I took out the gold I’d carried with me for emergencies. ‘I was going to give this to her as payment.’ I gazed at it ruefully. ‘I’m not sure what to do with it now. I’m tempted to throw it at him. Maybe I’ll get lucky and hit an eye.’
The stripper stared. ‘That’s a shitload of money.’ Her expression soured and I immediately knew what she was thinking. I was Sidhe; to me this was probably small change.
I bit my lip. ‘I’d give it all away if I could just confront him. Let him see what he’s given up for that bitch. I don’t really want to hurt him but I’d love to bring him down a peg or two.’ I sighed loudly. The best way for this to work would be for her to make the suggestion but I could only lead her so far. ‘He’s got a bunch of minders with him though. They’d never let me get near him.’
I could see her mind working through the possibilities. I was holding the equivalent of more money than she’d probably ever seen in her life; she had to weigh up the chance that she would get fired versus the chance that she could be set up for years to come. I held my breath. Come on, love. You want to do this.
‘Well,’ she said slowly, ‘you could always take my place.’
Yahtzee. ‘What do you mean?’ I asked, looking surprised.
She dug into her coat pocket and pulled out a pretty feathered mask. ‘I usually wear this when I go in to these kind of parties. Some men like imagining you could be anyone, you know? I wasn’t going to bother because of today’s outfit.’ She opened her coat and I caught a glimpse of a fake police uniform. ‘But it’d let you get in and close to him and then you could say your piece.’ Her eyes drifted back to the gold in my hand. ‘I’m all for the sisterhood.’
I threw back my head and laughed. ‘I’d just love to see the look on his face. But won’t you get in trouble with your boss?’
She shrugged. ‘I’ve been thinking of finding something else to do with my life. These hours suck and there are only so many times you can let men paw at you before it becomes tired.’
I nodded. ‘I hear you.’ I thrust out my hand before she could think about it any further. ‘Here, take this in return. You’re doing me a massive favour and I won’t forget it.’
She took the gold and hefted it before it disappeared into her coat. ‘You’re really not going to hurt him?’
I met her eyes, hoping she could see the truth; I didn’t want her to feel bad about this in any way. ‘No,’ I said. ‘I really won’t. I just want to say my piece then maybe I can get on with the rest of my life.’
‘Amen to that,’ she murmured. ‘Well, good luck to you. Someone will come out soon and tell you when it’s time.’ She smiled slightly. ‘Don’t get hurt.’ With that, she whirled round and took off into the night.
I grinned. That was easier than I thought.
There was a flash of light and Bob appeared, two points of colour high on his cheeks. He was absolutely furious. ‘What on earth do you think you’re doing, Uh Integrity? This is not part of the plan! I thought you were going to hide in the corner and watch him. Do this and you’ll get caught and everything we’ve done up to now will have been a complete waste.’ He threw up his hands. ‘If you want your revenge on Byron so badly then ask for your last wish. I’ll do what I can to minimise the damage. But you can’t throw everything away because you’re feeling hurt that he’s moved on.’
I was touched by his concern. ‘Chill, Bob. I’m not going to get caught. And I’m not looking for revenge.’
‘Then what are you after?’ he demanded.
The truth was that I wasn’t entirely sure. The glimpse I’d caught of him back at the Cruaich had started up a strange, yearning itch, one that I’d never be able to scratch again. Maybe this was my last chance to get my kicks with Byron before all hell broke loose. Maybe I thought I could find out what he and his father were up to. Or maybe I was just a fool. I suspected it was the latter but it didn’t matter now; I was set on my course.
‘Never mind,’ I said dismissively. ‘But if I can use Illusion to pretend to be Aifric and get away with it—’
‘Almostget away with it.’
‘Then,’ I continued, ignoring his interruption, ‘I can use it to pretend to be that woman.’
He stared at me. ‘You’re going to pretend to be a stripper? Do you even know how to strip?’
‘Ha!’ I scoffed. ‘It’s taking your clothes off, Bob. I do that every single day.’
I concentrated, pulling out the magic and telling myself to mimic every part of the stripper, seen and unseen, until I was transformed. It couldn’t just be coincidence that I’d ended up with more Illusion than any other Gift. This was meant to be.
I examined myself. Instead of my usual pale, milk-bottle skin, I had an all-over tan. I whistled. Damn, I looked good. I checked underneath the coat. Hmm. I was also dressed as a policewoman as the stripper had been. Talk about stereotypes. I glanced at the mask she’d given me and, deciding the Illusion was more than good enough, discarded it.
I gave Bob a twirl. He huffed and looked away. ‘Stay out here,’ I told him. ‘It’ll be safer for you that way.’
‘Don’t come crying to me when you end up in a real grave instead of an imaginary one.’
‘Everything will be fine.’
He sniffed loudly and vanished just as the back door opened and a rush of noise greeted my ears. A face peered out. ‘Chardonnay? Is that you? Are you ready?’
Chardonnay? Good grief. I smiled and nodded. At least my voice would be less of a concern this time around. I pitched my tone slightly higher to match the real Chardonnay’s. ‘Who am I looking for?’
