Moonshine
Page 29
Andre was the one who had invited her down, and he waved her over when he spotted her across the room.
Although the man hardly looked any different than usual – only lacking his coat and, of course, his hat – Daisy gawked at him as she neared the table. She had thought that he’d sooner be caught dead than out in a club, enjoying himself with friends. He even smiled, although it was crooked and self-deprecating. No doubt he saw Daisy’s amused incredulity painted on her face.
“Good evening, Daisy. Enjoying your week off?”
“Yes. And I’m surprised to see that you apparently are, too. Pleasantly so, of course.” She took a spare seat between him and Angel, who patted her arm as she settled in.
“This is the first you’ve gotten to see Pinstripes when it’s awake, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Yes. It’s lovely.” Daisy remembered Angel telling her that Pinstripes catered to a more intellectual nightlife, and she saw a nearby table crowded with young university men in well-ironed waistcoats drinking and waxing philosophical a little too loudly. Beyond them, a pair of older women in fur coats spoke with their heads close together, glancing occasionally toward the door leading to the mana cellar in between pleasant remarks about Regina’s talent with the piano. A different sort of crowd from the Gin Fountain or Walter’s, but warm and vibrant all the same. She could see how Andre might feel at ease enough here to visit from time to time.
“Things are set to return to normal once we’re all back at work, though, right?” she asked, thinking she was only making pleasant chitchat, but Andre’s smile melted.
“There’s still much to handle. Grey is not particularly pleased with how these events have unfolded, though I doubt any of that ire is directed at you, Daisy. Our operations have been enormously disrupted by all this time off, and the Gin Fountain was one of our most prominent partners. Other establishments are on edge in light of everything, but I expect that will blow over soon. It will take time for our business to stabilize again, however.” He waved a hand as Daisy opened her mouth to respond. He wasn’t wearing gloves that night, and she could see faint, white scars running in overlapping streaks over the back and palm of his injured hand. “But I will ensure that as little of this trickles down to you as possible. You’ve already put forth admirable effort in helping me fix this mess, and I would not ask more of you. A brief break and a return to normalcy is what you deserve.”
Daisy smiled, but it felt crooked on her face. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Andre’s protectiveness anymore. On one hand, he was right – she had busted her ass fixing disasters that had not been entirely her fault. But his constant fretting over her well-being was beginning to feel personal, and she was unsettled to find that she worried about him, too.
She had never had many close friends growing up. This new sensation was warming, but left her feeling off-balance.
Regina shifted into a new song, and Angel reached out for Rudolph’s hand resting on the table. “Oh, I love this song! Darling, would you?”
Rudolph smiled, looking more at-ease than Daisy could ever remember seeing him. He appeared fully recovered from being clonked out by Ming’s people. “Of course, love.” They rose together and moved to the small dance floor between the tables and the stage where Regina performed on her lonesome. The sound from the piano was at once tinkling and heavy, laced with Regina’s reedy voice singing out lyrics of pure love for some hypothetical individual of great inner beauty. Angel and Rudolph waltzed close to the steady, flowing tempo.
On impulse, Daisy stood and held out her hand to Andre. “Care for a dance?”
Open surprise flickered across his face, but he quickly masked it under another self-conscious grin. “My thanks for waiting for a slower song,” he said, taking her hand and allowing her to pull him to his feet. “My poor muscles are still recovering, and they were never fit for much dancing to begin with.”
Leaving his cane at the table, Daisy led him to the dance floor and swept him into position for a waltz. Of course, they kept to a more professional distance from each other than Angel and Rudolph, but with a hand each on the other’s hip, it was more physical intimacy than they were used to. The only other time Daisy could remember sharing such closeness with him was at Lavender’s faerie ring, when she held him while he cried after his goodbye with Cyan. It was apparent that Andre’s feelings about Cyan weren’t romantic in a traditional sense – and the other Stripes had made it clear that Andre’s heart didn’t patter in that way, regardless – but being apart from the faerie still impacted him as much as the loss of a true lover might have. He had been so distraught that night, and she wondered how he was feeling now.
