Deceptive by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Author:Emily Lloyd-Jones [Lloyd-Jones, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Science Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Juvenile Fiction / Action & Adventure / General, Action & Adventure, General, Law & Crime, Juvenile Fiction / Science Fiction, Juvenile Fiction / Law & Crime
ISBN: 9780316254649
Google: JczaoQEACAAJ
Amazon: 0316254649
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2015-07-14T00:00:00+00:00

24

CIERE

So let me get this straight,” says Ciere. “To get into his party, you’re going as this senator’s date and I’m your assistant?”

It takes all her self-control not to put her hands up and form quotation marks around the word date.

Her dress is an empire waist, made of gray silk and tulle. It reminds her of the dirty snow outside. Magnus wears a tuxedo. She has to admit, he looks fantastic in it, his body all hard angles and hair smoothed back.

“Technically.” Magnus pulls into the valet parking and his car glides to a halt. “You’re my date. Or that’s what my invitation says, anyway.”

“The one the senator managed to get for you,” says Ciere.

“Yes.”

“But you’re really his date.”

“Yes.”

She squints at him. “Won’t his wife mind?”

“I’ve been her date as well,” says Magnus lightly, stepping out of the car and handing his keys over to a red-jacketed young man. Ciere scrambles after him. The air outside is bitingly cold, but they should only be outside for mere seconds. “I was a birthday present at some point,” he says mildly. “They both ended up becoming regulars.”

She tries to come up with a response and fails. “So after we get into the party,” she begins to say, and lets the sentence trail off.

“You’re on your own.” Magnus nods to the doorman, who takes their tags and the invitation Magnus managed to wrangle. He begins scanning both. Only after they’ve passed inspection are Magnus and Ciere directed to the second security checkpoint. Magnus murmurs, “I’ll be spending the night elsewhere. You still have the key I gave you?”

One of Magnus’s apartment keys is safely tucked into the lining of Ciere’s bra. “Go back if you need to,” says Magnus as they approach the checkpoint. “If you need a place to stay.” He holds out his tags for the second time.

“Hopefully, I won’t need to,” says Ciere. “I’ll get the evidence and catch the next train up to Newark.” She smiles brightly at the bouncer. He holds out a hand for her clutch and she obligingly gives it up. He conducts a brief search before returning it. Their heavy winter coats are taken, and they’re given tickets to retrieve the garments later.

Magnus offers his arm. “Ready?”

Ciere accepts the gesture, her fingers sliding around his silken sleeve.

Together, they stride into the hotel proper. In other such places Ciere has visited, there’s usually just a check-in desk, a concierge station, maybe some free coffee, and a sign for the hotel’s bar.

This hotel more closely resembles a museum. The arched ceiling stretches high above her, and there are actual columns descending from it.

“Jeez,” she says, without meaning to.

Magnus laughs softly. “Kit will be furious when he finds out you pulled a job in here without him. He’s always loved places like this.”

Someone calls out and Magnus looks up. She sees the change in him. It’s fascinating—Magnus’s mild expression smooths out, lights up from the inside. He moves sinuously, reaching out to clasp the hand of the approaching man.

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