Fireworks rose from the paper and popped in a few colorful swirls as one of the doormen opened our invitations.
It was such a ridiculous thing. Very few mages with that particular ability had contributed to the Great Current, which meant that these small tricks were all that people could accomplish. But it had made this mission disproportionately more difficult for us. I didn’t even think they realized that adding something like that to a piece of paper made it impossible to forge since only the person who had placed the fireworks there knew what shapes and colors they were supposed to be. The heroes of Eldar just wanted something pretty to wow their guests, and because of that Audrey and I had had to jump through hoops to score these invitations.
“Masks up, please,” the doorman said.
Audrey and I pushed our masks up so that he could see our faces. She was wearing a swirling golden mask that only covered the area around her eyes while I bore a silver one that hid the top half of my face.
A few seconds passed as the doorman looked between our faces. Then he smiled.
“Welcome to the ball,” he said as he placed our invitations in the box behind him and motioned for us to step inside.
I glanced down at Audrey as we slid our masks back in place again. She had linked her arm with mine and there was a pleasant smile on her face as she looked up at me. It really was extraordinary what an accomplished liar she was.
“Well, come on then, husband,” she said as she moved us past the men guarding the door, and took a step across the threshold.
Tearing my gaze from her, I swept it across the massive ballroom before us.
If I had thought that the Rose Hall looked magnificent on our last visit, it was nothing compared to now. All of the glittering chandeliers had been lit, and the thick red ropes that had blocked off the doors and the seating area were gone. Gigantic flower arrangements in pink, red, and green covered the empty spaces between the tables while the wide dance floor had been polished until it shone. The thousands of candles throughout the room reflected against the stained-glass windows as well as the clear crystal goblets that rested on silver platters along the tables. By one of the short sides, an entire orchestra was set up. Their music floated through the ballroom and mingled with the murmur of the countless people who already covered both the dance floor and the seats. Only the raised podium at the front of the room was empty of people.
A flash of dread shot through me.
This was it. This was our one and only chance to get Lance Carmichael before these insufferable heroes launched their attack on us. Everything had to go smoothly because we would not get another opportunity like this.
“Callan,” Audrey said, and the edge to her voice sent ice raking down my spine.
“What?” I replied while we moved a little farther into the room.
“The door.”
While keeping a neutral expression on my face, I slid my gaze towards the door to the left of the dais. The door that led into that small empty room and the exit to the gardens. The one we were going to use to get Lance out. Except, there was one problem with that now.
A thickset man in a dark suit was sitting on a chair right in front of the closed door. His arms were crossed over his wide chest, but even from this distance, I was sure I could see his eyes sweep back and forth across the ballroom.
Shit.
“Maybe he’ll move,” I said instead.
“Or maybe they noticed that you had messed with the lock on the door.”
“Don’t get so worked up. It’s probably just a precaution until all the guests have arrived.”
Though in all honesty, I wasn’t so sure.
Keeping my grip on Audrey’s arm, I steered us towards the seating area by the inner wall. I needed to find that waiter I had blackmailed. The colorful sea of people shifted around us as we moved. Audrey kept her mouth shut while we were in the middle of it, but I could feel her eyes burning holes in the side of my head.
As soon as we had reached an empty table, she opened that pretty little mouth of hers again. “I’m not getting worked up. If he doesn’t move, we don’t have a way out of here and our whole plan falls apart.”
I released her arm and pulled out a chair for her. “He’ll move.” When she just glared at me, I jerked my chin towards the dark wooden chair. “Sit down. You’re making a scene.”
Fire burned in her eyes, but she sat down and smoothened out her skirt. She was wearing a stunning gown in dark green and gold that matched both her mask and her eyes. I let my gaze drift down the tight bodice that clung to her curves while I moved to the other side of the table and lowered myself into the seat opposite her.
For a while, we just watched the mass of people around us. Or at least, I did. Her eyes were fixed on the burly guard in front of our escape route, as if she could get him to move by sheer force of will. Given everything I had come to learn about her these past couple of weeks, it wouldn’t surprise me if she actually managed to accomplish such a feat. She had to be one of the most stubborn people I had ever met, and her mind was as wickedly sharp as her tongue. And she never backed down, which I found both infuriating and rather impressive at the same time.
