“For you?” Elliot tapped his pointer fingers together. “It wouldn’t. You’re here to make everyone else feel good about their status. Including the Jane.”
Anger crossed Burke’s face, but it was insanely hard to feel bad for him. It was a bummer that he was the only mage physically present. He was the kind of blowhard you’d decline an invite to a really great-sounding party just to avoid.
“So you expect us to sign on to be your ally,” Maverick said, pushing his own invisible plate away, “without telling us any more about it?”
“Yes. You have it exactly right.” Elliot dropped his hands.
“What sort of assurances do we get?” Maverick asked.
Elliot pursed his lips. “I’ll discuss all of that with the person I choose to partner with.”
“And…” Maverick crossed his arms over his chest. “How do you plan to choose?”
A grin spread across Elliot’s face. “Easy. A good old-fashioned gladiator arena where you will compete against each other to sit in a room with me and hash out the plans. It is the only way you will get to see me in person. I did not hide all this time to stick my neck out the first time I have visitors. If you want your chance with me, you will have to prove your worth first.”
My stomach sank into my shoes as I looked around at the other, much more experienced mages sitting at the table. I might have more power, but that didn’t mean squat in a face-off-type battle, not without Ivy House at my back. My team was newly formed, and I was a novice. Our chances of winning were next to nothing.
“I’ll play your little game,” Rufus said slowly, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest like Maverick had. “It does not mean I consent to work with you, but I will hear you out.”
“You will attempt to claim his audience, you mean,” Maverick said. “I, too, will play this game. I see the value in a partnership and have some ideas about how we can work around Momar to achieve our goals. With some…restrictions, of course.”
“I’ll play.” Noah threw an invisible napkin onto his plate. Maverick and Rufus gave him condescending looks. “There is more to winning than the head mage’s power. My team is infinitely superior to yours. I’ve spent years building it. I’ll clean up, no problem.”
“That’s the spirit,” Elliot said.
“I’m out.” Burke sucked down the rest of his wine. “To hell with this.” He stood from the table. “Been nice knowin’ ya, Elliot. Momar is going to make an example of you, and that’s if the Mages’ Guild doesn’t get you first.”
“Hmm,” Elliot said as Burke stormed out of the room, his poison-control person hustling behind him. “Anyone else want to acknowledge their lesser magical stature?”
“I’ll acknowledge my sanity, how’s that?” Rubber Band Face rose. “I’m not going to stand against Momar. I don’t want that kind of heat.”
“And that is why you have never risen above your paltry station.” Elliot was taunting him, no doubt trying to get him to change his mind, or apply pressure to the mages who hadn’t spoken up yet.
It worked on Chambers. “I’m in. Screw it.”
“Mhm.” Elliot nodded. “You would certainly work.”
The table was quiet, just the chubby man and me left.
Cyra, who’d eaten about half my roast beef, dropped my plate back and pouted when she saw that Austin’s had been cleaned. She nudged me to get me to answer.
“Nah,” the chubby man said, standing, and I wondered why these people went through the action of walking out when they could surely just blink away like Elliot had earlier. “No disrespect, Mr. Graves. I would love to work with you. I think you are heads and tails smarter than Momar, and twice as cunning. But I can’t compete with these guys at the table. There wouldn’t be a point in trying.”
“I completely understand.” Elliot nodded as the man left. His gaze settled on me.
“Did you bring her here for lion food or something?” Noah asked.
Elliot barked out a laugh. “How could I, when it is she who brought the lions? Or whatever animals her shifters turn into.”
“Yes, but way back when they brought lions into the—”
“We knew what you meant, Noah,” Elliot said. “It is our patience that is lacking, not our intelligence.”
“Speaking of patience, this is no place for a Jane,” Chambers said, “and even less of a place for her circus animals.”
I stared into Elliot’s hologram eyes. I felt Austin’s steady encouragement and the confident impatience of Cyra. The only way we were going to get in front of Elliot was by winning these games. If I didn’t take Elliot out, he could capture me at will, and when I refused to work with him, if that was what he wanted, he’d probably kill me and my people. Even if he let me leave, he’d continue to mess with me until I finally gave him whatever he wanted.
