Chapter 11 #2
Niko grins. “She’s tough. Shouldn’t have to be, but she is.”
Taking his word for it, I throw myself into the Harlequin’s dining room, dodging a colorful archway of flowers. I do my best not to smack into trees with twinkling green leaves and stop in front of Vance and Asralyn with a toothy smile.
Asralyn’s nose wrinkles, an expression I’m getting quite used to, and she points a shaking finger to my hair. Sage giggles and points with her pudding spoon. “You have a fishbone in your hair!”
Of course I do. As I pull the ebony bone out, I try to flatten the flyaway hairs the humidity from the kitchen pulled free.
Asralyn stands without looking at me, smoothing the folds of her heavy gold dress.
She kneels and brushes crumbs off Ezra’s vest. Taking her niece’s and nephew’s hands, she walks past me.
“Come along. I’d rather not miss the show. ”
Vance takes one last bite of a salted honey torte with a candied butterfly still lazily flapping sugar wings and gets to his feet. “I hope you reflect at the end of this week,” he tells me. “You’ll have three weeks to change our minds about you.”
I curtsy to him with a tight-lipped smile.
If I were home in Credence, he’d be bowing to me.
But maybe I don’t want people bowing to me anymore.
If my time aboard has taught me anything, it’s that I don’t want to become like Asralyn.
Oblivious to others’ pain if it serves me.
I can’t let them get to me. Not even Asralyn can make me regret helping Isla.
Isla got the Stallards into the Harlequin on my first day.
She saved me from looking like an absolute fool. Now I’m going to have to save myself.
We take the stairs to Dreamscape Theatre. I grab Sage’s and Ezra’s hands. Asralyn leads the way, and Vance puts a hand on her upper arm. She shrugs away at his touch and turns a bright, shining smile on the children when we arrive at the open double doors of the theater.
“Look, sweethearts,” she purrs, “they haven’t started yet. Must be the first event we’ve been on time for this week.”
Ezra jumps up and down with excitement. As we pass over the threshold, I can’t help but share his elation.
The theater is dark and almost creepy with the witch statues and harsh lines of the gold frame around the stage, but it’s like walking into the expanse of night.
Millions of shiny, twinkling silver lights dapple the walls, the ceiling, the seats.
The stage is set with black silks, a set of trapeze bars, a fiery aerial hoop that I assume is for Zora, and a fine layer of gray mist rolling over the stage floor.
A hanging backdrop of luminous constellations makes the stage look like a window into the night sky.
A large group of performers stretch and practice acrobatics on the stage before the show begins.
With crafters losing their sense of touch for using their Morphia and shifters experiencing physical injury, the performers will have to rotate to keep the show going.
While we wait at the back of a crowded aisle for someone to direct us to open seats, Vance tells me about his work with the infirmaries in the province of Sarryndar.
He goes on and on about how ungrateful the menders are who work there and how Illoryan, his home province, has much better medical care.
“But of course, Asralyn moved us to Sarryndar for Harrow’s Boarding School.
She insists it’s the best. Wanted the cousins to go there together. ”
I stop to look at him for a moment. Cousins? Could that mean he and Asralyn have a child together?
I’m saved from answering by a staff member with large glasses and a nasal voice that grates on my nerves. “Sorry, no more seats.”
“What?” Panic forms a tight ball in my throat.
The staff member gives me a simpering smirk. “Should have gotten here sooner.” Asralyn hmphs behind me and mumbles something suspiciously like “I knew it.”
“But we got here early,” I plead. “Is there really nothing you can do?”
The staff member looks me up and down. “Haven’t you had enough handed to you?
A lot of people got here early.” At this point, the bosses hate me more than the other Morphics and I guess it’s rubbing off on some staff members too.
I don’t even want to think about what punishment waits after this mistake.
“Code regulations,” he continues. “Imagine if there was a fire. Fire on a ship is bad news. If I overcrowd this theater, there could be a stampede.”
Asralyn clicks her tongue from behind me.
“Fire is the least of your concerns. If you don’t find us a seat, I’ll complain to your bosses.
” Seated guests turn to look at us. When they glimpse me, they whisper to each other.
Undoubtedly, the rumor that a Damarcus has to serve on the Celestial has spread to the guests.
The staff member bites his lip and pushes his glasses up his nose. “I have to enforce the rules, my lady. Can’t cause a panic in a place like this.”
