A large house made of white stone rose above us as we walked through the gate and across the small patch of grass that separated the building from the street. Light shone from every window, and music and laughter drifted out into the warm evening air. I scowled at the Dawsons’ pale blue door as we came to a halt outside it. For people who preached about equality, they sure owned a fancy house.
“Only bring up the ball if it fits with the rest of the conversation,” Audrey said from next to me. “Otherwise, they’ll see through it right away.” She narrowed her eyes as she looked up at me. “And be polite.”
Annoyance blew through me. “I know how to be sneaky.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“You—”
“The ball is in two days. We need to get this invitation tonight, or we’ll have to go with our back-up plan.”
“The back-up plan sucks.”
“I know. So be polite and sneaky.”
Shaking my head, I grabbed the metal knocker and rapped it against the door. “Let’s just get this over with.”
She had started getting under my skin more often lately, and it made me even more restless and irritated. Just being in her presence made me want to kill someone. Preferably her.
The door was flung open, flooding the porch with golden light from the candles inside. Two very excited faces met us on the other side of the threshold. Elise and Carl Dawson flashed us bright smiles.
“Callan, Audrey,” Elise began as she clapped her hands together. “You made it!”
“Of course,” I answered and gave her a calculated sly smile in return. “We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Carl motioned for us to move into the hallway. “Please, come inside.”
Placing a hand against Audrey’s back, I guided her across the threshold before following as well and closing the door behind me.
The sounds of people talking and laughing came from the rooms down the hall as well as upstairs. Someone was also playing the piano close by. I swept my gaze over the Dawsons. Carl was wearing a white dress shirt which was appropriate for all kinds of events, but Elise had donned a low-cut red dress that clung to her figure and showed off her ass and tits. It wasn’t at all what people in Eldar usually wore to dinner parties, which was what I had assumed this would be.
“Come,” Elise said as she slid her arm through mine. “Let us show you around.”
I glanced over at Audrey and found that Carl had done the same to her, so I let the blond socialite lead me deeper into the house.
An arched doorway opened up in the wall on our left, leading into what looked like a living room. Men and women were sprawled across the blue and golden furniture inside, drinking and chatting and… flirting? It took great effort to keep a scowl from my face as I surveyed the room. Most of the people in there seemed to be making advances on each other. As I watched, one man with pale blue eyes appeared to get rejected by a woman with long red hair, but instead of looking put out by it, he just moved on to someone else.
What kind of soirée had they actually invited us to?
“I imagine you must be a bit confused at this point,” Elise said as she studied the expression on my face before flicking a glance to Audrey as well.
“Yes, a little bit,” Audrey replied. There was an innocent and curious smile on her lips as she looked between Carl and Elise. “We were under the impression that this would be a dinner party.”
“Ah, yes. We kept the details vague on purpose because we didn’t want to scare you off.”
“What do you mean?”
Elise looked over at her husband. “Carl darling, would you take Audrey for a little tour while you explain it to her? And I’ll do the same to Callan.”
“Of course.” He nodded back at her before turning to Audrey and lifting a hand to motion towards the staircase farther down the hall. “Shall we?”
Audrey and I exchanged a brief glance, and I swore I could hear her damn voice in my head. Be polite and sneaky.
Then she broke eye contact and turned to flash Carl a bright smile. “Lead the way.”
Before I could say anything else, Carl disappeared towards the staircase with Audrey while Elise pulled me into the living room.
Several people looked up as we entered, and excitement shone on their faces as they ran their eyes up and down my body. I suddenly felt as though I was a bull being led through a meat market. Even though I had to admit that I liked it when people looked at me with lust and hunger in their eyes, this somehow felt different. Since I was apparently the newest addition to this group, it branded me with an air of inexperience and a lack of control. And I hated when I wasn’t in control of things.
“You’re being very mysterious, Elise,” I said as she led me towards a spot by the wall. “What is this?”
She released my arm and swept a hand to indicate the room as we took up position by the marble wall. “This is our group of friends. Everyone here shares a certain yearning for freedom and adventure.”
“Of what kind?”
“Couples can easily lose that burning spark after a few years of marriage.” She placed a hand on my arm and looked up at me with blue eyes that gleamed in the candlelight. “But if you add a little bit of spice to it, the marriage will be long and healthy and full of burning passion even after many years.”
