“After you,” Aiden said, gesturing me out the door.
I couldn’t look him in the eye as I passed. My emotions and thoughts were tangled in a thorny mess. I wanted to be alone to sort through it all, but that would never happen if Aiden had his way.
Outside the room, another door stood across the hall. But Aiden turned down the dim corridor, and I followed him as he walked most of the way down. He swung aside a heavy tapestry to reveal a small door that looked like nothing more than a broom closet.
“This is it?” I asked in disbelief as Aiden let me inside.
“You’ll see.”
I scowled and swiped away a cobweb that brushed my shoulder. No spiders here, at least.
At the end of a short passage was a tightly wound staircase. We climbed to the top and reached a small balcony that clung to an upper back corner of a huge room. More candle chandeliers hung from the ceiling. It felt like I was floating above a sea of flames. A large stage draped with a crimson curtain stood opposite our balcony.
I peered over the edge where Melaena’s glimmering clientele lounged on couches or around tables. Was Asher down there tonight? Or anyone else who might know me?
The balcony was clever as no one in the room below could see me unless I leaned too far over the railing while they looked straight up.
“Holy Four,” I breathed. “Are there usually this many people?”
Aiden rested his elbows on the railing, gazing down at the crowd below. “Yes. Melaena’s entertainments are quite popular. As well as her exceptional wine and food.”
“How did you meet her?”
His gaze cut to me. “All you need to know is you can trust her.”
Only as much as I can trust you.Questions burned behind my lips. Were they friends or lovers? Was it purely professional? They clearly had a deep bond. But over what?
“Do you still want to do this?” he asked, shattering my thoughts. “Knowing your role in what is to come?”
The curtain lifted, and Melaena swept onto the stage to thunderous applause. Her voice echoed up to us, welcoming everyone.
“I do,” I said. “It won’t be easy. It’s not a role I’m used to playing, but I learn quickly.”
“I have no doubt,” Aiden murmured.
I ignored him—and the flutter in my chest—and watched four other women join Melaena. Unseen drums and flutes filled the club with sweet, seductive music. As the tempo increased, the dancers twirled and leaped across the stage, spinning silk scarves around their lithe bodies. Their movements were as precise as the ones Renwell had taught me to fight.
Just with much less clothing. And a smile.
My scarred fingers curled into fists. I could do this. It was simply training. And all the while, I would be learning everything there was to know about Aiden, Melaena, and what they were up to.
“I’ve seen enough,” I announced as the dancers left the stage to weave through the crowd. “Back to the tunnel?”
Aiden smirked down at me. “Not a chance. I don’t want you—or the Wolves—seeing anything near there. We’ll take the gate.The guards don’t question people leaving the Noble Quarter, only those entering.”
My hands swept over my hips, searching for knives that weren’t there. “Will they be a problem?”
“The Wolves? One never knows. You were trained to keep silent and unseen, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
His eyes glowed with a challenge. “Then let’s see how well you dance with the shadows, little thief.”
We leftThe Silk Dancervia a servant’s door off the main lounge and quietly funneled through the Noble Quarter gate with our hoods lowered.
I wanted to ask where we were going but felt that, in doing so, I’d be failing some sort of test. Instead, I trailed a whisper behind the flap of Aiden’s cloak.
He left the main road almost immediately, plunging us into a labyrinth of alleyways. I’d studied maps of the quarters but not nearly to the detail of pinpointing where I was.