“There’s only going to be a panic if you don’t let us through,” she replies evenly. She turns her sharp chin and narrowed eyes on me. “This is your fault—”
“Is there something I can help with?”
I recognize Ivander’s smooth, charismatic tone that he uses with the guests immediately. I want to die inside. The last thing I need is for him to see me floundering.
When I turn to look at him, I see that he wears no shirt, only black dancer’s trousers and a set of sheer black wings tied to his arms. The defined muscles of his sculpted abdomen draw my gaze.
I force myself to focus on his face. His lips are pressed into a tight line.
If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was trying not to laugh.
Great. He finds it hilarious I’ve made such a mess of this situation.
Despite my better judgment, I’ve got no other choice but to tell him. “There’re no more seats. I got here too late.” No use in pretending it wasn’t my fault. I’d do it again. Helping Isla was worth any wrath Asralyn might bestow.
“Can’t make seats appear,” he says to me. “We’ll make sure you get front row at the next show.”
He turns over his shoulder with a swish of black fabric that moves like shadows. As he walks up the aisle, leaving me alone with the staff member and his code regulations, I mutter, “Thanks for the help.”
Ezra tugs on my sleeve. “Do we really have to leave?”
I run a hand through my messy braid. “I’m sorry, but I think so.”
The staff member nods and makes an exaggerated wave with his hand toward the double doors. Other guests in the audience are watching now. “How embarrassing,” Vance says.
“Roe!” Zora runs down the aisle and pushes past the staff member with a shove of her elbow.
Her costume is woven with crafter flame, and it flickers with electric light.
The kids gape at her. “What are you doing standing here in the middle of the aisle? The show’s about to start.
” She flashes a dazzling grin and points toward the stage. “Follow me.”
“What are you doing?” I ask. The staff member who denied us seats frowns at the flames on Zora’s outfit.
“Taking you to the front row. Some seats opened up.” She winks.
As if in a trance, I follow her to one of the front rows, where empty seats wait for us.
“That’s not all,” she says to my guests.
“Thanks to your lovely concierge, we have arranged a very special experience for you. If you’re willing, of course, madam,” she says with a nod to Asralyn.
“You see, I’m set to embark on a dangerous journey through the stars, but I need two brave volunteers to help me. ”
She makes a show of looking every which way in the theater, ignoring Ezra’s and Sage’s waving arms.
“Right here!” Sage squeals. “We’re right here. We could really go onstage with you?”
“Go onstage?” Zora asks with mock confusion. “You’re going to fly onstage.” She reaches into the pocket of her pants and withdraws a jar of Morphia.
Vance claps his hands. “Go on, children. This is why we came here. Once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Once-in-a-lifetime service,” he says with a pointed look at me. “A little taste of magic.”
I grab Zora’s arm and lower my voice. I try to avoid the tongues of flame in case they’re real. “Thank you. But I really don’t want you risking anything for me. You don’t have to do this.”
Her lip curves as she looks at me. “You think this is me? I’m just the messenger. If you want to thank someone for pulling strings, thank Ivander.”
My eyes dart to the stage where Ivander’s prepping sets and silks. His brown eyes meet mine for a fraction of a second and flit away again.
Zora chuckles and holds out her hands for each of the kids. “He’s not so bad once you get to know him,” she says to me.
Maybe not, but I don’t know him. He’s tried to instill in me since day one that I shouldn’t be relying on others, yet he’s helped me. I don’t know what to make of it. Wariness makes me wonder if it’s a trick.
The kids jump to take hold of Zora’s hands, but Asralyn stiffens. Her wide gray eyes lock on mine while her mouth strains in a grimace. “Is it safe?”
With a start, I realize how much shorter she is than me.
She twists a butterfly ring around her pointer finger while she waits for an answer.
It takes me a moment to realize she’s asking me, not Zora.
I lift my chin and say, “I trust Ivander and Zora. They would never put the kids in danger.” My eyes drift back to Ivander, but he’s back to focusing on the stage.
With a shaky nod, Asralyn takes her seat and smiles to the children. “Go on,” she tells them. “Have fun.”
Vance, Asralyn, and I settle into our seats as Zora leads the kids to the stage.
While the three of us wait for the show to start, I steal glances at Asralyn. She tugs on the ends of her fingers, eyes following Ezra and Sage like a hawk. I realize she’s afraid for them. Before I can ask her anything at all, the lanterns and chandelier lights fade, and the show begins.