Wicked After Midnight(77)

Monsieur,

I am regrettably detained tomorrow. I will attend you the day after, when my schedule is entirely open. Such is the life of a star.

Yours,

La Demitasse

Double-checking the note once more for silly mistakes, I folded it and skipped downstairs to put it in Blaise’s hand.

“Take this directly to Monsieur Lenoir, please.”

He stared at the paper, then looked up at me quizzically. “Désolé, mademoiselle, but I’m not allowed to leave Paradis.”

I’d seen him running so many errands in the cabaret that I’d assumed he performed such duties all over town.

“Why not?”

He shrugged. “Not sure, mademoiselle. But Bea says I mustn’t, so I don’t. Never been outside.”

I fought the urge to crush Blaise in a hug. A young, vibrant, lively boy, and he’d never been outside? Never ridden the elevator up the Tower? Never danced through the streets or played ball with the other daimon boys under a bright blue sky? It was possibly the most depressing thing I’d ever heard. But since it didn’t seem to bother him too much, I didn’t want to make it seem like a big deal.

“I’ll ask Auguste, then. Thank you.”

He ran off, and I found Auguste and sent him on his errand. As I passed the open door of Blue’s workroom, I found the old daimon bustling around a huge dress on a mannequin.

“Is that for the ball?”

She sighed and poked her needle through a ruffle. “Of course, kid. Everything is. You ever been to a cabaret ball?”

“Nope. Never been to a ball at all.” I was pretty sure Homecoming at Riverdale High didn’t count.

She shook her head sadly and jabbed the needle through the fabric, pulling it taut again and again. “It ain’t the sort from fairy tales. Normally, I’d tell the girls to relax and enjoy it. But I think I just need to remind you to step lively and not kill anybody that grabs you wrong.” She gave me a significant look over her half-moon glasses. “Daimons and Bludmen got a lot in common, but you got to understand. We’re not predators. We’re prey. The girls here need what the men give them and don’t mind the exchange most clients demand. Like eating a food that ain’t your favorite—you can still live on it, can’t you? Don’t judge ’em for it. If you don’t want something, just disappear. Understand?”

I wasn’t sure that I did, but I ran a hand over the thick corset and long, frothy skirt. “This is for me, isn’t it?”

She nodded, a pin sticking out from the corner of her mouth. “I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but be careful out there. You stay in Paradis, you’re mostly safe. You leave here, bad things could happen. Did they tell you Victoire disappeared?”

I shook my head. “No one tells me anything.”

“They keep it quiet. But it’s getting worse.”

I glanced into the hallway, too worried to ask if girls ever disappeared from the pachyderm.

“You got somewhere to be, don’t you, kid?”

I sighed and looked at the door. “More of the same.”

“Girls come here, they want to be stars. You know what stars want?”

“What?”

“They want to be girls again. And they can’t. Not ever. Now, go.”

I hurried out the door and down the hall, feeling for the first time as if I was avoiding something besides grasping hands. Blue’s words had made me feel small and helpless, and the pachyderm and a throat full of blood seemed a good enough place to hide my blazing cheeks from her pity. I darted through the drizzle, head down, and ducked into the elephant’s leg, leaving my waterlogged boots to dry on a step. Upstairs I found the duke, the first man who’d written me and the first one who’d purchased my time. When I saw him standing there, wine bottle in hand, my heart sank. What if he wanted more than what I’d given him last time? What if he wanted what the daimon girls were glad to provide?

And if not him, what of the man with the deepest coin purse tomorrow?

“Bonsoir, monsieur,” I said coyly.

“La Demitasse, you’re a vision.” It was a lie. I was sodden and shaking. He poured a glass of wine and held it out enticingly. I could smell the unicorn blood and snow from across the room, and I wanted it. Badly. All of it. I bit my lip. I had to take control. And there was only one way.

I sashayed across the room, took the goblet from his hand, and sipped delicately, savoring the kiss of blood and magic on my tongue. But then I set it down and stepped close to whisper in his ear.

“It is delicious, monsieur. But there’s something I want even more.”

I could smell the change in blood flow as his face went red and he swallowed hard. I untied his cravat and pulled him toward the couch by his jacket lapels. He followed willingly, the powerful diplomat reduced to a hungry, overexcited little boy. He said nothing, his mouth hanging open like a randy goat’s.