Page 31 of Magick and Lead (Dragons and Aces #2)

ESSA

I ’d been to plenty of royal balls. I’d visited lavish palaces, danced under fae lights, and sipped sparkling wine with royals and dignitaries.

I’d danced the oval at village harvest festivals.

I’d even ridden on dragon back during the spring mating ritual, soaring two leagues above the earth as the sun rose over the Yrdam Mountains.

But nothing could have prepared me for the Cat’s Meow.

The dance hall sat atop a building of reddish brick at least a dozen stories tall.

From the street below, the sound of music trilled and trumpeted above, along with exuberant shouts and brays of laughter.

Two shafts of light knifed up into the sky, shifting back and forth against the gray nighttime clouds—more necromancer tricks.

I’d seen searchlights like these over Dorhane.

Othura and I had avoided them while dodging gunfire.

Here, their purpose was different—not to deter enemies, but to summon revelers.

Still, the feeling of nervous energy it stirred in me was the same.

Fancily dressed people lined up along the sidewalk.

At the club’s entrance, glass double doors stood open and a pair of burly men in tuxedos loomed on either end of a velvet rope, speaking a few words to each group of supplicants who approached them, then pulling back the rope to let them pass or, in some cases, sending them away.

Charlie took my hand and led me past the line and directly up to one of the men, a dark-skinned giant of a man with a shaved head.

“Char-lie Inman!” the man said, drawing out the first name as if it were an exclamation—or a curse. “Been a long time. You snag any dragons lately?”

Charlie gave a brittle smile, cutting a glance toward me. “Just one,” he said.

The guard grinned and clapped him on the back. “Ah, you’ll get the rest pretty soon, Charlie.” He looked at me. “You know this guy is the best, right? A real ace.”

“I know,” I said, trying not to sound too prickly.

“Listen,” Charlie said. “Have you seen Kitty or Suzie?”

“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 my annoyance 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 many reasons 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?”

“It can’t be otherwise.”

“And why’s that?”

“For the sake of Maethalia.”

“Oh God,” he rolled his eyes. “Maybe there’s a way to save your kingdom and be happy. Did you ever think of that?”

“You assume too much,” I said. “Whoever said you make me happy? Whoever said I want to be happy? The feelings of one person mean nothing compared to the well-being of a nation. But I would never expect a fame-hungry peacock like you to understand that.”

Anger flashed in his eyes. “You sound like your mother.”

My jaw dropped at those words. “I am a queen, just as she was, before your friends murdered her,” I said. “You would do well to remember it.”

He got in my face, then, so close I could feel his breath on my lips.

“And you would do well to remember I’m sticking my neck out to help you, Princess. I’m risking everything ? — ”

“Please! Helping me is the only thing keeping you alive,” I shot back. “I came here to end you. To free Parthar from his bond.”

For a second, he paused. “Is that true? You really came all this way just to kill me?”

“What did you think? That I missed you?” I snorted a bitter laugh.

“That I crossed a sea and tracked you down in a city of millions just to see your stupid, handsome face again. And once I saw you with that Kitty, I suddenly became so jealous I drew my dagger…. Yes, Charlie. Of course I came to kill you. I couldn’t wait to do it. ”

Careful, Othura said in my mind—before I blocked her out again.

She was right, though. This conversation was getting out of control. I shouldn’t push Charlie away now. I still needed him. But telling him the truth—hurting him—felt so good, it was hard to stop.

“And what do you plan to do when this is all over?” he asked now, his voice low. “Once I’ve helped you find Kortoi? Do you still plan on killing me?”

I hesitated so long my silence became an answer of its own. Still, I forced myself to look at him. “Yes,” I said.

Music hung around us, manic and frenzied. Revelers streamed past, chatting and shouting. But we remained still. Frozen. Locked together in silent defiance.

Finally, he leaned in close, looming over me, fire in his eyes. “You think I’m afraid of you, Essa? I’m not the weak little reporter I pretended to be. I’m no poet. I’m a goddamn ace.”

“Yes, you are. An ace and a killer,” I said.

At those words, an image flashed through my mind: Mother and her dragon, slipping beneath the water of the Olam Sea, lost forever to the deep.

As they sank in my mind, rage rose in me, a desire to deal Charlie a death blow.

To end the conversation forever. To win.

“That’s why I’ll always hate you,” I said.

At my words, something in Charlie’s eyes changed, like ice cracking on a frozen lake.

My insides squirmed with discomfort. Part of me already wanted to apologize, to take back what I’d said. And yet… I hadn’t been lying, either. I did hate Charlie for the way he’d deceived me.

The orchestra’s frantic song ended, giving way to sudden applause.

“Essa…” Charlie started, his voice low and anguished.

“Why don’t you leave the girl alone, Inman?”

We both turned to find a tall, good-looking young man approaching us. He had perfectly coifed hair and finely sculpted cheekbones and walked with the swagger of a rooster, strutting among hens.

“Major Carter Blaize,” the man said, giving me a nod of greeting.

“Fuck off,” Charlie growled.

The other man tsked. “Language, Charlie. There’s a lady present. A lovely one, at that,” he turned to me and offered me his hand. “Would you care to dance?”

Charlie’s face had gone from flushed to white. His hands were in fists.

Who was more powerful, a queen or an ace? I guessed this was my opportunity to show him. I took the man’s hand.

“My pleasure,” I said, and let him lead me out onto the dance floor.