… I actually came over to ask if we could talk in private. To apologize.”
“You come over to spout the rules, accuse me of cheating—and you call this the makings of an apology?”
He scratched the back of his neck, flustered. “It was my intention.”
Aaros cut in. “Why is there even a need for it in the first place?” Ice edged his voice as he narrowed a suspicious look at Demarco, then at Kallia.
Aaros wanted an explanation. He was long overdue one, she knew, and it pained her to observe the tentative trust between them waver. Her selective silence rankled him. And not once had he given her a reason not to trust him.
Then again, how easily had she trusted Jack at his word?
“Nothing to worry about. I can handle it.” Kallia delivered a reassuring pat on his shoulder. “Would you be so kind as to run to the hotel to grab my performance dress? I’d love to get it tailored before the rehearsal.”
The excuse was no lie, but the dismissal lay between them. Rather than force the issue, Aaros merely shook off her hand and strolled to the door. Not without shooting his hardest glare at Demarco, the threat clear: I’m watching you.
“You haven’t told him about the other night?” Demarco released a breath-shaken laugh once Aaros was out of earshot. “So this is why he hasn’t come at me with his fists.”
“I could easily change that, if you’d like,” Kallia said evenly. “But no, contrary to what everyone thinks, I don’t tell my assistant everything.”
Shockingly, he fired off no smug comment. Just a small, dry curl of his lips. “The trust between a magician and an assistant is a meaningful thing. He’ll help you get to that spotlight, even if it means he never reaches it himself,” he said. “Never take a bond like that for granted.”
He was right, and she hated it. “Is this part two of your apology? Telling me things I shouldn’t do?”
For a moment, Demarco looked like he wanted to snap back. Instead, his shoulders fell. “I’m quite bad at this, aren’t I?”
“Quite.” Skeptical, she looked him and up down. He was acting far more agreeable than she had thought him capable, even caught him almost smiling. “If you want to get it right this time, you can first start by saying what you’re sorry for.”
“All right,” he said, matching her arch tone with a disarming gleam in his eye. “I’m sorry for how I approached you outside your suite that night. It was…” He paused, then sighed. “I was being a complete ass.”
Honesty looked interesting on a man. Kallia tilted her head. “Go on.”
When he lifted his gaze, her hint of a smile almost tugged one out of him. “I’m not sure if anyone has said this to you yet, but … thank you. If it weren’t for you, a lot of people could’ve been seriously hurt.”
“We all know that’s not how the story’s been spun.” The other contestants and judges never said it to her face, but their silence and snide looks said well enough. “Listen, I appreciate the gesture, but what does it change? Because I have the distinct feeling I’m still not entirely cleared in your book.”
Demarco let the words sink in with a tiny nod. “Glorian has not treated you fairly, but I’m a fair man. I can’t ignore how the others are trying to create more odds and stack them against you. Unrightfully so.”
“And what are you going to do, convince them otherwise? Save the poor, defenseless damsel from the devils?” Kallia’s voice grew cold. “I already know I have to work twice as hard with all that against me. I don’t need anyone fighting for me behind the scenes. Least of all you.”
“I wasn’t going to. This business comes with many battles, so you have to get used to fighting. For yourself. Every step of the way,” Demarco said. “But the easiest way to get a rise out of those who try to tear you down is to get back up, and you’re already fighting much harder than they expected.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You’re still here, aren’t you?”
Kallia nodded, but inside, she’d become all knots. It was the first time someone had talked to her like that. Like an actual player. What a luxury it was to be taken seriously, and what a shame it had taken this long. For Demarco to be the first, after the way they’d fought, was unexpected.