EVA

EVA NEVER IMAGINED she would lead a life of crime.

For twenty-five years, she had lived squeaky clean, never even making an illegal left-hand turn. The worst offense she had ever committed had been in third grade, when she had forgotten to return her library book before moving to a new town. She had discovered it buried in an unpacked box years later—but, no matter the late fees she would have accumulated, she had more than made up for that slip by putting in hours at her own library.

After leaving her one dastardly deed behind, helping Emrys break into his apartment building was an entirely new experience.

"Can't we just go through the front door?" asked Eva, eyes flitting across the barren alleyway.

A loud thunk echoed off the brick buildings to either side of them as Emrys leapt off the ground, arms stretched toward the drawn-up fire escape. The tips of his fingers connected with the rusted ladder, yet he fell just short of wrapping them around the bottom rung. Letting out a yelp, he clutched his hand. A thin, red line snaked across the pads of his middle and index fingers.

When his irises brightened to a soft gold, Eva stared him down with folded arms until he caught her gaze. As the glow of his eyes dimmed, she shook her head. The last thing they needed was him blowing the power grid by healing a scrape.

"Looks like your cool down is fine now." Eva unfurled her arms once her friend chose to wipe his fingers on his dark hoodie instead. "Seriously, let's just go in the front door. I'll ask for a band-aid at the desk."

"I don't want to arouse suspicion."

"You're renting an apartment as Jensen Hawthorn." She gestured to his body, still masked with the form of her beloved coworker. "I'm pretty sure walking in and unlocking your front door is less suspicious than sneaking up the fire escape."

Emrys' sigh told her otherwise. His sneakers padded softly on the concrete as he approached her, making little noise in the alley's echo chamber. Bending down, he brought his lips to her ear and dropped his voice to a low rumble.

"There are eyes and ears everywhere," he whispered. "Don't assume I'm the only Astraelan prowling these streets."

A shudder sent Eva's nerves into a frenzy. The hairs on her arms stood at attention when Emrys stepped back to inspect the fire escape again. While the bottom rung dangled lower than the average fire escape, and his human form stood just over six feet in stature, Eva doubted his plan would work.

"Are you sure you can reach it?" she asked, eyeing him as he stretched his arms into the air.

Emrys wiggled his fingers, as if mentally measuring the distance between him and his goal. "I've done this enough times."

Before she could question how his neighbors felt about him consistently breaking into his own apartment, Emrys had already crouched and sprung back up in a jump, arms shot high in determination. His fingers wrapped securely around the rusted bar and the ladder followed him back to the ground in a cacophony of screaming metal.

Sneaking in to "lessen suspicion" seemed much less effective when he made enough noise to wake the dead.

Emrys gave the ladder a firm pat and ushered Eva to join him.

A survey of the situation twisted her stomach. The apartment building had been on the east side of town for decades, and while the visible areas were kept pristine, the back exterior had always been neglected. The fire escape had never been stable, and with layers of rust corroding the metal, she wondered how Emrys didn't bring pieces crashing down with him.

Against her better judgment, she placed a hand on the rung above her head. When she stepped onto it, entrusting her full weight to the rickety death trap, the ladder wobbled beneath her feet. Her eyes snapped shut, and she sucked in a deeper breath, lungs burning as they longed to release the captive air.

A gentle hand came to rest on the small of her back. Emrys' fingers pressed into her shirt softly, enough to let her know that he was there to keep her from falling.

"Am I almost there?" she asked.

"You're two feet off the ground."

Laughing, Emrys gave her a light yet encouraging tap on the back. Though her mouth was bone dry from the sheer thought of climbing higher, Eva peeled one sweat-soaked hand from the gritty rung and moved upward. She forced herself to ignore the creak of metal and the wobbling of the ladder, taking her ascent one rung at a time until she stood firmly on the second-floor landing.

Eva moved away from the railings on shaky legs and pressed her back against the brick building. She took a moment to breathe while Emrys scaled the ladder with ease.

Once he pulled himself onto the landing, he met her wild stare with an amused smile.

"What?" He swiped at the strands of light brown hair that had fallen across his forehead. "You afraid of heights or something?"

Eva stared at him, willing herself to not look away, but her eyes betrayed her. The harder she fought it, the more her gaze wandered to the metal grate beneath their feet, where each crack left enough of a gap for her to see the pavement below. Her flip-flopping stomach only worsened when Emrys walked closer, making minor vibrations ripple across the platform.

"Well, I'll be damned." Emrys clapped her on the shoulder. "Hopefully you never have to fly with me."

It hadn't occurred to her until then how ridiculous she must have looked. They were hardly at a dangerous height, yet her nerves had the best of her—meanwhile, the man at her side enjoyed soaring much higher.

Eva could imagine him taking her hand, unfurling his wings, and showing her what she missed with gravity weighing her down. They would ascend to the clouds for a breathtaking view of Havenwood, where all of their problems would seem minuscule in comparison to the vast skies above.

It made her nauseous.

"It's... I..." Eva cleared her throat. "It's not that. Heights are the least of my worries."

She was sure she looked convincing when the metal groaned beneath their shoes and she flattened herself further against the building, hoping to become one with the bricks.

Thankfully, Emrys didn't seem to notice. Judging by the mischievous twitch of his lips, he wasn't convinced by her words, but he was too preoccupied rummaging through his back pocket to notice her paling complexion.

Eva changed the subject. "Won't the other tenants notice us climbing past their windows?"

"Not when you live on the second floor." Emrys tapped the sliding glass window in front of him. "Welcome to my humble abode."

Eva mustered enough courage to step away from the wall and approach her friend, who had pulled a black drawstring bag from his back pocket. The velvet sack was smaller than the palm of her hand and beautifully stitched with golden thread in swirling patterns. Her eyes wandered to the window, where they came to rest on a three-inch stone cube attached to the pane. The same ornate patterns had been carved across the stone's surface, with a triangular crevasse depressing the center.

"I've seen this before," she muttered.

"Thana used these everywhere we went." He pulled a pyramid-shaped stone from the bag. "Necromantic Runestones. Great for locking the undead in their coffins and keeping snoopers out of your home."

He slid the golden stone into its companion on the window pane, displaying the otherworldly sigil carved into the front of the rock. A soft glow illuminated from the Runestone, and the carvings lit up in shades of amber.

A pleased grin crossed his lips as he slid the window to the side. With the flick of his wrist, he removed the stone and stepped inside, careful not to smack his head. He turned back to offer a helping hand.

Eager to escape the metal death trap, Eva took his hand and followed him without issue. She couldn't help but notice how soft his palm felt against her touch. The texture of his hand wasn't at all calloused as she'd imagined it for so many years, but instead held comforting warmth. Thana's inability to touch her companion had left much to the imagination.

Still, a smile came to Eva's lips while she watched the changing expressions on Emrys' face—how the spray of freckles shifted as he wrinkled his nose, or how his eyes widened as he surveyed the room.

Perhaps it was intended for his human form: soft in all the ways his true form was coarse.

It was then that Eva noticed the way his lips parted in surprise and she did a double-take at his stunned expression. The bedroom—or what remained of it—had been completely ransacked.

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