33. Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three

Tovi

W hile dyeing Tovi’s hair with magik, Linx had claimed she’d tinkered with Eldrick’s necklace. Whatever the mage had done, it hadn’t worked. Now more than ever, as they weaved their way through Drystan Village, on their way to learn more about the fighting rings, Eldrick’s spicy, fresh scent invaded Tovi’s senses. She focused on the excitement of her home instead. Humans and vampyrs milled about. Farmers pushed wagons. Shop owners hollered from their doorways.

Lou had been right. Tovi had helped build this village. She’d painted the chairs red in her friend’s bakery. She’d chopped and hauled the logs across the river for the library. She’d situated the human borough down the river, nearest the bridge. And yet, Tovi couldn’t see past the mists clinging to the rooftops and weaving between their legs and boots, a lingering resident of Drystan. She spotted the rigid walks of vampyrs fighting the curse, the darkness laying in every crook, crevice, and puddle.

Darkness had its wicked claws in her people’s home. How could she look at the scant prosperity her people had built for themselves and think it enough? All of it was a fight, a struggle. All Tovi saw was what held them back, their robbed potential .

Beside her, Elrick’s jaw was tight, his gait rigid as he matched her step for step. She’d hated seeing the shift in his gaze back at Lou’s. Yes, she wanted him as an alley. She needed to gain his trust, but she wanted her current efforts to speak loud enough. With chin high and a pounding heart, Tovi wished she didn’t have to give him a history lesson of her efforts. Why wasn’t she enough?

It didn’t help that her history was tied up with shame and running from someone she wished she’d never been. Her efforts now weren’t so different from back then. She was trying to demonstrate she wasn’t that spoiled, bratty princess. She’d already revealed her darkest mistake, failing Iona and Oliver. He hadn’t judged, hadn’t ridiculed her in any way. She had to let current efforts not her past help gain his favor.

Angst weighed her boots to the stone. As she sighed it all away, their destination appeared as they turned the corner.

Eldrick lost his footing and cursed as he gathered himself. His eyes widened, mouth parting. “Where in the moons are their clothes?”

Tovi burst out laughing. He scowled, and she covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile.

Up ahead, the dance house stood three stories tall. Each level possessed a balcony. Women, dressed in lacy undergarments, feathers, and sheer robes beckoned those that walked by. Reds, purples, dark greens—the moody shades set the tone of the dark and alluring building. A slow, lazy, seductive tune trilled from the open doors and windows. The dancers twisted and turned, showing off their bursting breasts and bare legs.

“They are in fact wearing undergarments,” Tovi said.

“Undergarments aren’t clothes. They go under them,” Eldrick said through gritted teeth.

“I had no idea werewolves were such modest creatures,” Tovi murmured.

“We aren’t.” Eldrick’s jaw ticked.

“Ah.” Tovi grinned, a playful wickedness flushing through her. “Perhaps it is you who is modest. Is the sight of a little flesh your undoing, wolf? ”

Eldrick stepped ahead of her, halting her tracks. They were toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose. The heat in his eyes warmed her belly, and Tovi hid a swallow.

“I’m quite familiar with flesh.” He snatched her waist, pulling her closer. “I enjoy how it shivers, the taste of it, the burn of it against my own.” He leaned into her ear, and Tovi thanked the Goddess he held her waist to keep her stable. “But I prefer to be alone with whoever’s flesh I touch, lost in the darkness and shadows of the night where no one might hear the sounds I’m able to elicit.”

He released her, set her free from his delicious scent and proximity. It took all of Tovi’s strength not to lose her footing as they continued towards the dance house. She kept her eyes ahead and averted from Eldrick’s gorgeous build, refusing to imagine the flesh against flesh he’d made her envision. Damn him, the thought made her shiver , and she swore a hint of male pride played in his smirk.

Tovi veered them down an alley. The establishment had been carved into a cavern, some of its onyx rock curving over to the adjacent building and connecting it all. Holes created from time and weather acted as windows to the gray sky above. The alley ended, but nestled behind the last rocky bend, and unseen to those walking the streets, a wooden door awaited them.

