Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Thus, I rounded the desk and knew how upset and distracted he was because that was all we did.
A quick kiss.
And then I went.
Chapter 18
Candlelight
Insider RS knowledge (or maybe just Antheme’s): the way she was able to “secret” people was using some of her dark fae magic to throw a glamour over me.
Strictly speaking, this was highly illegal. You had to register the use of a glamour so the authorities could trace any appearance you might assume back to you.
It was awesome magic, but if people could change their appearance whenever they wanted, they could rob a thousand banks (and get up to other bad stuff), and maybe never get caught.
But I guessed it was okay for the RS to use it whenever they wanted.
This meant, that evening, even if the street had been cleared, there were still quite a number of people loitering outside the front door (and they weren’t lining up to go to the Pink and Black Club), we were able to nip in her craft to the back door in the alley without a cavalcade of paparazzi chasing us.
And although there were others who were skulking in the alley to catch me or Aleksei out, they didn’t recognize me or Antheme (she’d glamoured herself too), as we ducked into a back-alley door.
As an aside: I wasn’t having pleasant thoughts about all this attention. Although Aleksei and I talked about it, and I’d watched him run the gauntlet to the door to the gallery, being in the thick of it (or, more accurately, taking such care in trying not to be), was an altogether different, and alarming, thing.
Once we were in a lift that was tucked into a private vestibule that had stunning gothic damask, black and silver wallpaper and an impressive chandelier dripping with crystals (oh, and an RS agent at the entry to it), she dropped both our glamours.
“He’s programmed you in, but he wants us to test it,” she said after the doors closed. “Put your hand on the print pad. You’ll feel a slight prick. It reads print, but it also tests DNA.”
And this would explain why we didn’t hit the landing pad and came in at the back alley. Aleksei wanted to test to make sure I could get up to his penthouse without delay.
I glanced at the silver plate gleaming against the matte black of the lift interior.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
She nodded shortly, all business, which was what I’d learned that day was Antheme.
“Also blood oxygen and adrenaline levels so if someone cut off your hand, dragged your dead body in here or forced your hand to the plate under duress, it’d know you weren’t actually the one operating the lift.”
I’d never heard of tech like that. I was impressed.
And boy, one could say that was thorough.
I put my hand on the pad, felt a minor prick, and almost instantly, my stomach dropped due to the speed with which the lift started racing up.
“Nifty,” I muttered.
“Secure,” she replied.
Mm-hmm.
All business.
“Thanks for looking after me today,” I said.
“I’d say you’re welcome, but I get paid a lot to do it. I’ve been made head of your detail, so now, I get paid a lot more than I used to. This means, if you keep thanking me, you’re going to be saying that to me every day.”
“Right,” I mumbled.
“I’m not unfriendly,” she stated in a straightforward, unemotional, thus mildly unfriendly way. “I’m a cool chick. But you’re my responsibility. I take it seriously. It’s my job to die for you. So we are never going to be that.”
“Right,” I repeated.
Message received.
The doors opened.
I knew the drill and waited while she stepped off.
However, a heavenly smell wafted in, so giving her the three seconds it took for her to return to the lift and jerk her head at me to tell me it was safe to exit was a test of willpower I couldn’t believe I bested.
But then I hit Aleksei’s penthouse.
And my whole world fell away.
I learned the low ledge in the living room wasn’t dead space.
Oh no.
The entire length of it was a fireplace, which was now lit with cozily dancing purple flames.
Thousands of pinprick drone lights floated randomly in the air all over the living and dining areas making it look like Aleksei had welcomed the night into his penthouse. The rest of the lights in that area had been set, at best, to ten percent. The effect was soft, peaceful, welcoming, but sophisticated.
Oh, and romantic.
Very, very romantic.
There was full lighting over the kitchen, however, which was an absolute disaster, sharing the intel that Aleksei was a messy cook.
There was also a cluster of white tapers in crystal candlesticks, lit and glowing around a squat oval bowl stuffed bloom to bloom with perfect, creamy-white roses. This adorned corner seating at the kitchen bar set with black plates, placemats, napkins, shining cutlery and sparkling wineglasses.