Chapter 11
Blonde
Evelyn, Leo, and Damien exited the tavern but weren’t ready to leave the city yet.
“We could get a drink at The Hidden Gem,” Damien suggested.
“What’s that?” Evelyn asked at the same time that Leo said, “No way.”
Damien smirked. “It’s just a bar.”
“You got us kicked out last month,” Leo reminded him. “Are you even allowed down there anymore?”
“Angelina will let me in.” Damien winked.
“We should go,” Evelyn said.
“No,” Leo repeated.
Damien shook his head. “Two against one, my friend.”
“Going out to dinner was one thing. If we get caught there with a princess, we’re screwed.”
“And I already told you that’s not my problem today.”
“Can’t you use an illusion so no one will recognize me?” Evelyn asked.
Leo stared at her. “That… might work.”
“It will totally work!” Damien yelled. “Just make her blonde. No one will know.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with that?” Leo asked.
“It was my idea,” she replied.
Reluctantly, he raised a hand and waved it over her head. Once Leo stepped away, Damien whistled.
Evelyn glanced at her unchanged red locks. “Nothing’s different.”
“You’re blonde,” Leo confirmed, gazing at her oddly. “You don’t look like yourself.”
Damien threw his hands up dramatically. “That was the whole point!”
“What kind of blonde?” Evelyn asked.
Leo seemed lost at the question. “How many kinds are there?”
“It’s like… caramel,” Damien answered for him.
“Oh,” Evelyn said. “That sounds nice enough.”
“Time to go!” Damien announced, heading down the street without waiting.
Leo took Evelyn’s hand again. “I like your red hair better.”
“Hurry up!” Damien shouted over his shoulder.
Leo and Evelyn followed him to the end of a dark street a few blocks over.
“I thought we were going to a bar?” Evelyn asked. “These are townhouses.”
Damien jogged up to the front door of the second-to-last house on the left. “It wouldn’t be a hidden gem if it were out in the open, Princess.”
He waved his hand over the doorknob. A lock unlatched and then the door flew open. A gust of wind billowed out of the house, carrying a faint scent of alcohol.
Evelyn peeked through the doorway, expecting to see an entryway to the home. Maybe a kitchen or hall closet. Instead, a brightly lit staircase descended below street level. “The front door leads to a basement?”
“A magically altered door provides access to an underground bar,” Leo clarified.
“Are you coming or not?” Damien asked impatiently.
They walked down the stairs, and the music became gradually louder.
A short hallway at the bottom of the stairs opened up into a cavernous space, larger than the ballroom at the palace.
A bar spanned the length of the wall, with several bartenders spaced out to accommodate all the patrons.
Half the room had tables of various sizes, while the other half was open for dancing.
Damien went straight to the bar, forgetting his friends entirely.
“This is massive,” Evelyn reeled. “Is it all magic?”
“No, actually, someone fully built this place,” Leo explained. “We’re underneath the road. None of the homes here have basements.”
“There must be at least three hundred people down here.”
“Most of them are probably soldiers blowing off steam.”
Evelyn spotted Damien talking to a tattooed bartender. “Is that Angelina?”
“Yes.”
“Are they… together?”
“Sometimes.” Leo led her to a high table at a quieter edge of the room. “Wait here. I’ll get us something to drink.”
Leo risked Damien’s wrath to bother Angelina for service at the bar. Evelyn stood at the table and observed the room.
There’s a live band in the corner, so the music is real. But how much of the room is an illusion I can’t see?
There were dimly lit lamps along the walls; enough to see where you were going but not enough to feel exposed. Plenty of people were taking advantage of the dark privacy.
“You look familiar,” a silken voice told her.
Evelyn jumped. A man had appeared at her table, standing directly across from her.
Where did he come from?
The man looked young, like Leo and Damien, but that didn’t mean much with fae. He was lean, slightly taller than Leo, and had wavy silver hair. Not gray, but shiny silver. His eyes were dark and he had a cocky grin on his face.
“Do I?” Evelyn responded.
He gazed at her hair. “I would recognize those curls anywhere.”
“I think I would remember you if we’d met before.”
The man leaned toward her. “Is that a compliment?”
“No,” Evelyn lied.
There was something inherently seductive about the stranger. Where Leo was cute and charming, this man was something darker. Enticing and wicked. A promise and a secret.
If I weren’t here with Leo…
Evelyn blinked back into focus when she realized she was staring at him. He absolutely noticed her attention and seemed pleased by it.
“Are you here with the prince?” he asked.
Evelyn cocked her head. “Of course not. I don’t even know the prince.”
The man laughed.
Evelyn crossed her arms. “Am I amusing you?”
“Actually, yes. I see why the prince likes you so much.”