Tovi knocked, the same tempo she had at Lou’s door. On the other side, laughter and feminine voices fell silent. The door’s bolts, three in total, rattled one at a time until it swung open, revealing a beautiful pale woman. Cherry-red hair tumbled over her shoulder, curled and luscious. The color red continued to her attire. A bloodred garment covered her torso and barely covered her breasts. Lace trimmed the edges, and fishnet molded to her legs. High ruby heels were stark against the cold gray alleyway.

“Bloody hel, Tovi, it really is you,” the vampyr said. “Hardly recognized you with that hair.”

She smiled. “It’s good to see you, Juliette.”

“Get out of the cold.” She opened the door wider, ushering them both in. Her yellow eyes shifted over Eldrick for a second, but her focus stayed with Tovi .

They entered a narrow galley full of tulle, dresses, mirrors, and makeup. Other dancers, vampyrs and humans, sat and painted their lips ruby red, powdered their eyelids with a smoky shade of makeup, and fixed their hair in gilt-framed mirrors. Some familiar faces smiled at Tovi and waved. A few glanced at Eldrick, interest piqued. Tovi ignored them along with the hot anger that shot through her.

Dancers came and went through a set of red curtains. Some had blood stains marking their lace ensembles. Next to Tovi, Eldrick tensed as a human hurried by, puncture wound fresh and blood trickling down her collarbone. Wine and blood and music filled the air, and Tovi blinked away splendors she’d once enjoyed.

“I take it you didn’t visit for a quick tumble, did ya, Princess?” Juliette asked.

“No,” Tovi laughed. “We came by to see if you knew anything about the fighting rings.”

Juliette placed a hand on her hip. “We know all about them. They were competition for a little but,” the vampyr shrugged, “nothing beats blood and sex.”

“Any idea who runs them?” Tovi asked.

Her friend blinked. “You haven’t heard? It’s your sister, Visha.”

Tovi swallowed. She rarely thought of her sister, hardly regarded her as one. The two had never had a loving, kind relationship. Her sister was the worst of the worst in court. But still, surprise froze Tovi in place. She couldn’t believe Riven had let their youngest sister create such a thing.

“It befits her,” Tovi finally said. “She’s always been the most violent one.”

“Where do you rank?” Eldrick asked, brow raised.

Before Tovi could answer or gauge if Eldrick had been joking, Juliette sauntered over to him and danced her dainty fingers over his shoulder and down his arm.

“If you’re not biting, Tovi, perhaps you wouldn’t mind if I do,” she said .

Tovi hissed, fangs elongated as she snapped Juliette’s arm away. “He’s off-limits.”

Juliette’s attention jumped between her and the alpha. She smirked. “Oh my, what fun.”

“Anything else you can tell us about the rings?” Eldrick asked.

Tovi made sure not to look at him. She wasn’t entirely sure what came over her. An animalistic, territorial urge egged her on. It’d been a Goddess-sent miracle she hadn’t ripped Juliette’s arm off. What in the bloody hel had gotten into her?

“Sadly, only that it’s run beneath the castle. If you want to learn more, I’d suggest you hang around. You know how the lords and ladies like to talk.” She sauntered over to the curtain. “It’s a shame you two aren’t already entangled. It was always the most fun, Tovi, when it was a party of three.” She winked as she left.

Crimson stained Tovi’s cheeks as dark as a passing dancer’s breast bite. Tovi wasn’t embarrassed of her past entanglements, as Juliette put it. They’d been fun, she’d enjoyed them. The issue was she’d also enjoy a night here in the dancer hall with Eldrick. After he’d whispered such horrendous things in her ear, she craved a taste of the alpha standing next to her.

But she didn’t even acknowledge him as she moved towards the curtain, peering out into the dancer’s hall. On the main stage, dancers performed a choreographed routine. With each twirl and dip, a piece of clothing fell off. A beat drummed as each pretended to inch their lace underwear down, breasts already out in the open. A hungry audience cheered them on, and as it appeared they’d relent, the stage’s lights went dark, ending the routine. The crowd cheered and hollered, loving the tease.

A presence, strong and lean, moved behind her. Tovi fidgeted, but Eldrick didn’t move away. His breath tickled down her neck.

“What are you looking for?”

