CHAPTER 6
I came around with Marcus gently tapping my cheeks and calling my name. Awareness roared back and I lurched to my feet, scanning the room anxiously. “Where is she, where’s Pelga?”
Marcus’s eyes were dark with worry. “Who? Echo, are you all right? Lillith called me when she couldn’t get a response from you, and I found you unconscious. What happened?”
“Pelga,” I said, frantically moving toward the door. “I have to help her.”
“Stop right there.” He stepped between me and the exit, blocking my path. “Who is Pelga?”
I froze as the name finally registered in my pain befuddled mind. “No one. A little girl I knew in the crèche. Except she said her name was Gaia. I must have been dreaming.” I pushed the name away and pressed on my temples with both hands. “Zin, my head hurts. Do you have any analgesic?”
“Of course.” He moved to the kitchen side of the house, poured a glass full of water from a pitcher, and added some kind of powder. Giving the contents a swirl or two, he crossed the room and handed it to me. “It’s fast acting, so the pain should be gone soon.”
I took a sip, grimaced at the bitter taste, and then held my breath long enough to down the rest of it. Almost immediately my headache began to ease and I sighed with relief as I handed the glass back. “Thanks. That’s much better.”
“Echo, exactly what happened here? Start at the beginning.” He put the glass on a counter and motioned me to sit.
With a frown, I reclaimed my previous seat as Marcus took the one beside me and Peri fluttered to perch on the mantel. “I don’t really know. Lillith suggested I look ‘into’ the crystal instead of closing my eyes and trying to feel something. That’s what I did. I remember getting dizzy. Next thing I knew, you were waking me up.”
He arched a brow. “And nothing happened in between?”
“No.” I hesitated. “Well, except the nightmare.”
“And the nightmare was about this Pelga?”
“Yes. No.” I shook my head in confusion. “I thought it was, at first. But the girl I dreamed about wasn’t Pelga. She had red hair instead of blonde, and she was older, maybe seven or eight cycles. Pelga and I were only five cycles the last time I saw her.”
“Tell me, where did this dream take place?”
I didn’t much care for the way he’d gone all squinty-eyed as he watched me, but I answered, anyway. “I’m not sure. It was a small, dimly lit room and I didn’t see any windows. The only things there were the bed and the girls.”
“There were two of them?”
“Yes. Gaia and Banca.”
He gave a brief nod of acknowledgment. “What were the girls doing?”
“Nothing, until I showed up. Then Gaia sat up and begged me to help them.”
Marcus straightened abruptly. “They saw you?”
“Of course they saw me. It was my dream, for Zin’s sake. Why wouldn’t they see me?”
“Clairvoyance?” he murmured.
“No,” Lillith responded, somehow managing to communicate with both Marcus and I at the same time. “The psi test would have recognized clairvoyance. There has to be more to it than that. Especially if the child could see her, which also rules out astral projection.”
“Teleportation?” he asked.
“That’s fairly common, also,” the ship told us. “Besides, I’m tracking her constantly and she never left this room.”
Realization swept over me in a wave of panic and I leaped to my feet, hands fisted at my sides. “Oh, no you don’t. It was a dream, nothing more, and I can prove it. When I first got there, I reached for the bedpost. My hand went right through it, like I was a ghost. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to the Terpsichore. Treya must be waiting for me to change into my costume.”
Peri, picking up on my emotional turmoil, fluttered after me, shrilling in dismay as I marched from the room. I slowed enough to allow her to settle on my shoulder just to quiet her down. Frag it, I did not have any psi ability, and no was going to force me to admit I did.
So what if odd things were happening, like seeing Reynard examining the door I’d destroyed right before Lillith told me he was doing exactly that? It was this Zin blasted crystal doing all the woo-woo stuff, not me personally.
I refused to let it be me.
