“That’s not true at all.” She shook her head, making her dark waves sway around her. The rose on her cheeks deepened, and her smile turned shy.

She lifted her head to look at him, maybe to protest further, but as soon as her eyes met his, all her words died on her lips. His heart pounded in his chest. Unable to deny the pull inside him any longer, Lux moved towards her, pressing his lips to hers before he could think about what he was doing.

She kissed him back, timid at first. He wrapped his arms around her, barely restraining himself from pushing himself on her. She threw her arms around his neck, and then, as she kissed him, she wrapped the curls of his hair around her finger.

That simple gesture did something to him he couldn’t explain, and he froze. He had no idea how to act. He wanted her in a way that he had never wanted anyone before, so instead of taking her the way he normally would, he stopped. His heart even ceased to beat.

“What?” Lily had noticed his abrupt change and stopped kissing him. Her ice blue eyes, welling with nervous tears, searched his. She moved back from him, and even though he wanted to hold her to him, he couldn’t make his arms work. “I’ve done something wrong.”

“No,” Lux shook his head, but his word came out feeble.

“I’m such a fool.” She put her hand to her forehead, as if in pain, and her cheeks blanched. “I hope you’ll accept my humblest apologies. I had no idea what I was…” She trailed off, stepping away from him as she spoke.

“No, you’ve done nothing wrong.” He held at out his hand to her in an empty gesture. He wanted to comfort her, but to the best of his recollection, he’d never comforted anyone before.

“I should get back to the ball.” Her words came out in a hurried jumble, doing a poor job of masking the quiver. “I do hope that you’ll forgive my parents for raising such an obscene child.”

“You’re not –” He didn’t have a chance to stop her before she lifted her skirts and dashed out of the room, running down the hall towards the ballroom.

Lux could’ve gone after her. He even considered it, but he had no idea what was happening. Everything felt so unnatural. His heart beat erratically and his blood felt electrified, as if her touch had literally shocked him. His hand went to the back of his neck, gingerly touching where she had twirled her fingers.

When his hair got a bit long, it tended to curl where it touched the top of his spine. He’d been with so many girls, and one of them had to have played with his hair. It had to have happened, at least once.

But nothing had ever struck him as forcefully as when Lily had done that.

Before he could ponder things further, a small man interrupted. He came out of a doorway hidden in the wall, pushing it open so soundlessly that if Lux hadn’t been looking, he wouldn’t have noticed him at all.

The man was very tiny, almost impish, with slender arms and high cheekbones. His gray eyes appeared too large for his dirt smudged face, and scraggly hair fell across his forehead.

He limped towards Lux, favoring his right leg, and Lux instinctively took a step back. The small man looked as if he’d be carrying the bubonic plague.

“You are the one they call Lux?” The man looked up to inspect Lux.

“I am.” Lux tilted away and raised an eyebrow. “I’m to have business with you?”

“Not with me. With my mistress,” he clarified. “I’m merely her servant, Jinn.”

“I see,” Lux said, but he still wasn’t convinced that his boss would want anything from people like these. Admittedly, Lux had done business with far worse people in far worse places, but it was always for a very good reason. Here, he couldn’t see what any of them had to offer.

“Come along, then,” Jinn waved Lux on, hobbling towards the grand staircase. “She’s expecting us, and she doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“No, I suppose not.” Lux gave Jinn a wide berth before following behind him up the stairs.

Jinn smelled of frogs and toadstools, a common nasty side effect of having a sorceress for a mistress. If Lady Scelestus was a sorceress, that made a bit more sense. Sorcery was something Lux’s boss had a hand in.

Thanks to his injured leg, Jinn walked slowly, but Lux made sure to lag behind him. He didn’t want any of his clothes to smell like the dirty little servant. At the top of the stairs, Jinn took a left down another long hallway. They went past several closed doors before Jinn pushed open a secret door hidden behind a painting of a dark horse.

Jinn held the door open, offering a grin that revealed a missing tooth, and Lux slid past him into a secret chamber room. Black silk draped the walls to give it a more elegant feel. Iron sconces were dotted amongst the drapes, bathing the room with dim yellow light, and two red velvet couches with gold claw feet rested against the walls.

It was the massive mirror on the far wall that caught Lux’s attention. That, and the table below, lined with vials and pouches and sealed jars. A black cauldron sat next it. The room reeked even worse of toadstool and potions, so Lux presumed that this must be where the magic happened.

Lux was about to ask Jinn where his mistress was when he saw a shimmer in the black silk hanging along one of the walls, and he realized that wasn’t the drapery. Her gown blended in seamlessly, and he had a feeling that had more to do with a cloaking spell than it did with her designer.

She turned to face him, the dark folds of her dress billowing out. Her bodice clung tightly to her thin frame, pushing up her low-cut assets. Her black hair had been pulled back severely, and despite the heavy make up on her pale skin, time had obviously begun catching up with her. Not that there wasn’t something strikingly beautiful about her. If Lux hadn’t been so flustered by his recent encounter with Lily, he’d most certainly have attempted to seduce the sorceress.

“Lux, I presume.” She smiled at him, her lips blood red. Something was so wicked about it, it nearly ignited something inside him. It should have, but he couldn’t shake the taste of Lily from his lips.

“At your service.” Lux flashed her a dazzling smile, and he was pleased to see it had some effect on her. Not much, but she was a far wiser woman than he usually pursued.

“I am Lady Scelestus, and this is my home.” She gestured expansively to the area around her, but she did it with a sneer, and his interest in her grew. “I trust you found the ball satisfactory.”