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Kierse caught the backstage door as a pair of actors exited in a hurry.

The auction wasn’t open for viewing until the item was presented by the auctioneer.

So the only way she was going to get her eyes on the cauldron and its accompanying vault was to get into the auction room.

While she wanted to move into stealth mode and hide amongst the shadows, that wasn’t her role tonight.

She wasn’t here to steal anything, as much as she wanted to get a good look at the security system around the cauldron.

Her fingers itched for the chance to crack it. It felt like a challenge, and it only made her wrong smile appear on her face. The one that said if she did this she would be a legend. But she knew she shouldn’t try. She didn’t have the time or luxury to play tonight.

Still, she noted all the exits. There were very few ways directly off the roof—only a single elevator bank. However, the back side of the building was under construction and had scaffolding with stairs in the event of an emergency.

Now that Kierse was alone, she pressed a finger to the micro earpiece Graves had doled out to each of them before the party. The line switched on, and she heard Laz breathing softly on the other line.

“Laz,” she whispered.

“Roger that,” he said.

A second later, Graves said under his breath, “Here.”

Kierse called up the blueprints in her mind and continued down a hallway that led to the area reserved for the auctioneers. She was almost there when a dressing room door banged open and out walked Lyra Anderson.

Kierse’s breath caught at the sight of her.

She truly was stunning, but Kierse noticed up close what she hadn’t seen before…

Lyra was a vampire . And not just any vampire—by the red rose necklace at her throat, she was part of the most elite Upper East Side clan.

No wonder her dad didn’t want her involved in the theater.

“ Love your dress,” Lyra said.

Kierse pushed all of that away and leaned into the character she had to play. “Thanks,” she preened. “I adored your performance. I’ve never seen a Hermia quite like that.”

“I appreciate that,” she said, hand to her exposed chest. “Let’s hope I get to continue to play the role.”

“I heard that your father was interfering.” Kierse hoped that was public information.

“Interfering is his middle name.”

Graves cleared his throat on the line. A soft, “Get moving.”

But Kierse couldn’t just walk away from her without raising suspicions.

Lyra waved a hand. “But we’re going to continue this run of Midsummer until the end of the month.” She fluttered her long eyelashes at her. “Are you going to come to another show?”

Was Lyra flirting with her? God above, she was absolutely Kierse’s type in any other circumstance. Not that she went for monsters, but one who looked like this…

“I sure hope so. My beau is a big Shakespeare buff,” Kierse said.

Lyra stepped closer, her eyes wide, the scent of flowers on her pale skin. “Good. The show is all about messy relationships. Hopefully, I can serve the king and queen of faerie well.” She winked as she strutted away.

Kierse liked her audacity.

Graves cleared his throat for all different reasons. Laz laughed softly on the line. Kierse got moving.

The security team consisted of six trained mercenaries—two goblins, a shifter, a half troll, and two mer, including Schwartz.

The shifter and troll guarded the collection of items for auction while the two goblins brought each item forward.

Kierse could already hear the opening invitation to bid on a rare painting by Monet.

Schwartz and his comrade mer were circling the perimeter with automatic weapons.

If their siren song didn’t deter trespassers, the guns sure would do the trick.

The Monet sold for seven figures, and out came the next piece, a rare Filipino amulet with a robin’s egg jade stone in the center, brought forward by one goblin while the second shadowed the exiting artwork. It was a smooth operation. Just as Schwartz had described.

Schwartz passed by on his next circuit of the room, and the slight tip of his head was the signal she needed.

She waited for him to pass, took a deep breath, and then walked straight into the back room.

A gasp came from nearby, but she didn’t look up.

She didn’t break stride. Her eyes clocked the box that held the cauldron instantly before she veered away and began to peruse the rest of the items. She went from one priceless artifact to the next like she was considering them at a flea market.

“Ma’am!” a harried assistant, who had hurried over from the auction room, said in a squeaky voice. “You can’t be back here.”

“What?” she asked, walking to the next piece. Farther from the cauldron, away from their real target. “I was just on my way to the bathroom.”

“The bathroom?” the woman said, glancing around at the security guards.

A different mer guard took the first step toward her. His voice was hard. “You need to get out of here.”

She steeled herself against the soft pressure of his siren song. He hadn’t used it too obtrusively yet, probably thinking she was more a nuisance than a threat. “I’m just browsing. My husband has deep pockets, and we weren’t informed of everything that would be up. I need to make a list.”

