“Of course! Anything for you,HerreLarsen. Where would you like to go?” Emil says with his beaming smile, and I wonder what in seven worlds Ström did to be forever in his good graces and merit the best suite in the hotel, anytime. It’s not a conversation we can have tonight, though, as Ström negotiates with Emil to get us tickets into the club.
A place that won’t let in casual outsiders—ever.
“We need to get into The Chartreuse. Think you can manage that?” Ström says with more seriousness now as he stares Emil down.
“I thought you were already good friends with the Proprietor and the Proprietress?” Emil says, taken aback now as he glances between us.
“I am, but my friends here are not. Not quite yet.” Ström watches Emil.
“You’ll need to take The Test, then.” Emil looks at Ström now, as a deeper shrewdness takes him. He glances at Bjorn and me. “They both will.”
“Lay it on us,” Ström says far more breezily than Emil’s manner, as if he’s not concerned. “We are no threat to the Proprietor and the Proprietress, nor any of the other clientele of The Chartreuse. We’re just looking to have a good time tonight.”
“Alright.” Though Emil balks, he at last steps behind the desk. Motioning us to a more secluded spot behind some greenery, he unlocks a vault beneath the desk, similar to the one we use at the Red Letter Hotel Paris, and removes an item from it.
“First, state your name. Then swear upon this object that you mean The Chartreuse no harm, and it’ll approve you for tonight’s VIP list.” As he extends it to Ström, Emil frowns. Ström takes it easily, however, and I see it’s a tiny green dragonfly charm made from diamonds and peridots, perfectly chartreuse in color.
It’s then that I feel power emanating from it—serious power. Closing his hand around the object, Ström glances at me and Bjorn. I hear his thoughts now, as he opens them to us, Bjorn hearing them, as well.
You have to swear upon this object that you mean Mikkel and Lærke no harm, nor their club, nor anyone in there tonight.Ström tells us mind-to-mind now, so Emil can’t hear.If the dragonfly deems you swear false, it’ll kill you. It’s an extremely potent charm, made from pure Bone Magic—Lærke’s design. But Mik’s energy is in it, also, and together, they’re a potent combination… If you have any reservations about the twins, now’s the time to set them aside. We have to find them tonight and we can’t just bust in there as ourselves, since they already know I’m a wanted man with the Council and could lead the Knights right to them. We have to be approved as our alter egos. I’ll go first.
Bjorn and I don’t even have a moment to object, before Ström gripsthe little green dragonfly in his fist. “My name is Axel Larsen, and I swear I mean The Chartreuse no harm tonight.”
Fortunately, the thing seems to take Ström at his word, and doesn’t care that he lied about his name. As I feel a dark flare of Bone Magic, then a smooth hum of approval ring from the green dragonfly, Ström smiles, then opens his palm. I see his hand has been marked with the imprint of the little bug. Done in beautiful chartreuse tattooing, the design is Blood Dragon in nature, but scripted through with the tiniest phrases of rune-magic.
Which hum with quiet power, as they give Ström his in tonight.
“Done.” He hands it to Bjorn. “Next.”
Bjorn growls as he receives the little jeweled dragonfly. I feel emotions cascade through him, then. Even though he hasn’t met the Thorsens yet, he knows my first impression of Mikkel and Lærke wasn’t good, and not just because my magic rose hard for a new bond the moment Mikkel mate-tasted me.
Bjorn has beef with the twins already, especially Mikkel. But with a deep sigh, I see his gold eyes clear as his practical side comes online. Regardless of our feelings about them, we need the twins’ help. I see Bjorn decide he doesn’t mean them harm—at least, not tonight.
Tomorrow might be another matter, as he grips the jeweled dragonfly in his fist.
“My name is Anders Karlsson,” Bjorn says now, his iron mind recalling his alter ego, “and I swear I mean The Chartreuse no harm tonight.”
The green dragonfly floods with energy, then chimes with the same sound it made with Ström. Before I know it, Bjorn is handing the object to me.
And I hesitate, wondering if there’s another way.
There’s not, Rikyava.Ström’s voice cuts into my mind as he holds my gaze.Mikkel and Lærke are clandestine on a regular day, and you can bet they’re even more so now that they know they’re being hunted. We won’t findthem if we just truck on down there ourselves tonight and bang on the door. We need an in. Some way for them to at least trust us for tonight. This is it.
I want it known that I think this is a bad idea,I say as I grip the object, feeling dark surges of power coming off it now that it’s in my palm. Ström only holds my gaze seriously, then nods.
And I know I have to do or die tonight.
I think back over the Danish twins as I grip the little jeweled dragonfly in my fist. I don’t exactly mean Mikkel harm; in fact, my drakaina surges high in my veins now just considering him, and that lovely, disastrous mate-taste we shared when we met.
His power surges through me now, tasting me again via the little object he and his sister made pulsing in my palm. Like the darkest, most sensual aphrodisiacal cordial, it rolls me.
As everything inside me sears with heat.
“My name is Annika Johansson,” I gasp as that power floods me, “and I swear I mean The Chartreuse no harm tonight.”
Like a bonfire out of control, Mikkel’s power in the little charm has grabbed ahold of me now, and it isn’t letting go. I feel it war inside me with my bright drakaina, and my darker Bone Magic power. But this is the hot battle of the fuck and not the fight.
At least, not any kind of fight that doesn’t end in fucking.
