Chapter Six
CHAPTER SIX
Olline was too stunned to stop Casimir from gently leading her out of the bar and out onto the sidewalk. As she passed, she glimpsed the creep laying sprawled on the tacky floor of the club writhing in pain. Olline hadn’t seen what Casimir had done, but with how fast it happened and how much agony the man was in now, it spoke to an efficient ruthlessness that had no business making something in Olline’s chest rustle.
So, she decided that nope, the fluttering was because of adrenaline and not because Casimir’s hand was soft and firm like soapstone on her skin. Her arm was hot, her nerves sparking where he held her because Casimir was surprisingly warm. And she took deep breaths because she had panicked earlier, not because she wanted to be so easily calmed by his eucalyptus and lavender musk.
She didn’t know how she hadn’t seen Casimir before. His silver-white hair was hard to miss, despite being dressed all in black—this time his high collared leather jacket had red accents. Stares followed Casimir as he moved, drawn to him like plants to the sun.
Olline noted every single man and woman who paused to look at the seerani. But Casimir only ever looked at Olline.
Probably because I punched him, and now he’s pissed he helped me out.
Casimir’s nostrils flared, and he blinked his deep ruby eyes rapidly, as if his mind had been miles away and he was only now coming back to himself. He still held Olline; it wasn’t an iron grip by any means and she could have wrenched her arm free at any time. Yet she was too stunned to remember that was an option. Casimir seemed confused by her, or maybe because long moments had drifted by between the two of them, observant and still, all over again.
It was the weirdest déjà vu Olline had ever experienced.
He dropped her arm. She could have fled if she wanted to, but she stayed where she was, curious about what he would do next. He lifted his hand, and Olline watched as he brought his large, open palm to his face and languidly used his thumb to wipe the corner of his lower lip, where a faint trickle of blood had collected. He dragged his thumb across his lip and she couldn’t stop herself from lowering her gaze, tracking the slow movement as if her life depended on it. When his lips tilted into that amiable smile, her mouth went completely dry.
Casimir licked the blood from his hand in a motion that felt far too intimate for where they were and who they were to each other—which was nothing and no one—but sent a river of magma up her spine until her scalp was scorched.
“You’re stronger than I gave you credit for.” His voice was deep and rough in a way that was like a caress against her cheek, and made her heart race until her pulse flooded her ears.
She gave her head a little shake, told her heart to knock it off, and narrowed her eyes at him. “Yeah, well, I am pretty impressive,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. If she hadn’t been flustered, and pouting because of an attraction that made no sense, she probably wouldn’t have ever admitted such things aloud. But it was too late to suck the words back in.
“Aren’t you just,” he chuckled. But his smirk turned into a slow, lazy smile as he took a step back, appraising her.
She scowled, pretending a blush wasn’t heating her neck, grumbling, “What’re you even looking at?”
“I’m checking for injuries,” he answered so automatically that his eyes widened, surprised by the admission. His chest expanded with a heavy breath he released slowly, the sharpness of his face softening at the edges for a second, before he seemed to catch himself. He cleared his throat and his deep red eyes landed on her face once more.
Olline licked her lips. “I’m fine, you know. You can stop staring now.”
“Was I?” Casimir’s eyelids fluttered. The movement was so subtle that she wasn’t sure if she truly saw anything, but his smile slipped back into that unreadable expression. “Had you taken me up on my offer, Olline Tavos, you would’ve known better than to go to The Pit all by your lonesome.”
She tilted her head up, finally spying the name of the establishment. The neon of the sign was a dull yellow, lost in the air's haze. She shrugged as if she were unbothered by it all, hoping to hide the slight shudder in her body as the adrenaline bled away.
“I was drawn by the music,” she admitted, before narrowing her eyes at him once again. “Wait, how’d you even find me here? Antal may be smaller than Cyneburg, but it’s not that small.”
“Cyneburg, huh?” he said, his expression thoughtful. “Yes, I remember it being mentioned that the Department recruited someone from there.” His voice was oddly flat in a way that made it seem like he was thinking of something else entirely.
He examined his graceful fingers as if bored. “You’re lucky this particular stretch of Antal happens to be a haunt of mine, darling.” She sneered at him, about to remind him how patronizing it was to call her that, when he rolled his eyes. Though there was a spark of humor in their red depths. “Me finding you here was nothing personal, Tav. Just stupid good luck.”
A jolt went through her body, leaving her feeling weightless. “Tav?”
He shrugged. “Less condescending than ‘darling’, correct?”
