Chapter 59
Julie
Wrecking Ball
Midnite String Quartet
As if spellbound, I lost myself in the sparkling peridots, letting him pull me further onto the dance floor and ignoring the fact that more and more eyes were directed at us, including those of countless Quatura.
“Quite daring of you to ask me to dance in front of people who would have you arrested immediately if they knew what you know as a human,” I said firmly, aware that he would pose no danger to me or the baby on the dance floor.
“Quite daring of you to let someone like that lead you onto the dance floor, Miss Blair,” he murmured. “I wonder what the Circle thinks?” He let his other hand move to my waist, and I sucked in my breath, overwhelmed by this unexpected touch. “Especially after you’ve dropped a baby bomb.”
Only now did I realize how close his hand was to my baby.
He smirked as if he knew exactly what he was doing.
Was he trying to unsettle me?
I stared at him, matching my steps to his.
The citrus note fogged me, together with the masculine scent of his body.
Did he have to smell so good?
Ashamed of this thought, I broke eye contact first and looked around the room. Any one of these guests could be Erik. And he had probably spotted me long ago, toying with the idea of not giving me the bracelet after all because I was busy dancing with a professor.
I felt his ring on my skin and wondered where his wife was. Would she approve if she knew he was here, dancing with me?
More warmth filled my face.
“The head of the Council doesn’t seem thrilled with your performance.”
I looked at him, intentionally not at the devil he was alluding to.
“My days of allowing these people to control me are over,” I said in a firm voice. “They can think what they want.”
I wondered how he had found out about her. How he was even able to use dark magic and what he had injected himself with, there in his office. Why he was researching the species... I wondered so many things, had been unable to get answers, probably never would. And maybe that was a good thing.
From today on, I shouldn’t care if the Circle was in danger. This man was no longer my problem.
“And I thought you were her lapdog,” the professor continued, spinning us elegantly across the dance floor. “Her spy.” One of his blond strands fell into his smooth forehead, adorned by a vein protruding slightly from the side. “But apparently, you didn’t just fool her.” The right corner of his mouth turned upwards. “What is your goal?”
The word slipped from my lips, and I wasn’t the least bit shocked.
“Revenge.”
His smirk intensified. “We seem to have the same ambitions.”
I raised both brows.
“What would you want revenge for?”
A shadow flitted across his face, but he didn’t lose the smirk, even though it lessened.
“What would you want revenge for?” he murmured in a low voice.
I swallowed.
Certainly, I wouldn’t tell him. It was bizarre enough that we were having this conversation. On a dance floor while we were obviously under surveillance.
He was lucky that most of the guests were busy whispering about the hacker or watching the DeLoughreys.
“I don’t need to know what your reason is,” he continued quietly, pulling me further toward him, which sent a flutter through my stomach. He grew even quieter. “It’s enough to know we’re on the same side.”
On the same side.
I fixed his gaze, gripped his arm tighter, trying not to let his knowing smile irritate me.
He seemed to have a problem with the Councils. Was that why he was researching the species? Did he want to know more about them than they knew about themselves so that he could use that knowledge against them? But why? He was a human. What should someone like him have to do with them? Quatura Circles existed to protect humans. Did he know that?
“Let me make you a deal,” he said with dangerous softness in his low voice, and the hairs under the fabric of my dress stood up as he pulled me a little closer.
“I don’t want your internship,” I said with determination, trying to hide the fact that this closeness was unsettling me.
“What if I tell you that you’ll get more than that?” he said, his eyes piercing me. “What if I can help you find out where this magic comes from and how you can control it? And what if I can offer you help against the Councils?”
I searched for empty promises in his eyes, but he held my gaze. The smile was gone.
How was a human going to help me?
“Think of it like an alliance of sorts.”
I snorted, causing irritation in his gaze.
“I don’t trust you.”
“I don’t trust you, either,” he returned. “But this isn’t about trust. It’s’ about mutual benefit.”