“Anyone important. ”

“Like?”

“A lord. Pompous. Arrogant. Gaudy.” She scanned the crowd and sucked in a breath.

The perfect lord sat alone at the bar, drinking a wineglass full of thick blood. Red stained his lips and teeth, a droplet caught in the wires of his caterpillar mustache. His slicked-back black hair shined with grease under the chandeliers hanging from the cavern rafters.

Lord Oziel.

Arranged lunches, chaperoned walks in the castle garden, forced dances at celebratory balls. Her mother had practically shoved her into his path, like dangling raw meat in front of a demon. To her father’s dismay, she’d refused his hand for decades. Riven had been the only one to see him for what he was—a slimy excuse of a vampyr. She exhaled, fighting the dread creeping up her spine. He couldn’t have her. Never would.

“Who is he?”

Eldrick’s guttural words tickled the shell of her ear, sending a new shiver down her spine. One she welcomed, one she certainly preferred.

“No one.”

The dismissal came out quicker than she’d intended. With bite, too. She clamped her eyes, shook her head, and left the curtains to devise a plan. It didn’t matter who Lord Oziel was. Only his status in court mattered, only his vile nature. They meant he most certainly had answers regarding the fighting rings.

Eldrick moved in front of her. “That is not the impression I gathered.”

Tovi didn’t like him continuously stepping in her way, blocking her path with werewolf height and lean physique, and she didn’t like the glint in his eyes. Interest. Curiosity. Wonder. Those were dangerous, standing the hairs up the back of her neck in warning bells.

“It doesn’t matter.” She stepped left, but Eldrick countered her retreat. Like she’d predicted. The moment his foot stepped left to mirror, she swiveled back and right, far too fast for him to block her path again .

Behind her, he cursed.

“You did that thing.”

Tovi halted outside an empty dressing room and turned to him. “What thing?”

Without her hood up and under the bright lights of the galley, Tovi felt exposed, out in the open as Eldrick’s emerald eyes zeroed in on her. He took two long strides towards her until they were toe-to-toe. Before, out in the village, they’d had the frigid Drystan air between them. But here, the hall was too tight, too small for both of them this close. Tension and want vibrated between them.

“It’s your eyes.”

Suddenly, Eldrick wasn’t looking at her, he was looking into her. Deep into her eyes, emerald clashing with jade, burrowing in and leaving a mark. Tovi didn’t like it. It felt as if she stood naked in front of him, bare and open for him to see every scar or wrong deed etched into her skin like a cursed tattoo.

“When you’re rehearsing, withholding something, there’s no shine in your eyes.”

Tovi couldn’t breathe. Whatever churned in his eyes drowned her in false promise. She felt sucked in, being pulled deeper into the center, turning and turning, and off kilter. She didn’t like that she’d become such a subject of his attention, he’d began to notice small things like that. Tovi’s stomach roiled. What else did he see? What else did he judge?

“And sometimes,” Eldrick said. “I think it’s not secrets you’re hiding, but yourself.”

She stepped back—the words were so on the nose; it was like he’d cut her at the knees, exposing her in this ridiculous dance they’d entered. Her attention fleeted past his shoulders. Lord Oziel still sat at the bar. A dribble of blood trailed down his chin. Tovi blinked, centering her focus on the waiting alpha ahead of her.

What harm did it do to tell him ?

Tovi inhaled. “He was one of my most-eager suitors. He’s also one of the most influential trade merchants in vampyr court. His deep pockets made him my parents’ favorite choice. But let me make myself clear, he is no one to me.”

Eldrick stiffened, whirling in the direction of the bar. “Did he hurt you?”

Aside from his rather possessive hold on her while they danced— “No.”

Eldrick’s stature vibrated with tension, his hands tightened into fists at his side. Tovi swallowed, denying the territorial similarities between them. If Eldrick felt the same as she had with Juliette touching his arm—which was an absurd notion—he wasn’t going to like the next part of the plan.

Tovi stepped backward, one foot in the dressing room, one out. Eldrick’s head snapped to her.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting ready to dance.” Tovi darted into the dressing room and slammed the curtains shut.

“What?” Eldrick growled behind the wall of red.