You’re going to be stunning, Maiko informs me.
Not now.
You’ve been here for forty-seven minutes.
I’m almost done.
You said that five minute ago.
Maiko, I’m going to stab you if you don’t go away.
In the corner of my eye, I see her holding up a black dress. So violent. Please, pretty please, Kaya ? This banquet is going to have some of the most important people in Europe and Asia.
I’m almost done.
Are you sure ?
If I bypass the firewall using a SQL protocol, I can load the XML into the CSS stack and update the database to cross the JavaScript and SVG streams . . . When the screen lights up in red code, I breathe a sigh of relief. And I’m in !
Maiko’s voice is stunned. You breached the firewall ?
You didn’t think I would ?
Well, no, she admits. No one alive has been able to do that.
When I narrow my eyes at her, she hands me the black dress.
I hesitate. I don’t know . . .
Kaya, you have curves to die for. With that red hair, you’re going to look like a femme fatale. Like Scarlet Johansson as the Black Widow.
Well . . . that’s definitely badass.
I take the dress. Before she dances out of the room, she says, Quick question.
Yeah ?
Does this nose ring go with my outfit ?
The half-moon septum ring is silver, and I have never been more jealous of a piercing before. You know, Ren is pretty much going to be worshipping the ground you walk on tonight, I tell her. That’s a yes.
She laughs, closing the door behind her.
Alone, I finally have time to look at myself. I slip the dress on, tugging it up. It clings to every curve of my body, enhancing the hourglass shape. The swell of my breasts is visible and the satiny black fabric touches mid-thigh. Mai was right about being a femme fatale.
I look like the kind of girl who breaks the rules.
And I almost don’t recognize herthat girl in the mirror. But when I smile at her, she smiles back. She has golden-red hair. Piercing green eyes. She is . . . she’s beautiful, and she’s me. I have never looked at myself this way before, and I like it. The confidence. The power.
There is a knock on the door.
Come in, I call out, stepping back from the mirror.
Veah opens the door. Maiko and Ren already left for the banquet
When she sees me, her eyes darken.
And heat spikes in my blood. At the thought of that grey suitwhat it would be like to rip it off her. To touch her again. I am craving herI am craving cherries.
Kaya. Veah’s voice is rough. You look . . . you are sensational.
I blush. You look hot, too.
Are you ready ?
A nod. I hacked into the Drakon. Okami should be worriedI stabbed right through the inner defenses. She’ll know we’re not bluffing about giving away the formula. And . . . Bastian ?
Good, Veah says. And Bastian is tied up in the bathtub. He’ll wake up in the morning. Okami won’t know about him for a while, so tonight, she’ll still think we’re loyal to her.
This is going to be one hell of a party, I say.
A crazy night, she agrees. But before we gothere’s one thing.
Please tell me it involves fucking you, I breathe. Really hard. Right now.
Veah’s eyes are glossy with thunder. No. But . . . I think you’re going to like this a little bit more.
Really ? I say doubtfully, as she pulls me towards her. Because if you don’t fuck me right now, I’m going to shred this gorgeous suit to pieces and fuck you.
No, you’re not, Veah says darkly. There’s no time.
I grab her by the lapels of her suit. Dare me.
Veah shakes her head. Trust me, Kaya. You’re going to like this much, much better. But it’s going to have to be a secret until later tonight.
Aren’t we going to be late ?
It won’t matter, Veah says, her eyes scanning mine. But nobody can know until later. Not even Maiko and Ren.
A secret ? I whisper against her lips.
A secret, she says, and she kisses me.
Where were you ? Ren asks, as we find them at a table. You’re over an hour and a half late. Okami is spitting fire that we got ourselves invited to the Mafia hotspot of the century.
I pause. How did we get ourselves invited to the European trade deal ?
I slept with the Queen of England, Maiko says.
Ren rakes back his silken hair. They needed a board of health professionals. They’re going to test the drug out here, later tonight. They want qualified doctors to see if it’s a worthy investment. And besides . . . Kaya, your nameand Veah’swas on the guest list. Okami, for some reason, wants you here.
I don’t have to think of what that means if Okami invited us here herself. Because it hits me, then. What Ren said.
They’re going to test the drug out here, later tonight.
I feel it as the blood drains from my face.
I remember the way Pierce’s bones snapped, one by one.
The way she dragged that knife across her own throat.
Maiko and Ren . . . they haven’t seen Magic with their own eyes. They don’t know what this means. But I remember what Bastian told me.
Four elements. Four possible outcomes.
His voice was warm against my neck as he whispered, Death.
Hallucination.
Adrenaline.
And what happened to Pierce. The most dangerous of them all. Susceptibility.
If Okami makes a deal with the Europeans later tonight, they’ll manufacture Magic all over the continent. A mass production. Warit will only be a matter of time before they realize they can use something like this in war.
And if they’re going to put Magic on display . . . here ? Tonight ?