Epilogue
ARIEL SANDRUSH
The tavern at the darkened end of a ramshackle Tempeste back alley called itself The Golden Chalice, pretending it was respectable. Or even a tavern.
This shithole was neither.
Smoke clung to the rafters like tar, the air tasted like cheap liquor and bad decisions, and every unsteady table held some kind of threat—usually hidden behind a toothless grin.
Like most cities, the lower tiers of Tempeste didn’t sparkle the way the palace did.
They were covered in centuries of grime and always looking for an easy score.
Exactly how I liked it.
Places like this were a hunting ground for people like me, cooped up for too long, playing at being respectable, trying to keep my promise to my sister, living her best life at the other end of the world.
Getting railed by three gorgeous Fae males on a nightly basis.
I sighed. Who knew Lyrae had it in her.
Tavion Montgomery—my accomplice for tonight—lounged across from me like he owned the place—white hair tied back into a severe tail, broad shoulders hunched over his cards, blue eyes sharp as he scanned the room for the umpteenth time.
Instead of his fancy blue cape and embroidered vest, he was in a filthy shirt and plain gray trousers, freshly streaked with dirt I’d tossed at him on our way here.
Not that he was happy about that, but at least he fit in.
Kind of, given he was Queen Anaria’s mate and a wolf who could devour anyone inside this room in one toothy chomp.
Right now, though, he looked like he was regretting every life choice that had brought him here, which simply would not do. I wasn’t about to have my fun cut off early, even when the beer was warm and the food…I glanced at the still-full plate beside me.
Unidentifiable.
“Just so we’re clear,” he muttered, setting the rune-etched cards face down in front of him, “if Anaria kills me when I get back to the palace, I’m haunting you forever.”
“You can’t,” I said, fanning out my cards. “Shifters don’t believe in that sort of thing.” I paused, looking at my hand one last time before I threw five more gold pieces into the center of the table. “Do they?”
“In your case, I think the gods will make an exception.” His mouth twitched. “You’re thirteen kinds of trouble, little one. And I’m out.”
Two card sharks sat in with us—Kellan and Maelis, if memory served—both with fast hands and too-bright smiles. The kind of people who’d sell your bones as souvenirs to any unwitting tourist as relics of the Old Gods.
I laid my cards down. “Three moons and a crown,” I waggled my eyebrows. “Top that, and all of this is yours.” I indicated the absolute mountain of gilder beside me.
Dead. Fucking. Silence.
Kellan’s chair scraped back. “That’s…no. That’s impossible.”
Maelis stared at me like she was deciding where to stab first, like I hadn’t already seen that blade half hidden up her sleeve. “Seven hands in a row. Nobody is that lucky. Nobody.”
“I’ll take that as…I win, you lose.” I scooped the gold toward me with both hands. The pile was gorgeous. Obscene. Clinking like a symphony of infinite possibilities.
“And maybe,” I added sweetly, “you’re just really bad at this.”
“Oh, dear gods,” Tavion made a low sound that could’ve been laughter or a prayer not to get him killed. “Ariel.”
“Yes?”
“Stop antagonizing the lowlifes.”
I blinked at him. “Why would I ever do that?”
“Because I’m not paying your bail,” he warned. “Again.” His gaze lifted over my head, keen wolf eyes squinting through the smoke before a look of relief washed over his face.
“Oh, thank the gods, I’m saved.”
The tavern fell silent, every bit of conversation disappearing as two sets of booted footsteps rumbled behind me across the soft wood floor, people folding deeper into their cloaks, hoods pulled up to hide faces. My heart sank.
“You didn’t,” I hissed at an unrepentant Tavion. “I was just starting to have fun.”
“You were just starting a bar fight and I have no wish to get my nose broken. Again.” Looking past me at the two approaching males, Kellan’s pupils dilated down to pinpricks, Maelis clutching her grubby glass like a lifeline. Or another weapon.
“Go ahead,” Tavion jerked his head toward the back door. “You two still have time to make it out in one piece. Better hurry before things get ugly.”
They were gone before I started stacking my winnings, victory tasting a bit sour, now that my night was ruined. Unless…
I whirled around, a smile plastered on my face that could melt the coldest, more hardened heart. “Finally. Tavion said you’d be coming. Now we can really have some fun.”
Raziel and Zorander filled the entire one-room tavern, heads brushing the beams, shoulders blocking out the firelight.
