The Other Side of Truth (The Marked Ones Trilogy Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

lost them about an hour ago in the fray of painted wings, glitter, and ripped fishnets in every color imaginable.
    “Interesting choice,” a male voice with a distinctly Kaigan Midoraian accent drawled next to me. A human would mistake it for Irish, but it was definitely Kaigan Midoraian. Unlike Karalia, Kaigan Midora was one of the regions that did not require their citizens to ever attend human schools, and thus they kept even more apart from the human population than we did.
    “The drink?” I asked before turning toward him.
    “The costume,” he replied before taking a sip of his own drink. His hair was thick and black and cut similarly to Travis’ in that the edges of it fell into his eyes, which were a brilliant lapis blue. Eyes that were deeply serious, but with a mischievous hint to them that made my heart beat faster.
    When I just continued to stare at how completely gorgeous he was, a crooked grin spread across his lips. “’Ello, I’m—”
    “Damian! What the bloody hell are you doing ? We’re supposed to be working!” A slight blond guy, who was probably nineteen or twenty, but looked no older than sixteen, shouted as he came up on the other side of the dark-haired stranger.
    With a deep sigh, the guy with the brilliant blue eyes, set his glass down. “Feck, James, I’m doing me job.”
    The blond guy—James—folded his arms across his chest. And even in this light I could tell that his hair wasn’t the same pale blond that Nikki and Shawn’s was, but a less common orangey-golden blond. “How exactly does doing your job involve drinking at the pub?”
    “I’m blending in,” Damian said with a grin before picking up his drink again, and taking another swig.
    “You have no idea where she is, do you?” James pointed out skeptically.
    “I…no…but I’ll find her,” Damian stammered before pointing at James with his glass. “It’s not me fault it’s jammers in here.”
    “You’re bloody hopeless,” James sighed, rolling his eyes in exasperation.
    “If you’re so concerned, you bloody go look for her. Or feck , James, look for her friends,” Damian shouted back at James before he turned back toward me. “Now where was I? Oh, right. I have a wager for ya, love. If I can guess what you’re dressed up as you’ll let me buy ya the next drink. Deal?”
    I narrowed my eyes at him and then finally gave up and blew out a puff of air that ruffled the feathers of my mask. Why the hell fucking not? A free drink was a free drink, right? “Deal, but—”
    “There always is,” he said with a crooked grin before gesturing for me to continue.
    “You only get one guess,” I said, practically daring him to object.
    “ Ho, she has you now, Damian,” James said with a snort as he lifted a pint of beer off the bar. Then he looked conspiratorially at me. “He likes to think he’s brilliant, but really, he’s a plonker.”
    I really had zero clue what a plonker was, but I was guessing it was something in the neighborhood of idiot .
    “Well, aren’t you cheeky tonight,” Damian said haughtily to James before he eyed the drink in James’ hand. “I thought you were off the drink tonight, sahavi ?”
    “You weren’t wrong when you said it was jammers in here. Do you really think with all these people in here, they’d let me keep standing here not ordering somethin’?”
    Damian only shrugged in response and looked like he was about to say something before deciding he better not. He shifted his attention back to me as he swirled his drink around his glass. “One guess, hmm?” He looked up at me with narrowed, calculating eyes before the mischievous grin slid back into place. “I’ll shake to that,” he said, offering me his hand.
    I reached out to shake his hand, but paused just before I slid my hand into his. “Just a heads up before you get ahead of yourself. There is no way in hell you are getting in my pants tonight.”
    Damian considered me for a moment, his eyes searching