[Ace's POV]
I finished the last of the grilled squid, the smoky taste still lingering on my tongue as I tossed the wooden skewer into a nearby trash bin with a soft clatter. My eyes, however, never stopped moving—scanning the shifting crowd, cataloging faces, noting exits and blind spots.
I might see that masked man again, I thought, the memory of the heavy, clinking sack sharp in my mind. He and his companion could be the ones the green-haired witch told us about—the ones commissioning the black magic restraints. And with a crowd this large, it's also prime hunting ground for werewolf hunters to move unnoticed.
The festival's joy was a thin veneer over a world of danger. I'd learned that lesson too many times to forget it now.
"Hello, beautiful ladies!"
