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The question alone was enough to nudge me into the Other. The walls and company vanished in a stomach-flipping jolt, leaving me on an empty plane with only myself and a handful of spectral figures. A Magni, outlined in red. Another Sooth in forest green. Two others whose talents I could not recognize. Demery himself had an odd aura about him, but before I could think too hard on that, Mary appeared.
I dragged myself back out of the Other, took a second to let my vision clear, then murmured to Slader, “She’s coming.”
The door opened and Mary entered on the arm of none other than Charles Grant. Grant looked well into his cups, flushed and subtly leaning on Mary for support.
Mary caught sight of me and stopped in place, staring in sudden apprehension. Grant staggered and she steadied him without breaking her gaze, her arm suspiciously easy around his back.
Baffled, I stared back. Last time we parted, she had looked at me so softly. She had evenseemed—daredI thinkit—eagerto see me again tonight. What had changed?
She pressed her lips into a cool, thin line, and broke my gaze. Unspeaking and unsmiling, she left Grant on a chaise and moved to stand next to Demery. Firelight ran up the side of her gown and angled across her chin, hiding the flush of her cheeks within a bar of shadow. But I did not miss a few red marks on her neck.Teeth?
I turned to study Grant. He met my gaze and offered a small smile. No guilt or gloating or possessiveness, but something else. He looked away and hiccupped surreptitiously.
Demery began to talk, introducing Mary and lauding her skills as a Stormsinger. Mary refused to look at me again but I felt the weight of her focus, and saw twitches of emotion across her face. I could not decipher them, too fast and too complex, but they felt like stones in my stomach.
Something had happened since the last time we had met. Something drastic, and it had tarnished me in her eyes.
I was so fixated on her that when I slipped into the Other again, I barely noticed. The rest of the room faded but she remained, staring at me without looking at me.
I had never seen her so close, not on this Second Plane. She wore no elaborate gown here, though her hair was still piled high. Instead, she wore her power, the soft teal of a Stormsinger. It was hedged with her signature grey and highlighted every curve of her, blurring the details but leaving little to the imagination.
Beauty. Power. The words lost meaning the longer I looked. And I knew, very clearly, why her disregard hurt me so deeply.
I cared for her. Wanted her. Deeply, painfully, and inexplicably.
So lost was I in that understanding that when another glowing figure stepped into my vision, I was slow to give it proper attention.
The red aura of a Magni surrounded Benedict. Without seeing me, he turned towards Mary and his power flared into a predatory madder.
I lunged back into my flesh and shot to my feet. Benedict’s gaze snapped to me and we stared at one another over the heads of the startled company.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I growled.
“Dear brother.” Benedict regained his composure and tilted his head in a condescending nod. “I appear to have wandered into the wrong room.”
“Twins!” the man with a drink resting atop his paunch guffawed. He took a drink, adding into his cup, “How entertaining!”
“How rude of an interruption,” the blonde-haired woman countered.
“Yes,” Demery agreed. “Lads, take your dispute outside.”
“No,” Slader cut in, his voice cold and decisive. “Mr. Samuel Rosser, sit back down. Mr. Benedict Rosser, be on your way.”
Benedict glanced from me to Mary to Slader, then proffered a short bow. “Sir.”
Just like that, Benedict was gone and I remained on my feet, glaring a hole into the door.
“Sit down,” Slader grated. “What is wrong with you?”
I obeyed but did not explain. Mary was staring after Benedict too, but as I sat she looked back at me. She reached a hand up to the base of her throat and refocused on Demery.
The revelation that I had a twin had not ruffled her. She had already known. And those marks on her neck? The sudden change in how she looked at me?
That was Benedict. What had he told her? What had he done to her?
What had he compelled her to do?
It took all my willpower to stay in my chair as Demery talked on, the company posed questions, and numbers began to pass between the pirate and potential investors. Mary remained next to him, the reminder of the pirate’s ability to complete his proposed venture. But her attention was somewhere else.
