I sat across from Ciara, in a dark corner of a pub in Edinburgh. The bar was indistinct, just like I wanted it to be. Ordinary wooden tables, an old carpet with wine stains, plain yellow walls. We’d spent twenty of our last pounds on haggis and neeps, which had been a mistake, because it was disgusting. Of course Ciara loved it.

In the past few days since we’d run from London, I’d made myself look as nondescript as possible. I wore a hood or wig to cover my lavender hair. I wore jeans and sneakers. I didn’t make eye contact with anyone. No one had noticed us.

Problem was, we were running out of Ciara’s money, fast.

Ciara leaned back in her chair, sipping her beer. “We have twenty-six pounds and thirteen pence left.”

I swallowed hard. I still had the lumen crystal. It wouldn’t be particularly difficult to steal from people. “I’ll find us what we need.”

She leaned in closer to me, whispering, “You said Baleros’s headless body just caught on fire? He was a devil. I knew it.”

“No doubt about that. I hope it hurt.”

She shoved a forkful of haggis into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully, her gaze intent on her food. “Why did you run from Ruadan? I thought you said you worked together to kill Baleros.”

I swirled the wine in my glass. “We did work together in that moment, to get out of that situation. To save both our lives. But I don’t know what it means. Grand Master Savus calls the shots in the Institute, and I don’t know what he thinks. I could be on a kill list. I stole from them. And I stabbed one of them. And the Shadow Fae really don’t have a sense of humor about those kind of things.”

“You took something from me.” A rich, velvet voice sent ice racing through my blood.

It was a voice I’d heard before.

Only once before—in the arena.

My mouth went dry, and I turned to find Ruadan looming over us. His bright violet eyes looked striking against the gloom of the bar.

“Ruadan!” I tried to sound cheerful. “I was just talking about you.”

He stared at me with that preternatural stillness. For just a moment, a chill rippled over me, but it was gone within an instant. If he’d wanted to kill me, he would have done it by now.

A hush fell over the bar as the humans began to realize a powerful fae warrior stood in their midst. So much for discretion.

“Why don’t we talk outside?” I said.

He nodded once.

I ignored everyone’s wide-eyed stares as we crossed outside. Clouds covered the moon tonight, and a light rain misted on the old, winding street. From where we stood, I could see all the way up to Edinburgh Castle, a gothic palace on jagged slopes.

“So. You want your crystal back?” I asked.

He pressed his hands against the wall, boxing me in. His glare cut right through me. Silver glinted in his eyes. “How did Baleros compel you to enter the Institute?”

Knowledge gives you power over a person. How much power did I want Ruadan to have? I supposed my life was already in his hands right now. How much worse could it get? Still, I’d leave out the key details.

“How did he get anyone to do anything?” I asked. “He had leverage. Nothing made me happier than to see you cut his head off.”

A gust of wind whipped at his hair, and an eerie stillness overtook his body.

“Am I on the kill list?” I asked.

No answer. Just dark shadows whipping the air around him. The bastard had already broken his vow, but he preferred brooding in silence and generally trying to scare the crap out of people.

“I’m sorry I stabbed you,” I added. “Honestly, stabbed sounds a bit dramatic. You’re a demigod and a fae. I knew you’d live if I didn’t use iron. I mean, for a minute I did consider….” I was nervously babbling, filling the silence with things that would get me in trouble. “You know what? Let’s not dwell on what might have been. I’m alive. You’re alive. Baleros is dead. Let’s try to keep it that way.”

Even though The Wraith stood before me, his magic crackling the air, I didn’t feel threatened right now. I felt an overwhelming urge to close the distance between us, to press myself against his powerful chest. I took a step closer to him, breathing in. There—under the pine and the magic, the scent of apples. I loved that smell. I closed my eyes, inhaling again, and that’s when I realized where I knew it from. It was the one from my dreams.

I frowned at him. “Have you ever heard of a place called Emain, by any chance?”

He cut me a sharp look, eyes darkening. “No.”

The look in his eyes told me he was lying.

“You’re not as good a liar as you think you are. What’s the big deal about it? I’ve dreamt of it. One of the library books says dreaming of Emain is a fae thing. Also that it’s the headquarters of all the Shadow Fae. You smell like my dreams.” I cleared my throat. “Which sounds more like a pickup line than I’d intended.”

His gaze flicked up and down my body, as if he were still considering something. “It’s a myth. Don’t speak of it again.”

Right. Convincing. “So, am I on the kill list?” I asked again.

The cool breeze kissed my skin while his gaze bored into me.

At last, he said, “No. I don’t think you are. I’m coming back for you. The Institute hasn’t finished with you.”

My chest unclenched, and I released the breath I’d been holding. “Are you going to tell me why you’ve suddenly become a chatty Cathy?”

“I can speak again because I’ve completed my mission.”

I nodded slowly. “Killing Baleros?”

“In the arena, I thought you were going to do it. You left him alive. Why?”

I really wasn’t used to the sound of him talking, and his voice was having a distracting effect on me. In fact, its richness seemed to skim over my skin and stroke my body in places I shouldn’t be thinking about right now. No wonder he didn’t talk.

A long silence stretched out between us. I wasn’t sure I trusted him enough to tell him how much Ciara meant to me. “There was something else I had to do,” was all I said.

Before I could ask another one of the hundreds of questions burning in my head, he turned, prowling off.

I watched as he stalked into Edinburgh’s shadows, blending in with the night itself.

I touched my throat, realizing that he’d left me with the lumen stone. As he walked away, that faint scent of apples hung in the air, and I felt an unfamiliar sense of safety. Did the demonic Wraith actually make me feel safe now?

Surprise flickered in my chest as I realized I was looking forward to his return.

With a sharp pang, it made me think of something that hardly ever popped into my mind these days. A place I’d nearly forgotten on the dirt floor of Baleros’s cages.

Home.

I pushed the thought away. Home was an impossibility, now, and I’d never find my way back. Now, Ciara was my home. When I crossed back into the pub and found that she’d saved half her disgusting haggis for me, warmth lit up my chest.

I beamed at her. “What are you smiling at?” she asked.

“You.” I sat back down in my chair. “Giving me food. Sometimes a butterscotch sweet is a genuine gift.”

“Right. I remember how obsessed you were with butterscotch sweets—that one you hung onto forever in the cage because you didn’t want it to be gone. I need to get you a whole bag.”

I shook my head. “I don’t even like how it tastes. I don’t like haggis, either. I just like that you gave it to me.”

“You’re a weird one, Arianna.”

I reached into my bug-out bag, pushing the headlamp and duct tape out of the way until I found a grape lollipop, then I popped it into my mouth. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Read on for a preview of Court of Darkness.