Alessandro covered my hand with his. I should have pulled away, but I didn’t. I would get to the bottom of this. I didn’t know if I could pry him loose from whatever forced him into murder. I would try as hard as I could. But there was nothing to be done about it right now. We had a job to do, so I listened to the best singer I had ever heard in my life, while the only man I wanted in the entire universe sat next to me and held my hand. Whatever came after, I would always have this moment.
The last notes of the aria died. The song was over. An overwhelming sadness settled over me. We all applauded, Madame Trapeze bowed, and the lights came on.
A waiter came to clear our plates and faltered, perplexed because I hadn’t eaten anything. A new lively melody filtered through the speakers.
“Dance with me,” Alessandro said.
I put my hand in his and we made our way to the stage. He rested his hand on my back and we swayed among other couples. I had taken enough dancing lessons to not embarrass myself, but nobody around us was doing anything identifiable or complicated. Drifting in pairs seemed to be perfectly acceptable.
Alessandro drifted with a purpose, moving us slowly but inevitably to Cristal’s table.
“What are you doing?” I murmured.
“I don’t know yet.”
“That’s great.”
“It probably will be.”
Humility, thy name is Alessandro. “Were you always immune?”
“No. You sucker-punched me at your trials. Your magic was unfamiliar. But I recovered. If you’re asking whether I pretended for your sake, I didn’t. I would never falsify the test of a Prime.”
“What about when you came to see me after?”
“Back then I just wanted to get to know you better. After I received the invitation to your trials, I looked you up on Instagram. I thought you were cute. I followed you and you deleted your account. I was intrigued. Then I came to invite you for a drive, and you called the cops on me.”
“I thought you were besotted.”
“I know. You tried to save me from yourself. It was adorable. Almost as adorable as seeing you chase Conway down the hall.”
I quashed the urge to growl.
“You’re right, you know.” He raised my hand to his lips and kissed my fingers. “I am besotted.”
My face was on fire. “Stop.”
“Never.”
We were nearly to Cristal’s table. A pink flush tinted her cheeks. Her eyes were glistening, and her movements, as she leaned in to listen to a young, attractive aquakinetic Prime, were very deliberate. It was the most animated I had seen her all evening. Cristal seemed to suffer from crippling social anxiety and she dealt with it by getting drunk. It was easy to be the queen of snark online. Real life was a whole different war.
A young, dark-haired woman stepped into our way. We had two choices, to stop or to collide with her. We settled on stopping.
“Alessandro Sagredo,” she purred.
Alessandro gave her a polite smile. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.”
“Mira Fiore, House Fiore. The American branch of the family. You dated my cousin last spring, Constantia.”
Was there anyone he hadn’t dated?
The expression on Alessandro’s face cooled by several degrees. He didn’t respond, he just waited.
His silence and cold stare took some wind out of Mira’s sails, but she bravely sailed on. “My friends and I were wondering about your date.”
She wasn’t even looking at me.
“She’s basically a nobody,” she continued. “Her House is five minutes old.” Her voice rose. Other nearby couples had stopped dancing and watched us. “Her sister marrying Mad Rogan is the only thing that her family is known for. So, you could have had my cousin, but here you are with Catalina Baylor. I’d like to know why.”
Okay, that’s about enough. I didn’t even have to reach for Victoria’s granddaughter. I was already there. I looked at her, and Mira wilted.
“Go back to your table.” My voice was icy. “You’ve embarrassed yourself enough for tonight.”
Mira opened her mouth and saw the people around us. That’s right, you look rude and stupid. Run away while you can.
“Baylor?” a deep voice rumbled.
Oh crap.
Mira scooted off to the side. Behind her Frank Madero lumbered to his feet.
“What are you doing?” Cristal squeaked. “Sit down.” She put her hand on his forearm as if to restrain him and he pushed it off.
“Your sister put me in the hospital.” Madero peered at me, pure rage in his eyes.
I stared him down. Maderos understood strength, nothing else. “You tried to kidnap her.”
“Well, I’ve got just one word to say to you. Rematch!”
He flexed and his suit exploded. His skin turned red, his muscles swelled. He grabbed a table and hurled it at me.
I dodged left, Alessandro dodged right. The table flew between us and froze in mid-air. An older black man next to us turned and fixed Frank with a hard stare. Shelton Woods, Head of House Woods. “That’s enough. Sit down.”
“I didn’t ask you shit, old man!” Frank bellowed, and charged.
The telekinetic swung the table with his magic and smashed it against Frank. The table shattered into splinters. Frank didn’t even slow down. Lilian Woods, Shelton’s wife of nearly fifty years, grabbed her husband and yanked him out of Madero’s way. The pieces of the table and silverware rose in the air and pelted Frank. It didn’t stop him, but he had built up too much speed to turn. He tore past us and crashed into the row of tables.
Yeraz, the Armenian Magus Sagittarius, jumped to her feet, grabbed a knife off the neighboring table, and hurled it at Lilian. The knife stopped, reversed, and sank into the table an inch from Yeraz’s hand.
“Don’t do that again!” Lilian snapped.
Yeraz hissed at her like a snake, grabbed a handful of silverware, and launched it into the air.
Frank rolled to his feet, grabbed two tables like they weighed nothing, and slammed them together, screaming obscenities. Shelton Woods waved his hand. A third table slammed into Frank, slapping him down like a flyswatter coming down on an annoying insect.
Yeraz’s barrage of knives and forks fell harmlessly on the floor. The glass next to Yeraz shot into the air and splashed water into her face.
“Cool off,” Lilian told her.
“Kill the old bitch!” Yeraz howled.
Everything happened at once: Diatheke’s killers zeroed in on Yeraz’s target; the guests realized this was not part of the performance and half of them headed for the exit, while the others stayed to watch or fight; security rushed through the staff entrance and stopped, not sure who to target, and Frank Madero screamed and hurled tables into the air. Magic crackled, furniture flew, and to the left a table burst into flames.
Where the hell was Cristal?
I spun to look behind me. Linus pounded his fist on the table. The silverware flew to his arm, melting, twisting, and snapping together into a barrel. Linus swung his new hand cannon and fired at Frank, who was rampaging in the middle of the floor. Frank’s head jerked as the bullet bounced off his skull. He spun around, roaring. I caught sight of Benedict, his face twisted with rage, standing in the middle of the melee, the dark-haired aegis directly behind him. A stray chair hurtled at Benedict’s head hit the translucent blue screen of magic and bounced off.