I didn’t have much of a choice.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m in.”
Eighteen
“Okay, then.” Elliot gave me a little smile. “We have our contestants. A schedule will be delivered to your rooms tomorrow. We’ll waste no time. I suggest you get your beauty sleep.”
He waved his hands, and the holograms of the others blinked out, leaving only the Elliot hologram, Austin, and me at the table.
“You can make them disappear?” I blurted.
“My ward can keep them out, or toss them out. The power is mine. Speaking of which, I suggest you erect one outside of your door. A tripwire won’t stop these mages from having a look around.”
The server took my plate, and I lifted my napkin, getting ready to go.
“No dessert?” Cyra asked, disappointed.
“Of course dessert. What do you take me for?” Elliot flicked his hand, and the server bustled away with the dirty plates. “Now, down to business. Let me see this watch of yours, Mr. Steele. You are clearly showing off.”
Austin pushed his chair back gracefully and walked toward the hologram, sticking out his wrist.
“Yes, I knew it.” Elliot laughed and shook his head. “Who did you steal that from? Because that is not a collector’s item anyone would willingly sell.”
“I took it from my father, a long time ago.”
“He didn’t ask for it back?”
“He didn’t know I’d stolen it until it was too late. By then, he had too many of his own problems to get it back. Problems that took him to an early grave.”
“Hmm.” Elliot looked me over. “It seems Miss Ironheart didn’t like the gifts she received.”
“How do you know that name?” I asked.
“I know many things about you, Jessie. I do my homework. Rest assured, you’ll do well in the games. I wouldn’t have made them a requirement if I’d thought you’d suffer.”
“Wouldn’t you? Hmm.” I leaned back as the server came back with three dessert glasses filled with chocolate mousse and topped off with puffs of whipped cream sprinkled with chocolate shavings. Apparently, Cyra was now free to join us.
“We’ve had our differences, Jessie,” Elliot said as Cyra sampled our dishes and then started in on hers. “But we don’t have to be enemies. There is room in the magical world for the demon and the angel to coexist.”
“Not happily,” I replied.
“Well. That remains to be seen.” Elliot stood, and I noted that he didn’t have to push his chair back to do it. “Please, bring in your people and use the room for as long as you would like. No one will bother you here.” He stepped away from his place. “You’ll be going first, by the way. I’ll pair you with that fool Noah. Like ripping off a Band-Aid.”
And then he was gone, disappearing on the spot.
The breath went out of me and I sagged over my dessert. “So this is really happening.”
“That man is confident about regaining his status in the magical world,” Austin said, still standing after playing show and tell with his watch.
“He called in some power, too,” Cyra said through a mouthful. Her dessert was nearly done. “A couple of those mages seem like heavy hitters. Elliot Graves would do well to team up with either of them. Too bad he’ll be dead.”
“Shh!” I wrapped a protective soundproof bubble around us. “He might be gone, but that doesn’t mean he’s not listening somehow.”
Cyra shrugged. “He’s not stupid. He knows why you’re here. Do you think he’s afraid of the others? Not a chance. They want to use him, not kill him. He knows you’re different. He knows you’ll hit him with a kill strike the second he’s in view.”
“She’s right.” Austin put out his hand for me. “Would you care to dance?”
I felt my eyebrows climb. The string quartet was still playing, and the room was empty but for the two of us and Cyra. Still…it was enemy territory.
“Ahhmm…” I took his hand gingerly.
Austin helped me out of the chair and led me around the table to the dance floor in front of the string quartet. A balding man with a round nose and thick glasses smiled at me as he played his violin.
“You went through all this effort to get ready.” Austin rested his hand around my side and pulled me in close, his other hand holding mine. His smell permeated my world, clean and spicy and masculine. “At least you can show off how beautiful you look.”
He bent to kiss me softly before he started moving, his steps graceful and sure, his prowess on the dance floor unsurprising. My dress swished around my legs as he swung me and then twirled me, one hand always holding mine, the other directing me.
My stress unraveled within minutes, and I smiled up at him as he spun me. I was rusty, but it didn’t matter, not with his firm and commanding leadership, never letting me stumble, making me look good with each move, even if it was just Cyra and the musicians watching us.