Damn. I was on my own, shouldn’t even be thinking about working with such a lunatic. But would it be wise to turn down this offer? What if this was my chance to learn about the things the Circle forbade? That it feared?
Dark magic.
“Let’s say I were to accept...” I began hesitantly, watching his facial expressions carefully in the hope that I could somehow interpret them. “What guarantees that you won’t betray me?”
He lowered his voice. “It’s called blood magic.”
“Dark magic,” I whispered because that was what the use of blood involved.
“Umbra,” he corrected me. “And you won’t be able to get around it if you want to see these people bleed.”
The inner tension whenever I had thought about this form of magic in recent weeks had disappeared. What remained was curiosity and a reverent trembling in my chest.
The professor seemed to be hiding knowledge that I would never acquire in Moenia. As if this man was holding the key in front of my nose and all I had to do was reach for it. Dangerous, deceptive... But what did I have to lose? I was on my own from now on. I couldn’t really trust anyone.
“Agreed.”
There they were again. Those incredibly attractive dimples.
“I knew you were a clever girl.”
Heat rose in my cheeks.
Erik. I had to find Erik. Erik was the person who could trigger such feelings in me, not this man who kept overstepping my boundaries.
“Do you have any other blackmail suggestions, Professor?”
The smile disappeared from his lips.
“Quentin.”
I stared at him. “I don’t understand.”
“If we work together, I want you to call me by my name, not my title.”
And now I was the one who started to smirk.
“Too bad,” I said, amused by the fact that it seemed to bother him so much. “I would have liked to call you Professor.”
His jaw clenched against the taut skin, confirming that there were ways to provoke this man if I needed to.
“Don’t provoke me,” he murmured darkly.
I pressed my lips together with a smile to stifle a grin.
“What can I do if you’re so easily irritated?”
He met my gaze with his but lowered it to my lips like the other day, and my inner insecurity returned.
It was as if this man was trying to penetrate me with his gaze.
Suddenly, he pressed his lips together and looked away for the first time, looking past me.
“I’d have to lie if I said this deal was the only reason I am dancing with you.”
Confused, I waited for him to continue.
“You know someone who means a lot to me,” he murmured with a dark voice, letting go of my hand briefly so that he was only leading me by the waist across the dance floor while his hand slipped into his pocket. “Even though I wonder what you have to do with her.”
The confusion had already multiplied.
What was he talking about?
He stared at me as if searching for something in my gaze.
“She didn’t tell you anything…”
It sounded like a statement.
“Your friend,” he continued, and the dance became slower and more irregular. “Give her this.”
He stopped abruptly and reached for my hand.
I wanted to pull it away, but something cool was already slipping onto my heated palm.
His expression became serious.
“If you don’t, I’ll know.”
And with those words, he let go of my hand, turned away from me and left the dance floor.
As if I had frozen myself, I stood there and let my gaze wander after him until he disappeared into the crowd. And only then was I capable of opening my hand.
That was the moment when my eyes widened and I gasped for air... unsuccessfully. The moment when someone took my heart out of glass and smashed it on the ballroom floor.
Don’t Deserve You
Plumb
First Vivienna, then Margot, and then the other Quatura. They had all wanted to speak to me, but I had tried to walk through the hall with my head held high and fled through one of the exits into the corridors of the west wing.
One hundred and thirty-five. That was the number of steps I managed to walk before my shaky knees gave way.
I collapsed on the floor in the middle of the west wing’s main corridor.
I couldn't breathe.
With my hand pressed over my mouth, I tried to stifle a scream that found its way out in a heart-rending sob. Another sob, mixed with countless hot tears, fought its way out until I couldn’t hold back another sob.
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.
Tears flowed. My nose was running.
I slumped against the wall behind me, closed my eyes and continued to sob, the wall freezing.
“What have I done...” I gasped out, struggling for air. “What have I done?”
The words left my dry throat in fragments, which gradually tightened... until I finally laid my head back against the cold wall in a daze and let the feeling of helplessness consume me. Around me, the world freezing a little more.