“I told you I’m not with the prince.”
She glanced over to check on Leo. But the man moved around the table impossibly fast and stood in front of her, blocking her view.
He smells of pine, like he’s been out in the woods all day. Not sure where, since there definitely aren’t any evergreen trees nearby.
The scent reminded Evelyn of home and she relaxed.
“If you aren’t with him,” the man said, tugging on a lock of her hair, “then you should come with me.”
Half of Evelyn was eager to agree, and the other half was annoyed by his audacity. That part won and she tugged her hair back. “I’m here with someone else. And you haven’t even bothered to tell me your name.”
He smirked like this was a game and he knew how to cheat. “You want honesty?”
“Yes, that’s typically a good quality in a person,” Evelyn teased, trying to hide her excitement at his proximity.
I don’t even know him! How can my body react so strongly to a stranger?
“Okay,” the man said. “My name is Haydn. My birthday is January 13. My favorite color is red, like your hair.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes at the juvenile introduction. But Haydn leaned down to whisper the next part in her ear, his breath a caress on her skin.
“And I want to drag you into a dark corner and fuck you until neither of us can remember our names.”
Evelyn gasped as heat rushed to her core.
I should slap him! Or maybe grab his collar and make him live up to his promise.
I haven’t been with anyone since my father became king, like I became off-limits to men after moving into the castle.
Even before that, they weren’t usually bold enough to say things like that to a lord’s daughter in public. But this man…
Haydn lifted her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “Say yes, Princess.”
Gods help me, I want to…
Wait.
Princess?
I never gave him my name. Does he know who I am?
She took a step back. “How—”
“Evelyn,” Leo called as he approached with drinks.
Haydn disappeared in the seconds she was distracted by Leo.
Where did he go? How did he leave so fast?
Leo set their drinks on the table. “Who were you talking to?”
Evelyn shook her head. “I don’t really know. Did you see where he went?”
“No, but it’s pretty busy in here. Was he bothering you?”
Yes, but not in a bad way.
“It was odd,” Evelyn said, hoping the room was too dark for him to notice her flushed skin. “He asked if I was with the prince, and then he called me Princess.”
Leo’s eyes widened. “Did he know who you are?”
“I don’t know. But…” Evelyn remembered something else. “He complimented my red hair.”
“That shouldn’t be possible. The blonde illusion is in place. I can’t even see your real hair.”
“Maybe he can see past illusions, too? I’m confused why he was asking about the prince—”
“We’re leaving.” Leo grasped her hand. “This was a bad idea.”
Evelyn scanned the room but didn’t see Haydn anywhere.
Is he dangerous? Or is Leo just protective?
“Damien!” Leo shouted over the music.
Damien dragged his eyes away from the pretty bartender. Leo jerked his head toward the exit. Damien nodded and said his goodbyes to Angelina.
Leo and Evelyn hurried up the stairs and out onto the street.
“Did the man touch you?” Leo asked. “Did he use any magic?”
“No, he—”
A deafening, roaring noise came from below. Leo pulled Evelyn into his arms a split second before the explosion knocked them to the ground.
The blast created a giant hole in the roadway. It was wider than the street itself, at least partially destroying several of the nearby houses. Flames poured out of the gash in the ground, bringing blood-curdling screams up with them.
The explosion was in the bar! All those screams are from people trapped down there!
Damien appeared at the top of the stairs, coughing and spluttering from the smoke.
He wasn’t far behind us when the blast happened. But what about everyone else?
Evelyn got to her feet, ignoring the pain in her hip and shoulder from hitting the ground. She limped toward the fiery pit. Leo jumped up after her and caught Evelyn around the waist.
“Stop, Princess, we—”
“Let go of me!” Evelyn screamed.
Leo released her, startled by her reaction.
Rushing forward, Evelyn got as close to the pit as she dared. Heat like she’d never felt before radiated from it. She reached out and sent every ounce of her magic through her fingertips.
Evelyn commanded the fire to rise, and it did. The flames lifted out of the pit, out of the bar where she had been two minutes ago, and rose into the sky. She could feel her power draining with the effort needed to sustain control over the catastrophic fire.
A whole team of fae with Fire magic should be doing this, not just me… but there’s no one else here. I have to help those people in the bar.
It seemed endless, but the last tendrils of flame finally left the ground. The tower of fire continued flying upward, erupting again as it collided with the clouds.
Fireworks.
Evelyn was dizzy from exhaustion. The screams were louder now that the roar of the fire was gone. She used her last bit of power to draw the excess heat out of the bar.
The princess swayed, depleted of magic and energy. She heard fast footsteps approach her. Leo scooped Evelyn into his arms only moments before she lost consciousness.