Chapter 7
Sylvia
Grumbling, Cliff tugged at the long, crisp sleeves of his white shirt like he’d been bound in ropes again.
As far as I could tell, it fit him perfectly.
But it was his hair I kept staring at. I’d never seen it this way—pushed back, almost in Lee’s style.
A few locks were out of place, but that graced him with a delightfully roguish look.
Not too wild but certainly not tame. Cliff looked so handsome, it hurt a little to look at him—not that I'd ever admit it to him.
Cliff swatted Lee’s hand when he tried to fix one of the stray locks. “Touch me again, and you’re gonna find it real hard to breathe with your throat wide open. It’s bad enough you’re making me wear this monkey suit.”
Lee flinched like he’d been fully punched. “It’s Armani, you ungrateful bastard. And you look great in it.”
Wincing, Ben flitted closer to Lee. “Maybe focus on the disturbingly specific death threat instead of the clothes?”
“You’re getting off easy with this, you know,” Cliff said, rounding on Ben, who went freshly pale. “Getting to be invisible the whole time. Doesn’t even matter what you wear.”
I pressed a hand to my chest dramatically. “At least you get to enter this party like an actual person. I’ll be merchandise!”
“Don’t remind me,” he grumbled, stalking away to grab the matching tuxedo jacket. “This whole thing is a fever dream from hell.”
We were lucky, I supposed, to have had the day to recover and plan, but now we were a mere two hours away from the Crimson Gala.
No matter how I ran the details through in my mind, my stomach still knotted at the idea of being separated from Jon, at being exposed to what might essentially be a ballroom full of immeasurably wealthy Rhett Iversons.
Delilah approached, brushing Lee’s arm to turn him toward her.
Even in her cream-colored heels, she was several inches shorter than him.
It was hard not to melt a little at how his face brightened immediately at the sight of her, like she was sunlight breaking into a windowless room.
I tried not to stare, but they were both so beautiful that they pulled my attention like gravity.
It was hard not to want to be an active participant in whatever they did.
I wondered if they had that effect on everyone they met or if I was as hopelessly excitable as Cliff accused me of being.
I flew to the hallway table where Ben was standing and landed beside him, pretending to inspect my appearance in the vast arched mirror.
Delilah held up a pendant, its filigreed face bearing an impressive square-cut diamond at its center. The faint scent of singed roses came with it—Delilah’s spellwork—but fae glamour was layered over the jewel like a shield to mask it.
“Keep this close to you,” she said, closing Lee’s hand around the piece. “It’ll change to yellow when we’re approaching Eros. Blue when he’s dead and we’re heading to the security booth.”
Lee considered the diamond. “And if something happens to you?”
She smiled sweetly. “Thought of that, of course. The diamond is bound to both my will and my heartbeat. It’ll go dark if something happens to me. Something to keep you from worrying all night.”
He pulled her waist, ducking to kiss her. “You know I love a vintage piece, but this isn’t going to stop me from worrying about you for a second.”
Delilah shot him a sheepish smirk, looking up through her lashes. It was as close to vulnerable as I had seen her; I had almost doubted those icy shields of hers came down at all. “Yeah, well… It was worth a try.”
She clutched lightly at the lapels of his jacket like she didn’t want to let him go.
“After this, we’re going to Italy,” she said, injecting a lofty air back into her voice. “No more do-gooder crap for a while.”
“Nothing but champagne, truffles, and doing things to each other that would horrify the Amalfi Coast,” Lee promised.
They kissed again, Lee cradling Delilah’s cheek to tip her face up.
Ben rubbed his temples, groaning—and saving me an excuse to give them privacy. “I’m demanding a room at a different hotel. Maybe a different country,” he said pointedly.
They broke apart, Lee’s spirits untarnished. “You don’t mean that, Benny.”
“Try me,” he shot back, but his annoyance was laced with fondness. “I have better things to do than soundproof every room you two cross through.” Ben glanced at me, shaking his head.
I chuckled with him, but once again, I was baffled at the truth before me. He was more similar to me than I could have imagined any fairy in my wildest dreams. I had countless questions bubbling, desperate to ask him.
Lee turned his attention to me, no doubt noticing how I was glancing between him and Ben curiously. A fresh smile lit up his face—one that looked like nothing but trouble.
“Hey, has Benny told you about the Quiet Acquisition?”
“The what?” My frown deepened with confusion when I saw that Ben looked exasperated at the suggestion.
