Chapter 21 #2
The other man tilts my chin up and leans down so that his nose is a hair from mine.
There’s a rule against touching staff members, but guests break it often.
I’ve heard of young women staffers having to evade advances by male guests.
I recoil as his fingers move from my chin to stroke my cheek.
“Is that what you were doing at the party? Playing with death? Maybe you won’t find it so funny a game when you get off this ship and find out the world isn’t kind to you without Daddy’s protection. ”
Although ship rules say guests can’t touch staff without their consent, that never stops men like this. I swat his hand from my chin without holding back. I relish his look of shock.
Ivander places a firm hand on the man’s shoulder.
With surprising strength for someone more slender than the two men, he forces the man back.
“You can’t skip the line, sir.” His voice, an octave lower than usual, holds a note of warning.
“I’m going to have to ask both of you to go to the back of the line. ”
His dark eyes pass to me, and his gaze urges me to act like nothing unusual is happening. I beckon a young girl forward and help her climb the steps to sit atop a snakelike, green-scaled dragon with feathery, finned wings.
The burning hatred in the men’s eyes makes my hands tremble as I hold the slippery dragon steady.
I dare a quick glance behind me to see if they’ve taken Ivander’s advice.
The two men have turned their fiery glares on Ivander, but he doesn’t move.
If he’s afraid, his body doesn’t betray it.
If anything, the tension in his neck and the set of his jaw screams fury.
“This place used to keep you Morphics in check. Not anymore.” One of the men spits at Ivander’s feet.
Ivander only raises a brow, but I can see spikes beginning to pierce through the exposed back of his staff swim uniform.
When Ivander shows no sign of backing down, the men mutter something foul but leave the deck.
After a pause, Ivander claps his hands together. “Well, that was a free show, ladies and gentlemen. I’ll be here all night.”
The guests waiting by the lagoon laugh. I turn back to my little guest, grateful for Ivander’s uncanny ability to shift the mood of a group.
I try to focus on the connection with the spirit of a young girl’s mother, but my hands shake and ball into fists.
I struggle to maintain the connection. Anger seizes my concentration.
Is this what Father’s reputation has shielded me from?
A tap on my arm makes me jump. I whirl around, afraid one of the men has come back.
But it’s Gray. He’s still wearing his stiff overcoat and black boots, even on the top deck. His mouth is set in a grim line, and his hands dart into his pockets. Ivander’s eyes pass over the hawk pin on his lapel, but he says nothing.
Gray glances down at the pin but hurriedly redirects his gaze to me. “I need to talk to you.” The words come out choppy and fast. I’m reminded of his warning at the mid-cruise ball.
I look to Ivander, hoping that this counts as protocol for not refusing a guest’s request. “Are you okay?” he asks. When I nod, he says, “Go on. I’ll hold the line until you get back.”
I follow Gray to the bar in the center of the upper deck. He weaves through the crowd of guests in their swim clothes, but he’s easy to track in his heavy coat. He leads me to the circular tables beside the bar. He chooses one surrounded by empty tables and motions for me to sit.
The moment we’re seated, he leans across the table, voice hushed. “I’m going to talk fast, and I can’t stay long. My parents don’t know I’m here.”
“Gray, what’s going on?” My heart thuds in my chest.
He lets out a heavy breath. “I know you didn’t hurt that girl at the ball. I know you, and you wouldn’t do that. I think someone wanted you framed. I wasn’t sure, but with the fires at Alexandrite Estate and rumors of your father’s assignment—”
My blood runs cold. This is more than me being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “What fire? What assignment?”
“There’s been growing tension between Morphics and non-Morphics back home while you’ve been gone.
Morphics are demanding more seats on the council.
They set fires as protest at Alexandrite Estate to put pressure on Spokesman Malyk and the council.
That mender we tracked in the woods was a vocal opponent of the mandatory infirmary service for Morphics.
When we picked him up, it caused an uproar. ”
Gray and Jasper used to think this all the time.
They’d say tensions were rising again—that there might be another war brewing between the Morphics and non-Morphics.
Eliza and I never believed it. Our family stopped the conflict centuries ago.
As children, we couldn’t believe families would turn on each other again.
“There’s more.” I watch his face tense.
“There are other rumors Spokesman Malyk may be encouraging your father to develop a potion that could eliminate Morphia before it appears in children. No more extraction, and supposedly safe to give to anyone. Something that would simply make it disappear.”
My heart drops into my stomach. Father never mentioned anything about an assignment from the council.
Nothing out of the ordinary. But if the last few weeks have shown me anything, it’s that my father decides when he wants to share information with me.
I pivot to my more immediate concern. “Why would they frame me?”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know. You don’t go far beyond your family’s estate, but I do.
There’s cruel talk about Morphics. Saying shifters use their disguises to steal and to trick people.
Illusives play with our minds. You play with the dead.
” He waves his hands, seeing my face. “I don’t believe those things.
But go in any tavern and you’ll hear that the only Morphics we really need to keep around are menders and crafters.
I suspected that many would not want you leaving this ship with your Morphia, but after the ball, there’s no mistaking it.
I don’t know if this was personal against you or against your Morphia, but you have to know that someone doesn’t just want to prevent your retrial. ” He pauses, letting his words sink in.
“Someone is willing to do anything to take your magic.”