Chapter Forty-One
Dylan
DYLAN LEANED AGAINST THE DARK BAR, WATCHING CALLUM. He was trying for ease, despite the way his body hummed with awareness.
He set his teeth watching Callum saunter back after handing Nicole and Remi another round of drinks, like if he bit down hard enough it would make him forget about the effect all that casual grace had on him.
He’d been taught that Empyreals were brutish and single-minded, aggressive in their pursuit of a hunt. That was nothing like Callum, who was all charm and sophisticated danger.
He didn’t know how to do this. How to tease out someone else’s secrets, because he’d been so used to keeping such a guard up on his own.
But he supposed everyone had tells, he just needed to figure out what Callum’s were.
‘Relax,’ purred Callum as he ordered another drink with an elegant wave of his hand and the flash of a smile.
‘I am relaxed,’ Dylan gritted out.
Callum’s chuckle razored down his spine.
Dylan straightened. ‘Distract me, then,’ he tried. He hadn’t forgotten their conversation before the Varian attack, nor the one in Burghley House. He wanted answers.
The challenge got Callum’s attention, and for a beat, the eye contact left his skin searing.
‘How would you like me to do that?’
Damn him and his liquid voice.
‘What did you become, in the alley?’ Dylan asked.
‘Oh—’ Callum looked away, uninterested.
Dylan’s intuition flickered.
‘Who knows?’
‘You magicked a sword from your jacket. Changed the air flow to stop the scent spreading.’
‘Probably a Warlock.’ Callum took his new drink, his strong hand and deft fingers flashing with a ring or two of swirling design. Expensive looking, as everything about Callum’s style was. ‘Couldn’t have the kill scent spreading around and setting any other Empyreals off, could I?’
‘You barely looked like you transformed.’
‘Yes, well, transformations get smoother when your body is used to them.’
‘How long did it take for that to happen for you? A thousand years? Less?’
Callum slid him a knowing look. ‘So curious this evening.’
Dylan gave a placid smile. ‘We’re supposed to be chatting, aren’t we? You’ll forgive me for being curious about the process.’ He looked over the club, picking up his drink, pleasantly surprised by its flavours. They were well-balanced and light despite the chasing heat spreading down his throat.
‘Here I thought a certain madam would have told you all about it.’
Nicole. Dylan looked at his sister, remembered the panic of that blood-soaked night.
‘We – haven’t spoken about it much. It was hard.’
The music of the club and the low conversations covered the momentary quiet.
‘I’ve long been around people who were adept with magic,’ Callum said. ‘I’ve seen it used many times and it feels … familiar. Maybe that’s why it looked so natural.’
Dylan tried not to raise his brow. Instead, he glanced at Callum over the rim of his glass. ‘Like Kyan with the Druids?’
Callum’s lips ticked up. ‘Sure.’
An internal snarl of frustration meant the next mouthful of Dylan’s drink went down like fire. But if he turned this conversation into an interrogation, Callum would become unbreakable. Keeping it light and teasing might be the only way.
‘What about you?’ Callum asked. He turned, leaning on the bar, the muscle beneath his shirt flexing as he set all that focus on Dylan. ‘If you could become anything, what would you choose?’
Something that would get you to tell me your secrets.
Something that would take away my father’s grief and the fear I have of feeling it myself.
‘Something that would make me strong enough to find my mother’s killer and kill them before they killed me.’
Callum’s eyes shaded with understanding, and … respect? ‘How about this,’ he said, all trace of mischief gone. He picked up his glass and it winked with reflected light as he held it up. ‘We find them, and that doesn’t happen? I’ll help you kill them myself.’
There was a real, disarming promise in his words.
So, Dylan matched the action. ‘You think you could?’
Callum’s infamous grin flashed. ‘I’d sure have fun trying.’
A smile threatened Dylan’s mouth. He clinked his glass with Callum’s. ‘Deal.’
‘Now,’ Callum said, eyes flicking to the mirrored bar. He straightened at something he’d seen, that charm slinking back. ‘We have a meeting to attend.’
Dylan followed him to Nicole and Remi’s table, scanning the room for the person they were looking for. She slid into their booth moments after they did.
‘Xinyi,’ Callum purred. ‘Did you miss me?’
Nicole
XINYI WAS EASILY ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE Nicole had ever seen.
