Shadow Thief - Eva Chase Page 0,32

endeavor to bring on a shadowkind or two willing to survey this location across the next few days to confirm that conclusion.”

I suspected he’d been going to say that he would keep an eye on the market but then remembered his commitment to watch over me. It was hard to argue with him about that when he hadn’t outright said it, though.

“You’d better let me do the smooth-talking,” Ruse said. “That’s my job here, after all. I’m sure I can find a willing candidate.” As we meandered back toward the bus stop, he slipped his hand into his pocket. “And our expedition wasn’t totally fruitless. For the lady.”

He held out his hand to me with a little bow, his tone an obvious mockery of Thorn’s formal courtesy. A gold chain with a pendant dangled from his fingers: a pendant in the shape of a curled dragon, its one visible eye a glinting ruby.

“Given your choice of pet, I thought you might appreciate it,” he said, grinning.

It was a charming enough gesture that my chest fluttered—but also completely unacceptable. I admired the necklace for a moment longer and then tucked the pendant back into his palm. “You stole that, didn’t you?”

“I liberated it from its display rack.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Stolen goods don’t make a great gift, FYI. You can’t go around just taking whatever you want.” A decency you couldn’t count on any shadowkind recognizing.

“You lifted some pretty trinkets from our collector,” he pointed out.

I hadn’t realized he’d noticed that. That didn’t change my answer, though. “It’s not the same thing. The collector had money coming out of his ass, and he was using it in horrible ways. The people who set up shop in that market—most of them are barely making ends meet. And even if they’re doing all right, they don’t deserve to be robbed. Take it back.”

Ruse let out a little huff, but his eyes still gleamed with good humor. “As the lady requires.” He stepped toward the trees beside the sidewalk and wisped away into the shadows to do so.

Snap had cocked his head. “Can mortals really produce money out of their—”

“Just an expression,” I said quickly. “Don’t worry about it.” Especially when we had so many other things to worry about. I couldn’t help studying the street around us in case Thorn’s possibly imagined follower had trailed us out here.

No one I saw appeared to be paying any attention to us at all, other than a teenage girl who openly ogled both Thorn and Snap as she sauntered past. I could hardly blame her for that.

Well, our next course of action had already been decided. I exhaled, making a silent plea to the fates that today wouldn’t be a total loss. “We’ve still got the bar tonight. Jade is a better bet than the market was anyway.”

11

Sorsha

I wouldn’t have called Jade’s Fountain exactly posh, but it did have a vibe you needed to dress to match if you didn’t want to stick out like a total rube. Inventive but sophisticated was probably the best description. I didn’t get dolled up very often, but over the years I’d picked up a few suitable dresses for my nights on the town with Vivi.

For this evening, I pulled on the forest-green one that set off my hair—and my collarbone with its square neckline. The geometric element was repeated in the black buckle of the dress’s wide belt and the cut-out pattern in the bottom few inches of the knee-length skirt. Flashes of my thighs in their silky black tights showed through those peepholes as I turned in front of my bedroom mirror.

Between the outfit and the makeup I’d carefully applied, toeing the line between striking and overboard, I looked a lot more sophisticated than I generally felt. Luna would have liked it, though, even if the colors weren’t the bright ones she adored. I adjusted the cap sleeves, pepping myself up with a murmured lyric: “Neat seams are laid to please. Who am I to disagree?”

It wasn’t just Jade’s clientele this get-up would please, apparently. The moment I stepped out of the bedroom, Ruse let out an approving whistle from where he’d been hanging out by the living room doorway. “Not that I had any complaints before, but you do clean up nicely, Miss Blaze.”

I pressed my hand to my chest in a mock swoon, although the appreciation in his voice had given me a quiver of pleasure too. “Be still my beating heart.”

The incubus ambled