Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ladon
As time moved on, guests slowly filtered out of the tavern, either too drunk or too tired to carry on. I, on the other hand, was full of energy and never wanted to leave. To leave this dusty, smoke-filled bar would mean my time with Emilie would come to an end, and I was enjoying it too much.
Soon.
It was what I’d been telling myself for weeks, but every day that passed where we had to hide our feelings was like our dream was getting further away.
I knew it was selfish to sneak out of the inn with her, especially while my brother slept, but I didn’t care.
There was a chance we’d get caught—Jade was still wandering around town somewhere, and she already had her suspicions—but I didn’t care about that either. It was none of her business.
I lowered my head and nuzzled Emilie’s neck.
Her skin was hot, and it made me want to strip the clothes from her body so I could see where else she was flushed.
I kissed the spot beneath her ear before running my tongue along the shell of it.
She giggled and tried to pull away, but my arm was wrapped firmly around her waist.
She raised her arm and hooked it around my neck, bringing me down to kiss my lips.
I teased her, only surrendering small pecks until she was practically whimpering for something more.
When I could tell her frustration had reached a breaking point, I kissed her, gripping her chin and holding her right where I wanted her.
Her body stiffened as my tongue slid between her lips and met hers.
Then she relaxed with a moan, and my cock twitched.
If only there were a place we could hide out and I could properly satisfy her.
I’d make her come over and over again until her body trembled and she was too spent to speak properly.
My hand traveled down her neck and came to a stop at her breast, gently squeezing before continuing to rest on her hip.
She shivered, and I wondered if I should stop.
If this was too much for her or if she was worried about wandering eyes.
She didn’t like to feel as though she were on display or the object of people’s entertainment, but when her hand traveled south and came to a stop over my cock, I knew she was all right. Maybe she just felt safe with me.
That thought had me grinding against her palm.
While we were busy getting lost in each other’s touch, a man sitting on the other side of Emilie began to shout expletives at the bartender. I tried to ignore it, but when he knocked over a half-full tankard, I pulled away from Emilie with disappointment.
Emilie turned around to see what the ruckus was.
“You can’t leave without paying,” the bartender said, frowning at the spilled drink on his counter. “If you can’t pay, you’ll need to work it off.”
The man, who had clearly drunk too much, slurred his words. “I don’t fuckin’ have it.” He opened a coin purse, which lacked the typical jingle of coins inside. “My boss ripped me off. The fucker hired me to do his dirty work and then disappeared without paying me.”
I perked up and listened more closely.
The bartender waved to another man on the opposite side of the tavern—a big guy who probably handled drunkards and other patrons who’d overstayed their welcome. He began to move closer, which only made the drunk guy more irritated.
He flung his hand around, trying to wave off the tavern guard. “This is unnecessary. You’ll get your money.”
But the bartender and guard had already stopped listening. The guard pulled him off his stool.
“Fucking ridiculous,” he shouted. “Do you know who I am? I know people. You can’t treat me like this. I’ll tell Reyna about this, and she’ll burn your tavern to the ground!”
I stood at the same time as Emilie, taking a handful of coins and tossing them on the counter to pay for our drinks. We followed the guard and the drunk through the tavern, and when the inebriated man was tossed on his ass out in the dark, rainy street, we were right behind him.
I pulled Emilie to the side and kissed her, pretending that we weren’t here to follow the man. He got to his feet slowly and stumbled a few steps. Then he hobbled down the street with his head hung low.
Emilie pulled away and stared after him. “You heard that, right? I didn’t imagine it?”
“I heard it, princess. I don’t know if he was serious or just spewing nonsense, but it’s worth investigating.”
She nodded, and I pulled the hood of her cloak up over her head and tucked her brown hair inside. “Let’s go.”
We followed our target down three different side streets and up a cobblestone set of stairs, staying in the shadows as much as possible and keeping enough distance that he didn’t hear our footsteps. Thankfully, the rain helped hide any noise we made.
Finally, he stopped and climbed a small set of stairs leading to what I could only assume was someone’s home.
There was a single door and a small rectangular window next to it that revealed only darkness inside.
The man knocked once, then twice. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted for someone’s attention, but no one came to answer.
Whoever lived there was either not home or not interested in entertaining our prey.
The man stumbled down the steps and began to walk again, this time toward Emilie and me.
“Quick,” I said, pulling her behind a stack of crates and out of sight.
There were gaps between them, and if the man looked hard enough, I was certain he would spot us.
I held my breath while Emilie hid behind me, waiting for him to pass.
Only after he had made it several feet away did I breathe again.
“Where is he going now?” Emilie asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Should we follow him or see who he was trying to visit?”
I looked toward the seemingly empty home. “Let’s see where he’s headed. We can always come back if he leads us to a dead end.”
Through empty streets and down narrow paths, the man led us all the way back to the sea and onto the docks. They were far less busy than earlier in the day. Most crews had gone to bed for the evening or were still out at one of the taverns.
The man slowed, and I thought he might be looking for his ship—that in his drunken stupor he had lost the boat for which he was a crew member. But then he collapsed on the dock and curled into a ball, using a sack for a pillow.
“What the hell?” I said softly, moving to approach him.
Emilie grabbed my arm. “What if he’s dangerous?”
“I am dangerous.”
Her grip loosened. She must’ve been satisfied with my response because she released me, and when I moved closer to the man, she wasn’t far behind.
I tapped his foot with my shoe. Was he even alive, or had he drunk himself into oblivion? I pushed harder, and he rolled over, mumbling a string of curse words.
“Hey,” I barked. “Wake up.”
He grumbled again and situated himself so I was staring at his back. It was hard to understand what he said, but it sounded something like, “Get lost.”
