Those three pubs were the most infamous in all of Airren, infested with mercenaries who murdered Danú for coin. And my younger brother wanted us to spend the night in them? Not a feckin’ hope.
“I’m in.” Ruairi withdrew a black medallion from his waistcoat pocket, threw it atop the scraps, and took a sip of faerie wine. How did he drink that shite without gagging?
I shot my best mate an incredulous glare. He was always the first to add to the pot even though he never had a hope of winning. The problem was that he had more money than sense and eternity on his hands.
“I’ll pass.” The blackberry pie called my name.
“Well, I’m in.” There was a flash of gold as Rían withdrew something from his pocket and dropped it onto the pile.
The pair of gold triskelion cufflinks, gifted to Rían by our father, were his most prized possession. I had tried for a century to get him to bet them, and he’d always refused. His dark eyebrows lifted in silent challenge. The bastardknewI had no choice but to accept. It wasn’t about the money. It was about beating Rían out of something he loved.
Ripping the button off of my own black waistcoat, I added it to the pot, knowing it’d give my brother a twitch. I’d sit in whatever pub I chose until morning if it meant winning his cufflinks.
Rían grinned as he folded the scraps. He shifted a bowl from the kitchen, dropped them in, and held it toward me, a mischievous glint in his blue gaze. “Let’s choose where we’re to die tonight, shall we?”
I inhaled a deep breath, closed my eyes, and stuck my hand into the bowl.
The Green Serpent
It would be my luck to pick the worst of the lot. And it was across the entire feckin’ island from Tearmann, so I’d have to waste a considerable amount of magic getting there. Before I was cursed, I could’ve made the trip fifty times in a night, not a bother. Now? I’d be lucky to get home.
I lifted the glass of faerie wine and finished every last rancid drop. If I was to die tonight, I was going to die drunk.
* * *
The Green Serpent reeked of rot and sweat and stale drink. And I was fairly certain the mercenaries trading pooka claws at the table next to mine had bathed in shit.
I kept my head down, knowing what would happen if they caught me staring. Their whispers rattled through my head; they were as aware of my presence as I was of theirs. Wearing the enchanted kohl had been risky, but I refused to come into this hell hole without it.
For the moment, the situation seemed relatively safe. I was reading, after all. How threatening could I look with a book in my hands? The humans appeared more interested in drink than me. It wasn’t until they got deeper in their cups that they’d begin plotting how to kill me and divvy up my parts.
Death was tedious, and finding the bits when I got back was always a feckin’ nightmare.The last time it happened, it took me a fortnight to locate my thumbs.
“Like I was sayin’, yer Lordship,” the man beside me said, a spark of greed lighting his pinpoint eyes, “if ye just gave us half, we’d be able to buy enough port to turn a tidy profit.” It looked as if Oran had put on a stone since I’d last seen him, and there was barely enough greasy gray hair to cover his head.
Every time we met, I had an overwhelming urge to force my magic into his oversized gullet and watch the life fade from those tiny eyes. It was nothing less than he deserved for trying to swindle me out of more gold, but there were more pressing matters at hand. Like not getting my head severed by the axe sitting next to the mercenary glancing at me from over his shoulder.
“I’m not giving you anything until you pay back what you owe.” He’d already borrowed a small fortune for his smuggling venture. Unfortunately, he was one of only a handful of men willing to supply Tearmann with drink.I could’ve shifted all of it straight from the ships, but the damned treaty my father had signed forbade it.
Oran’s grimy fingers wrapped around his flagon, and he raised it to his thin lips.“If I could pay what I owed ye, I wouldn’t be askin’ fer money.”
The man was a leech.
I wouldn’t put it past Rían to have told him I was here just to make me lose. After all, if I killed him, the other humans would take offense.
I glanced toward the broken clock on the shelf.
Four past eleven.
I’d already been here for two hours. Was Rían still out, or had he returned to the castle? Ruairi wasn’t a contender. He couldn’t return from the underworld, so he’d be back at the first hint of trouble.
On the other side of the room, the main door opened.
This was the type of place where ignoring that mundane detail could end in death. Everyone else seemed to know that too, as the boasting and swearing came to an abrupt halt.
A woman walked in, her face hidden within her cloak.
I’d known my fair share of female mercenaries, but the way she walked, all perfect posture and swaying hips, pointed more to her being an escort than a cold-blooded killer.