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“Parvati was a good nurse?” I asked, trying to distract Erik from Shep.
Erik nodded. “I can’t say I was very aware for much of her treatments, but here I am, alive and well.”
“I hope it was okay that I brought you here. I didn’t know where else to go. I was afraid to show Shep where you lived, and I wanted to make sure we got Amity back here as soon as possible.”
“Who?” Erik asked, black brows knitting.
Dr. Dwivedi’s voice reached us at that moment, calling everyone to dinner. Erik and I followed the crowd to a corner of the roof, where a long banquet table waited for us, covered in candles and crystal. Dwivedi caught my attention and motioned for me to take a place next to him at the head of the table. I latched onto Erik’s arm and dragged him with me.
“What are you afraid of?” He chuckled. “I thought you were fearless.”
“I don’t like too much attention.”
“Then you should’ve worn a veil and a robe to cover everything else. Looking like that...” His gaze swept over me again. “What did you expect?”
“I wasn’t expecting anything. Parvati snowed me over.”
Speaking of Parvati seemed to summon her. She appeared at Shep’s side wearing gold and looking ethereal, as though she’d descended from some heavenly realm to walk among the mortals for the night. After nudging Shep’s arm to get his attention, Parvati motioned him toward a seat near hers. Convenient for me that she stepped in because I wasn’t looking forward to spending an entire dinner sitting between Shep and Erik and playing peacekeeper.
“Sera,” Dr. Dwivedi said as we took our seats. Waiters appeared, bearing plates of food for each of us. “Have you had time to tell Cy everything that occurred while he was feeling under the weather?”
“No, sir.” I shook my head and glanced at Erik. Thanks to Shep’s tumultuous arrival, Erik and I hadn’t had time to say much to each other. “I haven’t.”
“Cy, has she told you we verified the location of her sister?”
Erik raised an eyebrow. “Is she with Grimes like you suspected?”
“Yes.” I stabbed my fork into a piece of roasted eggplant on my plate. It was like butter in my mouth, a pleasant contrast to the toughness forming in my heart. “They used to say money was the root of all evil, but now I think you can blame all the bad in the world on Moll.”
A woman on Erik’s right side laughed. “Do you think we can blame her for our problem with the dead-who-won’t-stay-that-way?”
I shrugged. “Why not? I wouldn’t be surprised to find out she had something to do with it.”
“How is your research going?” Erik asked Dwivedi. “Did Sera bring you what you wanted?”
The elder alchemist held up a finger, asking for a moment to finish chewing before he answered. He swallowed and said, “Yes, she did, and we have had some interesting developments in that area.”
I paused with a forkful of eggplant halfway to my mouth. “You have?”
“If you will both come down to my laboratory after dinner, I would be most happy to share it with you.”
The waiters removed our small plates and replaced them with bowls of red lentil soup. Dr. Dwivedi described everything as it was placed before us, and I devoured it all with gusto. Even if I hadn’t spent the last five years eating scraps and crumbs, the food in this place would’ve tasted divine. In this otherworldly domain, this rooftop oasis, it felt a bit like I had joined the gods and goddesses dining on ambrosia at Mt. Olympus.
The waiters whisked away our soup bowls and returned with plates of chickpea dumplings, green curry prawns, okra seasoned with cumin—that particular dish took a little getting used to—and spicy cauliflower fritters. I drank more wine and demolished everything on my plate, including the okra. The meal ended with strong, syrupy cups of coffee.
“What did you think of the meal, Miss Blite?” asked a tipsy Dwivedi.
I patted a napkin to my lips. “It will be hard to go back to eating the stuff I usually survive on when I have to leave this place.”
“Any time the pigeon becomes too gamy for your taste, you are most welcome to come and share a meal here with me.” Dr. Dwivedi winked, or tried to, but the wine had stolen his coordination, so instead, he blinked both eyes like an owl.
After the last dishes were cleared away, many of the older people retired for the evening, but some of the younger crowd brought out musical instruments. The wine and food made me sluggish, but I didn’t object when Erik dragged me to my feet.
“Dance?” he asked.
“Nope.” I popped the “p” sound a few extra times, enjoying the way it tingled against my wine-numbed lips. “Don’t dance.”
With a chuckle, he tugged me into his arms, and the earth’s gravity shifted with us, swirling and whirling like a top. My head was spinning as he started us on a gentle sway in time with the music. “Are you sure?”
“Nope-p-p-p.” Yup, I was definitely tipsy, if not completely sloshed. I wondered how bad the hangover would be in the morning then decided I didn’t care.
“Why not?”
“Dunno how.”
“I thought they taught ladies that sort of thing at the fancy school you went to.”
“Nuh-uh.” I shook my head. The world spun again, and I closed my eyes until it stopped. “Wasn’t old enough.”
“Your father didn’t teach you?”
