Ghost City (Smoke & Ashes Book 2) by D.N. Hoxa

Author:D.N. Hoxa [Hoxa, D.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: D.N. Hoxa
Published: 2021-11-08T16:00:00+00:00

A wine tasting. How neat.

The road was wide and set in square cobblestones, with wide wooden stands on either side of it. Behind them, on the left, there was nothing but trees, but on the right, there was a castle made of grey stone. It was only one story high, build like a perfect square, and there were lights mounted all over the rooftop. It stood behind the stands like it was guarding them.

Wine, wine, and more wine. So many bottles and colors and scents. At first, I was dying for a taste, but after the minute was over, I was starting to feel a bit nauseous. It wasn’t just the wine—it was flowers, too. Beautiful bouquets decorated the stands, flowers of all colors and shapes that gave the entire place more life. The lights that came from the stands were enough to brighten up the sky, even though the sun had long since set.

There were a lot more people there than I expected—at least a hundred that I could see. Most of them middle-aged, I’d say, walking slowly from one stand to the other, making conversation, drinking wine. Every single person in that fancy event had a glass in their hands—except Lexar and me. There were waiters dressed in crisp white shirts, holding trays full of glasses in their hands, smiling their best plastic smiles and hoping to get as many people as they could to taste their wines.

“This is a waste of time,” Lexar said under his breath.

“Give it a second,” I said, hopeful that I hadn’t been made a fool by Inferno, that he would deliver the show he promised me, that this wasn’t just his way of cracking a joke. Because if it was, he wasn’t going to like the outcome.

“They’re actually enjoying themselves,” Lexar said after a little while. We were almost halfway down the street, standing out like sore thumbs as we watched the people and didn’t drink the wine. Some of them were properly shocked when they looked at our hands and saw that they were empty. I didn’t take it personally.

“Why wouldn’t they? It’s wine,” I said, in an attempt to convince myself that this wasn’t a total waste of time, like he thought. “Maybe we should taste some of these. Who knows? We might find something we like.” I definitely would. Booze, in all forms, was my buddy.

I actually headed toward a blonde waitress coming our way, one hand behind her back and the other holding up the tray with three fancy glasses on it, but Lexar grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

“Let’s just see what your friend wants first,” he whispered in my ear, dangerously close. Shivers ran down my back, chasing away any desire I had to taste that wine. He continued to walk among the crowd, and I followed, pissed at him, more pissed at myself. Only because I knew he was right.

But we made it to the end of the street, to the last stands—the biggest, fanciest ones there, and Inferno was nowhere to be seen.

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