Lords & Thieves: Chapter Three

The prequel arc of ✨The White City✨ — a weekly serialized urban fantasy series

Previously in The White City:

• There’s someone arguably shadier than the mob boss trying to make a deal—and he’s got nothing to lose

• A college student realizes that whether it’s to a loan shark or the federal government, she’s going to owe someone a ton of money, so…

Thank the gods he hadn’t chosen that moment to take another sip of absinthe.

He damn near sprayed his own spittle at her.

“What?” Was all he could manage between his genuine, full-chested laughter. “I’m sorry. But what did you just say?”

Her elegant brow furrowed and her bottom lip pouted, which instantly sobered him up. Not because he felt bad for potentially insulting her—because he didn’t—but because despite her being literally out of her mind, she was still pretty fucking gorgeous.

And he didn’t like the way her frown marred her face.

“You’re a loan shark, right? I heard you with that other guy.”

Oh, now he needed to know where she thought she was going. Cade leaned forward, a playful if not dangerous smile toying with his own lips. “You heard what happens when people don’t fulfill their end of the bargain. ‘That other guy’ owns three businesses and a hedge fund. He couldn’t fulfill his end. You think you can?”

Uncertainty filled her amber eyes. Regardless, she didn’t slump in defeat or move from the chair. That itself was pretty impressive, if not foolish. “What do you want?”

Fuck. These pants weren’t getting any looser. “That’s a very dangerous question to ask a man like me, ælfscíene.” Dangerous, and hot as hell.

“Elf…sheen?”

There it was. The freezing ice bucket reminder of just how fucking old he really was. Especially compared to this…this…gods, she was practically infantile compared to his years.

So was Markis, though. That never stopped the High Lord from pulling rank.

“What could you possibly need thirty thousand dollars for? A new purse?” He chuckled and let his men join him in the teasing. “A new car Daddy won’t buy you?”

That hit a nerve. Her nervousness melted away and the glare she fixed on him both heightened his attraction and slightly scared him.

Only slightly.

“I need it for fucking school, asshole.” She slapped her palms on the tablecloth, shoved herself to her feet, and shook her head. “Forget it.”

“Wait.”

He didn’t know if it was her delectable curves enticing him, or the massive set of testicles she possessed to not only approach him but also cuss him out. Maybe it was the vulnerability he’d first seen that tugged a thin string still semi-attached to his heart.

It definitely wasn’t the glistening of tears brimming on her long lashes as she tried to look away.

Cade pulled his hand back from where it reached for her, unaware he’d even made the gesture. “I was only…” No. Do not apologize. “Sit down. Tell me what you’re studying.”

The young woman slowly lowered back down onto the chair, but she didn’t slide her bag off her shoulder as if she planned on staying there. She refused to look at him, and he didn’t blame her.

Even though it did bother him.

A little.

“Art.” She shifted the bag so it sat on her lap and created a symbolic barrier between them. “Art history, actually.”

“And you need…thirty thousand?” This time his laughter was soft, meant to ease her nerves and offer some empathy. “Do they print your books on gold plates these days?”

Now she looked at him, if only to frown at him some more in confusion. “Didn’t you go to college?”

Something inside him preened at that. “Do I look like I went to college?”

“You sound like you did.”

Cade didn’t know what to do with that. “Well…thank you.” He cleared his throat, ran a hand through his hair, and tried his best not to show just how much her words stroked his ego. “Which university?”

“The institute.”

“Across from the art museum?”

She nodded.

“And they charge thirty thousand per year?”

“Semester.”

One of his guards let out a low whistle. Cade was glad for it, because he damn near did the same. “No shit. No wonder you’re talking to me. I’m guessing scholarships and funding ran out before making a dent.”

“You could say that.”

Still, it was no small amount of pocket change she was asking for. Nor was she the type of clientele he preferred to do business with. “Give me your name.”

When his men exchanged another surprised glance, it was because even they could feel the thickness in the air that always came with the compulsion breathed by their employer.

Which meant he was actually considering making the deal.

“Elena Martín.”

The way she said it, with a slight Spanish lilt on her tongue, sent a special kind of compulsion through his own system. And while the connection made between fae and humans when trading names could be felt as a tangible thing, this was…different.

Very, very different.

“Well, Elena Martín.” Cade brushed it off as simply being symptomatic of not tumbling in the sheets for a few—or several—months. “As much as we all can sympathize with your struggle for higher education, I can’t help you.”

“Can’t?” Elena leveled her gaze at him. “Or won’t?”

“Both. Either.” He waved his hand in dismissal, but at her or the way his insides twisted, he couldn’t tell. Both. Either. “I don’t go into business with broke college kids. I definitely don’t invest in people who stare at paintings for a living. So, while this has been fun—”

“I don’t stare at paintings. I fix them.” She rolled a shoulder. “Well, not the paintings. The artifacts.”

“Whatever. Who cares. The point is…”

Hold on.

Elena leaned forward. “Yeah?”

Cade held his breath. He couldn’t believe he was about to do what he felt pretty certain he was about to do. The words tumbled from his mouth before he could stop them. “You work with antiquities?”

“Yeah. I was gonna do archaeology, but the pottery class didn’t pan out like I expected.”

“Right, right. Great.” He opened Markis’ note and pushed it to her. “Do you know what this is?” He pointed to the sketch of the compass.

Elena peered at the drawing. “That’s an astrolabe. An astronomer’s tool in oceanic—”

“Right. Good.” The paper slid back to him and he quickly folded it before shoving it into his pocket. “Do you know where I can find it?”

“Probably at the observatory. They have a bunch of those there.”

“I meant this one in particular.”

Her eyes bugged and she spit out a laugh. “Dude, I don’t know! I haven’t even used my pass yet!”

“But you have one.”

“Yeah, I have one.” She eyed him with growing suspicion. “Why?”

Cade noticed her ring finger was bare, no tan lines giving away any previous engagements or marriage. He didn’t see any signs of a significant other in terms of expensive jewelry or perfume, either, although she did smell all sorts of wonderful whenever she leaned in closer. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Now she really laughed. “What? No! What does that have to do with anything?”

Perfect.

“Elena Martín.” He matched the way she said her name and suppressed the knowing smirk when her cheeks flushed and her hips shifted. “How would you like to make thirty thousand dollars?”

Her mouth fell open. Then snapped shut.

Even his guards choked on their own saliva.

“Are you serious?”

Cade nodded.

“You’re serious.” Elena clapped a hand over her mouth, looked ready to cry, then pulled her hand away and sat up straighter. “Okay. Wow. Um…okay, then. What do I have to do?”

He couldn’t resist the urge to reach across the table and take her soft hand in his. He’d been dying to know what she felt like from the moment she wandered in there, and he wasn’t disappointed. If anything, he felt himself craving a bit more.

“Easy.” He lifted his gaze to meet hers and loved the way the heat spread from her cheeks when his thumb brushed over the back of her hand. “Go on a date with me.”

This episode of Lords & Thieves may be over, but the story continues.

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