“Lovely dinner,” I said to Hannah. We’d managed to finish the meal without a cross word or talk of Lord Daeg and Le Poing Fermé. Instead she had gone out of her way to list Enson’s attributes, his superior education in Pecia, his family’s extensive pedigree. While I was grateful for the brief truce between us, I sensed it coming to an end. “I haven’t had lamb like that since I left home.”
Hannah’s chin bobbed. “I chose it on purpose, out of respect for your origins. You must be terribly homesick by now.”
“If I’m to understand the old legends,” Enson said, “Inselgrau is basically a Dreutchish colony. It was founded by... hmm... what would you call him? A Dreutchish refugee?”
I gritted my teeth. “There were plenty of people already living on Inselgrau when Trevelyan Stormbourne landed there. They were kind enough to adopt him, take him in, embrace him as one of their own.”
“His ability to strike them to smithereens possibly had something to do with it, don’t you think?” Enson thumped his champagne glass, sending bubbles to the surface in a flurry of fizz.
Before I could reply, the terrace doors flew open, and two footmen stepped out, escorting an old woman. A kerchief covered most of her white hair, but the candlelight highlighted the peaks and valleys of her wrinkled face. Age and wear had frayed the edges of her simple dress. The servants directed her to a cushioned bench and held her arm as she sat.
Unease stirred inside me, and I glanced at Hannah from the corner of my eye. “What’s this?”
“A contest.” She clasped her hands together over her chest. “To help prove which of our Magicians is the best.”
My unease turned to dread. Lightning flashed in the distance. “No.”
“You don’t even know the details yet.”
“I know you’ve brought an innocent woman here to be some kind of target. Or victim.”
Hannah flapped a hand at me as she crossed the terrace toward Brigette. “Don’t be so sensational, Evie.” She gripped Brigette’s shoulder. “Come. Let’s have a bit of a show.”
Brigette’s face crumpled into a sneer. “I’m not a trained dog. Demand all you want. I won’t dance for you.”
“What are you afraid of?” Enson raised his voice, issuing his challenge to Brigette, but it sounded like he’d meant it for all of us. Candlelight gilded his dark waves and lent his eyes an ethereal glow. “A little trial, nothing too dangerous.”
I gave Brigette a worried look. It would be dangerous if participating brought her pain and intensified her need for mordid. Sure, I wanted to hire her to perform Magic on my behalf—ask her to be the very same trained dog she was protesting. But I wouldn’t ask for parlor tricks like this. Does that make me any better than Hannah and Enson, though?
I stepped forward, placing myself before the old woman. “If you’re going to insist on this, let this woman go. I’ll be your test subject.”
Niffin hurried to my side. “No, Evie. Lord Daeg’s Magician is likely maneuvering you into a trap.”
“Do I let him experiment on an innocent woman instead?”
Better her than you, Grandfather said. You have more to lose.
You can’t know that. You can’t presume anything about this woman.
“And I still haven’t agreed to participate.” Brigette stood and backed away. “In fact, I think I’ve had quite enough of this whole charade—”
A sharp cry from the old woman claimed everyone’s attention. I backed away from her as she rose like one of the Fantazikes’ balloons, as if filled with a floating gas. Whipping around, I caught sight of Enson wearing a smirk, his hand raised like an orchestra conductor.
“Put her down, Enson,” I said. “This only proves that you’re cruel, not powerful.”
He swirled his finger, and the old woman pirouetted like a marionette on invisible strings. She shrieked. Enson chuckled and sent her soaring higher.
A bolt of lightning crawled across the sky, closer this time. Close enough to rouse a rumble of thunder. “Put her down.”
He glanced at me, still wearing his smirk. “You going to strike me down, little lightning goddess?”
“You wouldn’t be worth it.”
Chuckling, he threw up both hands. The old woman shot like an arrow into the night, rising so high that darkness swallowed her, and we could no longer hear her screams.
Brahm stepped up to the Magician’s side and wrapped his big, scarred hands around Enson’s biceps. His voice was a low growl. “That’s enough, Enson.”
