He cast a glance over his shoulder. “I don’t know if Saoirse warned you, but you shouldn’t talk about anything private inside thecastle.”
“She told me.” I picked up the pace to catch up with him. “She also said that your room was the only place where conversations couldn’t beoverheard.”
“That’s right.” He rubbed at his light-stubbled jaw. “Something Athaira’s predecessor put into place around the Royal Palace, but I haven’t been able to replicate it anywhere else inside thecastle.”
I was tempted to prod for more information about Athaira, but I could tell by the shuttered look on his face that he was done with secret spilling for the night. Instead, I would have to take a differentapproach.
“You asked me when I moved to Edinburgh. When didyou?”
“I have lived here all my life.” There was something in his voice that caught me off guard. A sorrow, one that echoed of deep, long-held pain. It was an easy question and a simple answer, but the way he clipped his words betrayed him. There was more to it thanthat.
“And you were part of House Athaira...?” I knew I’d asked the wrong question as soon as his shoulderstensed.
“No,” he growled. “Enough about me. Tell me about your sword. Where did you getit?”
I gave myself a moment to think as we passed another church and swung a right into Parliament Square, away from the High Street shops. We crossed the square, darkness hugging usclose.
I frowned. “Where are wegoing?”
“Shortcut,” he replied, leading us beneath a series of stone archways. “Tell me about yoursword.”
“A friend gave it to me.” I cast a glance around. We’d somehow ended up on a thin close—the Scottish word for alleyway. The cobblestone ground was steep and snaked between the rear of buildings. Bins were stacked up beside back doors, rotting rubbish spilling over the sides. It stank of dead fish. The wrought-iron street-lamps flickered in the dark. An unease whistled throughme.
Lugh latched onto my arm and pulled me to the left, toward a flight of stairs that led down into thedark.
“Um,” was all I couldmuster.
“There’s a clothing shop down this close that caters specifically to supernaturals,” he said briskly. “It shuts in twentyminutes.”
His voice held zero room for disagreement, but I didn’t like how this night had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. With the King of the Wraiths, dragging me down a dark alley, demanding to know more about my sword. A sword that I conspicuously did not have at themoment.
“Honestly. I don’t want to go any further into this creepy alley with you.” I dug my heels into the cobblestones. “Let go of menow.”
He growled and shoved me against the stone wall, pressing his body tight against mine. My breath hitched. Leaning down, he pressed his lips to my ear andbreathed.
“Don’t say anything. We’re beingfollowed.”
9
My brain foggedon his words, my mind too distracted by his electrifying touch. Then, slowly, the meaning sank in, and I dropped my voice to a low whisper. “Youserious?”
He gave a solemnnod.
I glanced around us. “That’s why you brought us here? Wouldn’t it have been better to stay on thebusy—”
He slid his hand over my mouth to shut me up. Narrowing my eyes, I growled and tried to nip at hisskin.
“Someone has been trying to sabotage the Court for months.” He mouthed the words, and strangely, I could understand what he was trying to say. That meant he thought they were fae. The magical Sapphire drug. The silence in Saoirse’s words. It was all connected. And now, the culprits had followed us down the RoyalMile.
Lugh mouthed his next words. “This is my chance to stopthem.”
I decided not to point out that both of us were regrettably unarmed. He didn’t have a spear, and I certainly didn’t have a sword, sincehe’d hidden it from me. If we were being stalked by traitorous arseholes who wanted to tear him from his throne, then we would need a lot more than two pairs offists.
Lugh took a step back, his eyes flashing with a kind of ferocity he hadn’t yet shown me. I’d seen a range of expressions from him so far: boredom, cockiness, concern, amusement, and wickedness. But now he looked hellbent and fierce. I kind of likedit.
Too bad he didn’t have aspear.
“You stay here,” he mouthed, taking another step back and pointing down the close in the direction of the way we’dcome.
