Dark Kings (Feathers and Fate #1) - Sadie Moss Page 0,64

as the tinkling sound of glasses breaking fills the air.

The mark ignores the booze spilled all over him and whips around to run the other way, shoving people aside, Beckett hot on his tail as Ford continues to guard the doors and Remington tries to flank our target.

I dodge and dart in between people, since I’m not going to shove them. That would be rude and pointless, since almost all of the casino patrons are bigger than me. “Excuse me, pardon me, excuse me, pardon me,” I chant as I weave my way through the crowd.

The mark is circling back toward the bar, toward me, and I try to dodge around another waiter—who clearly doesn’t care what’s going on and has a bored, detached look on his face like he’s thinking ah, yes, same chaos as always—only to slam full-force into the demon I’m trying to intercept.

I go down in a heap. It feels like I just ran into a brick wall. The demon looks mildly dazed, but when he sees that I’m no longer in his way, he moves to flee again.

I throw myself after him, grabbing his ankles and trying to yank him down to my level, sulfur stinging my nose.

But he’s too big and too strong. He pulls his leg from my grasp and begins to run again—when my stiletto heel impales him in the chest, thrown with remarkable force.

The mark staggers, his hand flying up to his chest to clutch at my sparkly shoe. Then he falls, landing hard on the floor.

With a feral snarl, he raises a now-clawed hand toward me, his eyes glowing a hellish red.

“Ah, ah, ah. No you don’t,” Phoenix drawls, and I’m neatly picked up and yanked out of the way before a bolt of what looks like pure hellfire lashes out at the spot where I was just lying.

Whoa. What the heck just happened?

“You ruined my shoe,” I note dazedly, my arms looping instinctively around Phoenix’s neck. He smells good, like bergamot and honey—and I can’t help but remember that scent from when I was drugged by the aphrodisiac, and how very sexy I found him.

“Well, none of you guys were getting the job done.” Phoenix chuckles, the sound rumbling in his chest. “I told you I’d be more useful just standing there holding your shoes.”

Beckett and Remington skid to a halt as they reach us, nearly slamming into each other.

“For fuck’s sake. I’m a chef, not an athlete,” Remington grumbles, although he could’ve fooled me.

Ford shoves past everyone and hauls our mark to his feet, yanking my shoe out of the guy’s chest and handing it to Remington.

“Come on, you fucker,” he snarls, dragging the mark toward the front doors.

Beckett looks over at Phoenix and me, and I realize I’m still being held by the languorous man.

“Um. You can put me down,” I say, squirming a little. I should’ve asked him to do that immediately. There was no reason for him to keep holding me.

Actually… why is he still holding me? Surely that’s extra work he doesn’t need to do.

He sets me down on my bare feet with surprising gentleness, then holds up the shoe he didn’t throw at the demon. “Do you want your shoe back?”

“Or this one?” Remington offers up my other shoe, but it’s all bloody now—and it’s corrupted blood too, which grosses me out.

I pull a face. “Nah. I think I’m okay.” I’ll just go barefoot. It’s how I was when I was Upstairs anyway.

“Everyone’s staring,” Phoenix notes. “Wouldja tone it down, you two?”

I look over at Remington and Beckett and realize their eyes are glowing faintly. Oh. Makes sense. Everyone around us is greedy for information, gluttonous for gossip.

Phoenix waves his hand like he’s a sleepy conductor, and the people around us start to sigh and turn back to their gambling. He’s made them too lazy to care about whatever scandal is happening around them.

No longer the object of everyone’s focus, the four of us head outside where Ford has the mark pinned in his grip. The guy is obviously badly injured, but he’s putting up quite a struggle.

“Don’t make me hurt you,” Ford growls, and I really shouldn’t find the rough timbre of his voice as attractive as I do. “I was around long before your soul was even fuckin’ born, never mind when it became fuckin’ corrupted. Keep this up, and we’ll see who the real power around here is.”

Our mark gives a harsh laugh. “You think you’re so tough. That you