Page 10 of Bound By Dance and Desire

My breathing didn't return to normal until I was at the bus stop—no, they didn't call them buses here. Double and triple decker monstrosities powered by steam and magic. Working poor people took public ground transport no matter what dimension you lived in.

After the public coach dropped me off three blocks from my building, I walked fast and kept my eyes open.

Downtown the streets and buildings were old but in perfect repair. In Coal District, not so much. The wood was younger, for one thing, and there was less magic used to preserve the condition of the buildings. Less magic use period. We relied on a combination of steam, solar power, and coal to fuel the lights and plumbing and what passed as HVAC. I was glad it wasn't winter.

This wasn't the best part of the city, and it wasn't the worst. For a Fae enclave, it was decently safe for humans. Not a Lord in sight.

Only human predators.

“Hey, Han, how's it going?”

My teeth clenched. I kept walking.

Larry’s shoes thudded across stone as he ran to catch up. The human manager of the building—barracks, really—where I lived, he maintained a first floor studio and made it his business to know the comings and goings of all thefemaletenants.

He made my skin crawl. I walked a little faster.

“Hey, wait up, I'm talking to you.”

“Duh,” I muttered. “This is me ignoring you. Ngu vãi.”

I could get in trouble if he suspected I was deliberately ignoring him. As part of my visa, I was required to allow the building manager to maintain a log of my movements. If he told the Lord in charge of this District that I was being uncooperative, I could get kicked out before the showcase.

“Han!”

I was really really tired of the way he deliberately mispronounced my Vietnamese nickname.

“Didn't hear you,” I lied when he drew alongside me.

All I needed was a spot in the company and I could apply for better accommodations.

“Yeah, I think you did hear me,” he said, too close now.

I turned to face him, caution skyrocketing when I took in his wide smile, overly relaxed shoulders and blown out pupils.

He’d been smoking that stuff again, the new drug on the gray market. One dancer among the potentials had already been ousted for possession. We'd been warned that there would be no tolerance for drug use, especially Ixnie. Evidently it crept up on you.

“You’ll get in trouble if you get caught with that stuff,” I warned him in a low voice. “Don’t you answer to the Vice Lord?”

The Fae High Lord who ruled Coal District had made plain, only weeks ago, in the particular way High Fae liked to make a statement, that he wasn't pleased with the synthesis and distribution of this new drug in his domain.

The bodies were still rotting in the District square. No one had had the nerve to collect them. Since there was a subtle dome of magic protecting the bodies from intervention, at least the smell was contained.

“You should try it, Han. It’ll relax you.”

It started out that way. Relaxation, imperviousness to physical pain—I understood the temptation for a dancer to smoke it.

“It’s highly addictive,” I said in an even, unoffensive tone. “You aren’t worried about hallucinations and mental suggestion?”

“Nah. I’m mostly worried about wenches who think they can’t speak when I talk to them.”

All right.

I smiled to defuse the situation and pretended like he hadn't called me a wench, then turned away, withdrawing my keys.

“Cút m? mày di.”

“Huh?”

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