The lightness instantly faded and her face twisted in annoyance, but she couldn’t deny the fact that she rather liked the sound of Tav. Or, rather, she liked the way he said it. He said the nickname with such weight. Like he could see her, the whole of her. As if she were important. A sensation that had been stripped away after Achan made a fool of her.
“What’s wrong with Tavos?”
“Nothing. It’s as perfect as you are. But Tav rolls right off the tongue, ” he said, voice lowering. Casimir took a fraction of a step closer and her breath hitched in response. “Don’t you agree?”
She did, but he didn’t need a bigger ego, so she said nothing and stood her ground. “Anyway,” she said, glancing at the crowds that had not dwindled in the slightest, “that’s my cue to go home. Now.”
Olline turned and began heading for the public access elevators, not looking back to see if he was following. “At least I’ll have one interesting story to tell Dad,” she grumbled to herself.
“You ventured to The Pit to appease your father?” Casimir asked, a soft chuckle making his voice husky. “Bold of you.”
Damn, he moves quietly! Does everyone in Antal take sneaking classes or something? But it didn’t unnerve her as much as it had at first, now that she accepted her attraction as meaningless. “You don’t have to walk me back, Casimir,” she said, glancing at him over her shoulder. “I’m probably safer on my own than in your company, anyway.”
“Recent history proves otherwise,” he said, matching pace with her, the laughter in his voice more pronounced. “Can we move beyond that minor incident in the hallway, Tav?” Casimir said suddenly, his voice solemn. “I already apologized, explained I was merely surprised and doing my due diligence to my employer. And you’ve since punched me. We both reacted badly to the unexpected arrival of the other so, let’s start with a clean slate, yes?”
There was an edge to his voice she couldn’t decipher when he mentioned his employer. She slowed, glancing at him over her shoulder. “Funny you should mention that,” she said. “I looked up your boss. Under Senator Straub? I couldn’t find mention of you anywhere.” Her eyes narrowed when he didn’t immediately offer an explanation. “Who do you really work for in the Government Plaza?”
His face was like marble. Perfect, but emotionless. Even his eyes dimmed, no longer the deep red that sparkled like a ruby with mischief, but cold, a cooling ember. Detached. But before she could wrap her head around it, the expression was gone, and he lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug.
“We’ve already been over this, you know. It’s not my problem that you don’t believe me.” She frowned at him, and with a dramatic sigh, he continued, “I do work for Etzel Straub.” She opened her mouth, and he stopped her words by raising one long finger. “Yes, I know you already went digging like the clever little cyber stalker you are. But you have to understand, Olline, not everyone in Straub’s employ is, shall we say, on the record.” He paused, letting his words sink in. They were so similar to what Lochan had mentioned that a chill had her chest tightening. He eyed her for a moment longer before continuing. “You won’t find me mentioned in any official capacity. He has people who make sure of that.”
He gave her a sidelong glance; the mischief returning to his eyes. “In fact, me telling you that violates at least a dozen secret NDAs. Don’t you feel special now?”
She rolled her eyes at him. “You don’t even know what kind of security clearances I have. It was Under Senator Straub who approved my job application. For all you know, you work for me .”
“I assure you, I don’t.” There was a hint of a menacing rumble in his voice. “But very well,” he said, his tone teasing again, his shoulders lifting, “I’ll play your game, Tav. What’re you working on that brings you to the Government Plaza, locked in one of those abysmal basement rooms where your pretty eyes can’t even see the outside world?” He squinted at her, and she nearly tripped over her own feet. “You’re an earth caster, if those flawless green eyes are any indication. Being in the sub-basement must be torture for you.”
Olline shook her head automatically. Too used to people making the same assumption time and time again about what she liked because her eyes advertised her talents. Everyone thought they knew what an earth caster was like, that they were a monolith.
Hunching her shoulders, she shoved her fists into her jacket pockets. “Only one of those things is true. Well, one and a half. I am an earth caster. No, being in the sub-basement isn’t torture. You don’t know anything about me, Casimir, so don’t pretend to.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She hadn’t even been this snappy toward Achan after, well, after . But tonight had been a lot, and she was tired and embarrassed, so she supposed it was all right to be grumpy.
To her surprise, and annoyance, because how dare he, Casimir took a deep breath and apologized. “You’re right. I don’t know anything about you and I shouldn’t have assumed. I know I hate it when . . .” he trailed off and Olline stopped walking to look at him. Casimir caught himself and coughed awkwardly. “Enlighten me then, please. Tell me where I went wrong.”
She looked away and resumed walking. “It’ll bore you.”