My patience wore thin, and I bent down, grabbing him by the collar of his jacket. I lifted him and threw him against a nearby barrel. His head slammed against the faded oak.
“What the fuck? Are you fucking mental?”
His vocabulary wasn’t particularly impressive.
“Who are you?” I snarled.
“Let go of me, you—”
I punched him, cutting off his latest unintelligent insult.
“Who are you?” I asked again.
He reached up to hold his bleeding nose and pinched his brows in pain. “I’m Devyn. Who the fuck are you?”
“The man who is going to end your life,” I said, pinning him down with my eyes.
He stopped moving, and I watched as his gaze scanned my face. Then he laughed and pointed at me. “You’re joking, right? Boss sent you to fuck with me?”
I tilted my head to the side. “Who is your boss, Devyn?”
His smile faded, and he looked over my shoulder to where I knew Emilie was standing and watching. “No… I don’t have anything to tell you.”
I could sense fear taking over. He was beginning to understand that we weren’t his friends. We weren’t here to play pranks or rough him up a bit for some distant boss. I was here for information, and I would do whatever it took to get it out of him.
“How do you know Reyna?” I growled.
“I… I don’t.”
“Don’t lie to me,” I said, wrapping a hand around his throat.
His hands flew to mine, but he was too weak to fight me. His eyes went wide as he struggled for breath. His efforts were futile, and his face turned a vivid shade of crimson while his lips turned blue.
Then he did something I hadn’t expected—he laughed. The drunk piece of shit chuckled, or something similar to it, since my hand was cutting off his oxygen. His mouth moved, and I could faintly hear him say, “I’ve got nothing to say to you. You can kill me now, or she can kill me later.”
I released his throat, and he choked as air filled his lungs once again. He coughed and clawed at his neck as if my hand were still wrapped around it.
Emilie appeared at my side and placed her hand in mine. I turned to look at her, and she said, “Let me try.”
I didn’t particularly like the idea of Emilie questioning the man. Who knew what he was capable of? But if I couldn’t get anywhere with him, then perhaps she could.
“Go ahead,” I told her, taking a step back against my instincts. I clenched my jaw as she stepped closer to Devyn, and he looked up at her, his face a mess with blood dripping down his mouth and onto his short beard.
His eyes scanned her from head to toe, and I didn’t care for the way they bounced back to her chest. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have liked them lingering anywhere on her for too long.
If he had any connection to Reyna, he didn’t have the right to look at Emilie.
He didn’t have the right to live another day.
“Back in the tavern,” Emilie started. “You said you were hired to do a job. What was it?”
Devyn smiled. “If I tell you, what will you give me in return?”
My feet moved faster than my brain, and my fist collided with his face a second time.
“Ladon,” Emilie said softly. Not a reprimand, but an assurance that she could handle whatever slimy comments he threw her way.
I took a deep breath and returned to my spot behind her.
“The only reward you’ll be getting for your cooperation is the ability to live another day,” she told him matter-of-factly. The way she said it surprised me… and thrilled me. So self-assured and confident. I didn’t expect to be so attracted to this wicked side of her.
Devyn scoffed. “Do it, then. I’ve already told you; I’m a dead man either way.”
Emilie looked back at me, and I gave her a small nod, putting my faith entirely in her.
“You know what I think, Devyn? I think that you were hired to track down Reyna’s adversaries and either kill them or sell them off to the highest bidder. Is that what you were paid to do?”
Devyn grumbled, “I wasn’t paid to do any—”
“Is that what you were paid to do?” Emilie shouted. Her hand sped through the night air, and I caught a glimpse of light reflecting from a blade before it pierced Devyn’s thigh.
He roared in pain, and I acted quickly, grabbing him and pinning his arms behind his back so he couldn’t retaliate. He struggled against my hold, but he wasn’t as strong as me. The copious amount of alcohol wasn’t doing him any favors.
I held him against my chest and watched Emilie over his shoulder. She was sizing him up and determining the next spot to land another strike. “Did you even think twice about what you were doing? Did you care if they were raped or abused? Or did you only care about your payout?”
The answer was obvious, but I snarled at him anyway. “Answer her.”
“I… I needed the money.”
Emilie dragged her knife down his cheek and across his neck. I felt him wince and knew she’d made a line of blood across his skin. Then her blade came to a stop with the tip pointed at his chest. “You sold your soul.”
Devyn fought against my hold, trying to get away from Emilie’s weapon. In doing so, he met the prick of her dagger numerous times, wailing each time it punctured his skin.
“If you’d hold still, you wouldn’t get pricked,” I growled. It wasn’t entirely true. Emilie was definitely going to stab him again, but she should have the honor of doing so. And his scrambling was taking that choice away from her.
When he didn’t listen, my grip tightened. “What should we do with him, princess?”
Her eyes caught mine, and I was mesmerized by the mixture of anger, tenacity, and perseverance I saw in them. There were so many layers to Emilie, and I wanted to uncover them all.
She placed her dagger back in its sheath and, for a second, I thought she’d reconsidered. That she’d chosen forgiveness over retribution.
But then I felt it.
The wind picked up, circling around us in a cyclone. The water became turbulent, splashing against the dock as Emilie’s magic disturbed the surface. A few waves even crashed over the side, spilling at our feet before draining between the wooden planks.
Devyn thrashed more violently than before, and I let go, watching him drop to the ground with his hands around his neck. He was searching for something to pry away from his throat, the source that had stolen his oxygen. But I had been on the receiving end of Emilie’s tricks once before.
He was completely at her mercy, and judging by the look in her eyes, there was none to be found.