“Tomorrow and the next,” she answered softly.
And I could only pray to the goddess it would come true.
Chapter Seven
The Rachay River was higher than usual with the generous rainfall we’d received the week before.
I brushed the spot on my throat Lord Azad had healed last night as if I was feeling for a brand left behind by his touch. The carriage ride back into the city had been quiet and I’d barely had the energy to worry about whether Gerald was upset by finding us outside. Though perhaps I should have—I was his hired blood giver for the night. He had paid handsomely to take me to Lord Azad’s estate and I had spent close to an hour outside in the garden without him.
But he had been kind enough when he’d dropped me at the mouth of the Souzterain. Merciful goddess, he’d even gone so far as to step out the carriage and assist me down the step. His smile had been tense but he’d kissed my knuckles, eyeing Noah approaching over my shoulder in assurance that I would not be alone before departing.
A slim arm threaded through mine and I sighed, resting my head on Lilith’s shoulder.
“Tired?”
I nodded, watching the sunset play across the rippling water as it rushed beneath the bridge. Most of the morning I’d lain awake, staring unseeingly at the ceiling, Lord Azad’s face swimming in and out of focus. Heat had prickled across myskin at the memory of his gaze on me. Gerald might have had his teeth in my neck, but it was Lord Azad I coveted, wished to kneel before and offer myself to.
Our conversation in the garden had only softened me more toward him—the quiet rhythm of his speech, his Kysoi accent all but vanished except for a slight lilt to some of his words, and the thoughtful answers he gave. I had gotten the sense he did not speak often of his duty to his people and the sacrifices he made. Therefore, I cherished those moments even more than I might have, cherished the small piece of himself he’d offered me.
Last night as I’d fallen asleep, a tiny voice had asked:Would it be so bad to be his?I did not want to know the answer and what I might lose in the aftermath.
“Where’s Noah?” Lilith asked, tipping her head to rest on top of mine.
“There’s a nest on the south side of the city near the ramparts. He left early to meet up with hisparuntaleto plan an attack,” I answered, barely stifling my yawn.
Noah was the first Vyenur I’d ever met, though I had seen venefica before. A few had made their way into the outer city about ten years ago and I could still remember the rotting scent of them, the horribleclickingnoise of their pincers, as if it was yesterday. It had taken a while for me to understand that for Noah, hunting venefica was not only his job, but his calling. The demon sigil branded on his brow was the sign of that. Each venefica he killed strengthened him. And though he was not perhaps the most usual of Vyenurs, choosing to live away from those who had been born in the same century as him—hisparuntale—he was as strong as many ancients.
Six months later and I barely batted an eye when he went on patrol, though Lilith and I often sent a prayer to Strigun, the god of war, for him to come home safely.
Lilith squeezed my hand. “We should get to work. I’m opening tonight.”
Arm in arm, we made our way over the bridge and toward the alleyway, slipping through the deepening crowd of the new market along the river that peddled mostly food and trinkets now. Once this had been where the Souzterain and Risqeu lan Serang had resided, but not for centuries since the Covenant had outlawed drinking from a living source and cracked down on blood dens and givers. Though as we approached Risqeu I had a sneaking suspicion that one of the newest dens we passed was owned by the Covenant itself. The stall, with its tall counter and billowing curtains came into view, but no one sat behind it waiting for us.
“Where’s Jules?”
Lilith sighed, let go of my arm and slipped the silver knife from her bodice to open the wards. “Resting.”
My brows ticked up. “I find that hard to believe.”
She rose to her tiptoes, blowing against the oil lamp until a small flame burst to life across the wick. When she lowered back to her heels, her shoulders rounded in on themselves. “These last few months have not been kind and the wear is beginning to show. I convinced her to take the first part of the night to rest… Somehow it worries me more that she agreed.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her back to my chest. “Rest is all she needs. Perhaps in the morning we can stop at Cora’s for a tonic.”
Lilith patted my hand and nodded. “You’re right.”
“I usually am,” I answered in a singsong, then drew away and twirled toward the velvet curtain. “Now, let me in.”
About a year ago, Jules had started training Lilith in running the den. Lilith had told me once that in order for the spells set by her ancestors to respond to her, she’d had to begin a slow process of bloodletting. Every day for a full moon cycle Lilith had cut her palm, let a few drops fall onto the wards andthen smeared more across the doorframe that held the parlors in a pocket realm. Even now, when she pulled back the curtain, a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips, as if she couldn’t quite believe it was responding to her.
“In you get. No one’s spoken for your time yet, but… Adrienne, what is it?”
I froze on the threshold, my hand wrapped around my throat—fingers pressing to the healed mark.
“Merciful fucking goddess,” I whispered.
Flowers spilled in different shades of creams and dark blues from a gilded vase placed on the ornate side table. As if pulled on a string, I crossed to them, reaching out to brush one of the velvet petals. They were so fragrant I was sure even after they were gone the room would smell like them for quite some time.
“I wonder who sent them,” Lilith mused. “It must have been late last night before Maman left for the day.”