I stopped mid-sway. “Father didn’t dance.” I tried making a serious face, wrinkling my brow and pursing my lips. My lips were still numb, though, so I pursed them again to make sure I was doing it right. Erik snickered, so I stopped and focused on trying to keep still. “Or if he did, he didn’t do it with me.”
“How about Bloom? She didn’t dance either?”
I scoffed. “She would rather build a machine that did the dancing for her.”
Erik started us swaying again. One boy played something like a flute or a clarinet. Another tapped on a set of small drums, and a young woman strummed an unfamiliar instrument that looked like a distant cousin to Bloom’s guitar but with a much longer neck.
“There’s not much to it,” Erik whispered in my ear. “No fancy waltzes, no complicated steps. Move however the music tells you to.”
His breath smelled like the rose syrup from our dessert, and his hands blazed against the small of my back. I leaned into him and whispered, “I’m not a dancer. I’m a fighter.”
He choked down a laugh. “Dancing and fighting have a lot in common.”
“Dancing doesn’t hurt, though.”
“So long as you don’t step on my feet.”
I pulled away to give him a glare, but he tightened his arms to keep me close. Parvati and Shep, I noticed, had taken a seat near the edge of the roof and bowed their heads close to whisper to each other. Hmmm, wonder what that’s about.
“What are you going to do?” Erik asked in a low voice, his breath tickling the hairs at my temple.
“Dance?”
Chuckling, he shook his head. “No, I mean now that you know about your sister, what are you going to do?”
“Not sure.” The wine went from making me warm and fizzy to tired and dizzy. I pulled away and stumbled to a nearby sofa. Erik caught me before I tripped over the hem of my gown and helped me take a seat.
“You okay?” he asked, still holding my arm.
I put my head in my hands. “Drank too much.”
“Put your feet up and lay your head in my lap.” Gently, he tugged me, and I fell against him. With a bit of wiggling, I managed to do as he suggested. His fingers rubbed circles at my temples. “How’s that?”
“Mmm,” I moaned.
Laughter rumbled in his chest.
“How is it that you always end up tending to me like this? I’m not sure I care for it.”
“Sounds to me like you care for it very much. What was that noise you just made?” He dug his fingers into the base of my skull, and a little knot of tension gave way.
I groaned again, more emphatically this time. “Mmm.”
“Yup, that’s the one.”
“I have to take care of myself. I can’t rely on other people to provide for me or protect me.”
“Who says?” His fingers crept down my neck, kneading, rubbing.
“That’s just how the world works now.” I stabbed a finger into the air. “Every girl for herself. You can’t rely on anyone, because at any moment, they could develop a sudden desire to eat you. You start needing them, and then poof—” I snapped my fingers “—they’re gone. If you can’t take care of yourself, who else is going to do it?”
His hands disappeared from my neck, and I swallowed my disappointment. Leaning against the back of the sofa, he braced his arms along the top and looked up at the stars. “Things were like that in the Time Before, too, Sera. People got sick, died, accidents happened. I understand not wanting to feel helpless, but there’s nothing wrong with working together. Community is as important as it was before—even more so.
“Look at these people.” He waved his arm, gesturing at the rooftop gathering. “They work together and have made a good life in spite of everything.”
“But I don’t belong here,” I said. “And I have my own place.”
“That you share with Bloom. Even you have your sister. You’re not totally alone.”
“Bloom is family. That’s different. Besides, she’s gone now, which is my point. If I don’t get her back, it will be just me. Alone.”
Peering down at me, he cupped my jaw. His thumb traced across my cheekbone. “It doesn’t have to be that way.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not as alone as you insist.”
“No?” Exhaustion and intoxication tugged at me, making my body heavy. I could barely keep my eyes open.
He gulped audibly. “You’ve got me.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
Grunting, he jerked a hand through his hair, mussing it so it looked like it usually did, hiding his scarred eye. He even went so far as to turn his shoulders until I could only see him in profile on his unscarred side. I knew him well enough by now to recognize his classic defense posture.
I’d offended him. Who knew boys could be so sensitive? Dropping my feet to the floor, I sat up with a groan, and Erik didn’t stop me. Some sobriety had returned, and my thoughts were forming more clearly. “Dr. Dwivedi said he would help me rescue my sister. He wants me to come talk to him after dinner.”
Refusing to look at me, Erik gazed at something distant.
“And he wants us to come see his progress with Amity.” Standing, I held out my hand. “C’mon. Come with me.”
He finally turned his face to me. “You said that name before. Who is she?”
I forgot he’d been unconscious when I’d recognized her on the street. “Oh, she’s a girl I went to school with. Amity McCall. Funny I happened to recognize the girl you chose to make Dr. Dwivedi’s lab rat.” The world that was left after the Dead Wars was turning out to be a small one filled with many uncanny coincidences.
“You know her?” Erik took my hand.
I pulled him to his feet. “She looks a bit more, well... dead than I remember.” I nodded. “But, yes, I think it’s her.”