A wall of silky, pin-straight black hair fell to her waist, her pale skin gleaming softly in the low light. Her dark eyes were both unamused and intent, full lips done in a dusky rose. She breathed confidence behind a gentle sweetness without saying a single thing.
Nicole could feel the curious sharpness beneath it.
‘Xinyi turned what were practically Liverpool slums for the Chinese seamen into one of the oldest Chinatowns in Europe,’ Callum said.
Nicole’s brows rose. She must be semi-immortal at least if she’d been here in the late 1800s, even though she only looked to be in her twenties.
‘You still talk as much as I remember,’ Xinyi said smoothly.
Callum grinned and Dylan’s lips twitched.
‘I hear you and Kyan wanted an audience with me,’ she said, gaze sliding to Remi.
Remi seemed to have mentally stalled. Nicole schooled her expression to hide her surprise. She’d never seen Remi shy.
‘We need a supernatural, or human, who might be able to help us,’ Dylan said, giving her a moment. He looked to Callum again, as if uncertain to ask. ‘Who might help us … borrow something of historical importance as soon as possible. Do you know anyone?’
‘What have you got yourself into this time?’ Xinyi asked Callum.
He looked positively dangerous. ‘Let’s put it this way: it will change the dynamic of supernatural society for the better.
We both know someone will owe you. You know every supernatural in this city, at least who’s who and where.
Speaking of which, we need to talk later about a Varian attack by the docks. ’
‘Another?’ She made an unamused sound and flicked her fingers over her shoulder. Someone appeared at her side and she murmured to them before they disappeared just as suddenly.
Xinyi’s gaze settled back on Callum. ‘Let’s say I … assisted you. What’s in it for me?’
‘What would you want?’ Nicole asked.
Xinyi slid that gaze over to Remi. ‘Would you sing for me, first?’
Nicole gave her a look that said you don’t have to. But Remi watched the mysterious woman who might be able to grant her access to a divine instrument, and the confidence glided back into her body. Remi nodded softly.
A slight smile tugged at Xinyi’s lips, and she waved a hand to the stage. ‘Then the stage is yours.’
Remi finished her drink and rose. ‘Let’s see what your orchestra can do.’
She strode to the stage and, after speaking to the musicians, stepped into the spotlight. For a breathless moment, she was lambent as a gold flame. Then the orchestra began with flutes and strings and the magical flutter of a harp that felt like the soundtrack to an old movie.
Then Remi sang an opening note, her eyes closed and head tilted as if it was a kiss and not a song. It vibrated with such a tone her voice captivated the entire room. One note became another, and then she was singing.
She wasn’t holding back as much as she had in Estwood. She had the proper acoustics here, the proper non-human environment, and a new kind of ease, using her power like a cloak of confidence.
Her voice was liquid warmth, smooth and skilled. The type you’d follow into another world. Nicole marvelled at her friend’s ability to transfix a room, even one full of creatures that were used to Sirens. Even those who’d been chatting quietly through the other sets ceased speaking.
How wonderful it would be to sit here freely and listen to Remi all night. The need was so strong Nicole’s chest ached.
To think, she’d been missing magic like this her whole life.
Remi took them through the music, wending and weaving and adding to the ache in Nicole’s chest. By the time it came to a sweeping conclusion, Nicole nearly launched out of her seat to clap.
‘I know every whisper that goes on in my city,’ Xinyi said as Remi finished. ‘So I know elements of what the Wake have been up to. But I want to be warned about any … developments, or details.’
‘Does that mean we have a deal?’ asked Callum.
Nicole was nearly breathless as she waited to hear Xinyi’s answer, noting how the woman’s eyes were still on Remi as the spotlight dimmed and she seemed to disappear like a dream.
What about Remi and her voice had convinced Xinyi to help them? Other Sirens had performed here, and yet Callum hadn’t mentioned that any Siren who performs gets to speak to the owner.
Unless, from that performance, Xinyi knew Remi’s Siren song would be extraordinary and wanted a connection to her in the future. If Nicole had learned anything on this quest of art and immortals, it was how so many of them knew how to play a long game.
‘Yes.’ Xinyi hummed. ‘We have a deal.’
Callum raised his glass to Remi with a flash of a grin, and drank.