Inhaling a deep gulp of the pristine air, I focused on my surroundings enough to realize that the sun was sinking from view in a blaze of red-and-gold glory, leaving fingers of deep blue twilight to creep over the land. As I went through the gate that gave entry from Marcus’s yard to his business premises, two things happened simultaneously.
The hair on my nape stood erect, and Peri stiffened, her eyes tinged with faint shades of red as she stared intently at the Terpsichore. I came to an abrupt stop, scanning the deeper shadows around the base of the building, muscles tensed for action.
“Lillith, can you check the area? I think someone is watching me,” I subvocalized.
“There are countless heat signatures around the inn,” she said. “They all blur together. And I can’t use my night vision because there’s still too much sunlight in the upper atmosphere. I have to use my infrared scanners and it’s hard to pick out a single person when the inn is full. Wait—” There was a slight pause. “It looks like someone is pressed against the outside northern wall, moving toward the front of the building.”
I turned rapidly in the direction she’d indicated. “Try to keep a fix on them.” Peri launched from my shoulder and zoomed ahead, silent for once.
“Stop! What are you doing? It could just be a customer returning from the privy,” the ship told me.
“Sneaking along the wall? I don’t think so. Whoever it is, they were watching me. If someone suspects I’m not what I seem to be, I’d at least like to be able to identify them.”
When I reached the stone wall, I slowed and edged along its length. I wanted to see the person who’d watched me, not trip over them and cause a confrontation.
Just as I reached the front corner I felt a sense of frustrated puzzlement coming from Peri. Carefully, I poked my head far enough around the building to see the entrance. And discovered why Peri was so frustrated. A steady stream of people, exclusively male, paraded through the door, with smaller groups stopping to chat here and there before going inside. None of them was paying undue attention to my location, or to Peri, who hovered several meters above their heads.
“Lillith, was there anything distinguishing about him?” I asked.
“Not really, since details don’t show up infrared scans. All I can tell you is he was average height and average weight.”
Which could describe more than half the men I saw. With a sigh I withdrew, calling Peri off the search as I walked slowly around the building to the back door of the Terpsichore. She was emoting her reluctance to give up, and I could certainly share the sentiment. It was creepy knowing someone was spying on you, with no idea who it was or what their intentions might be.
But it was either give up for now, or tackle each male and hold him captive while I interrogated him. That could take a lot of time, considering how many men were in attendance tonight. Not to mention the undue notice it would bring me. The king probably wouldn’t approve of my taking out a hundred or so of his citizens. I would, however, keep a close eye on those in attendance tonight.
Leddy looked up from a pot she was stirring and smiled when I entered the kitchen. “Treya is ready for you,” she said. “Through there.” Her head tilted toward the room where I’d danced earlier that morning. “She found the most amazing costume for you to wear tonight.”
“Yeah?” I immediately perked up at the thought of new clothes. “What color?”
She waved a hand and grinned. “See for yourself.”
The room was now devoid of musicians, but I could hear a melody drifting in from the common room of the inn mixed with the continuous murmur of masculine voices. I’d barely cleared the threshold before Treya grabbed me and hauled me across the room to where a folding screen partitioned off one corner.
“Hurry, change into your costume. I’ve never seen the inn so full. Even Reynard du’Marr is out there.”
I came to a quick stop, my heart suddenly giving it hell. “Here? He’s here?”
“Yes, and his visits are rare. He must have heard the rumors about an Apsaras dancing tonight.”
“Uh, yeah. He probably heard the rumors.” I nodded vigorously, reluctant to tell her I suspected he’d shown up just because he knew I was working here. I’d managed to fully arouse his suspicions. If Lillith hadn’t said my watcher was average height, I might have suspected the commander. As it was, he could have set one of his troops on the job. It was imperative that I stayed on my toes from here on out, both figuratively and literally.
With that in mind I continued behind the screen and then blinked in wonder at the costume hanging from a hook on the wall. The silky halter and waist band were red. Blindingly, brilliantly red, and I fell instantly in love with the costume.