Their waltz was kept at about half-pace of Angel and Rudolph’s, who stepped along with the beat of the heavier notes of the song. Andre’s movements were a little stiff, but he was otherwise mobile, and that eased a worry that Daisy had not consciously recognized she held.
“When you have a moment,” Andre said as they danced, “I have something for you. It’s upstairs, in my office.”
“A gift?”
Andre’s lips pulled into an anxious line. “A debt repaid.” He winced, and Daisy almost pulled to a stop, fearing his old injuries were beginning to bother him, but he shook his head. “I owe you so much. And after everything that happened, Wei still managed to escape us.”
Daisy had her own guilt there, but she didn’t say anything about it. If Andre suspected that she had intentionally let Ming go, he never raised an accusation. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t think she will bother us again.”
Andre arched an eyebrow, and just when Daisy expected he would scold her or demand answers, he only said, “Very well. I’ll trust you on that.”
Thinking on Ming’s disappearance reminded Daisy of the sacrifice she had made to get her out of town and away from the Stripes’ wrath. “I don’t suppose that offer for a raise is still on the table?” she asked.
“Of course. May I ask why the change of heart?”
Daisy smirked at him. “No, you may not.”
He nodded, apparently deciding to trust her with that, as well. “As you wish.” As Regina’s song trailed off, Andre pulled their dance to a stop and took Daisy’s hand. “Come – I’ll show you what I brought, before either of us forgets. We can return to the festivities shortly.”
Daisy followed him upstairs to the front office, dark and lonely in the nighttime. He clicked the light switch as he stepped inside, illuminating the single overhead lamp hanging above his desk, but there was already a faint glow in the room even before that. The jar of pomade that Cyan had enchanted sat beside Andre’s chicken phoenix trinket, giving off a faint, orange light. Andre ignored that and went to the middle drawer of his desk, pulling it open and removing a square parcel wrapped in brown paper.
Daisy took the package and unwrapped it over his desk, exposing beneath the brown paper a pastel yellow cloth. She pouted, tearing away at more of the wrapping. “What on earth is…?” But she broke off, nearly laughing as she realized.
“Bed sheets,” Andre said, “as promised.”
“Thank goodness. I washed my old ones, but I’ve just been too nervous to try sleeping in them. I’ve been crashing on my floor since that night.” Andre chuckled as he slipped into the chair behind his desk, but any joy that he might have been faking slid away when his eyes fell on the jar lamp.
“You miss him, don’t you?”
Andre winced, folding his hands upon the desk. “Of course not.” The chicken phoenix began wobbling, as it did when it detected a lie. Andre snarled at the trinket, picked it up, and slapped it on its side. “You know, I’ve always hated that thing.”
Daisy clutched her bundle of bed sheets against her chest. “You were that sweet on him, huh?” But her boss shook his head.
“It wasn’t that… not just that. What he could do with magic, especially with mana, might have changed things for every magician in Ashland. We might have been able to move toward a world where
people like us didn’t live in fear of people like Ming Wei and her clients. And perhaps our magic could have served some use to his kind.” He shrugged. “He was beautiful, though, and rather tender. I would have liked to have shared more with him, is all.”
Daisy wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t know how to comfort people over those kinds of disappointments.
Perhaps it was better for them to simply move on.
“I’ll be happy to have things quieter around here,” Daisy said.
“Yes. It occurs to me that you’ve hardly spent any time doing the primary task I hired you on to do, running around as you have been trying to clear away my messes.” He tore his gaze from the glowing jar, meeting her eyes. “I am sorry, truly.”
“You need to stop saying that.”
Andre frowned. “I won’t have you think that I’m not.”
“No, I mean, you need to stop creating reasons to need to say it.” Andre looked stricken by the admonishment until she smiled. “But apology accepted.”
He nodded, though he made no move to stand again. Instead, he pulled the key to the stairway door from his pocket and slid it across the desk to her. “I’d like a moment to gather up some work to take home until Grey officially opens up the office again. I imagine you’d prefer to return to the party, if you’d care to go on ahead of me.”
“Yes, it’s important I get in as much fun as I can before I return to my dull day job, as a Modern Girl should. You’ll come down again, though?”
