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“Okay. Let’s get you back to your seat.”
He was dancing us back to our table when a loud “Watch out!” shouted in a shrill female voice had me turning my head. Unsure which way I wanted to go, the spell faltered, and I stumbled right out of Shane’s arms and into Shelby, who had been dancing with her gargoyle mate.
I was about to apologize when a server with a mustache bulldozed into both of us, sending us barrelling into a table and almost knocking over a tower of mini tarts and petit fours.
Then Shane was there, grabbing me and shoving me out of the way right before a ball of energy hit him in the shoulder. The force of it had me reeling back. I inhaled as magic sparkled around me, and I felt it fill my lungs.
Grayson caught me. I thanked him without looking back; my eyes were completely focused on Shane, who was lying on the ground. I hurried over to him.
“Are you okay?”
He blinked, looking confused for a moment, then reached up to cup my cheek. Our eyes met, and for a moment, everything else disappeared from my world. It was just him, and me, and the magic settling around us.
It was the server who interrupted our perfect moment. He looked at us wide-eyed before quickly moving to clean up the spilled drinks we’d knocked over. I looked around. We’d drawn a crowd. Great, so much for flying under the radar.
A manticore in a guard’s uniform, the back of which was cut open to accommodate his scorpion tail and wyvern wings, appeared, his eyes moving from the frazzled server to Shane and me. Both he and the other guard next to him—who appeared to be human—held strange-looking nets in their hands, which shimmered with magic.
“Shit! That spell shouldn’t have gone off,” the manticore growled. “Are you okay, miss?”
“I’m fine.” I looked at Shane. “You?”
“I’m okay, too.” Shane did indeed look no worse for wear. “Better than ever, now that you’re here.”
The manticore guard turned his attention to Shane. “Are you sure you’re all right? We can try to figure out what that spell was.”
Shane didn’t take his eyes off me as he replied, “All good. Whatever was in that spell, I don’t think it was harmful. I feel great.”
“Perhaps. Or maybe it detected that you were not the correct recipient.”
“Could be…” Shane looked away from me for the first time to examine his body.
“I thought spells were invisible,” I said. “But I clearly saw an orb of light hit Shane in the back.”
“Yes, that’s the museum’s defense system. We didn’t want any rogue spells going off during the event. We allow illusion and other small harmless spells, but we made sure everyone knew that no significant spells were to be cast here tonight. We made any unauthorized magic visible so our security team could intercept it.”
“I see.” I was glad it wasn’t actually a giant ball of energy.
The manticore helped Shane up, then handed us each a card.
“I’m Mateo, head of security here at the museum. If either of you start feeling weird, contact me immediately, and I’ll get you to the right people.” He directed the next words to Shane alone. “We can also have Desmon’s personal wizard come take a look at you to make sure you really are unharmed, if you’d like.”
“Thanks, but no need.” Shane pocketed the card. “I feel perfectly fine. Better than perfect, even. I just want to enjoy the rest of my night.”
The guards looked around for the server, but he was gone.
By now, the crowd that had come over to ogle the scene had largely dissipated and gone back to their own conversations. I thanked Shelby’s gargoyle husband for catching me, and Shane and I returned to our table.
After that little bit of excitement, though, we found it impossible just to sit and chitchat.
“Want to walk around the museum with me?” Shane asked.
“And get away from the crowd?” I grinned. “Sounds amazing. But first…”
I dug into my clutch, pulled out the pair of emergency ballet flats I’d stuffed in there, and changed into them. I didn’t think I could wear those heels anymore. Whatever spell had been on them at the beginning of the night had completely worn off. We made our way, hand-in-hand, into the hallway.
We waited for the guard standing in front of the velvet ropes blocking off the rest of the museum from the party to step away for a moment before slipping through. We hurried down the hall, still holding hands, and once we were safely around the corner and out of earshot, I let out a soft giggle. I knew full well that we weren’t supposed to be in this area, and I felt a bit of a naughty thrill to be breaking the rules.
Shane turned me to face him. “Having fun?”
