Page 96 of The Shadows Between Us
“Leave that to me.” He thinks a moment. “I wonder why our contact wishes to meet you there. It’s a gentleman’s club.”
“So I will stand out in a sea of men?”
“Well, there are ladies there. They’re just not the kind who wear very much clothing.” He fades back into shadow, as though he’s trying to hide his expression. “Will that be a problem?”
“Are you asking if I have a problem dressing like a harlot for a night?”
“I wouldn’t have said it exactly that way, but yes.”
An excuse to show off my best assets to Kallias?
“How exactly would you say it?”
“I would ask if you have any issue with letting men believe you to be a lady of the night.”
I laugh lightly. “Will I be in disguise?”
“Of course. Just in case our contact does know what you look like and is only trying to mislead you.”
“Mislead us.”
Kallias brushes away the comment with a hand. “In two nights’ time, we will be the ones doing the misleading.”
CHAPTER
21
I have a sense of déjà vu when Kallias shows up in my rooms holding a dress. It was not long ago when Leandros was the one offering me a dress to enjoy a night of fun with him.
Only tonight is far more likely to be a night of danger and deception.
I hold out the garment so I can get a proper look at it. “Do I want to know where you got this?”
“It’s clean, if that’s what you’re worried about. Freshly washed.”
“There’s more to it than I would have thought.”
“I need your arms covered,” he explains. Without his shadows, we are at the highest risk of touching. Though I’m sure he will wear his own gloves, there can’t be any mistakes.
“It won’t be a problem,” I say. “With this low neckline, no one will be looking at my arms.”
“I’m counting on it.”
Kallias waits outside for me while I lace up what little there is of the bodice. I can’t wear boots to hide my knife, so I find a way to tie the sheath into one of my garters. Since I can’t very well be seen leaving my quarters like this, I don a scarlet cape over the top of everything. With the way it clasps about my throat, the sides cover my cleavage andshoulders. No one will think anything of the absence of petticoats. I’m known to wear all kinds of oddities.
When I find Kallias, he’s holding a red rose, the thorns already having been plucked from the stem. I hold out my hand for it.
“It’s not for you,” he says.
“But I’m supposed to wear a flower to mark myself.”
“And that would put you in danger. I’ll give the flower to some girl at the club to draw our contact out. Then we’ll question him properly once we have the upper hand. I have men already canvassing the area. Dressed as civilians. Some are already stationed at the club discreetly.”
“And what if your own men are in on the attempts made against your life?”
“Then I suppose we’d best hope they can’t see through our disguises.” He pulls out a blond wig for me, curled ringlets bouncing every which way. Kallias helps me to secure the whole mess over the top of my head, tucking all the strands of my dark hair beneath it.
For himself, a light brown wig and a slight beard, which he attaches with some sort of adhesive.
