“You do?” I raised my eyebrows.
“Don’t think I’m stupid. I have eyes. And she’s taken.”
“Okay.” I was briefly confused, then figured out what he meant. He thought I was after Becca.
“May we pass, cousin?” Lionel asked.
“The alliance with the Hamiltons has been brewing for a long time with important strategic advantages. My men are being extra vigilant. You better not be planning anything.”
“Remember when you were young and we couldn’t get you to keep your pants on. Your nanny would follow you around, she’d turn around for an instant, and you’d be pantless again. I think you were four, or maybe fourteen.” Lionel grinned. “Fun times, either way.”
Hadrian moved aside. “I’ll be watching you.”
As we entered the hall, I leaned forward to whisper in Lionel’s ear. “Do you think he suspects we have come to free Danielle?”
“Suspect I’d free a hood mage?” Lionel shook his head. “That would be considered too crazy. Even for me.”
We passed through the hall and into a room that was so large it had six chandeliers. A small orchestra played on a raised stage in one corner, and a bar took up another corner. Waiters moved through the crowd carrying glasses of champagne and tiny dishes of daintily arranged shrimp.
A crystalline laugh rang out, just loud enough to draw attention to itself above the general hubbub. I turned and spotted a beautiful red-haired woman wearing a yellow dress, the same color as the sports car outside had been, though this dress drew attention to itself even more than the car had, because of a neckline that plunged to her belly.
“Who’s that?” I asked, nodding toward her.
“You want to stay clear of that web,” Lionel said. “That’s Jacinta Hamilton. The prince of the Hamilton empire.”
“Don’t you mean princess?”
“She’s no princess, that’s for sure.”
“Well, for a prince, she has mighty nice, you know…”
“Yes?” Lionel raised his eyebrows.
“Let’s just say she has a delectable bellybutton.”
“Stop drooling.” Lionel grabbed my arm. “Come on, she saw you staring.”
And so she had. She had turned her head and was appraising both of us with a frank gaze. As we walked away, I felt her gaze still on me. I wasn’t sure to be pleased or worried.
As we dodged around clusters of tuxedo-clad gentlemen and colorfully dressed women, I spotted a familiar face. “For a prisoner, she’s looking well looked after.” I nodded to where Danielle leaned against a wall by herself.
“Huh.” Lionel came to a stop. “They brought her down. Mom’s doing, I’ll wager.”
“Will that make it harder or easier to free her?”
“Considering our sparse planning?” Lionel shrugged. “Who knows? I guess we’ll find out.”
Danielle approached us, tottering slightly in high heels. Her glasses were slightly askew, and her sky-blue evening gown hung loosely from her frame. It wasn’t that it was ill-fitting, exactly, but she certainly didn’t wear an elegant evening gown as comfortably as the other women in the room.
Her first words confirmed her feelings toward the dress. “They forced me to wear this.”
“The brutes,” Lionel said.
“I know,” Danielle said. “And high-heeled shoes, too.”
“We were worried about torture, but we didn’t think they’d go this fair,” I offered.
Danielle glared at me. “Shut up, you.”
“How come Lionel gets to joke about it?” I had forgotten how much Danielle liked to glare at me. Though, to my surprise, I found the glare reassuring. Something to be relied on.
“What are you smiling at now?” Danielle asked.
“I was just thinking that I knew you’d glare at me.”
Danielle glare’s darkened, and my smile widened.
At that moment, Ann Cressington approached, and Danielle quickly smoothed out her expression. Ann’s cream dress was long enough to lightly brush the floor as she moved. It had lace at the throat and sleeves.
She kissed Danielle on both cheeks. “Don’t you look a delight, dear.” She then greeted me. “Welcome. It’s been a while since we were lucky enough to have a helsing warrior as our guest.”
Lionel stepped back as his mother turned her attention on him. Ann wasn’t deterred, reaching out to straighten the lapel of his jacket. Then she adjusted his bow tie. “Don’t you look handsome.”