“Yes. I’ll even share another dance with you, if you’d like.”
“I would. I’ll see you shortly.” Daisy returned with her bundle to Pinstripes, where she was roped over to the bar by Vicks and Frisk almost the instant she arrived back downstairs. The rest of the night passed without raids by mage-hunters or mysterious malfunctions of magic. Just Daisy dancing and drinking and playing cards with these people she worked alongside. It felt comfortable. She was right where she belonged.
Acknowledgments
A huge thanks, of course, to the amazing team at Angry Robot for all the hard work they’ve put into making this book a reality. Mike Underwood was my first point of contact with Angry Robot, and I would be nowhere without his guidance and patience. Marc Gascoigne has been an absolute delight to work with and has made me feel so welcome in the Angry Robot family. Penny Reeve has been so wonderful to work with, too; any day when I get an email from Penny is a good day, because she always has such marvelous news for me. Phil Jourdan is such a fantastic editor, and I’m so grateful to have had him for Moonshine, as he knew exactly what it needed to make this the best book it could be. A thanks to Paul Simpson, as well, for his keen copyedits.
Thank you to my agent Laura Zats at Red Sofa Literary, who uses her passion and industry knowledge to do so much to advocate on my behalf. It has been an absolute honor and privilege to be represented by Laura. Thanks also to Dawn Frederick at Red Sofa for filling in when Laura’s on vacation.
Thank you to John Coulthart for his amazing work on the cover art and for considering my input during its creation. I cannot imagine a more beautiful cover for my book.
I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the wonderful Beth Phelan for organizing the #DVPit event that allowed me to connect with Angry Robot to begin with. Thank you, Beth, for all the hard work you do to champion for underrepresented authors. Thank you also to Nita Tyndall for helping workshop my query letter, and especially to Idris Grey, who provided invaluable feedback on Daisy’s portrayal and the worldbuilding of Ashland.
Abbey Gaterud and my fellow Oolies at Portland State University’s Ooligan Press also deserve a big thanks for all of their support and for sharing in my joy. I can think of no better graduate program to be a part of during this exciting time.
I owe my biggest thanks, of course, to my family for all of their support. Without my dad getting me hooked on fantasy books when I was a kid or my mom’s unwavering support in my endeavor to make a livelihood from my writing, this book would not have been possible. I would also be nowhere without the support of my found family, Stacie, Audry, Flynn, and Eli, and from my other friends, Nita, Roya, Sierra, and Rachel. I love you all.
Finally, thanks to you, the reader. Moonshine was a project that I began in earnest during a particularly brutal depressive episode, and there were many uphill battles for me in putting it down onto page. I am so glad to see all of that hard work paid off and to see my book speak to so many people. My experience working with Angry Robot has been nothing but delightful, and I hope the book that they’ve helped me create can bring as much joy to its readers as it has brought to me.
About the Author
Jasmine Gower is from Portland, Oregon, where she studied English literature at Portland State University. Since then, she has balanced writing with various office jobs which served as inspiration for Daisy’s story in Moonshine. Jasmine was drawn toward writing years before amidst a childhood of fantasy novels and 90s video games and has a passion for exploring themes of gender, sexuality, and disability through the conventions of speculative fiction and fantasy worldbuilding.
jasminegower.com • twitter.com/jas_gower
Sign up to the Robot Legion mailing list for book releases and cool robot news.
ANGRY ROBOT
An imprint of Watkins Media Ltd
20 Fletcher Gate,
Nottingham,
NG1 2FZ • UK
angryrobotbooks.com
twitter.com/angryrobotbooks
Let it glow
An Angry Robot paperback original 2018
Copyright © Jasmine Gower 2018
Jasmine Gower asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
UK ISBN 978 0 85766 734 2
US ISBN 978 0 85766 734 2
EBook ISBN 978 0 85766 735 9
Cover by John Coulthart
Set by ARGH! Nottingham.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Angry Robot and the Angry Robot icon are registered trademarks of Watkins Media Ltd.
ISBN: 978-0-85766-735-9
Moonshine
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Join the Robot Legion
Legal Pages
er: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share