Page 43 of An Oath at Midnight

Bram touched me all the time. I had no idea why my heart was suddenly racing again, or why I couldn’t stop myself from sucking in a sharp breath.

What the hell was wrong with me?

We carried on, passing them, and both demons eyed Bram, their gazes sliding up to his face, his head. Their eyes widened, and they quickly looked away.

I shot a glance at Bram and did a double take. He was baring his teeth in their direction, his smile so sinister, so full of promise, of the most horrific kind, it sent cold chills shooting up my spine.

His fingers squeezed the back of my neck a little more firmly, and he pulled me in closer. I let him. I wanted to walk back out of here in one piece, and if Bram somehow made the demons here uneasy, I wasn’t going to complain. I also wasn’t going to think about it too hard or ask him all the questions now firing through my head, because I got the feeling he wouldn’t be able to give me the answers I wanted.

I spotted the shop up ahead. Malicious Brew was scrawled on a sign swinging in the summer breeze.

Bram strode up to it and opened the door. We walked in, and a whole lot of different smells assaulted us, potent, not entirely unpleasant, but different than what I was used to. A mix of herbs and roots, of plants and elixirs and other things we didn’t stock at The Cauldron or use at home.

The demons here catered to those with darker desires and tastes, and I guess that included me now.

The sound of door hinges creaking in the back of the shop echoed through the room, and I turned as a demon walked out. A stunning female with peridot eyes, wide and tilted up in the corners. Her small nose was slightly upturned, and her mouth was full and lush. Her hair hung to her waist in blood-red waves, and she had several tiny plaits hanging down each side of her face.

She strode forward, her gaze moving over me before sliding the length of Bram, then her spine stiffened. Her gaze darted to me, then back to him.

Bram shook his head for some unknown reason, and the female in front of us seemed to understand because her posture lost some of its rigidness.

“What do you want?” she said, her pale, yellow-green eyes still on him.

“It’s me you’ll be dealing with,” I said, stepping forward.

She tore her eyes from Bram, and they narrowed. “You’re not one of my regular witches.”

“Will that be a problem?”

She shrugged. “No, as long as you and your…shadow…” Her gaze darted to Bram and back. “Don’t try anything that we’ll both regret.”

“I just want my supplies, then we’ll go.”

She nodded, but her gaze kept darting to Bram, like she expected him to pounce at any moment. “Well?” she said impatiently. “What do you want?”

I slid the list from my pocket and handed it to her. In the past, I’d made a lot of my potions by foraging, in safer parts of the forest, usually around the keep after I’d trained with Asher, and by mixing a few things together that witches were strongly advised not to.

She looked down at the list. “You got money? ’Cause you’ll need plenty of it.”

Well, shit, that tone said I’d probably need a lot more than I had.

Bram pulled a roll of cash from his pocket. “Get her what she wants.”

I’d seen more rolls of cash like it in his tree house. His “employer” paid well.

She laughed huskily, her gaze coming back to me. “Ahhh, now I get it. I guess the cash is worth the risk, huh?”

I frowned. “What?”

“The risk of lying down next to him at night and not waking up?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, looking between her and Bram.

“Your boyfriend, he’s a crow.” She gave me a look that said she thought I was missing several brain cells.

“Just get what she asked for,” Bram bit out, cutting her off.

Her eyes flashed at his demand, but she didn’t bite back. She spun and strode off, presumably to do what he said.