A familiar face appeared between a cluster of women in colorful dresses and ornate feathered masks.
“There he is,” I said in a low voice.
Audrey’s sharp eyes shifted to where I was looking. “That’s the waiter?”
“Yes. I’ll go and make sure he’s ready. Wait here.”
She let out a dismissive huff at my commanding tone but said nothing as I stood up and made my way towards the skinny man in the white shirt. The sounds of clinking glasses and laughing people assaulted my ears as the crowd swallowed me. I kept my eyes on the waiter as he moved from table to table.
“I know, Lance is such a good friend,” a female voice said from a table to my right.
Slowing my pace, I slid my gaze towards her instead. She was sitting at one of the round tables along with two other people. The two girls were wearing glittering dresses and the guy sat proudly in a dark suit, but their masks were resting on the table in front of them as if they wanted people to recognize them. And all of them looked young.
“I’m so proud of him,” she finished.
A small crowd had gathered behind them, and the brown-haired girl spoke loudly enough for everyone around the table to overhear.
“We all offered to come with him and help him fight,” the other girl said. “But he didn’t want to put us in danger, so he told us to stay in school.”
“But we would have come with him otherwise,” the guy finished with a firm nod. “After all, he is our best friend and we will always have each other’s backs.”
So, these were Lance Carmichael’s precious band of friends. I marked each of their faces as I slunk past their table before continuing my hunt for the waiter.
A pair of wide gray eyes blinked up at me as I rounded a group of men who were congratulating themselves on something. Fear flooded the guy’s face and he tried to edge a step away. I just closed the distance between us again while keeping a smile on my face.
“Remember me?” I asked.
Apparently, I had made quite an impression because he recognized me by my body and the bottom half of my face alone.
“Y-yes,” he pressed out.
“Good. Do what you would normally do, but keep your eyes on me the whole time. The minute I give you the signal to approach me, you come running. Clear?”
He swallowed. “Clear.”
“Excellent.” I gave him a hard clap on the shoulder that made him tip slightly sideways. “I’ll give you the rest of your instructions then.”
After watching him nod in confirmation, I released his shoulder and strode back the way I had come. Lance’s friends were still bragging about his heroism to all the eavesdroppers nearby, as if just being friends with him somehow gave them the right to claim glory and righteousness as well. It was pathetic. The only reputation you had was the one you carved out for yourself. Skating by on someone else’s accomplishments was a sure sign of weakness.
When the final part of the colorful crowd parted before me, I expected to find a pissed-off poison mage still waiting for me at the table like I had told her to. Instead, I found her standing a short distance away. With another man.
The stranger was tall, and from what I could tell beneath the golden mask that sat around his eyes, he was good-looking too. At least, he moved like someone who knew that he was handsome. His posture was confident and he leaned back a little when he laughed at something that Audrey had said.
I narrowed my eyes at him. Who the hell did this guy think he was?
As he straightened again, he stepped a little closer. Then he reached up and slid his fingers under a lock of Audrey’s long black hair that had gotten stuck in her mask. After lifting it away from the golden swirls, he hooked it behind her ear and then drew his fingers along her cheek on the way down.
Rage roared up inside me like wildfire.
Stalking between the tables, I closed the distance to them in a few quick strides. Audrey saw me coming, but the stranger didn’t. His damn hand was still trailing its way down her cheek when I came to a halt next to them and yanked up my own hand.
My fingers wrapped tightly around his wrist, keeping it in a death grip.
The dark-haired stranger snapped his gaze to me and opened his mouth, but he didn’t have time to get a single word out.
“Back off,” I growled at him. “She’s mine.”
Indignation flushed his face and he yanked against my grip on his wrist, but it did nothing to free his hand. So instead, he scoffed, “Yours? I have just as much right as you to flirt with a beautiful woman.”
I tightened my grip on his wrist until a small whimper of pain slipped his lips. “Unless you want to find yourself at the bottom of a shallow grave tonight, I suggest you keep your hands off my wife.”
“Your wife?” Alarm flashed in his eyes as he flicked them between my face and Audrey’s. “I didn’t know. She never said that she—”
“Leave,” I cut off.
He tried to pull his hand out of my grip once more, but I kept it there for a few more seconds while I stared him down to make sure that he really understood.
Then I released him.
