Midnight Beauties (Grim Lovelies 2)

“Tonight, we celebrate.” Rennar smiled. “Relish the wine. Savor the cake. Enjoy the entertainment. In fact, I have a special performance planned. I am rarely one for spectacle, but this is to oblige my bride.”

All eyes shifted to Anouk. Queen Violante stared at her with bald curiosity, doubtlessly wondering how such a simple girl—?a girl who even now had a dust streak on her cheek—?had won a prince.

Anouk’s face warmed under the scrutiny. She clutched the bell around her neck.

“You,” Rennar commanded to a group of butlers surrounding the wolf’s cage. “Bring the wolf.”

The butlers, despite their enchantment, weren’t quick to oblige. One of them, who had a bandaged hand, took a step away from the cage, and Anouk could guess what had happened. One started to hold a trembling key to the lock, but the wolf snarled and leaped at the bars, and the butler fell back with a cry.

Viggo, sulking by the balcony, gave an exasperated sigh. “Out of my way, cowards. I’ll do it. He’s just a pup.” Stumbling slightly—?he’d had a lot to drink—?he pushed through the butlers, grabbed the key, and unlocked the cage. The wolf bared his teeth and growled but Viggo reached in, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, and growled back. The wolf, as surprised as everyone else, went quiet. Viggo unlatched the chains and led the wolf toward Rennar.

Perhaps no one else would have caught it, but Anouk saw how Rennar eyed the wolf cautiously. The last time bars hadn’t separated them, in the bell tower of the Château des Mille Fleurs, the wolf had nearly killed him.

Rennar touched yellow powder to his lips and whispered, “Des skalla animaeux . . .”

A ripple of interest came from the audience as magic began to swirl around the wolf. The bonds circling his neck and his feet clattered to the floor. The muzzle disintegrated into a puff of dust. As soon as he was free, the wolf lunged at Rennar, but with a quick whisper, bonds of golden rope replaced his chains. Enraptured, Anouk pushed through the crowd. She’d seen her friends turned to animals, and it had been the worst experience of her life. This felt topsy-turvy, like history reversing itself. The magic in the air tasted sweet and tart, like gingersnaps.

“Des skalla animaeux . . .”

A sheen of sweat broke out on Rennar’s forehead. To turn a man into an animal was a simple thing, but the reverse was no easy feat. Even Rennar, who had written the beastie spell, struggled to contro

l the chaotic ribbons of magic that swirled around the wolf. A hush fell over everyone except King Kaspar of the Lunar Court, whose cough became more violent by the minute.

“Fiska ek forma humane.”

With a dramatic flick of his wrist, Prince Rennar summoned a flash of light so bright that at least one Goblin shrieked. Plates and glasses shattered around the room, table by table, like miniature dynamite blasts. The windows shook in their frames. The Pretty broker with the long gloves and pet hare jumped backward and smacked into an hourglass perched on the mantel behind Anouk. It tottered, and he reached for it but couldn’t catch it in time. It fell and shattered into a mess of broken glass, sand going everywhere. The hare leaped out of his arms. Anouk jumped up too, pressing a hand to her heart, dodging the mess.

“Sorry about that.” The broker hastily swept up the sand into a napkin. “I owe you a favor for nearly slicing you apart. I’m Sinjin. Hacker extraordinaire and rabbit enthusiast.”

“Forget it,” she said.

He carried the spilled sand toward the door but tripped and dropped it all over the Lunar Court’s table, and then he turned the other way and spilled it on Mia’s hair. He started apologizing profusely to them too.

When Anouk looked back to the center of the room, the wolf was changing. His thick fur was falling off in clumps; pale skin and taut muscles and a smear of charcoal hair replaced it. And then two smoldering eyes appeared—?human eyes, eyes she knew—?and Hunter Black shed the rest of the fur like he was shrugging out of a coat. His pelt fell to the floor. He stood upright on two feet.

Entirely human.

Also entirely naked.

A few gasps came from the crowd, along with more than one appreciative whisper from a woman in the room and perhaps from a few men; Hunter Black did cut quite the figure. His eyes were unfocused. He fell to his knees again. Luc grabbed a nearby tablecloth and draped it around Hunter Black’s shoulders. The motion made Hunter Black blink hard a few times and then shake his head as though waking from a drugged slumber. He looked at his bare knees and roared, “What the devil?”

The crowd erupted in cheers. “What a performance!” Queen Violante stood, clapping uproariously. Her sisters followed suit, though not quite as enthusiastically.

“Magnifique!” cried a princess from the Minaret Court.

“I thought it was only a rumor!” said the hacker, Sinjin, who’d come back from the Lunar Court’s table and had managed to catch his pet hare again.

Rennar ignored the crowd. He held himself wearily, especially the leg that had turned to stone, as though the magic had exhausted every bone in his body. He searched the crowd until his eyes fell on Anouk.

She rested her fingers on the table to steady herself. What had she just witnessed? A miracle. The opposite of the cruel magic that had reduced her friends into things with tails. Rennar’s spell had taken an animal and evolved it into something that could rationalize, feel complex emotions, dance a jig, bang a drum, kiss. A grin stretched across her face and she felt like that dreamy, hopeful girl she’d once been. This was the kind of magic she wanted. The kind she’d been so close to winning. And maybe it was what Rennar wanted, too. Maybe everything he’d said wasn’t so far-fetched. Her head fizzed like the champagne cocktails that butlers were now serving on golden trays throughout the ballroom. Could she possibly get magic back?

“Hunter Black! Move aside, you devils, let me near him!” Viggo shoved through the crowd, then fell to his knees beside the assassin. He rested a hand on Hunter Black’s back. Sweat dripped from Hunter Black’s hair and soaked into the tablecloth over his shoulders. “Someone get this man a coat, for the love of God. And a comb!” When no one listened to him, Viggo grumbled under his breath and helped Hunter Black to his feet. Anouk set down her glass, intending to go help them, but then someone screamed.

She spun toward the sound. It came from the direction of the Lunar Court’s table, but with the throngs of attendees, she couldn’t see what was happening. One of the Minaret Court women seated at the next table cried out and stumbled back against her chair, sending china crashing to the floor. Anouk stood on tiptoe but still couldn’t see. What had happened?

Hunter Black, ever the warrior, stumbled toward the nearest table and grabbed a knife from among the silverware, but his eyes were still glassy, and Viggo thrust himself in front of his friend, brandishing his cane.

Petra shrugged off her Faustine coat and climbed onto a chair. She pulled out a flask that, by its anise and sooty smells, held a powerful potion, and threw back a swig. She wiped her lips with the back of her hand. Her body was tense, ready to battle.