“Now who’s making the baseless assumption?” Casimir chuckled like he could see the flush spreading over her cheeks. “Try me, Olline. I doubt anyone who’s drawn to The Pit merely because it had a band could be doing anything remotely boring.”
A smile threatened to brighten her face, make her steps lighter, despite herself. She always enjoyed talking about her projects, regardless of who she was talking about them with. And if Casimir said he wouldn’t find it boring, well challenge accepted.
“I have a contract with the Police and Securities Department to move their oldest evidence files and cold cases into new servers. Servers I get to make and design the hardware for.” She wiggled her fingers as if he could see the magic in her veins dancing on her fingertips. “It’s my specialty. Manipulating the metals in tech so it does incredible things. Marrying the magitech hardware with my programming codes will make this the most secure server they’ve ever had, and, if they like what I make, they’ll give me the contract for the entire Government Plaza. I, alone, will get to implement my code and hardware for the entire governing body of Antal!” She couldn’t hide her smile as she turned to look at him, but Casimir had that emotionless look again.
Well, it was, technically, unreadable, not emotionless. But she took it to mean she was, technically, boring him and therefore, technically, hadn’t been wrong in her assumption. But the realization hadn’t brought her the joy she was hoping for.
Olline’s smile fell away, and she hunched her shoulders as if walking into an icy wind. “I have pretty high clearance for that, obviously. I’m sure I didn’t violate any of your precious NDA’s.” She meant it as a joke, but there was a bite in her voice that kept it from landing. “You haven’t told me what you were doing down there, you know,” she grumbled, pouting she knew, but she didn’t care. “How do I know you work for who you say, huh?”
“If you’re desperate for proof, just remember I was down in the sub-basement with you, left with you, not a single alarm was raised, and not a single security bot appeared to apprehend me.” Casimir lengthened his stride to walk beside her. With a tilt of his broad shoulders, he seemed to shield her from being jostled by the thickening crowd as they got closer to the public access elevators. “If you want more proof, consider there were no disabled security personnel or bots. Which would’ve been too mysteriously badass for me to want to hide from a woman such as yourself. I just don’t have a shiny little badge like you. That’s really the only difference between your contract and . . . mine.”
There was something in the way he talked, the way his face dropped and his gaze hardened that told Olline, without a shred of doubt, that Casimir did not like his role in Under Senator Straub’s office. What that was, she couldn’t say, but she believed he wasn’t lying to her about who he worked for. Based on what Lochan had said, it was the simplest explanation for why he was in the building so late, even if she hadn’t wanted to believe it at the time. She could feel the tension uncoiling slightly in her shoulders with the knowledge.
She was about to ask Casimir what it was he did for Etzel, and why he worked for the man if he disliked it, when he asked, “What truly lured you to a place like The Pit, Tav? I didn’t peg you for the reckless type. Surely it wasn’t really that awful noise you called music.”
Olline couldn’t stifle the sigh that escaped her. “It was the music.” There must have been something about her wistful tone that caught Casimir off guard. His easy, confident stride faltered ever so slightly. Warmth spread over her cheeks, and she tucked her chin down, scratching idly at the braid on the side of her head. “I don’t have the same empathic abilities a lot of earth casters do. I’m tied to plants and metals, sure, but not really the pull of people. But there’s just something,” she struggled for the right word, and with a sigh, said, “something magnetic about live music. It’s real, created by flesh and blood. It has a soul . It just . . . it feels different.”
Casimir didn’t reply, and she rushed to explain. “Like, have you ever had real coffee? Coffee made from beans grown in the ground and not the synthetic stuff a water caster can come up with in a shop? Most people swear blind they can’t tell the difference, but I can. Same goes for music. I don’t have any other explanation for it.”
Olline stopped walking and shut her eyes, still floundering for words. Casimir stopped beside her. She could feel the warmth of his body shielding her from being bumped into. Her chin slumped to her chest, and she opened her eyes slowly. “As soon as I got down there, I felt the tug and I just had to—” she cut herself off abruptly, her cheeks flaming even more with awkward embarrassment.
Why was she even explaining herself to this man?
“Had to what, Olline?” Casimir moved to stand in front of her, and damn, if the look he gave her wasn’t soft around the edges. His confident gaze smoothed out to something, almost . . . sweet.
Her brother’s words tickled in the back of her mind. Reminding her that maybe Casimir was being honest, that he did genuinely wish to know her. Olline’s stomach tightened, and she dropped her gaze to the pavement, shuffling her feet and ignoring the angry murmurs of the people they blocked on the sidewalk. “Had to move. To . . . dance to it.”