The sudden loss of resistance made him stumble a step back. After casting one last look at Audrey, he scrambled away while rubbing his wrist. I watched him go before turning back to Audrey.
“What was that for?” she snapped, her eyes flashing with anger.
I just grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards the dance floor. “Come on.”
She tried to yank out of my grip until she realized that people were starting to stare. Blowing out a deep breath, she followed me willingly instead while I led us out into the middle of the shining floor.
From a short distance away, Elise and Carl Dawson waved at us and started forward as if they were planning on meeting up. We couldn’t afford to get stuck with them since we needed privacy to kidnap Lance, so I just gave them a polite nod in greeting while continuing to lead Audrey towards the dance floor. They looked a bit put out by it, but Audrey managed a really convincing smile while she gestured apologetically between me and them before she finished it off with a shrug that seemed to say, ‘what can you do?’ A knowing smile spread across Elise’s lips instead, and she gave us a nod before they disappeared into the crowd again.
Music from string instruments and a piano washed over us as I came to a halt in the middle of the dance floor and turned Audrey around while placing my hand on her back. After sliding my other hand down to hers, I moved us into the dance.
“We’re supposed to be laying low,” Audrey hissed at last, spitting out the angry words she had been holding in since the moment I got rid of that dark-haired stranger, but she still placed her free hand on my shoulder and followed my lead across the dance floor. Her green eyes glittered in the candlelight as she looked up at me, though it did little to hide the anger flashing behind them. “Threatening to kill someone is not laying low.”
“Neither is flirting with some random guy,” I threw back at her.
“It’s called blending in!”
For some reason, that answer made me feel a lot better. I studied her face for a few more seconds before glancing away and clearing my throat. “Maybe I overreacted a bit.”
Only the sounds of dresses rustling against the floor and violins playing heart-aching songs answered me. A scowl pulled at my brow when she didn’t reply, and I dragged my gaze back to her.
Her mouth was slightly open and she stared up at me in shock. “Did you just admit that you were wrong?”
I snorted. “No.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I said that I might have overreacted a bit.”
“Which is as good as admitting that you were wrong and I was right.”
“It’s not.”
“By all hell, this is a night to remember. The night when Callan Blackwell at last admitted that he was wrong about something.”
“Audrey…”
“If the history books don’t mention this, I will personally write a strongly worded letter telling them that they have missed the greatest event in Eldar’s history.”
A huff of laughter escaped my chest.
“Ha!” She grinned up at me, her eyes truly glittering with only light this time. “See, even you agree with that. Then that means—”
Dropping my hand to the small of her back, I pulled her body tightly against mine and cut her off by pressing my lips to hers and stealing a long kiss from her. She jerked slightly in surprise, but then leaned into the kiss.
“Just dance with me, Audrey,” I whispered against her mouth before drawing back again.
She looked up at me, but for what had to be the first time ever her talented tongue had no smart comeback. Shaking her head, she just let out a soft chuckle.
We danced for quite some time, and I knew that this would be the first and only time, so I savored the feeling of her body moving underneath my palm as I led her through all the dances. And through all of it, her eyes stayed locked on mine.
The people around us became a sea of color as we moved across the dance floor in tune with the music. Just when I was about to say something that I would have surely regretted, another sound interrupted.
Silver trumpets echoed through the vast ballroom, making everyone pause and turn towards the raised dais. A man in a sharp suit stood atop it. I released Audrey as we stopped dancing and faced him as well.
“Please welcome the stars of this night’s magnificent ball,” he called in a voice that boomed across the crowd. “The leader of the democratic parliament of Eldar, Chancellor Godric Quill.”
A wave of applause swept through the high-ceilinged hall as a man with gray hair and intelligent blue eyes stepped up onto the stage.
“And the hero who will once and for all end the threat that the dark mages pose to our wonderful city,” the man in the sharp suit continued as he swept his arm to the side. “Lance Carmichael!”
Deafening cheers raised the roof of the Rose Hall.
Audrey and I exchanged a glance.
It was time.
Now, we would finally get to see this faceless enemy for the first time. The student who thought he could use his power to change the world for the better. The young man who threatened to take away my freedom and everything I liked about my life, and force me back into an existence that I hated more than anything.
Lance Carmichael.
The Binder.