Reverently, I took the bottom half down and examined the skirt. It was fuller than the normal Bashalde apparel, transparent to the point of being see-through, and it was shot with golden thread. Every rustle of the material set gold spangles glimmering in the gossamer stuff.
And that wasn’t all. A fine gold chain girded the lowcut leather waist and from it dangled shorter chains adorned with tiny gold bells that would sway and chime seductively when the wearer moved.
I stripped out of my own clothes in record time and carefully donned the costume, tucking the Imadei out of sight under the halter top. Now I needed a mirror, and luckily, there was one attached to the wall in the practice room.
Still barefoot, I stepped from behind the screen just in time to see Peri dive headfirst into a pile of gold jewelry Treya had put on a table. A spate of cursing erupted as the blonde made a grab for her, followed by a hiss of warning from the center of the heap.
“Peri, no!” I jumped across the space separating us and fished her out of the shiny mound. “Sorry.” I gave Treya a weak smile. “She has a thing for jewelry. Here.” I pulled off the lightest of my bracelets and gave it to the sullen dragon bird. “You can play with this for now.”
Still pouting, she eyed the bracelet for a second, weighing it against the larger treasure trove, then grasped it in her front talons and carried it to a corner, mumbling with ill-concealed indignation.
Treya shook her head. “Useless creature.”
Okay, that got my hackles up. Maybe I hadn’t asked for a dragon bird, and maybe I didn’t care much for animals in general, but Peri was different. Peri was my animal, and no one was allowed to malign her but me. “You like jewelry, too. Does that make you useless?”
She turned from Peri to glare at me. “Loyalty and spirit are well and good, but remember who you work for, girl. Now sit down.”
I had to bite my tongue to keep from telling her who I really worked for, and that I could break her in half with one finger. Clenching my teeth on a response that could only get me in deep schite, I took the chair she’d pulled out and sat down.
Ignoring my anger, she grasped my chin in one hand, tilted my face up, and proceeded to apply makeup to my eyes. When that was done to her satisfaction, she took a short veil that matched my skirt and fastened it so it covered the lower half of my face. Next came the jewelry. While Peri watched jealously, Treya loaded down my arms and even my ankles with slender gold bangles.
“There.” She stood back and motioned toward the mirror. “You’re ready. See what you think.”
I stood, musical tinkling accompanying every move, and walked to the mirror. Then gaped in shock at the mysterious, sexy stranger staring back at me. Her lids were lined with kohl, making her eyes look big and luminous. The costume concealed barely enough to be decent, and yet still conveyed a sense of maidenly modesty.
Even my wild-woman do added to the exotic appearance Treya had achieved. How in Zin’s name had she pulled this off? I was still goggling and wondering if Alien Affairs would let me keep her when the stage door opened a crack and Marcus stuck his head into the room.
“Is she ready? The band is waiting….” His voice trailed off as he saw me, then he stepped all the way inside and closed the door. “Oh, my. It might not be a good idea to have her serve after her acts. We could have a riot on our hands.”
Treya shrugged. “It will prolong the mystery if she stays away from the men, and that means larger crowds and more money.”
Okay, she really, really liked money. Maybe if I offered her half my salary, she’d come with me when this job was over. It would take me longer to pay off my indenture, but hey, if she could make me look like this it was worth the sacrifice.
Unaware of the direction my thoughts were traveling in, Marcus nodded. “I’ll introduce her as soon as you get the lamps covered.” He went back through the door as Treya slid a cover over the nearest glass cylinder and headed for another.
“Why do the lamps need to be out?” I asked, positioning myself beside the door Marcus had just used.
The room got darker as Treya moved around it extinguishing the light. “The back of the stage is dark. With the lamps out, no one will see you enter. It will be as if you simply appeared. Stay in the dark area until the music starts, then just move forward.”
As she reached the last lamp she hesitated and shot me a questioning glance. “Are you nervous? This will be your first time performing in public.”