I shifted my gaze between her face and the mass of flirting people around the room. “You switch partners, don’t you?”
“Yes. Though not for any extended periods of time. Just for a night or two, to help keep that sense of freedom and adventure alive.”
My eyes shot towards the doorway and the staircase beyond where Carl had disappeared with Audrey. “And tonight is…?”
She let out a light laugh and patted my arm. “Oh, don’t worry. Tonight is just a meeting place. I host them every few weeks to bring everyone together, and then we can all just chat with each other and see if we would like to schedule a more private meeting with someone.”
“I see.”
“So, what do you think?”
I think you need to tell your husband to get his hands off my wife. The thought had shot through my mind before I even realized it. Shaking my head, I shoved the ridiculous notion out. Audrey wasn’t even really my wife. And besides, we were here to get an invitation to the ball, which meant that I had to play along.
Letting a sly smile drift across my lips, I looked down at the hopeful expression on Elise’s face. “I think I’m intrigued.”
Relief flooded her eyes. “I’m so glad to hear that. When I saw you and Audrey, I knew from the very first moment that I wanted to introduce you to our world. I just hoped that you would be open to it.”
“I have to admit, I’ve never heard of anything like this before. If it’s okay, I’d like to take a little time to get a feel for the whole thing.”
“Of course, of course.” She took her hand from my arm and made a gesture to indicate the whole house. “Please, take a look around. I’ll be down here if you have any questions.”
“Thank you.”
After giving her a nod, I moved towards the doorway we had come from and the staircase beyond. I knew that I should be cozying up to Elise and getting her to extend that invitation, but I found myself unable to concentrate on anything while Audrey was away with Carl. I just had to make sure that she wasn’t doing anything stupid. Then, I could get back to the mission.
Taking the steps two at a time, I made my way upstairs. Dark wooden floorboards covered the hallways and the other rooms upstairs while the same white marble walls made up the rest of the structure. I ran my gaze over the expensive furniture as I scanned the area for any sign of Audrey. She was an explosion waiting to happen. If someone so much as looked at her the wrong way, she might decide to poison them all. Yes. That had to be the reason why I was worried. Why I had to check up on her.
A woman was playing the piano in the next room I glanced into, and there were several other people in there as well, but none of them were Audrey.
My shoes thumped against the floor as I strode into the final room at the end of the hallway.
There was a group of men playing some kind of card game at the round table in the middle while two other people sat on the couch next to one of the bookshelves. My gaze snapped to the couple.
Audrey laughed and swatted Carl’s chest where she sat next to him. He leaned a little closer to whisper something else into her ear while he rested his hand on her thigh. I had to suppress a sudden urge to bash his head against the wall.
Stalking into the room, I closed the distance to them with long strides.
“Audrey,” I said, my voice coming out in more of a growl than I had intended. Clearing my throat, I smoothened out my scowl and instead turned to the leech sitting next to her. “Carl, could I have a moment with my wife, please?”
Anger flashed in Audrey’s green eyes as she turned to look at me, but Carl just stood up and brushed his hands down his shirt.
“Of course,” he replied in a smooth voice. Then he glanced back at Audrey. “I’ll be downstairs.”
“I’ll join you shortly,” she said and flashed him a smile that made rage crackle through my soul.
As soon as Carl had disappeared out the door, Audrey shot to her feet and gave my chest a shove. It did nothing to actually push me back, so she tried again. I just grabbed her wrist and raised my eyebrows at her.
“What the hell was that for?” I growled down at her in a low voice.
The men around the card table were still playing, but a few of them cast curious glances at us. From over there, they at least wouldn’t be able to hear what we were saying.
“What was that for?” she repeated, her voice equally low but also dripping with poison. “What do you think? I was making progress! Why the hell did you interrupt?”
“Did he explain what this soirée is for?”
“Yes. I was playing into that to get him to invite us. Which is what you should be doing with Elise right now. Why aren’t you?”
“Because I had to make sure you weren’t about to do anything stupid.”
“You’re worried about me doing something stupid?”
“Yes. Because you’re a vicious ball of rage who might decide to poison an entire room just because they looked at you the wrong way.”
“I’m violent and unpredictable?” She stabbed her free hand against my chest. “You’re the one who carved someone’s heart out yesterday.”