“That’s not what they’re here for.” He put a hand on her arm.

Kierse gasped dramatically and reeled backward. “Don’t touch me! Don’t you know who I am?”

“Rog,” the assistant warned.

But already the other two guards were getting up from their positions to come see what all the fuss was about. Good. All Laz needed was a few minutes. She hoped that she could give him that long.

“Locking in,” Laz whispered into her ear.

Kierse’s heart rate kicked up as she started a mental countdown of how long she needed to keep them occupied.

As they loomed over her, the threat was clear—she couldn’t take down all these guards herself—but she didn’t have to.

The highbrow billionaire’s wife she was playing wouldn’t even consider it.

She’d never think that someone would touch her.

Kierse had seen enough of them, stolen from enough of them, to know the attitude.

“You need to leave,” Rog said gruffly.

“I don’t know who you think you are,” she said with her head held high. “You couldn’t buy a single piece at this auction, let alone all of them.” She stepped forward like an entitled brat. “I could buy the entire lot of this.”

Rog flexed his hand on his gun. The shifter came to his side. The half troll looked dumbstruck at her audacity.

Kierse waved a hand, dismissing them, and continued looking through the pieces, moving farther and farther from the closed computer bank where Laz was working. Away from his sneaking, probing fingers, reaching through their system to learn their secrets.

“Don’t make me throw you out of here. I will,” Rog said, still tailing her.

Kierse shot him a fierce glare. “If you lay one hand on me, it will be the last thing you do.”

Rog jerked back in surprise. “I’m not afraid of some princess,” he snarled.

“I could buy you ,” Kierse argued. “The whole dirty lot of you.”

“We’re not for sale,” the shifter said with a gruff grunt.

“Another minute,” Laz muttered. “If you can give it to me.”

The shifter reached for her, grabbing for her waist.

Kierse took the opportunity to be as dramatic as possible. She slipped out of his grip and collapsed on the floor, careful of her dress. She immediately burst into hysterics.

“How dare you touch me! You threw me on the floor !” she gasped. She felt utterly ridiculous. Unhinged. This was so out of character for her, personally, that it was hard not to burst into laughter. “This dress cost ten thousand dollars. If you’ve ruined it, I am sending the bill to you.”

“What is going on back here?” a harried auctioneer asked as he dashed into the back room.

Kierse was sprawled on the floor, trying to drum up tears as she looked at the man. “Your security threw me on the ground!”

“Ma’am, I am deeply sorry for how you have been treated,” the man said obsequiously, offering her his arm. “Please forgive the security team. They’re a little trigger-happy and don’t know how to deal with high-end clientele.”

“As I noticed!” she said as she accepted his help and rose laboriously to her feet.

“Almost there,” Laz said.

But Kierse didn’t have any more time. She was going to have to leave. She’d made enough of a scene to get in the way, and she couldn’t ignore this man who was—finally, annoyingly—treating her like royalty. Fuck.

“I wanted one more minute,” Kierse pouted, hoping Laz would understand.

“My apologies and deep regrets, but we are only showing the auction items as they come forward.” He put a hand gently on her back and directed her toward the exit.

“Where was the restroom again?”

“I’ll have an assistant show you,” he said, snapping his fingers.

An assistant appeared to escort her away. She ground her teeth together as she followed the woman away from the scene.

“I’m out,” Laz said into her ear.

“Did we get it?” Graves asked.

Laz was quiet a minute. “It was closed circuit. They hid most of the information off the system. I’ll have to go through it.”

Graves gnashed his teeth loud enough for the microphone to pick up. “Fine. Wren, make haste.”

Kierse swallowed and continued down the hallway toward the bathroom. She wanted to ditch the assistant, but she was speaking animatedly about the entire collection and what Kierse could look forward to seeing. Since…she had been dumped on her rump before seeing it all.

“Thank you. That will do,” Kierse told her, wanting nothing more than to leave this bullshit behind. She didn’t like to be mean to innocents. It was the monsters and the billionaire humans who had her enmity.

But the assistant nodded and made a quick retreat. Kierse did the same.

Graves’s voice came through the line. “Fuck. We have another problem.”

Kierse burst through the stage door, only to find the problem ready and waiting for them.

“Imani is here,” Graves said.