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I hesitated. Okay. But be careful. Cat, keep watch and warn Bear if anyone appears to be taking a little bit too much notice of Branna.
Will do.
I took a sip of my drink as the lights dimmed a little and a small woman with blonde hair and a pinched expression walked onto the stage. In the sudden hush, the crash of metal and glass was extraordinarily loud.
“What was that?”
Even as I asked the question, I rose and walked to the platform's edge. At the back of the room, near the foyer stairs, stood Branna, his hair a gleaming mane of gold in the room's fading light. His white tunic was splashed with red wine and his expression was thunderous, but he didn't say anything as several blue-clad figures fussed around him.
“It would appear one of the waiters has been rather careless,” Julius commented as he stopped beside me.
We have the charms, Cat said. What do you want done with them?
I hesitated. While it was logical to return them to either Jonas or Nuri, it was a very real possibility that sometime in the very near future I might need such charms myself. Take them back to the apartment and hide them under the mattress.
Okay.
As my two ghosts raced away, Branna suddenly felt his wrist and then spun around, glaring first at the floor and then at the people surrounding him. To say he was livid with fury would be something of an understatement—I could feel the heat of it even from where I stood.
“My, my, he does not look happy, does he?” Julius murmured. “I pity the fool waiter who ran into him. I suspect he will be out of work on the morrow.”
“Accidents do happen.”
“Not in the Crystal Ballroom, they don't.”
After the small woman on the stage had formally welcomed everyone, a spotlight speared the shadows now crowding the platform, highlighting a curtained area to the right of the stage. I cast a final glance at Branna; he was on the move, his gaze never still, his nostrils flaring as he neared each cluster of people. Trying to find me via scent, I suspected, which meant he wasn't aware of my ability to change mine as easily as I could change my appearance.
I moved back to my seat and sat down. A curtain on one side of the stage was pushed aside and a tall, thin-faced blonde woman walked into the spotlight. Shock raced through me, and it was all I could do to remain motionless.
Because this was the woman I'd chased through the rift in Carleen and into Government House.
Ciara Dream herself.
My fingers twitched as if desperate to reach for the weapons I didn't have. She walked toward the middle of the stage, the spotlight that tracked her movements highlighting her gauntness and the almost translucent quality of her skin. In fact, she was so pale that even from where I was sitting I could see the pulsing of her blood through the veins in her neck....
The thought died as my gaze narrowed. There wasn't an oddly shaped birthmark on her neck, and there should have been if this woman was indeed Dream.
Had she perhaps forgotten to add it when she'd last shifted shape?
No, I thought, as I studied her intently. While this woman was almost an exact replica of the form I'd witnessed Dream change into as she'd walked toward that rift, there were subtle differences. A broader nose, sharper chin, longer hands. But perhaps the biggest difference was the sheer lack of power emanating from her. The air around Dream had practically crackled, the force of it so strong—so corrupted and alien in its feel—that it had made every hair on my body stand on end.
But while this woman might not be Dream, it was pretty obvious she was closely related to the identity Dream had taken over. There could be no other reason for the similarities in appearance.
I leaned closer to Julius and whispered, “Is that your lady?”
“Yes.” He glanced at me. “Why?”
“She looks familiar, although I do not believe we have ever met.” I hesitated. “I do feel I should know her name.”
He smiled, but there was speculation in his eyes. “Indeed you should, given she is the city's chancellor.”
I smiled, even as tension stirred. “I've only recently returned to Central, and names were never my strong suit.”
“And yet she has been in the position for many years and is well known beyond the walls of this city.”
Meaning I'd just made a major mistake. I shrugged casually. “I apologize if my lapse offends you.”