“Yeah, well, he… I don’t tolerate when people disobey my orders.” Releasing her wrist, I jerked my chin towards the door. “So do as you’re fucking told and go get us that invitation without poisoning the whole building.”
For a moment, it looked like she was going to summon her magic and poison me instead, but then she flicked her gaze to the men still playing cards. Grinding her teeth, she glared up at me for a few seconds before she just stalked off without another word. I ran a hand over my face.
A whole tangle of infuriating emotions snaked through my chest, and once more, I felt an overwhelming urge to kill someone. Preferably Audrey fucking Sable.
“Wow.” One of the men at the table let out a low whistle. “Anyone know her name?”
“No, I’ve never seen her here before,” someone else answered.
“After this game, I’m gonna go and find out.” He let out a dark chuckle. “She’s feisty.”
“Yeah.”
“If she’s like this normally, can you imagine what she’s like in bed? And I love me a challenge. I bet I could find a way to tame her.”
I snapped my head towards them. “What the hell did you just say?”
Fury burned through my whole soul as I stared at the five men. They must have been able to see it through my eyes, because the one who had spoken about Audrey raised his hands in an appeasing gesture.
“I’m not looking for a fight,” he said. “You know her, I take it?”
“She’s my wife,” I growled at him.
“Ah, sorry, mate. I meant no disrespect. But I would love to talk to her and arrange a meeting later.”
It took all of my self-control not to sever his miserable head from his pathetic shoulders. Before I could say anything that would compromise our ruse, I just spun on my heel and stalked out of the room.
This mission was starting to get on my nerves. We had to finish it soon so that I could kill Audrey once and for all and finally be done with her infuriating presence in my life.
Anger rolled off my body as I stalked down the stairs, but once I reached the bottom, I had wiped all traces of it from my face. We really needed that invitation so that we could get to Lance Carmichael, because regardless of how much I hated Audrey, Lance was still a threat that needed to be dealt with first. So when I returned to the living room and found Audrey sitting next to Carl while she laughed and spoke quietly into his ear, I just sauntered over to the couch opposite them and dropped down next to Elise instead.
Draping an arm over her shoulders, I turned my full attention to her instead and flashed her a sly smile. “You know, I think I’m really starting to warm up to this.”
“I knew you would.” Elise laughed. “I recognize an adventurous spirit when I see one.”
From across the low table, I could feel Audrey’s eyes drifting to me, but I kept my gaze locked on Elise’s gorgeous face as I started discreetly steering the conversation towards the ball. It took a few tries to get the topic where I wanted it, but eventually I was at a point where I could casually say that hearing about the upcoming ball made me realize how much I missed attending grand social events in Castlebourne.
“Oh, social events in Castlebourne have nothing on the official balls in Eldar,” Elise said with a light laugh. Then she sat up straight as if she had just had a great idea. Whipping her head between me and Audrey, she slapped a hand on my arm in excitement. “You should totally come to the ball with us. Let us show you why you should really make Eldar your permanent home.”
Carl absentmindedly ran a hand up and down Audrey’s thigh. “What a great idea, honey. It will be such a wonderful event.”
“But don’t we need invitations to attend?” Audrey asked in a small and sad voice that even I believed. “We naturally haven’t received one, and it’s only two days away so I don’t expect there to be any left.”
A satisfied smile blew across Elise’s lips. “There are always invitations available for the Dawsons.”
“Indeed,” Carl said, matching her grin.
“We will have two invitations to the ball sent to your house first thing in the morning.”
Audrey looked between Elise and Carl with big green eyes. “You would really do that for us?”
“Of course.” Elise waved a hand as if it was no big deal. Then her eyes took on a serious glint as she locked them on me. “We always take care of our friends.”
“You’re far too kind,” I said, before giving her a suggestive smile. “I think the four of us are going to have a lot of fun together.”
Both Elise and Carl laughed. While they exchanged a satisfied look, Audrey and I did the same, but for an entirely different reason.
At last, we had what we needed.
Our ticket into the heroes’ ball and access to the Binder who threatened to wipe out every dark mage once he began his crusade.
Everything was ready. And with two days to spare.
We had a way in, we had a way to restrain Lance Carmichael, and we had a way to get him and us out of both the ball and the city once the deed was done. Now, all that was left was to rest up for two days while making the final arrangements.
Then, it was finally time to end this threat to our way of life.
Once and for all.
