2_-_court_of_mist_and_fury_a_-_sarah_j._maas

I turned pleading eyes to Amren, but she’d vanished.
“She’s getting more blood in the back to take home with her,” Rhys said in my ear, and
I nearly jumped out of my skin. His chuckle was warm against my neck. “And then she’ll
be going right to her apartment to gorge herself.”
I tried not to shudder as I faced him. “Why blood?”
“It doesn’t seem polite to ask.”
I frowned up at him. “Are you going dancing?”
He peered over my shoulder at his friends, who had almost scaled the steep street, some
people pausing to greet them. “I’d rather walk home,” Rhys said at last. “It’s been a long
day.”
Mor turned back at the top of the hill, her purple clothes floating around her in the
winter wind, and raised a dark gold brow. Rhys shook his head, and she waved, followed
by short waves from Azriel and Cassian, who’d dropped back to talk with his brother-inarms.
Rhys gestured forward. “Shall we? Or are you too cold?”
Consuming blood with Amren in the back of the restaurant sounded more appealing,
but I shook my head and fell into step beside him as we walked along the river toward the
bridge.
I drank in the city as greedily as Amren had gobbled down the spiced blood, and I
almost stumbled as I spied the glimmer of color across the water.
The Rainbow of Velaris glowed like a fistful of jewels, as if the paint they used on their
houses came alive in the moonlight.
“This is my favorite view in the city,” Rhys said, stopping at the metal railing along the
river walkway and gazing toward the artists’ quarter. “It was my sister’s favorite, too. My
father used to have to drag her kicking and screaming out of Velaris, she loved it so
much.”
I fumbled for the right response to the quiet sorrow in those words. But like a useless
fool, I merely asked, “Then why are both your houses on the other side of the river?” I
leaned against the railing, watching the reflections of the Rainbow wobble on the river
surface like bright fishes struggling in the current.
“Because I wanted a quiet street—so I could visit this clamor whenever I wished and
then have a home to retreat to.”
“You could have just reordered the city.”
“Why the hell would I change one thing about this place?”
“Isn’t that what High Lords do?” My breath clouded in front of me in the brisk night.
“Whatever they please?”
He studied my face. “There are a great many things that I wish to do, and don’t get to.”