“I think I’ve drank the cellar dry.” She slurred her words as she smirked at the guards, moving further into the light so that they had to turn away from Lina’s direction.

“Briata Catullus, the Eagle of Death,” the first guard snickered.

“Eagle of Death?” Bri smirked. “I haven’t heard that one before, but I like it. Maybe I should change the family crest to an eagle holding a skull. My mother would be so proud.”

“Why don’t you go and do that in your Eastern homeland, then?” The second guard set her weapon back on the ground, leaning against it as she leered at Bri.

“But think of all the fun we could have if I stayed here.” Bri looked her up and down and winked, relishing in the flustered look on the guard’s face.

The other guard cleared his throat. “Get out of here, Catullus, we’re working.”

“Fine, fine.” She chuckled, gesticulating wildly as she spoke. “I’m heading into town. Any good pubs I should visit?”

“The Rattling Bone,” the first guard called out as Bri stumbled her way toward the outer torches.

The other guard snickered.

“For some reason, I don’t think I’ll take your word on that,” Bri said, waving a drunken hand at them. “I hope you two have an exceedingly boring shift. Come find me when you’re done, Goddess.”

The first guard snorted and then paused, looking to the fae beside him. “Oh, come on. That can’t have possibly worked on you.”

Bri swayed over the lip of the patio and back onto the dusty road as she heard the guard defensively reply, “She’s charming.”

Her lips twisted up as her boots crunched over the loose gravel. She was halfway down the narrow land bridge to Swifthill when she spotted Lina’s cloaked figure up ahead. She’d already made it most of the distance down the road and didn’t seem intent on stopping.

“Curse the Gods,” Bri muttered. She should have known that Lina was trying to lose her when she shoved her in front of those guards. Anyone with skill could have snuck past them without need of a distraction.

She picked up into a jog as Lina disappeared into the streets of Swifthill. She rushed into the city and down the first alley that she saw Lina shoot down. Nothing. She gritted her teeth. Delta would kill her if she found out, but she suspected she knew where Lina was going.

A drunken man stumbled down the alley, fumbling for keys in his pocket. Clenching her fists, Bri willed the glamour to shift her fae body into a human one.

“Do you know where the Mesons live? A husband and wife and a baby?” Bri asked.

The man jolted. “What does he owe ya?”

“Nothing, I need his help,” Bri hedged.

“I think he’s had a lot of your kind of help lately,” the man chortled, flipping through his ring of keys. “But I don’t want any trouble at my door. He’s three roads down. Third house on the right. If it looks abandoned, that’s the one.”