We fell silent, both of us haunted by the ghosts of our Christmases past.
Elsa Eisen tinked a fork against a champagne flute and asked people to start taking their seats. The members of the Turtle Doves ballet troupe climbed the stage steps and disappeared behind the enormous Christmas tree to finish getting ready for their performance.
“You ready?” I asked.
“Yeah. Everyone’s distracted, and I won’t get a better chance than this.” Charlotte fiddled with a silver button on her coat. “Can you still hear me?”
Her voice echoed in my ears, as well as sounding in the air beside me. I touched the fake diamond in the center of my bow tie. “Yep. Can you still hear me?”
“Crystal clear.”
In addition to cameras, we were both wearing communication devices that let us hear and talk to each other, although we had been largely silent over the past few hours as we had made our way to the castle separately, her with the waitstaff in a van, me with the guests on the gondola lift.
“Good luck,” I said.
“You too.” Charlotte flicked my bow tie in another teasing motion. “Try not to get into too much trouble drinking champagne, Dundee.”
I winked, then toasted her with my flute. “I can make no such promises, Numbers. Swanning around is dangerous work.”
Charlotte laughed and brushed her fingers against mine, and I resisted the urge to curl my hand around hers. I always wanted to touch her, to feel her warm skin melting into my own, but when we had first met at Section headquarters, Charlotte had thought I was going to take advantage of her, and I had promised never to touch her without permission. She had given that permission long ago, but I still kept my promise as much and as best I could.
Besides, denying myself now would make it all the sweeter when I finally did touch her later on.
Charlotte’s fingers dropped away from mine, and she headed to the back of the ballroom. She loaded some champagne flutes onto her tray, then strode out a side door. Once she had infiltrated Elsa’s office and downloaded the files, we could slip out of the castle and enjoy the rest of our night together.
For the first time in a long time, I was actually looking forward to Christmas morning, and it was all because of Charlotte.
People drifted toward the cushioned chairs lined up in front of the stage, but I maintained my position along the wall, once again scanning the crowd. According to my count, most of the security guards were now in the ballroom, watching over the Nutcracker Ruby. Good. That would make it easier for Charlotte to get to Elsa’s office undetected.
A shadow appeared next to mine on the floor, and a familiar energy filled the air. “Hello there, Slick,” a low voice murmured. “Fancy seeing you here.”
A thirty-something man was now standing beside me. If I hadn’t felt his strong, smooth energy, I wouldn’t have seen or heard him approach at all.
He was a bit taller than me, a few inches over six feet, and much more heavily muscled. A trimmed goatee adorned his chin, and his black hair was short, although it had grown out since I had last seen him a few weeks ago at the Moondust Diner. His light brown eyes and ebony skin gleamed under the lights, as did his large diamond cufflinks, which flashed like the real deal, unlike the square cubic zirconia in my bow tie. Just like me, he was wearing a tuxedo, only his was made of crushed black velvet, while his bow tie and shirt were a sleek black silk.
Despite his genteel appearance, Gabriel Chase was anything but gentle, and the former Section 47 cleaner was just as skilled and deadly as I was.
“Hello, Gaby,” I drawled. “What an unexpected surprise.”
He snorted. “Gaby? Really? Is that the best you can do?”
“Well, it’s not nearly as catchy and original as Slick, but if you don’t like it, I’m sure I can think of another nickname for you.”
Gabriel snorted again and took a sip from his champagne flute. His gaze swept over the ballroom in a cold, assessing way. “Where’s your smarter, better half?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He snorted for a third time. “Don’t play dumb with me, Slick. If you’re here, then that means Charlotte is here too. The two of you have been joined at the hip lately, in more ways than one.”
I bristled. “Is that a problem?”
I didn’t care if Gabriel Chase liked me or not, but I wanted us to get along for Charlotte’s sake. Gabriel and Charlotte had grown up together, and the two of them were good friends who exchanged favors from time to time. Charlotte had gotten a loan from him to help pay off her grandmother’s medical bills, and Gabriel had also stolen the Grunglass Necklace from the Halstead Hotel and helped her expose the moles inside Section 47.
“Nah. I’m happy Charlotte finally found someone to watch her back inside Section.” He smiled, but the expression was all teeth, and his smoky gray aura pulsed with a dark, dangerous light. “But if you ever hurt or betray her, I’ll reach inside your chest and pull your heart out where you can see it. And then I’ll wad it up and throw it away like a piece of paper.”
It wasn’t an idle threat. Gabriel Chase was a phaser, a paramortal who could move his entire body through doors, walls, and other solid objects. Yanking my heart out of my chest would be as easy for him as pulling money out of my wallet was for me.
“So where is she?” Gabriel asked. “And what are you two doing here?”
“Charlotte is taking care of something, and then we’re going to enjoy a nice little Christmas holiday.”
His eyes narrowed. “A holiday that involves Section business?”
“Something like that.”
Charlotte and I still worked for Section 47, but ever since the moles had been discovered inside the D.C. station, we had kept our missions to ourselves, especially our quest to hunt down Henrika Hyde.
We had both been extremely careful, but Henrika had still slipped away from us time and time again. No one could be that bloody lucky, which meant someone was tipping her off about our movements. I didn’t know who it could be, though. Charlotte and I both trusted Gia Chan and Evelyn Hawkes, who were the only two people who knew our exact mission details.
Oh, I was sure other people suspected we were hunting Henrika, including Joan Samson, a Section liaison and friend of mine. Joan had been involved with Graham, and she wanted revenge for his death just as badly as I did. More than once, she had asked to assist Charlotte and me, even though I hadn’t told her what we were doing. But Joan would never help Henrika, which meant someone else inside Section was tipping off the paramortal arms dealer, and I was going to find out exactly who, just as soon as we captured her.
“Ahh,” Gabriel drawled. “So you and Charlotte are here on the down-low. Kind of sad when you have to run an off-the-books mission from an organization that is already off the books itself.”
I shrugged. “You know how it is at Section 47. You never quite know who you can really trust.”
A harsh laugh escaped his lips. “Tell me about it.”
This time, I gave him a speculative look. “You ever going to tell me exactly what you did to get kicked out of Section? They don’t normally let cleaners of your skill just walk away.”
Gabriel took a swig of champagne, although his lips puckered as though he’d downed a bitter poison.