“A little,” I lied. After all, I was supposed to be a girl who’d been raised by a reclusive father, not the organized employee of the Department of Protocol who dealt with hundreds of Naturals every day.
She seemed satisfied with my response and even gave me an encouraging pat on the arm. “That’s perfectly understandable. Just dance as you did this morning, for the joy of it, and you’ll be fine.”
Cupping her hand around the last cover, she lowered it over the sunstone container and plunged the room into total darkness. “Go.”
Just as I opened the door and slipped through onto the stage, there was a rush of air and Peri landed on my shoulder, waves of excitement rolling off her. Great, this was just what I needed. How could I dance with a hyper dragon bird clinging to me?
Doing my best to ignore her, I scanned the common room and suddenly faltered. The place was wall-to-wall men. I’m talking packed in like sardines, with not so much as a single inch of space unoccupied. And every one of them was staring intently at the stage as Marcus finished his introduction and left to join a table near the front. A table where Reynard du’Marr was seated with two other men.
Okay, maybe I hadn’t lied about being nervous, because my tummy suddenly erupted with butterflies in full riot, all trying to make their escape to freedom. Quickly I shut my eyes to block out the men and forced myself to take deep calming breaths. This was no big deal, I assured my suddenly alert nerves. It was all part of the job.
As the band played the first chords, calm washed over me and I realized with surprise that most of it was coming from Peri. Slowly I opened my eyes, raised my arms over my head and began a gentle hip-swaying rhythm as I moved forward, one small step at a time.
Right before I was fully revealed, Peri launched from my shoulder and swooped over the audience. Her action drew the men’s attention away from the stage long enough for me to step into the light as murmurs of wonder followed her flight. By the time they looked back, there I was. It must have looked like I’d just suddenly materialized from thin air.
Useless, my rear end. That was one smart dragon bird.
The song was the same one the band had played for me this morning. It started off measured and stately, then gathered speed and exuberance. I kept my movements in line with the tempo, my gaze locked on the commander to block out the other men.
Peri rejoined me onstage, dipping and rising, circling me in time with my movements. Warbling an intricate thread that wove its way through the melody, she bobbed and weaved, wings fluttering madly as she mimicked the steps in midair.
The audience was enthralled. Not so much as a whisper rose from the watching men as I gyrated, undulated and spun. And for a while, I forgot they were there. Once again I danced from the sheer love of moving, from the joy of doing something I was created, at least in part, to do.
Until I remembered that one of the men in the audience had been spying on me earlier.
My steps faltered a beat before I found my pace again, but now I scanned the faces turned toward me, the hair on my arms prickling erect. You don’t pull surveillance on someone if your intentions are good.
Somehow, someway, I had aroused suspicions. Now I needed to know who thought I wasn’t what I seemed. My gaze went to the commander. If it was him, I had to find out, and there was only one way to accomplish that goal.
“Lillith,” I subvocalized, “tell Marcus to bring the commander back after I’m done. I need to talk with him.”
“You agreed to stay away from him,” she reminded me in her best general-to-the-troops voice.
“I know. But this has nothing to do with lust. It’s business. Please, just do as I ask.”
“Fine. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
So did I. The music began to slow toward its final notes, and with each step I moved nearer the darkened part of the stage. By the time the last echo from the pipe died away, I was in total darkness again. Peri did one more flyby over the audience and then joined me, radiating smug satisfaction as we slipped through the door together.
“Did you tell Marcus?” I asked the ship. Off to the side I heard a sliding noise and one of the lamps flared to life under Treya’s hands. She moved around the room, uncovering the others.
“Yes,” Lillith answered. “He’s not sure it’s a good idea, either, but said he’d bring the commander right back.”
“Good.”
When the last lamp was glowing, Treya turned, hands on her hips, and surveyed the dragon bird on my shoulder. “So, she’s not useless after all. Did you train her to do that?”