She expected a man like Casimir to laugh. Most did. Achan would have. Casimir was so poised, effortlessly flirtatious in a way that confused Olline, and so painfully beautiful, that of course he would laugh at how childish she sounded. But he didn’t. He remained silent, standing with a look of contemplative sadness on his face. That was the last thing she expected.
His plump lower lip turned down in a way that almost looked like a pout, and the infinite grief in his mahogany-red eyes cracked Olline’s heart. The moment he noticed her gaze, the expression vanished. She couldn’t say how it happened, but the hard edges were suddenly back, his sharp jawline a knife once more accentuating the curve of his smirk.
“You’re precious, Tav. Don’t let anyone rob you of that quality.” Casimir was back to the charming rogue she had met a few days ago. While she didn’t mind—she rather enjoyed being the focus of such charm, truthfully—she missed the thoughtful softness to his features. “Please, take me up on my offer to show you around properly. If you want to dance to something real and live and true, I can show you where. If you want to frolic around plant life, I can show you that, too. But please trust me when I say you don’t want to get caught down here alone again.”
Warm tingles danced across her skin with his full attention, and Olline could take no more of that. Lochan was proving far too correct when he said there was nothing hotter than a man who groveled. She grinned shyly, side stepped around him, and kept walking. At least the public access elevators were finally in view. She figured that, with her safely escorted back, Casimir would melt back into the crowed.
He didn’t, and continued to match her stride. Her skin felt entirely too tight with his proximity, so, to distract herself, she asked, “Why not? You said this was your typical haunt?”
His shoulders stiffened ever so slightly, even though the easy smile remained on his face. “My brother owns a slew of pleasure clubs around here,” he answered, words clipped.
“Ah ha!” Olline said, grinning and forcing herself not to clap with victory. She skipped forward, walking backwards in front of him. “So that was your brother, then. Kullen? How come there’re no images of him in the virtual forums? Does he work for Etzel too? Is that why you both are so hard to find any details about?”
Olline had completely forgotten she wasn’t supposed to care or be curious about Casimir. Whoops?
“Questions, questions,” Casimir chuckled, but his grin was wavering, and his eyes no longer twinkled. “Don’t worry about Kullen, but yes, he’s my older brother.” She opened her mouth to press for more when he gently reached out, snaking an arm around her back, tugging her close as he reached out past her with his free arm. His eucalyptus and lavender scent flooded her senses again, and she fought the urge to lean in and sigh at the sheer comfort of the smell.
“Careful, Olline.” He gently turned her, his arm falling off her back, not lingering like the creep’s hand had done. Yet when his thumb brushed her bare hip, the electricity of his skin against hers was undeniable.
She blinked, noting that she was about to careen into the public access elevator doors. Too intent on watching Casimir rather than where she was going.
“Let’s make a deal, my precious little caster.” The words rumbled in his chest in a way that made her toes curl and completely forget that she should tell him not to call her “precious” or “little”. “I will entertain every single one of your burning questions. But not here. Not right now. There’s no fun in that.” He reached around her and summoned the elevator, his scent caressing her senses again. “Say yes to meeting me again. Let me treat you. Be your guide. You clearly have no one else in Antal to show you its more tantalizing pursuits. Let me do that for you, Tav.” It was taking Olline precious seconds to get her tongue to cooperate, seconds where the elevator sped to their location. “Or say no, and you’ll never have to deal with me again.” Casimir said when the silence hung between them like a blade. “Is that what you want, Tav?”
“No!” Olline responded far too fast and loud, given how close he was to her. Her cheeks burned, an all too familiar response around him, when she noted the laughter in his eyes. She gave her head a firm shake. “I mean, sure, ok. I’ll take you up on your offer.” Taking a deep breath, she forced her heart to slow its galloping beat. She lowered her gaze, voice dropping as she said, “I could use a friend here.”
Casimir gave a sharp intake of breath and her gaze darted up. She couldn’t see what had caused his reaction, but that slight languor had returned to his eyes and he tilted his head in her direction. “Friend?” He was looking up above her head at something Olline couldn’t see. He jerked his head, seeming to come back to himself a fraction. “I . . . can do that.”
Her chest suddenly felt too tight, but the soft hiss of the elevator doors opening saved her from rubbing the spot on her breast bone where his words struck her. She scurried inside, desperate for space. She wasn’t a child that needed to have her hand held, even if the events of tonight almost told a different story.
“You know where I work, Casimir,” she said, punching the closest location to the level of Antal where her apartment was. “I’ll see you around.”
There was a flash of fear across Casimir’s face, quick as lightning. But the elevator closed on the expression—and him—too fast for Olline to continue studying this strange, yet unfairly confident and alluring seerani.