The structure was the same as it had been in our time, but the stage was gone. The bar was smaller and located on a different wall. Tables of varying sizes were filled with men and women. A mixed gender club must be unusual for the time, but Guild City played by different rules than the real world. Armchairs were positioned in front of flickering fireplaces that no longer existed in the present.
I searched the faces for Grey, hoping not to see him.
When my gaze landed on the impossibly handsome man sitting at a raised table in the corner, my heart raced. Excitement. Fear. “You’re in there.”
Grey cupped my shoulder, and I looked up at him.
“You’re sure you want to try it this way?” Concern echoed in his voice. “I was a different man then. Dangerous.”
“You were dangerous when I first met you.”
A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Perhaps more dangerous now, given our circumstances.”
“You would never hurt me.”
Darkness flickered in his eyes, along with worry, and I knew he was thinking about the beast inside him.
I pressed a hand to his chest. “Leave it to me. We planned this, and I know what to do.”
We’d discussed it a dozen times, the various scenarios that might play out and how we would react. This had been one of them. I stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his mouth, then opened a vial of one of Eve’s potions. It was similar to the one he’d taken—a draught that would change my face and even my magical signature.
Grey didn’t remember meeting me in the past, and it would be dangerous if his past self sensed that I was his mate. Better for my looks and magic to be different. It would provide me with cover.
I showed Grey my new face. “How do I look?”
“Beautiful. Not as beautiful as normal, but he’ll want you.”
“How do you know?”
“I know.”
“All right, then.” I glanced down at my hair, noticing that it was now black. I wouldn’t have long with this new face, so I needed to get a move on. “I’ll see you soon.”
He nodded. “Be careful.”
“Will do.” I turned and looked through the glass window.
The Grey in the club was looking away and wouldn’t see me enter, so I took my chance and pushed my way through the door, slipping into the crowd.
Immediately, I was surrounded by the scents and sounds of the past, all of it so unfamiliar. The scents were intense—perfumes that had fallen out of favor and strong liquor and wine. The dialect was possible to understand, though difficult.
I drew in a steady breath and approached Grey’s table.
The Devil.
I shouldn’t think of him as Grey, because he wasn’t.
As I neared his table, his gaze landed on me. It was cold—icily so.
Immediately, I was thrown back to when I’d met him for the first time in Guild City. He’d reminded me of a statue carved of the coldest granite. His eyes were an icy gray, his cheekbones sharp, and his jaw hard. As with before, the only soft thing about him was his lips, and even those looked like they would bruise.
He sprawled elegantly in a chair behind the table, so perfectly still that it was eerie. I shouldn’t be processing him anew, like I was seeing him for the first time, but I was.
The Grey that I knew today was an entirely different man.
But this man…
He was dangerous. Deadly.