Chapter 37
ARES
THE EVENING OF THE GALA
Ares Necroline, who was seen at notorious sex club, the Rosewood, with Ember Verona, has been confirmed to be attending the National Gallery’s annual auction and gala with his associate Avaline Reyes. We have no confirmation that Verona is attending at all…
“Turn that off, please,” I said from the back seat of the cab. Avaline’s sympathetic glance was enough to turn my stomach. I didn’t want her pity tonight, so I shook my head once. Like the great friend that she was, her face smoothed instantly into a calm, neutral expression.
“You look lovely,” I said, hoping I hadn’t glared at her. And she did look lovely, in a simple, elegant black gown that was probably vintage couture of some kind.
Now she smiled a little, her red lipstick accentuating her mouth in a rather charming way. “Thank you, Ares. You look lovely, too.”
For the briefest of moments, she took my hand in hers and squeezed it. We didn’t hug or hold hands much, but her kindness was much appreciated. The cab driver glanced at us in the rearview window, and I just knew that this encounter would appear in the paper, or some magazine, in the next week.
Av caught the glance too, and squeezed my hand a tiny bit harder.
We just had to get through the next few hours, and then Orphium would be changed in ways I hoped would be better for our people.
As the car pulled up at the National Gallery, Av and I slipped out before the cabbie could get into the line for the red carpet.
We made our way to the side door. Av checked her phone and then nodded. Rhiannon and Eryx were already in. We made our way inside, showing our invitation to the guard, a tall, thin human with dark brown skin and kind eyes. “Have a nice evening, Mr. Necroline,” he said as we passed.
He’d seen the names on the invitations, recognized us, and let us through without question, even though they didn’t match.
I’d prepared about a dozen ways to get past this moment, and they were unnecessary.
I held out my hand for him to shake, and to pass him a generous tip for his graciousness, but the man shook his head.
“That’s not necessary,” he said. And then, in a much softer volume, “My husband is one of yours, and we both appreciate that you mean to change things.”
Surprise flickered over my face. This human was married to a necromancer. Av bit her cheek, raising her eyes to the ceiling in an attempt not to cry. Her chin quivered a bit with the emotion that ran through us both.
I nodded to the man, but Av gave him a dazzling smile, to which he bowed slightly. “Ms. Reyes, may I ask… is that vintage Velaine?”
“Yes,” Av whispered, her voice still unsteady. “Thank you for noticing.”
The guard dipped his head again. “It is lovely. We have an exhibit of Velaine’s work on the fourth floor, in Textiles, if you are ever interested.”
Av had seen it. She’d talked about it several times, but now she simply nodded.
I knew my friend, and she wouldn’t ruin the pure hope that ran through this moment for all the world.
This was what she’d dreamed of since we were children.
A world where it didn’t matter if people were human or parapsych, and to her, I knew this conversation was evidence that such a world could exist.
“Thank you so much for letting me know,” she said. “I would love to see it.”
We walked through the quiet lower hall of the garden level.
There was a bar set up on this floor, but there were not many guests down here.
That was the thing about Orphium, about the class of people we were expected to rub elbows with.
They cared little for peace, or even art for that matter.
The garden level of the National Gallery housed some of the most forward-thinking sculptures of the past fifty years.
But no one so much as paused to admire the way it had been lit for the evening.
I watched as Av’s attention snagged on it. She longed to explore, the same as I did. To just be a guest at such a lavish event. I didn’t pull her arm, but simply didn’t move. When she stopped, her shoulders sagged a little. I bent low to whisper in her ear, knowing we were being closely watched.
If someone wanted something to gossip about, perhaps this would distract them from our actual purpose. I pushed Av’s hair back from her ear, and I knew the eyes on us would read it as romantic affection, but in reality, I placed her earpiece.
“We make it through this,” I whispered. “And I promise, we’ll come for real another year.”
Avaline smiled up at me, her hands cupping my face, her deft fingers inserting my earpiece in what probably looked like another romantic moment. “I would like that, Ares. But next time, bring Ember as your date, all right?”
I nodded as my earpiece came online. Right away, I heard Rhiannon. “We are at the mezzanine level bar. Meet us here. We’re a go.”
We made our way up the marble steps and onto the mezzanine level, where Eryx and Rhiannon waited. Each of them held an extra glass of sparkling wine, which they handed to both Av and me as we approached.