“Mom, you’ve seen me in a tux before. No, don’t cry,” he said, as a tear trickled down each of her cheeks.
“I’ve been embarrassing my son since he was twelve years old.” She took hold of Lionel’s cheek and gave it a tug. “Isn’t that right?”
“Mom,” Lionel said.
She took a handkerchief from one sleeve and lightly dabbed below each eye. “Now, Lionel, listen to your mother for once. Your father wants to make up. You just have to meet him halfway.”
Lionel snorted. “Father wouldn’t meet Christ himself halfway. He’d expect the Lamb of God to come all the way down from heaven to speak to him.”
“There’s no call for blasphemy,” Ann said.
“I didn’t know criticisms of Father were considered blasphemy. Can’t say I’m surprised, though.”
“You are as bad as each other.” Even as Ann smiled, worry lines crinkled her forehead. “I’m trying to make things right between you, but the distance between you is becoming a gulf.”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I hate to see you caught in the middle.”
“I love to blame as much as possible on your father,” Ann said. “Always have. Keeps him on his toes, you see. You are making it hard to see this as his fault, though. What was that craziness from the other night about? Whether a necromancer is involved or not, you have no excuse for her actions.” She shook her head. “Think of the rest of the family, please. Now, I must circulate. Danielle is looking absolutely lovely, isn’t she? Make sure she has a good time. And if you intend to help her, be quick.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Danielle, Slate.” She nodded to both of us, then moved to a new group of people, greeting each of them in turn.
Lionel ran his fingers roughly through his hair, watching his mother leave. The expression on his face was bleak.
“Does that change anything?” I asked. He would be betraying his mother as well as his father. Alessa hadn’t been lying when she’d said Lionel was giving up much.
“I knew it would be difficult,” Lionel said.
“Your mother has been my savior,” Danielle said. “Hadrian and his men kept questioning me about what magic I could and couldn’t do.” She snorted. “I told the truth, but I might as well not have bothered. They didn’t believe half of what I said. Hadrian confiscated my spellbook, and when I told them to bring me my spells so I could prove myself, that only shocked them more. Ann prevented them from questioning me too much. She kept talking about a wedding,” Danielle said. “Does she mean what I think she does?”
“Adoption into a mage family happens in only one way, pretty much.”
“I’m not marrying you,” Danielle said. “I’d rather—”
“Hold that thought,” Lionel said. “We have other plans for getting you out of here tonight.”
“Ann mentioned acting quickly,” I said. “How fast did she mean?”
“If I actually planned to marry her, I’d ask Father tonight, and we’d get married tomorrow morning,” Lionel said, looking over my shoulder. “Shotgun weddings have nothing on mage weddings.”
I turned to follow Lionel’s gaze. He was looking back at the entrance hall where Hadrian talked in urgent whispers with two of his men. “What’s happening?” I asked.
“I’m not su—”
He was cut off by Alessa’s loud whisper coming through the earpiece. “I’ve been found.”
Hadrian pointed at Lionel, then dashed out the door, and the two mages made their way toward us.
Danielle shifted clo
ser to us. “What’s going on?”
“Alessa is on the grounds, and it appears she’s been located,” I whispered to Danielle.
Through the earpiece, we heard heavy breathing and the slapping of branches against flesh as Alessa ran. The two mages Hadrian had sent didn’t confront us, instead taking up positions near the edge of the crowd where they could watch.
I moved closer to a pair of doors that opened out to a patio, peering out into the darkness. Only it didn’t stay dark for long. A white glow lit up everything for a short time. “Lionel, look,” I said, pointing out.
“What am I looking at?” Lionel asked.
Of course, he couldn’t see magic the way I could. Another white glow passed through the grounds. “A spell,” I said. “Waves of magic are intermittently flowing across the grounds.”
