ey Oliv

ar of drunken laughter, the clatter of dice, and the thick, suffocating

h-hewn dockworkers, and low-ranking pack guards rubbed shoulders around long tr

mimic the timid posture of a poor street boy, and wove throu

a round table kicked his heavy boot

lling heavily of fermented mash as his beady eyes locked onto m

ghter erupted from hi

t break

eather boot down with brutal, focused precision onto the sid

rrg

hoved his bench back with a violent scrape. He lunged out of his se

," someone shou

arm sailed over my shoulder, I drove the rigid edge of my palm into the side of his neck, s

back into his head, and he collapsed onto t

at the table

ious brute on the floor, then looked

r the man's sprawling legs, walked up to the grease-staine

k bread, and a pitcher of clean water," I s

He swept the coin off the wood with practiced speed, shouting the order toward the ki

with mechanical speed. The hot fat and salt hit my system like pur

y tavern doors slammed open agains

e drunken chatter van

emblem of a snarling dire wolf beneath a crescent moon emblazoned in silver across thei

e pommel of a broadsword. "The Crimson Tavern is under immediate quarantine! All lower exits

h the room. Men hastily lowered their hea

litary

te To

. More terrifyingly, rumors whispered that he carried the cursed, near-extinct bloodline of the ancie

a common pleasure house, something mo

ing lords bled, opp

es to avoid the guards' scrutiny. Ducking through the swinging service door into the kitchen, I f

ation shaft carried the heat from the roa

grating, and wedged my dagger into the latch

immying upward through the warm, s

ted vent of an upper corridor, I saw plush red velvet runners lining the floor and gi

led of

uffocati

g dominance that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in cold alarm. It was a

open and dropped silentl

ds. Whatever was happening up here, the Re

a pair of carved mahogany double doors at the end of the h

ainst the wall, peer

t suite furnished with silk divans and

in the center of the

is hips. His torso was built like an ancient war god's, thick with hardened muscle, but his pale skin wa

ad thrown back as he panted through clench

features locked in an expressi

n bloo

eak through his human vessel, tear

nd lay an ornate dagger with a hilt encrusted with pigeon-blood rubies,

less w

ne waiting

way, letting the heavy oak