The Magician’s eyes narrowed. His sneer faded. “You know what? I agree.” He clapped his hands, turned his back, and strolled away. The old woman shrieked again as she plummeted toward the terrace at full speed. No graceful descent, but a sickening fall that would certainly kill her.
My mind reeled for an answer, for any way that I could use my powers to her benefit, but I had nothing that could save the old woman. Instead I watched in horror as Brahm and Niffin rushed to catch her. As small and frail as she was, though, I doubted they could do much to cushion her fall from such a height, and the impact might well kill them all.
Brigette appeared at my side. Her demeanor, her voice, her whole aura exuded calmness and control. She flicked her fingers, and the old woman froze in the air, inches away from certain death. “These people, Evie... These are the ones you’d give your favor to?”
With a graceful wave, Brigette set the old woman on her feet. The woman fainted, but Brahm and Niffin caught her before she crumpled to the ground. Brahm swept her into his arms.
“I didn’t give them my approval,” I said. “I only offered to trade them a service in return for their assistance. I knew it was a risk, but finding someone like you was worth it.”
“And this is not how I would choose to gain Evie’s alliance.” Holding the old woman like a fragile piece of pottery, Brahm stepped closer to me. He shot his sister a hateful look. “You go too far sometimes, Hannah.”
“Sometimes?” I muttered under my breath. Hannah was a goddess in her own right, a spirit of chaos and disorder. She claimed to be a master of manipulation, but instead she thrived on causing trouble. I glanced around the terrace, searching for signs of Enson, but he had disappeared while we were distracted. Probably on his way back to Lord Daeg like a dutiful dog, eager to hand me over for a reward and a higher place in Daeg’s esteem.
“I’ve had enough.” I kicked off my high-heeled slippers and yanked strands of pearls from my neck. “I’ve tried being nice, being patient, holding my tongue.”
Thunder growled overhead, low, rumbling, angry. It expressed my mood better than any words. Tugging pins, pearls, and feathers from my hair, I stormed away from Hannah and her surprised expression, not caring anymore about allies and diplomacy. Without looking, I knew Niffin and Malita were behind me. “I’m leaving.”
“You can’t leave in the middle of the night,” Hannah said.
I stopped and spun on my heel. Standing on the threshold between the terrace and an interior hallway, I folded my arms over my chest and cursed the corset pinching my ribs each time I heaved a breath. “Who in the Shadowlands is going to stop me? Enson is probably halfway back to Daeg by now. I won’t stand here and wait for him to come for me.”
Brahm glanced at his sister, then at the old woman in his arms, then at me. “I’m coming with you, Evie.” He jerked his chin toward a pair of footmen standing by the door. They rushed to his side and took the woman from his arms. He muttered instructions to them. They nodded and carried her away.
“Where are they taking her?” I asked.
Brahm maneuvered past Niffin and Malita and marched down the hallway. I started after him. “They’ll make sure she’s well taken care of,” he said. “When she wakes, they’ll take her home.”
“Then what?”
“Then she’ll be well compensated.”
“And that makes everything all right?”
He slammed to a stop in the middle of the hallway, turned, and faced me. Malita clenched my arm. Niffin positioned himself at my flank, coiled and ready to fight if I required his assistance. Brahm’s face flushed red, his hands balled at his sides. He had shed his mask of refinement and sophistication. The bare-knuckled boxer stared back at me, seething and ready to brawl, but I didn’t think his anger was directed at me so much as at the situation. He seemed as fed up with his sister’s scheming as I was. “Nothing about what happened is or will be all right,” he said. “But she’ll be looked after. In the meantime, my duty to you, as my guest, requires that I see you safely out of Steinerland before Daeg shows up on our doorstep.”
“She could fight him,” Hannah said from behind me. “This is the time to call in the favor she owes you, brother.”
He bared his teeth and lurched onto the balls of his feet. I felt like I’d wandered between a bull and the red cape he was determined to spear with his horns. But he didn’t charge. “This is what you had planned all along, wasn’t it, Hannah? You wanted to force Evie’s hand by bringing Enson here.”
“She could’ve hired him,” Hannah said, “and none of this would have happened.”
