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Chrysanthos did not perform the steps. He worked them like a spell. When the dance brought them near, he lunged toward her. “It has taken me this long to corner you without your slavering liegehound to protect you, and I don’t mean the Knight with four legs.”
Cassia danced away before their shoulders could touch. “Corner me, Honored Master? That sounds rather like a threat.”
He stalked around her again. “You’re a better listener than I thought.”
She matched him, watching him. “I hardly need my ears after you gave me a noseful of your intentions the other night. Where there is smoke, there is fire. But where is your chimney at present? Did Master Skleros stay home from the dance because he has two left feet?”
“The Hesperines insulted him by refusing to invite him to the Grand Ball. They gave a ridiculous excuse about not overcrowding the building and causing a fire hazard.”
“It is a wonder they found room for a hazard like you.”
“Watch your tongue.” Chrysanthos clapped a warning in her ear. “I do not need my colleague’s assistance to instruct a little girl.”
“Do tell him to expect me later. I have yet to properly thank him for sharing his smoke with me.”
Chrysanthos let out a haughty laugh. Too haughty. Too quick. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Was he denying it, or had she really caught him by surprise? “Of course not. You wouldn’t know anything about your dear friend rolling a smoke of Apprentice’s Toddy just for me and dosing me with enough for Eudias’s entire mastery class. I’m sure you had no intention of sending me into the faint that had the Kyrians despairing of my life.”
She paid careful attention to the Dexion’s every minute reaction. The extra tension in his hands. The especially blank court face. She might have explained those away. But when the hair on the back of her arms stood on end, she knew she was dancing with an alarmed war mage.
Nothing could go wrong, she reassured herself. Unless she betrayed to him that he played on her fears.
Chrysanthos recovered his smile and accompanied her smoothly in a turn. “My lady, I know our previous conversations have not always been cordial, but you cannot really believe I would stoop to such a mean tactic against a defenseless woman.”
“I am sure you are the last person who would be delighted for your dear friend to rid you both of my interference! You and Master Skleros must have thought I would have a long, harmless rest while the two of you set sail with Elder Firstblood Kassandra and hunted for the Akron’s Torch in the scrimshaw.”
“Basilis, you are a very clever woman. You should know better than to make such wild accusations.”
“I get the impression you should know your colleague better. Did he take matters into his own hands? Is he, perhaps, a little out of control?”
“You may lay your fears to rest. Why would either of us do harm to you when we recognize your potential value to us? I invited you to dance so I can give you another opportunity to assist me in my endeavors.”
“Go to Hypnos, and take the Gift Collector with you.”
The music signaled a change of partners. She smiled at Chrysanthos as she danced away from him, and Kia seized him. Cassia went right into Lio’s hands. She breathed a sigh of relief and held him as close as she dared.
“That bloodless vulture stole our dance,” she said. “I’ll make him pay.”
“Cassia, he’s seething. This is too dangerous. I’m afraid of how he’ll retaliate.”
“Remember when Lord Ferus threatened me at the dance in Tenebra?”
Lio’s jaw clenched. “He was a brainless oaf. A violent, wicked one, but not a war mage!”
Cassia touched her shoulder to his. “I am capable of handling war mages, as well. Especially since this one is behaving like a brainless oaf. It’s just as we said—the Dexion is off his game. He didn’t know Skleros dosed me.”
“What? You mean the necromancer is acting on his own? He might even have his own plot…”
“See how much information I’m extracting from Chrysanthos? I have him right where I want him.”
“I want to amputate his hands for touching you.”
“You must content yourself with burning up his rooms, and I with making him regret he ever asked to dance with me.”
She withdrew her hands from Lio’s. He watched her return to Chrysanthos with anything but acquiescence in his gaze.
Chrysanthos grasped her. “That was a very unwise answer.”
