wearing a shimmering gold suit that set off her brown skin. Her glossy dark hair fell on her back in a cascade of locks and golden jewels. She tilted her face up and began to sing, her voice rising to the ceiling, clear, pure, and tugging on some deeply buried emotion I couldn’t identify. Everything stopped. Madame Trapeze sang her heart out, pouring out emotion as if she had torn herself open for us. I had to fight to keep from crying.
Alessandro covered my hand with his. I should have pulled away, but I didn’t. I would get to the bottom of this. I didn’t know if I could pry him loose from whatever forced him into murder. I would try as hard as I could. But there was nothing to be done about it right now. We had a job to do, so I listened to the best singer I had ever heard in my life, while the only man I wanted in the entire universe sat next to me and held my hand. Whatever came after, I would always have this moment.
The last notes of the aria died. The song was over. An overwhelming sadness settled over me. We all applauded, Madame Trapeze bowed, and the lights came on.
A waiter came to clear our plates and faltered, perplexed because I hadn’t eaten anything. A new lively melody filtered through the speakers.
“Dance with me,” Alessandro said.
I put my hand in his and we made our way to the stage. He rested his hand on my back and we swayed among other couples. I had taken enough dancing lessons to not embarrass myself, but nobody around us was doing anything identifiable or complicated. Drifting in pairs seemed to be perfectly acceptable.
Alessandro drifted with a purpose, moving us slowly but inevitably to Cristal’s table.
“What are you doing?” I murmured.
“I don’t know yet.”
“That’s great.”
“It probably will be.”
Humility, thy name is Alessandro. “Were you always immune?”
“No. You sucker-punched me at your trials. Your magic was unfamiliar. But I recovered. If you’re asking whether I pretended for your sake, I didn’t. I would never falsify the test of a Prime.”
“What about when you came to see me after?”
“Back then I just wanted to get to know you better. After I received the invitation to your trials, I looked you up on Instagram. I thought you were cute. I followed you and you deleted your account. I was intrigued. Then I came to invite you for a drive, and you called the cops on me.”
“I thought you were besotted.”
“I know. You tried to save me from yourself. It was adorable. Almost as adorable as seeing you chase Conway down the hall.”
I quashed the urge to growl.
“You’re right, you know.” He raised my hand to his lips and kissed my fingers. “I am besotted.”
My face was on fire. “Stop.”
“Never.”
We were nearly to Cristal’s table. A pink flush tinted her cheeks. Her eyes were glistening, and her movements, as she leaned in to listen to a young, attractive aquakinetic Prime, were very deliberate. It was the most animated I had seen her all evening. Cristal seemed to suffer from crippling social anxiety and she dealt with it by getting drunk. It was easy to be the queen of snark online. Real life was a whole different war.
A young, dark-haired woman stepped into our way. We had two choices, to stop or to collide with her. We settled on stopping.
“Alessandro Sagredo,” she purred.
Alessandro gave her a polite smile. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.”
“Mira Fiore, House Fiore. The American branch of the family. You dated my cousin last spring, Constantia.”
Was there anyone he hadn’t dated?
The expression on Alessandro’s face cooled by several degrees. He didn’t respond, he just waited.
His silence and cold stare took some wind out of Mira’s sails, but she bravely sailed on. “My friends and I were wondering about your date.”
She wasn’t even looking at me.
“She’s basically a nobody,” she continued. “Her House is five minutes old.” Her voice rose. Other nearby couples had stopped dancing and watched us. “Her sister marrying Mad Rogan is the only thing that her family is known for. So, you could have had my cousin, but here you are with Catalina Baylor. I’d like to know why.”
Okay, that’s about enough. I didn’t even have to reach for Victoria’s granddaughter. I was already there. I looked at her, and Mira wilted.
“Go back to your table.” My voice was icy. “You’ve embarrassed yourself enough for tonight.”