Bait?Francine stiffened.
“He does have excellent decorative qualities,” Eloise mused.
Francine’s hackles went up at once. From the glint in Eloise’s eye, she noticed.
Damn it.
She let herself visibly relax. “Hands off,” she said lazily. “Haven’t you already learned your lesson, trying to steal my hunts?”
Something vicious flashed behind Eloise’s eyes. Not her lioness. Pure human. Francine’s heart sank. No wonder they always got along so well; their human sides were so alike.
“But I’m not interested in talking about the old days. Let’s talk about what we’re going to do … afterwards,” Francine said, stirring her drink.
Julian’s attention focused on her like the sun bent through a magnifying glass. Her heart twisted. It couldn’t be pleasant for him, listening to her purr about his family’s future in captivity.
Nothing he’d been through since he set foot in this world had been pleasant.
Something Eloise had said stuck in her mind.Imaginary creatures.Did she not believe the dragons existed? But—her guards used Julian’s magic.
Was there something else out here Eloise was hunting?
“Please don’t tell me you came out here with me this morning to talklogistics,” Eloise pouted.
Francine laughed out loud. “God forbid!”
“Everything’s ready, anyway. Despite what my father says. Ugh.”
Her father? “Don’t tell me you’ve got Adrian shuffled away somewhere on this ship.”
“Oh, no. He told me I’m on my own. He thinks I shouldn’t even be here. Can you imagine? Missing out onthis?” Her gesture took in the entire boat. All their gathered friends, old and new.
Her hand dropped. “It’s noteveryone,” she said, sounding disappointed. “Some people took their own boats, like you were going to. Or they’re flying in. Which just sounds so risky, doesn’t it? You need a good place to land and take off. Fuel. And socramped.”
“Faster, though,” Francine murmured.
Eloise shot her a look. “Yes, they’ll have ever so much more time to fly around looking for an invisible castle.”
“I suppose there are worse things than letting the cannon fodder get in first.”
She’d meant it as another conversational nothing. Taking hints from what Eloise was saying, and not saying, andadding her own spin. They all knew they were heading for a confrontation of some sort.
But then Eloise smiled wide, her lioness fierce behind her eyes and her bloodlust all human, and Francine wondered if her statement had been a nothing after all.
Or instead, too close to the truth.
There was something else waiting for them in Antarctica. Something even the other guests didn’t know was there. And the auction for stolen dragon magic that had lured them all in—had that been real at all, or another trap?
17
Julian
“She’s hiding something.”
Francine spoke in an undertone. They were back in the suite. The moment she’d stepped through the door, Francine’s shoulders had slumped. Now she was lounging on the sofa, for all appearances relaxed.
But he could see how if nobody was watching, she would have curled in on herself.
“Your friend?” he prompted.
