Page 76 of The Isles of the Gods
“You really like him, huh?” she asks.
“What makes you say that?” I ask, practicing turning a corner.
“Well, or her. Point is, a girl comes in and buys a dress when that’s not her regular thing, there’s a reason,” she says. “Though for what it’s worth, you’re cute enough to wake Macean from his nap in your sailor clothes. Wear a killer dress if you like, but don’t change what matters.”
I knew I liked her. “Not a chance,” I reply, pausing in front of the mirror to look at myself one more time.
Though I can’t help picturing Leander’s face when he seesme.
“Can I pack up my old clothes in a bag? I’ll wear the dressout.”
She chatters while I she puts my shirt, trousers, and boots into a bag, and I tuck Leander’s little paper boat in among them between two layers of fabric so it won’t get crushed. I leave the glass magician’s stones Leander gave me in the pocket of my trousers.
Before Hallie lets me go, she shows me how to braid up my hair in a crown like the locals do, instead of letting it hang down my back. I like her—she’s infectious, laughing and smiling, and soon I am too. It feels impossible that we could be enemies.
By the time she’s dabbed a little pink stuff on my lips and cheeks, and dropped the jar into my bag for tomorrow, I’m more than ready for my mission. I lookgood,even if I mostly look like someone else.
Hallie whistles appreciatively when I turn to head out the door, and I toss her a wink over my shoulder—it’s not just the new heels putting a little more swing in my hips as I walk, and I run a hand over the green beads down my front, smiling to myself as I feel them under my touch.
The music is still pouring out from the nameless nightclub, and I glance through the door again as I walk past, letting my gaze sweep over the dancers. They move as one, all a little different but all governed by the same beat.
Now I look like one of them. In a quarter hour I’ve transformed into a Mellacean, into the sort of girl who goes to clubs, into the sort of girl who’ll walk straight up to an ambassador’s door tomorrow.
Then my gaze snags on one figure in particular, and I stop so fast, I nearly trip over my new heels. He’s in among the throng of dancers, a drink raised high in one hand, moving and laughing with everyone else.
Except hecan’tbe, because I delivered him to the Salthouse Inn less than half an hour ago. But as I stand and stare, my mouth still open, I know in my gut there’s no way I’m wrong. I could pick him out of any crowd.
Prince Leander of Alinor is drinking and dancing in a Mellacean club.
Seven hells, I’m going to wring his neck.
LEANDER
Ruby Red
Port Naranda, Mellacea
We have nothing like this at home, and I wouldn’t be allowed here if we did.
The music’s playful and wild; the dance floor’s crowded, everyone moving in time to the rhythm like a many-bodied beast. There’s a ball hanging from the ceiling covered in shards of mirror, and tiny spots of white light whirl across us like a sky full of stars racing past, as if even the heavens are moved by the rhythm all around us.
They wear the most spectacular suits and dresses here, but I worked my way past the man on the door in my shirtsleeves and trousers, accessorized with a wink and a smile. Wherever in the world I am, a party’s a party, and I’m right at home.
I down the drink a handsome boy in a very flattering waistcoat bought me as I rejoin the dancers, and it burns all the way to my gut, then tingles. I hand my glass off to a girl with a tray full of empties, and a laughing group welcomes me into theircircle, showing me how to tap and hop along with the moves they all know.
Up the stairs from this underground club, this city is poised on the edge, with protests outside my country’s embassy, a port full of ships being searched and taxed. All of it in preparation for a war I could have prevented.
Behind me is a string of deaths for which I can never atone, friends and sailors and innocents burned to death, shot, drowned.
I am irredeemable, and I’ve always known it. And now that we’ve slowed down, I’ve had time to come face to face with the knowledge all over again.
But this place is carefree, and I’m going to submerge myself in it until everything vanishes. I’m going to find a moment’s relief, even if that’s all I can get. I need it desparately.
If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s hide from responsibility, and this is the perfect place to try.
Someone lays a hand on my shoulder, and I swing around, ready to fall into a dance with them, and then…uh-oh.
It’s Selly.