“Just a little card trick,” Lee said. He pulled a deck of cards from his pocket as easily as someone would a handkerchief.
He began to shuffle, and I stared, mesmerized, as his fingers moved through the cards like butter.
Then he fanned them out elegantly before me.
“Pick one. Maybe you’ll get lucky.” He winked.
I narrowed my eyes at Ben. “I’m assuming there’s glamour involved?”
“It’s light,” Ben said at once, unable to hold my stare. “Harmless. You’ll hardly notice.”
That didn’t bring me the comfort he assumed it would. Still, he surely wouldn’t attempt anything insane while Jon and Cliff were in shouting distance. Delilah stood to the side, giving me a small assuring nod as she folded her arms to watch.
“Alright.” I forced a smile. “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to practice overcoming glamour.”
Ben winced as though that wasn’t likely.
After pondering the spread of cards, I pulled one carefully and held it before me with both hands, cumbersome as it was being over half my height.
“Got it memorized?” Lee asked.
Queen of diamonds. Nodding, I carefully slid the card back into a different part of the deck and pulled back to watch.
A slight shiver of magic entered the air, barely noticeable as Ben had promised.
I observed in quiet amazement as Lee shuffled the cards once more, mine getting lost in the mix.
My jaw dropped as Lee pulled his hands apart mid-shuffle and still seemed to have complete control over the deck.
Several cards popped out and slid back in neatly amongst the others.
Pausing, Lee held the deck in one palm. With a quick movement of his hand, a single card jumped from the deck. He snatched it from the air between his fingers and turned it toward me with a flourish.
I gasped in amazement at the queen of diamonds.
Eyes alight with mischief, Lee tucked the card back into the deck. “How’d you do fighting off that glamour?”
Blinking, I shook my head. “All of that was amazing, but it looked natural. I can’t see how glamour affected the trick.”
He smirked, jutting his chin for me to look down. “You sure?”
Glancing at my hand, I yelped. I was holding out the necklace with my snowflake and constellation charms, offering it to him. Flinching, I dropped the chain, and Ben hurriedly swooped down to catch it.
“H-how—” I took the offered chain back, my mind racing. I must have unclasped and unwound it at some point during Lee’s dazzling card shuffle, all without noticing.
Pocketing the cards, Lee shrugged. “The trick itself has been in my arsenal for years since I was a teen conning people on the streets of the Windy City. But the spell Ben casts on the deck to hypnotize people into handing over their personal items? Now that was game-changing.”
“We made a killing in Vegas,” Ben said, brightening as he rubbed the back of his neck, exchanging a boyish grin with Lee. “And Reno.”
Lee chuckled, something vaguely wicked surfacing at the back of his gaze. “We practically cleaned those cities dry. You know, in a few months, we could go back for another extended vacation. You loved those cranberry-vodkas at the Bellagio.”
Ben groaned through a laugh, looking embarrassed as he glanced my way. “Probably too much. I still remember that hangover.”
“And I still have the videos,” Lee said, patting the cell phone in his pants pocket. “I had no idea you were such a musical drunk.”
Although the ethics of their combined efforts were dubious at best, I cracked a smile. “That was a pretty good trick,” I admitted. “Even without the glamour.”
Delilah scoffed. “You’re a real sweetheart for letting them get away with that. I set the deck on fire when they tried it on me.”
Wearing a thoroughly enamored grin, Lee kissed the crown of Delilah’s head before striding for the bedroom suite. “I should make sure Everett hasn’t turned that designer suit to ribbons. They’ve been too quiet.”
Ben flew in a quick arc across the room to follow him out. Distantly, I could hear male voices muffled in the next room. Meanwhile, Delilah took a seat on the bench tucked by the hallway table, analyzing her reflection in the mirror.
“You ready?” she asked me.
“Much as I can be,” I said, pushing a hand back through my hair. My fingers caught on tangles. Despite having had time to rest, my belongings were packed with the rest of the hunters’ things in the Challenger. A hot soak with floral oils sounded like a dream.
Delilah’s sharp eyes missed nothing. “May I?”
Tentatively, I nodded, then watched as she steepled her hands together, pushing and pulling as a burst of pale light ignited between her palms. She lifted it to her lips and blew gently.
The light dispersed like dandelion seeds, grazing over my body.
It was cool, like a crisp autumn breeze.
When the light faded, I found my clothes and hair to have been refreshed.
My dark teal blouse was vibrant and free of scuff marks and holes.
Touching my face, I felt my complexion unmistakably dewy and bright.