Two big, dark-haired males every single patron in here recognized, because unlike us, they hadn’t made any attempt to disguise who they were, and the whispers were already starting.
Well, fine. I was done anyway.
I scooped the gold into a leather bag at my side.
Raziel stalked to one end of our table, Zor the other, murder in their eyes, thankfully not directed at me, their sweet, innocent charge, who’d been dragged out and corrupted by… “Tavion Montgomery, we’ve fucking talked about this.”
I set my elbow on the table, looking all innocent as I took a sip of my shitty beer.
Tavion didn’t flinch. “Evening. Didn’t expect to see you two tonight.”
“Clearly.” Raziel pointed at me. “Explain what she’s doing here. This place is dangerous, she could get hurt.”
“Yes, Tavion,” I drawled. “Why did you corrupt my innocence by dragging me all the way down here? Please explain.”
Zor’s lips quirked as Tavion sent a seething glare my way, the kind that stripped flesh from bone. I just smiled and took another sip of the stale beer that was actually kind of growing on me.
“Innocent my ass,” he grumbled. “You’re the most dangerous thing in here. And if anyone was corrupted tonight, it was me.”
Raziel’s eyes went incandescent. “Ariel Sandrush. How much money did you win tonight?”
“Three thousand gilder, give or take.” I shrugged. “We’ve been here awhile, what can I say? Fools and their gold should be parted, as my sister always says.”
Zorander’s hand landed on my shoulder, heavy and warm. “We’re going back to the palace, where it doesn’t reek of smoke and body odor and…” His eyes drifted to my plate. “Whatever that is.”
“No earthly idea, which is why I ate before I came. And I threw dirt on Tavion. You should have seen it. He shrieked, like a girl.”
“Up. Back to the palace.”
“It’s not that late,” I lied.
“None of us have a choice. Anaria discovered you missing and sent us, so now we’re all in deep shit.” Raziel’s attention snapped back to Tavion. “You were supposed to be responsible.”
Tavion spread his hands. “I was supposed to be enjoying a quiet night with my mate, when I saw this one,” he meant me, “sneaking out a side window. What was I to do?”
“Let me go have some fun, for a change,” I grumbled. “And I did not sneak,” I said. “I departed the premises with stealth.”
“You fell headfirst out the window into the bushes and stayed there, feet waving in the air for a good two minutes before you extricated yourself. Honestly, I figured you might spend the entire night like that. You still have a leaf in your hair.”
“I didn’t think anyone saw that,” I muttered, cheeks burning, plucking said leaf out of my hair.
“Just me,” Tavion said breezily with a wave of his hand. “But don’t fear, as long as you promise not to ever do this again, your secret is safe. Otherwise, I expect by morning your new nickname around the palace will be Princess Faceplant or something along those lines. Do we have a deal, Ariel?”
Raziel leaned in close, voice low. “You scared us.”
I hesitated—just a heartbeat—then, “Fine. But if this ever gets out, I’m telling everyone you scream like a girl at the sight of dirt.”
“Deal,” Tavion said, pushing up from the table. Raziel angled his body between me and the tavern like a wall. Zorander kept his hand on my shoulder like an anchor until we were outside.
As we stepped into the cold mountain air, Raziel’s voice cut through the night.
“No more sneaking out.”
Behind us, Tavion said softly, “For the record… she really did clean up tonight. Won every hand. And you know how those Dreadwatch bastards are always kicking our asses?” He tipped his head at me.
“I think we’ve found our new secret weapon.
I mean, just look at her, all innocent-looking and shit.
A menace with freckles. Those bastards won’t know what hit them. ”
Raziel considered me, then a slow smile curved his face. “Could work. Of course, if Anaria ever found out, she’d hand our asses to us on a silver platter.”
Zor groaned. “We are honestly the worst bunch of big brothers in the entire realm. But I have to admit, just the thought of her taking all their money…makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”
“So that’s a yes?” I bounced up and down on my toes. “I can be your secret weapon?”
“Trial run,” Zor grumbled, like he still wasn’t entirely quite convinced. “But…today was payday so…what do you say we swing by the barracks on our way back, see if there happens to be a card game…or two going on?”
I smiled into the night, chips clinking in the bag by my side, and decided I could absolutely work with this arrangement.
For now.
Thank you so much for reading.