“No.” Peri was preening so vigorously I couldn’t shake my head. “She did it all on her own.”
“Will she do it again for your next act?”
“Probably. She likes to participate in whatever I’m doing.”
Before she could continue, the door to the kitchen opened and Marcus ushered the commander into the room. Right before my eyes Treya transformed from a money-grubbing taskmaster into a quivering pile of cooing mush.
“Commander!” She went forward with her hands reaching for his, full lips in a playful pout. “It’s been months since you’ve stopped in for a visit. I thought you’d forgotten me.”
“Of course not.” He gave her a vague smile, but he was looking at me over her shoulder. “My duties are many. I’m afraid I have little time for anything else.”
My eyes narrowed as I took in Treya’s body language and a nasty suspicion made the rounds of my gray matter. “Lillith,” I subvocalized. “If women are treated like a precious commodity here, what do the unmarried men do for sexual release?”
Marcus glanced at me and I saw his eyebrow arch right before the ship responded. “There are Bashalde women who have no fathers or husbands that are willing to accommodate them for a price.”
Yeah, that’s what I thought. And I’d bet half my next pay voucher that Treya was one of them. It was time to break up her little party, I decided.
Practically muscling my way between them, I took Reynard by the arm. “Commander, thank you for coming.” I glanced at Treya. “Would you mind getting the commander some wine?”
Her expression made her look like something nasty had crawled into her mouth and died. “You know each other?”
“We’ve met. And we have some private business to discuss. So, if you don’t mind…”
She turned to Marcus as though hoping he’d override my requests, but before she could speak he nodded. “I believe your act is up next?”
Shooting me an angry glare, she turned in a swirl of skirts and marched through the door, slamming it behind her so hard the walls rattled.
I gave the commander my best innocent look. “She seemed upset. Maybe she thought you came back to see her?”
Marcus muffled a cough behind his hand as the commander looked down at me, his mouth lifting on one side. “No woman directs my actions. By my sworn oath, my first and only loyalty is to the king. Now, what did you wish to see me about?”
The opening door interrupted us as Leddy bustled in, a tray balanced on her hip. With a smile for Marcus, she went to the table where jewelry had been spread earlier and set out a bottle of wine and three glasses. As she went by me on her way out, she reached over and patted my arm. “Good for you,” she whispered. “Treya’s had that coming for a long time.” The door closed gently behind her.
Ignoring her comment, I gestured to the table. “Why don’t we sit?”
Marcus poured the wine as the commander held a chair for me and then pulled one out for himself.
Once both men were comfortable, I cleared my throat. “Commander, did you order me watched?”
His eyes narrowed as he studied me. “Why would you think I might?”
“Because someone is watching me, and you’re the only one I can think of who might have a reason. After all, I did accidentally hurt one of your men and stumble into the castle. Plus, my father was an experienced arms master who taught me well. Combined, I can see why you might feel a need to keep an eye on me.”
His piercing gaze swung to Marcus. “You knew about this?”
“No, this is the first I’ve heard.” At my original question to the commander, Marcus had stiffened, his hand tightening on the glass of wine he held. He knew, even better than I, what was at stake here if someone discovered my true identity.
“I haven’t had a chance to tell him,” I told Reynard. “The event occurred only a short time before my act.”
“Tell us exactly what happened,” the commander ordered.
“I was leaving Marcus’s house just as the sun was setting, and the base of the Terpsichore was in darkness. There was a man in hiding in the shadows, watching me.”
“Maybe it was someone who’d heard the tales Treya was spreading about an Apsaras dancing here and wanted to get a look at you,” Marcus said.
“Peri didn’t think so,” I told him. “And she’s very good at picking up human emotions. She thought he was up to no good and gave chase. If he were only curious, why did he move away from us and mingle with the crowds so we couldn’t locate his position?” The dragon bird bobbed her head as though agreeing with what I’d said.
