It was far too early to arrive to the Bannons’, and I couldn’t use the “because I hate you” excuse for not joining him tonight—I’d used that one last week. The last thing I wanted was for Tadhg to get suspicious and start asking questions.
I’d give him three minutes before he was swept away by the finest women money could buy. Whores weren’t interested in kisses, so he shouldn’t kill anyone tonight. And if he did, he could take care of the body himself.
* * *
On the outskirts of Swiftfell sat a “reputable” establishment that catered to “our kind.” Meaning most of the whores were Danú as well, likely forced into this life against their will. Faeries whose wings had been stolen. Fae who’d fallen prey to gambling debts that could never be paid. They smiled, but there was a lifelessness in their eyes I knew all too well.
They may have had hearts, but they were as dead inside as me.
Women swarmed Tadhg the moment he crossed the threshold, a wave of cloying air crashing in their wake. All Ruairi had to do was flash his fangs, and a handful veered in his direction.
I turned my back on the mele when two started for me, then glowered at them until they slithered off toward a pooka and leprechaun drinking at a gaming table near the back.
I joined the men, needing to keep myself occupied until I could leave for Graystones.
A pair of slender arms slipped around my neck; soft, warm hands made their way to my chest. “Anything ye want?” The woman was pretty enough, but her blond hair looked coarse and dry as straw.
“The largest glass of whiskey you have.” Being in this place sober turned my stomach. I shifted a coin and pressed it into the woman’s outstretched palm. Her smile grew as she tucked it between breasts thrust together by a tight black corset.
I’d have one drink, then slink away into the night and get on with my business.
I shifted a second coin and left it on the edge of the gaming table. The clurichaun dealt me in. When Ruairi dropped down onto the seat next to me, I bit back a curse. A glass appeared at my elbow, filled to the brim with whiskey.
“What’re ye drinkin’?” Ruairi asked.
“None of your business.”
He put his nose near my drink, and I nearly tossed the lot in his face. “Smells like shite.”
“Knowing you’d hate it only makes me enjoy it more.”
“I’ll have what he’s having,” he called toward the woman who had served me, slipping a gold coin onto the table next to mine. The dealer handed him cards as well.
I didn’t want to be here in the first place, and I certainly didn’t want to be here with Ruairi and his obnoxious feckin’ smile, but there was no way in hell that I was going to back down from what was clearly a challenge.
I’d beat him out of his gold, he’d drown his sorrow in women, andthenI’d be on my way.
His drink appeared. He lifted it to his lips and took one long sip, and then another, and another. When he slammed the glass back to the table, it was empty.
I swallowed mine in two gulps, holding his irritating gaze the entire time. The moment I set my glass next to his, he rapped his knuckle against the tabletop, and two more drinks appeared.
* * *
The blond wouldn’t leave me be, climbing onto my lap, wrinkling my breeches. Running her fingers through my hair, messing it up. Leaving feckin’ rouge stains on my neck that I had to clean off again and again. Eventually, I shifted a load of coins to get her to stay away—and to keep the other women circling the table like buzzards at bay as well. Worked a treat. Not for the pooka, though. He had to balance a giggling faerie on his knee as he fumbled for the only full glass in a sea of empty ones left on the table.
The dealer was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn’t quite remember who had won.
I assumed it was me because I didn’t really want to murder anyone just yet.
The blue-haired faerie whispered something in Ruairi’s ear. Before I could order the next round, the pooka caught the woman’s waist, stood, and lifted her over his shoulder like a barbarian. “I’ll be right back,” he announced.
“If you leave, you lose.”
His eyes narrowed. “Can’t lose if I forfeit.”
“Quittingislosing.” Everyone knew that.
He pressed a hard kiss to the faerie’s smiling lips and said, “Doesn’t feel like losing to me.”