Nyte pulled my hand, stopping me from blurting something that I would likely regret.
“Does wealth breed arrogance and kill manners?” I groused.
“Most of the time, yes. But I think their lack of conversation is likely the opposite; I’m gathering that Vermont is a very greedy individual who doesn’t share his wealth, even with those who keep his empire running.”
“Then why would anyone worship him?”
“Fear or superstition, perhaps. That he could curse them or damn their souls. I don’t know how he’s built such a reputation around himself. I’m most excited to find out, aren’t you?”
“You’re only excited because you know that while Vermont thinks he’s the most powerful man in the room, you could show him otherwise.”
Nyte didn’t try to hide his smile. “So could you. It’s fun to demonstrate the difference between arrogance and real power.”
“Just… don’t do anything irrational.”
“We might have different opinions on what is considered irrational.”
He was impossible.
“No murder.”
“Without cause?”
“Try not to find cause.”
“It usually finds me.”
We entered the golden palace and within was just as gilded. Beautiful sculptures of naked forms lined several wide halls, where I found other statues wearing full suits of golden armor. White pillars and marble floors broke up the gold, but even breathing the air touched my lungs with a sense of richness. The architecture was flawless, every corner, every carving speaking to a level of craft so meticulous it bordered on the divine. Yet, for all its splendor, the place was daunting. A creation so perfect it felt like it had never been meant for human hands. This wasn’t a home—it was a monument, a shrine to something heavenly.
To think that this had almost become my home made nausea upset my stomach.
“Are you all right?” Nyte asked softly.
I would pull myself together, but for a moment I had every right to be afraid to face the man who owned this place and once had every intention of owning me. Once my fear for the woman of the manor I might have been had passed, my anger took over for the woman I was now.
“Yes,” I answered him, relaxing my hand in his.
In a fancy drawing room, the rest of the crew seemed to be warming up in one way or another. Stretching, chatting, drinking. The latter I could use to calm my performance nerves. I’d never performed in front of an audience, and Nyte still wouldn’t tell me what we were doing, only that I didn’t need to prepare.
No one bothered us much, thanks to Nyte keeping an intimate hold of me. It lasted for a good amount of time before the two men and the woman from our wagon approached wearing gleaming smiles.
“Soooo,” one man sang. “When did it finally happen?”
Nyte told me their names through our bond. The tall, beautiful man with dark skin was Dale, who’d just spoken, and I recalled the pale, shorter man as Trevor.
“Uh, today, I guess,” I answered awkwardly.
“It’s about time; I’ve been tiring of hearing you pine after him all day,” the woman, Silvia, said, twirling a lock of black hair around her finger.
“The plot thickens,”Nyte said to my thoughts.“I wonder if Jose felt the same.”
My name for this evening was Calista, a red-haired beauty with a pale freckled complexion and green eyes. Nyte’s alias was Jose, who was shorter than his own height, with longer blond hair and brown eyes.
I smiled, which Silvia thought was in response to her comment, but I was picturing Nyte with half-tied-back dirty blond locks instead.
“I think I could pull it off,”Nyte said in my mind again.
I considered that image with a stoic look, until a giggle escaped me.
