Chapter 1 #2
“You blue-haired whore!” The drunken Silver raised his hand to strike and I braced for a blow—
But his fist was caught by a tall figure planting himself in front of me like an immovable wall, green eyes blazing. Quinn.
“Try me,” Quinn said, voice silky smooth and pleasant. “I’ll give you a great time.”
The Silver blinked, his drunken bravado wobbling as he eyed Quinn’s imposing form. Nothing of my friend lingered from before. This was Quinn the imposing blacksmith’s apprentice.
Shapeshifters were feared and revered, especially those who took predatory forms. Quinn turned into a huge tan wolf, and that forceful, untamed power bled into his human form.
There was a fluid and dangerous grace to the way he moved.
It wasn’t a surprise that men and women alike lusted after him.
And by Kuan Yin, the goddess of compassion, did he know it.
The Silver held up his hands and slunk back into the crowd, nursing his wounded mouth.
“I could’ve handled it,” I told Quinn, hanging my ribbon wands onto my belt, securing my coins beside them.
He turned toward me, hair falling across his face, and rolled his eyes. “Oh, I’m very aware, Rubi. But your boss looked ready to throw you out. Think he would fire you for riling up the Silvers?”
“I wasn’t doing anything. I’m a dancer. He’s not going to fire me.”
“I think he would have gotten rid of you long ago if you…you know.” Quinn coughed, a splotch of pink decorating his cheeks. “…Didn’t look like that.”
I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms. What the hell was that supposed to mean? “Well, he hasn’t really got a choice. I’m the only ribbon dancer around.”
Quinn leaned against the bar, his smile lazy and lopsided, showing his perfect teeth. An invitation, and not a subtle one. His tunic hung open just enough to show the sculpted chest beneath. He bent down and whispered in my ear, “Come home with me.”
“Quinn,” I whispered, almost a frustrated whine.
It would be no hardship to let him warm my bed. We’d been intimate twice before, enjoyed each other as a break from the cold and poverty. He’d been in a lot of beds indiscriminately, however, and I’d discovered it was easier to just be friends, as we always were.
But it didn’t stop him from offering now and again, though I knew he had plenty of company to keep him warm at night.
“You’re joking.”
His flirtatious smile transformed into the grin of the friend I knew, and he stepped closer. “Sure. But seriously, Rubi—let me at least walk you home. It’s late and…”
Something was worrying him. More than usual.
“And what?”
His voice dropped, head dipping to my ear. “And the Ironstorm have been too active lately.”
My stomach dropped. The Ironstorm. The rebel group led by the Ravager, a mysterious masked Azure. They were fighting for what most of us Azure refugees would say was the right cause, but they were brutal in their efforts and attracting too much attention.
“I haven’t heard anything.”
Quinn shrugged, calling over my shoulder to the bartender for another millet ale. He leaned his forearms across the wooden bar top, pressing his bicep into mine as I faced forward with my back to the bar. “We think they’re planning something big, but they haven’t given warning.”
“Do you think it’s because of the Bonding?”
The Bonding ceremony, a sacred tradition of the Silver Tyger Dominion, was fast approaching.
On the equinox, the day when light and darkness stood equal, yang magic users could attempt to Bond with one of the royal tygers, descended from Silver Dominion’s Celestial Guardian, and become one of the king’s elite Tyger Warriors.
From what I understood, it was a bloodbath.
The tygers killed those they didn’t choose.
It was irrelevant to me. I’d been born a yin magic user, like most women, so I didn’t qualify; plus, the Silvers didn’t want an Azure near their precious tygers anyway.
Anticipation of the Bonding ran hotter than usual this year because the young tygress queen was finally old enough to choose a Mate.
Quinn nodded, before slipping a coin to the bartender as he took the ale in hand.
“And because of this,” he said, gesturing vaguely behind me.
I didn’t need to turn to see—the entire tavern was tense with drunken hatred and bigotry. It would only take one comment from a passing Silver to catch the lingering Azures’ ire for a spark to catch flame.
“I should go. Before it gets any more tense in here.” I gave him a grin. “Thanks for stopping by to watch me dance. Again.”
Quinn nodded as he winked at me. “Where else would I go? Tell Edith I’m going to come by tomorrow, yeah?”
Nodding, I scooped my things from my cubby behind the bar and saluted him mockingly as I exited.
Cold night air slammed into me as I headed out the back of the kitchens and into the cobblestone streets. Pulling on my cloak, I slid my short knife into its sheath on my belt.
My laced boots left footprints in the snow, my breath tearing out in clouds.
The wind smelled like smoke and frost, and the moon hung high and bright above the slanted rooftops, casting long shadows across the snow.
The tavern became a dull roar behind me as I approached the woods that would lead to Edith and my hut.
A large hand closed around my wrist.