Ember’s voice came through, soft in my ear, though there was a bit of static. “We’re in position. Go now and we can use the commotion going on with Lourdes on the red carpet as cover.”
Eryx turned his phone towards me. His news app was open and headlines flooded the feed:
Lourdes Thaumas Can’t Remember Her Date’s Name
Thaumas Dynasty Boss Dates So Much They ‘All Look the Same’
Maybe Lourdes Thaumas Should Treat Dates Like Humans, Not Boytoys
Aradios’ Bad Boy Leonidas Atrior Can Do Better Than Lourdes Thaumas.
I raised an eyebrow, but not at whatever stir Lourdes had caused. In all the photos that flew by in the feed, she had the smug look of someone who was getting her way. Whatever Lourdes was up to, she’d planned for it to go just like this. No, what caught my eye was that she’d brought Leo Atrior.
Eryx shook his head. “You wondering what he’s doing in Orphium?”
I shrugged. “On another night, yes.”
Rhiannon’s perfectly groomed eyebrows raised. “Wasn’t Atrior tapped to take over the Thaumas Dynasty in Aradios?”
We made our way through the crowd. Discussing this was safe territory.
From the snippets I caught, many folks were having some version of the same conversation.
One of the main reasons that Orphium’s elite held the National Gallery Auction each year was for scenes such as this one.
They invited prominent parapsychs and then mocked them mercilessly in the press.
“Yes,” Eryx replied, drawing Rhiannon closer to him, angling her body behind his as he made way for her. I was surprised by the way she let him guide her, and how comfortable she seemed with Eryx’s hands on her skin.
Had I missed something between them? Things to put a pin in for later, I supposed, as my brother continued, “Rumor has it that Atrior used a few too many miracles for devious purposes. Roue Thaumas chose her second cousin’s daughter as heir instead.”
I noticed the way Rhiannon’s breath caught when his hand slid lower onto the small of her back. Ember’s idea that she would eat him alive echoed in the back of my mind. Av didn’t participate in the conversation. Her eyes scanned the crowd for her spirit friends.
I’d seen the way she worked so many times, but this was particularly impressive.
The Shades were directing paths of foot traffic, making it easier for us to move through the crowded gallery as the humans instinctively moved out of the spirits’ way.
We were in sight of the auction hall when Avaline tensed.
She raised up on her tiptoes, placing a hand on my chest, batting her lashes at me.
I bent down, appreciating the way she’d added a little spring in her movements, like she was excited to tell me some trivial secret.
I let myself smirk, the smug expression of the asshole everyone assumed I was covering my face.
A few sharp looks told me that my ruse was working. All anyone saw was a man who’d fuck one of the most powerful women in the city, in public no less, one week and bring another to a major society event the next. That was good.
Av whispered in my ear. “There’s double the guards we expected, and they’re wearing strange uniforms.”
Ember responded immediately. “Down here as well.”
Av whispered. “The Shades say they’re closing in on us.”
Rhiannon had stepped ahead of Eryx, and was now several paces ahead of the rest of us. When she turned swiftly on her heels, my heart began to race. The look on her perpetually calm face was one of panic. It was only a flash, only for a moment, but whatever she’d seen, it had spurred her to action.
“Get out,” she hissed. “The swords are fake.”
Eryx didn’t ask her how she knew, he simply nodded, taking her hand in his. “We’re going now,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Av?”
Av nodded, turning to me with a petulant face. “Do we have to go so early? I wanted to bid.”
I smiled at her. “Rhiannon has a headache, darling.”
She buried her face in my arm, and I felt her lips moving in silent communication with the dead. A path opened up through the crowd and we took it. Shades materialized at our sides. I took a risk.
“Are you getting out, Verona?”
“Yes,” came the staticky reply. “We’re right behind you.”
But I heard the sound of clashing metal in the background. Somewhere below us, Ember and Lara were being attacked. The plan had gone to shit. We’d known this was probably a trap and bet that we could make our play in time to win. I didn’t have time to be devastated about being wrong.
We all had to get out, and fast. None of us were going to end up in the Asylum tonight. I squeezed Avaline’s hand and pushed her forward through the crowd. I murmured a prayer to Paloma for a miracle, and one to Tanith for a swift end if Paloma did not see fit to answer.