Page 55 of Magick and Lead
“Not yet,” the man said. “But you know they don’t miss a Saturday night.”
“I know,” Charlie said, handing the man some folded up money. “Let me know if you see them, alright?”
The man grinned. “You got it, Ace.” He unclipped the rope and ushered us inside, bellowing. “Stand aside. Hero coming through!”
At his shout, the people ahead parted to let us pass, as if Charlie were a monarch at court.
“Does everyone in this city fall at your feet because you’re the Silver Wraith?” I hissed.
“Most of them don’t know I’m the Wraith,” he said. “They just know I’m an ace. But still…”
“They lick your boots because of it…” I scoffed.
“Some lick more than my boots,” he said with a smirk.
I fought the urge to strike him in the throat as we walked on.
At the center of an ornate lobby, a broad, echo-filled staircase led up, up, up to the top floor of the building. All along the way, chattering voices and laughter rang out, and despite myannoyance with Charlie, I found my excitement rising with each step. Everything here was so different from back home. From the electric lights on the walls to the suits and dresses the people around us wore, to the fast and frenzied music drifting down the stairwell. It was exciting. But the excitement also made me nervous, and I found myself glancing back down the stairs to make sure the man with the wide-brimmed hat wasn’t following us.A spook, Charlie had called him. I didn’t see him, but I still felt eyes on me, perhaps because of the sling and the silk glove concealing my fake hand. Or perhaps because I was on the arm of Charlie Inman, the famous ace. The thought of his renown made my blood boil, especially when I caught a pair of pretty young ladies eyeing him and whispering behind their hands.
At last, the stairway ended and we found ourselves on the building’s top floor beneath a glass-domed portico. Ahead, a broad deck overhung with strings of lights overlooked the river and the city beyond. To our left, a broad set of double doors was flung wide, revealing a scene of mad revelry. Two dozen musicians sat on a stage, playing strange instruments. Couples danced together, their movements so vigorous and wild that sweat dripped from their brows. Others lined up along a vast wooden bar with shelves full of glass bottles behind it, shouting orders to servants who poured their drinks.
All in all, there was so much light and movement and noise that I hardly had anything to compare it to—aside from a melee of dragons wheeling in the sky, accompanied by a fanfare of trumpets. I wanted a drink. I wanted to dance. But for a moment, I simply stood there, staring.
“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” I murmured.
Charlie smiled and took my hand, leading me into the festive whirlwind.
Suddenly, I stopped dead, pulling my hand from his. He turned to look at me.
“What?” he asked, concern creasing his handsome brow.
And that was just the problem. He was handsome. This place was beautiful. And for second, I’d almost let myself get swept away in the magick of the moment.
“Before we go any further, let’s just be clear on something,” I said. “This is no romantic ball. You are not my dashing escort. You are only alive because I rescued you from execution back in Maethalia. Your life belongs to me.”
“I know that,” he said, fixing me with those deep azure eyes. “Of course, my life belongs to you, Essa.”
He meant it. I felt that with the dragon intuition, with every cell of my body and every wisp of my soul. It radiated off of him. It was undeniable.
And unacceptable.
Loving him was ruinous. And I would not endanger my kingdom by falling for him twice.
Or… even worse, what if he really didn’t love me? What if he were so skilled at deceit that he was fooling me even now, leading me into some sort of trap? He’d tricked me once. What if he did it again?
“Listen, we don’t have to stay long,” he whispered, bringing his delicious lips so close to my ear I could smell the scent of him, a hint of dark maple syrup on a summer morning. “We just have to find Kitty’s friend Suzie and ask her what Kortoi’s schedule is going to be. Then we’ll leave, okay? We don’t even have to dance.”
He tried to take my arm, to lead me once again into the revelry—but I planted my feet.
He turned. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong is that I don’t trust you.”
The vulnerability that had been in his eyes a moment before disappeared, replaced with a warrior’s resolve. “And how manyreasons do I have to trust you?” he countered. “You showed up in my apartment and tried to stab me, for God’s sake…”
“Because we are enemies,” I said. “So long as you remember that....”
He leaned in close to me again, suddenly fierce. “And what if I don’t want to be your enemy anymore, eh? What if I refuse?”
