, turning away from the scene. “You guys actually enjoy coming here?”
“It’s the only place we can go to let off steam,” Dori said. “It’s not all bad. The market is cool, and Cockle’s Shack does the best seafood chowder. We’ll go next time.”
Static crackled, and the room fell silent as a voice blared across the building. “First fight of the night, people. Tyler Damascus versus Corrine Moon for control of two House Moon veins.”
The arena loomed ahead, the wire mesh walls reaching for the ceiling, but that was all I could see beyond the gathered crowd.
“Come on,” Benedict said. “Let’s get up on the balcony.”