“You saw this man?” the commander asked.
This was where it got tricky, because I’d felt more than seen him. Lillith was the one who’d “seen” him. “Not clearly enough to identify him,” I answered. “I can only tell you he was average height and weight.”
“You were not harmed?”
“No. He ran as soon as I started toward him.”
“I gave no order to have you observed,” the commander said. His fingertips drummed the table for a second. “But I will assign a man for your protection.”
Uh-oh. That was a reaction I hadn’t anticipated. No way could I allow one of his soldiers to watch my every move. I was doing mental gymnastics trying to find a solution to the problem when Marcus saved me the trouble.
“Thank you for the offer, Commander, but Echo is my ward and my responsibility. I’ll see to her protection. He may not be the brightest stone in the lamp, but Bim would die before allowing any harm to come to her. And, as you’ve seen for yourself, Echo is not without her own resources. Together I’m sure we can handle any situation that might arise.”
Reynard stared at Marcus for a long, tense moment, as if trying to make up his mind whether or not he could trust the barkeep with my health and well-being. Finally, he nodded. “In that case, I will have my men try to discover who would wish her ill. And if any further problems occur, you will notify me at once.”
“As you wish,” Marcus responded.
Reynard pushed his chair back then paused to smile at me. “I regret that I cannot stay for your second dance, but I will arrive after the breaking of the fast tomorrow to escort you and your guardian to the Bashalde gathering.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” I told him, returning the smile.
With a final nod, he left through the kitchen door. As soon as it closed behind him, Marcus arched a brow at me.
“Why didn’t you tell me someone was watching you?”
“Truthfully?” I shrugged. “It didn’t even occur to me. I was too busy getting ready for my act and wondering if the commander was that suspicious of me.”
“I’m going to assign Bim to escort you, and stay with you when I can’t. We won’t have to worry about him repeating anything he sees because he can barely speak. And the next time you think someone is stalking you, alert me through Lillith. Maybe we can trap them between us.”
“Did you believe the commander?” I sipped the wine that had gone ignored until now.
“Yes and no.” He sighed. “He’s suspicious, no doubt about that. But I don’t think he’d set his men to watching you. He’s the type who would do it himself. The question is, who else would want to keep an eye on you, and why? We need those questions answered soon. It also worries me that the commander didn’t ask the same things.” Brow furrowed, he stood and pushed his chair up to the table. “I’m going to send some food for you and have a talk with Bim. Rest here until your second act, and then go straight home.”
He left by the same door the commander had used and I didn’t see him again before my second dance. I ate and then waited until Treya, tight lipped with anger, returned after her act. She marched right up to me and poked me in the chest with one finger.
“You overstepped your bounds, girl. I am in charge of the dancers. When you want something, you go through me. And you do not invite men to visit without my permission.”
I grabbed her hand and bent her wrist back until she winced with pain. “Now, you listen to me. The only bounds overstepped here are yours. I’m not just another dancer, I’m Marcus’s ward. When it comes to dancing, I’ll allow you to direct me, but anything else is my business and you will stay out of it.
“Furthermore, if this little show of power is because of the commander, you should understand that by his words, you don’t own him. So if you’ve been deluding yourself that sex with him implies some kind of commitment, get over it. From this point on, the commander is off-limits to you. Am I making myself clear?”
She nodded and I released her wrist. “Good. Now, I believe it’s time for my last act.”
Casually, I strolled to the table where I’d left my jewelry for Peri to play with and began putting it on, but I kept one eye on Treya in case she decided to try something.
Rubbing her wrist, she glared at me for a moment longer, then turned and flounced from the room. Peri watched her go, a satisfied guess-you-showed-her air coming from the dragon bird. But even though Treya had pushed me into acting, I regretted having to let her know who was boss, and I knew another talk with her was in order. If there was one thing I didn’t need on Madrea it was another enemy. Especially not one who was in charge of my costumes and makeup.