Ace of Shades (The Shadow Game #1)(64)

But another, quieter part of her suspected otherwise. Enne should’ve felt ill walking into rehearsal today, knowing her talent descended from such a notorious bloodline. Instead, she felt exhilarated. In Bellamy, her aspirations had been confined to keeping up and fitting in with her classmates. Never had she been given the chance to excel. Never had she tasted ambition...desire.

For the first time in her life, Enne felt confident. All those years spent agonizing over her shortcomings, all those years attempting to be something she wasn’t. At what point in Enne’s life had she decided that others controlled what she wanted, that she couldn’t just reach out and take it?

Maybe the city hadn’t corrupted her at all. Maybe she’d always been this vicious, and the Scar Lord had simply been the first to see it.

“So,” Levi said, startling Enne out of her thoughts. “This is where you tell me exactly how you overpowered a fake Dove.” Even though Enne had come here expecting to tell him about last night, the strain in his voice told her he was trying to shift the subject away from his friend. She decided to let him...for now. “They teach you hand-to-hand combat at that finishing school of yours?”

“Yes, of course.” She grinned. “That’s a requirement nowadays to become a lady. I could fight you while balancing books on my head.”

“Look at that.” He pointed at his arm, and Enne—foolishly—leaned forward to look. He flicked her on the forehead. “I just trembled.”

She kicked him in the leg. “Rude.”

Then she left her leg there, stretched out, her foot touching him. She felt like every move she made around him was a dare to herself to see how far she would go. And she wasn’t sure if she was doing it simply for the thrill, from the drink...or because of something more.

But she wasn’t in this city to find romance with street lords; she was here to find her mother. New Reynes was so intertwined with Levi’s character that flirting with him would be like flirting with the City of Sin itself, and after all of this was over, Enne still very much intended to return home. Anything between them could only be a distraction. Besides, considering all those articles of clothing left behind in his wardrobe, Levi hardly had reason to find interest in her.

She slid her leg back.

“After Lola told me what she knew,” Enne continued, “she decided she’d kill me. She said that my existence was too dangerous for the city.” She paused, expecting Levi to deny this, but he only nodded for her to continue. “After that, she attacked me. She’s tall, but she’s not very fast. It wasn’t hard to take her knife.”

“Being the expert fighter that you are,” he joked.

“I’m stronger than I look. You try keeping up with dancing and acrobatics rehearsals all day.” She grabbed the box of cookies from the coffee table and tore it open. “If it wasn’t for my supposed Dondelair split talent, I’d essentially be pudding right now.”

“Yes. Pudding. I’m sure.”

She narrowed her eyes and shoved a cookie in her mouth. “Anyway, after that, I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t just...leave. Lola was set on killing me, and if she told anyone about my talents, the whiteboots would kill me for her.” She pulled her gaze away from Levi, in case he noticed the darkness in her eyes from the things she’d done. “So she swore to me. Now she can’t tell anyone the truth.”

Levi leaned forward and took the box. He slid out several gingersnaps. “When you say swore...?”

“Blood by blood. Life by life. Something like that.”

He straightened, then slid closer to her. She really wished he would stop doing that. The smell of his aftershave was annoyingly tempting.

“A street oath?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a lord?”

“I guess so.”

“You’ve been in New Reynes four days, and you’re already building yourself a gang? Just what have you been reading in that guidebook of yours?”

She ripped the box out of his hands. “It was the only option. It’s not as if I ever need to see her again.”

“You might want to. Oaths aren’t unbreakable,” Levi warned. “There are all sorts of rules about challenging lords and loyalty. Telling your secret to a third party? That would be hard. Killing you?” He made a slicing motion across his throat. “Give the girl a gun, call it a duel and you’ll be dead.”

None of that seemed very logical to her.

“Well, what else should I do?” Enne had already made up her mind not to kill Lola. In the moment, she could’ve called it self-defense. But now, it felt cold-blooded. Enne wasn’t a villain.

“You should keep an eye on her. Keep your enemies close, and all that. And oaths get weaker when you don’t see each other.”

“And we’d do...what? Knit? Have tea?”

“I don’t know. She probably knows a lot about families and talents, being a blood gazer. Maybe she could help us learn more about these Dondelair and Scordata parents of yours. That could lead us back to Lourdes.”

Enne pursed her lips. Lourdes was a monarchist and a Mizer sympathizer, so maybe if they found a link between Enne’s birth parents and her mother, it would help them in their search. Enne loathed the thought of returning to the Deadman District and confronting the hate in Lola’s eyes, but this could be their only lead.