10. Harlow #3
Clearing my throat, I shift in my seat. “So you can’t see color. That seems like a significant disadvantage for a wild man. How do you tell which berries are poisonous?”
“I have an enhanced sense of smell, taste, and hearing. Also, the poison ones tingle a bit on the tongue,” he says.
If he can’t see color, that means he doesn’t notice my glamour. I’m suddenly relieved I only changed my eyes for this job, or I would have given up a valuable secret that I might need later. If things go wrong in Mountain Haven, a glamour might be my only way to hide.
I bring my hands to the star pendant and pull off the glamour, ignoring the intense itch in my eyes. Once it’s abated, I meet his gaze.
He just watches me as he takes a long sip of wine. He’s telling the truth.
“Do you miss it?” I ask.
“Color?”
I nod.
“I miss my sister more. ”
I gasp, too shocked by the admission to keep it from slipping out. “Your sister?”
He nods, studying me intently over the rim of his glass. He takes another sip, and there’s a satisfied gleam in his eyes, like he’s happy to see me caught off guard. “Holly died when the hold fell.”
“How?”
“She was defending the wall,” he says flatly.
I could kick myself for not realizing. “She was the heir.”
The Havenwoods hadn’t publicly named an heir before the fort fell, and seeing as their blessing records are missing, I made assumptions the way everyone else in the city does when it comes to succession.
But Henry Havenwood wasn’t born to be heir of Mountain Haven.
His sister was. I should have known because magic chooses the wielder, not the other way around.
Even if men want to pass their power down to their sons, they only pass a baseline affinity.
What happens when they’re blessed in the Blood Well is entirely up to the Divine.
“You don’t have any other siblings?” I ask.
He shakes his head.
I’m surprised at the easy admission. Just because he’s not aware of them doesn’t mean they don’t exist, though his father did seem very protective of Evangeline during the attack.
I can’t tell if Henry is trying to lull me into a false sense of intimacy or if he’s actually oblivious.
In Lunameade, no one would ever freely offer so much information about their family or their magic, but perhaps it’s not the case at Mountain Haven.
If the rumors are true, and someone in his family has a gift from Asher, this means it has to be one of his parents.
I cross my arms and sit back in my seat. It’s unpleasant being on my heels like this. In one conversation, Henry has managed to dismantle all my plans for the evening and all the assumptions I’ve made about him, and he’s grinning like he knows it.
He pours us both more wine. “Why did you try to poison me a second time?”
“I thought you were lying about that ring protecting you from magical attacks, and I was right.”
“But if you were wrong, you’d have killed me in front of every magical family in Lunameade,” he says .
I shrug. “High risk. High reward.”
“You’d have started a war based on a hunch?” Henry looks like he doesn’t know whether to be angry or impressed.
“My life is a war. This would just be a battle I see coming.”
He cocks his head and looks me over in a slow, assessing way, then his gaze flits to my mark at the bar. “So what comes next for the redhead?” he asks. “You go talk to him?”
“I wait for him to come talk to me.”
Henry arches a skeptical brow. “You can’t guarantee that he will.”
“Can’t I?” I lean back in my chair, take a long sip of wine, and groan as if it’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted.
Several nearby heads turn, and I tilt my glass so a few drops of wine splash onto my chest again. The sparkling wine is cold against my hot skin as it dribbles down the dip between my breasts.
Henry tracks it with his gaze.
I smile wickedly and lift my glass in a toast toward my mark, who has taken notice of me, despite Henry’s presence at my table.
Henry whips his head around just in time to see the man raise his glass to me. He shakes his head, turning back. “Shameless.”
“Men in this town are quite simple, Henry.”
“If you say so.” He glances over his shoulder at the man, who is still looking at me. “So, why him?”
I down the rest of my glass and stand abruptly. This has gone on long enough. I don’t need Henry in my business—not when I’m restless about leaving. Not when I have this one last chance to help the women who rely on me, not without a succession plan.
I can’t leave the women of the city in a lurch. Not to mention that if I leave and all the poison-based murders stop, it will be very obvious who the Poison Vixen is.
Kellan might not have figured it out yet, thanks to my signature poison vials left at the scene, but he’s not stupid.
I don’t like Bea’s idea for her and Josie to take over while I’m gone.
There are too many variables, and I don’t want them mixed up in this.
If they’re caught, they’ll go down for the whole thing.
But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t trust anyone else.
I move to leave, but Henry grabs my wrist. I freeze, looking from his hand to his eyes .
An amused smile plays across his lips. “Not so fast, lovely. We’re supposed to be spending time together—a hostage negotiation, as you so eloquently put it.”
I try to wrench my arm away, but he pulls my hand toward his face. He holds my gaze as he brushes his lips over my inner wrist.
It’s just a soft kiss, but the intimacy of it feels too obscene for a public place where anyone can watch us. Heat rushes through me, and I draw away from him.
He stands and presses a hand to my bare upper back. “Come on, lovely. I planned something you’ll like way more than murder.”
“Doubtful.” I glare at him skeptically, but let him usher me across the room. “I’m not going anywhere else with you.”
“Not even to meet my best friends?”
Divine dammit . I want to turn him down. That man at the bar is beating his wife and children. But I need access to the people who know Henry best; understanding their dynamics will help me manipulate them. This is my only chance to do that before I’m stuck in the fort with the lot of them.
Henry cocks his head to the side. “Or I could go with your plan and I’ll let your brother know about your hobby. It will be hard to talk your way out of that one. Especially since you’ve been the center of attention in this bar all night.”
I click my tongue. “Blackmail is beneath you.”
Henry licks his lips. “Nothing is beneath me. I will get as low and dirty as I need to in order to get what I want.”
I hold his gaze for a moment too long. Then, I cast one last frustrated glance at my mark and sigh heavily. “Fine, but if your friends are as boring as you, I’m leaving and finishing this job, and I don’t care what you tell Kellan.”
Henry helps me into my cloak and ushers me out into the oppressive dark of the city streets.