Lionel nodded. “Hadrian is probably using expanding tracking rings to search for intruders. Takes a lot of magical energy, so it isn’t commonly used. I know a spell which could confuse the rings, but I need to get outside to cast it.”
“You won’t be able to do that without being noticed.” Danielle nodded at the two mages who watched us.
“I need a distraction,” Lionel said.
“Leave it to me,” I said.
“Good.” Lionel took his spellbook from the inside pocket of his jacket as he drifted away from us, and toward the patio doors.
“Do you know what you are doing?” Danielle asked me.
“Doubtful. Very doubtful.” I had an idea, though. From what I’d seen so far, everyone at this party watched everyone else, but one person was the clear center of attention: The heir of a famous mage family who also happened to be a gorgeous young woman wearing a scandalous dress.
Jacinta Hamilton.
Chapter 14
Approaching her, my footsteps clacked against the tiled floor. Even though no one yet knew what I intended to do, it felt like everyone was watching me. Jacinta leaned close to a square-jawed man who held her elbow with a light touch. He said something, and she leaned back with a vivacious laugh, showing sparkling white teeth. She replied, and it was his turn to laugh.
Undigested food churned inside my stomach. I wanted the ground to swallow me; I wanted to go back in time and not volunteer to be a distraction; I wanted to be anywhere but where I was, doing what I was about to do. Despite this, my steps didn’t falter. I had fought monsters and not taken a backward step. This was actually scarier, but retreat wasn’t an option. Not for someone raised by Dagger.
I tapped Jacinta on the shoulder. She turned. The room quieted noticeably. “Can I help you?” she asked. Her voice was measured, her expression cool.
“Would you like to dance?”
“You are in the wrong place, I think. Did you get lost on your way to the local disco?” Her lip quirked up in a half-smile. “Or perhaps the prom?” She turned away, putting a hand on the shoulder of the man she had been talking to, and she whispered into his ear. He laughed, looking over his shoulder at me.
I tapped Jacinta on the shoulder again. She twisted her neck. “You still here?”
“The lady isn’t interested,” her escort said, putting a hand on my chest and shoving. I didn’t move, and he tottered back several steps. A discordant note came from one of the violins in the orchestra, then the music stopped. The quietness of the gathering became a full, heavy silence.
The only sound I could hear was Alessa’s heavy breathing coming through the earpiece. She still ran from her pursuers. I glanced across at Lionel, where he stood by the patio door. He gave me a nod, encouraging me to keep going.
“You’ll have to excuse me for interrupting you again,” I said to Jacinta. “You’re right that I’m out of place. When my family has parties, there is laughter and dancing and merriment, and I’m finding all this a little dry, a touch boring. I thought I saw a kindred spirit in you, someone who’d be a fellow conspirator in some illicit dancing.”
Jacinta’s companion tugged at the chain around his neck, pulling out his pendant, which depicted a tree on fire. The Hamilton symbol, I presumed. Jacinta pulled him back, inserting herself between us. A glimpse of her cleavage caused my mouth to go dry, and I forced my gaze to remain high.
“Your dancing can’t be very illicit if it happens in front of everyone,” she said.
“You are looking very illicit, and you are in front of everyone.” I held out my hand.
Behind me, someone gasped, and from the hard gazes turned my way, I feared that all the Hamilton mages present would attack me at once.
Jacinta’s facial expression remained neutral for what seemed like forever but was only a second. Then she showed those sparkling teeth of hers and reached out and took my hand.
The tension fell out of the room in a collective release of breath. Although I was no longer in imminent danger of being attacked, my stomach churned even more. I hadn’t thought my plan through beyond asking Jacinta to dance, and once she accepted, I was totally lost for what to do. I’d never been one to dance in front of the fire when our family had spent time with bigger caravans or when we’d attended fairs. I certainly knew nothing about dancing with a partner in a setting like this.
Those closest to us had shifted slightly away, and I led Jacinta to the center of the space created. I looked toward the orchestra, hoping for inspiration, but the musicians looked down at me with blank faces. I said the only dance I could remember. “Play a waltz.” To my surprise, my voice came out strong and confidently.
Jacinta arched an eyebrow. “A waltz? Rather sedate, don’t you think?”
“A fast waltz,” I clarified for the musicians. “Thanks.”
I took Jacinta in my arms, and paused, waiting for the sound of the music to swell, letting it fill me, getting a feel for the beat. Then I began to step forward in my best approximation of the staccato rhythm of a waltz, guiding Jacinta in a circular manner that kept us from crashing into anyone.
Jacinta leaned her head close to my chest and spoke in a low voice. Her perfume was strong, a heady and alluring scent. “When I saw you with Lionel, I knew you were the helsing warrior people are talking about,” she said. “Is it true you broke into the Dulane Building and destroyed one of the prototype Cressington fighting robots?”
“If you knew who I was and wanted to know more about me, why did you initially turn me down?” I asked.
“I was taught to never accept a first offer.”
“I see.” As we danced, I kept glancing down to make sure I didn’t step on Jacinta’s toes. Or my own. I really had no clue what I was doing.
“I’m disappointed,” she said. “After all that buildup, you aren’t much of a dancer.”
“We have the attention of the room; isn’t that the most important thing?”
She laughed. “You know me too well. Whatever about your dancing, the approach was impressive. Most men are intimidated.”
“A rather sensible policy for most men, I would imagine.”
She laughed again. “But not for you. Quite the force of nature, aren’t you? Are all helsing warriors like you?”
I nodded. “Only more so. In my family, I’m the twister compared with the hurricanes of my father and siblings.”
“I doubt that.”
A gunshot rang out, and I released Jacinta, stepping back. She gave me a strange look, and I realized the shot had come through the earpiece. Neither her nor anyone else in the room other than Lionel had heard it. Someone had shot at Alessa.
“What is it?” Jacinta asked.
Lionel stood by the patio door with a distressed look on his face. He was still being watched closely and was unable to help Alessa. A spurt of gunfire sounded, followed by the sound of sprinting. Alessa could be in real trouble.
I looked up at the orchestra. “Could you play the music faster, please? As fast as you can without your instruments catching fire.”
“I’m not sure the waltz can go that fast,” Jacinta said.
“Doesn’t matter. I can’t walt
z anyway.”
She smiled. “So what are you going to do?”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
I took her in my arms again, tried to get a feel for the increased beat of the music, then, to start, I dipped her first one way, then the other. I spun her around, then moved quickly around her to be where she ended the spin, then whirled her back the other way. I was using my speed and strength, not enough to be obviously drawing on superhuman abilities, but enough for my movements to dazzle. I lifted Jacinta, rotating her so her body was horizontal, and, holding her close to my chest, I did a series of dips and spins, whipping Jacinta’s legs through the air. Those watching stepped rapidly away from us. One of Jacinta’s shoes fell off, then, a moment later, the second went flying. I was almost afraid that her dress would follow.
By the patio door, Lionel was no longer in sight. Jacinta and I had the full attention of the entire room, including the mages who were supposed to be watching Lionel. Just as well—I was beginning to feel dizzy, and having myself or my partner engage in some projectile vomiting wasn’t part of the planned distraction. I gestured for the musicians to slow the music, and with relieved looks on their faces, they did. I slowed down along with the music, until my dancing reverted once again to awkward jostling forward and back. I was worried that Jacinta would be angry since the dance had been rather one-sided with me manhandling and throwing her around. As it turned out, she was pleased.
“That was more like it.” Her voice was breathy, her face flushed from the exertion. “I’m not sure it was dancing, exactly, but whatever it was, it was fun.”
“I’m pleased.”
“So tell me—why are the helsings beginning to venture into the cities in numbers?”
“We are?”
Jacinta nodded. “In New Orleans, Chicago, all over. Now here. I guess it’s about time. Nothing important happens outside the cities.”
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