Leaving Moonswallow’s widow to her grief and her empty house, Aaron and I walked back down Imperial Lane. In the half hour we’d been inside, grey clouds had rolled over Orion. Soft snowflakes filled the air like falling feathers, but they melted as soon as they hit the ground. I hugged myself for warmth, wishing that I’d brought along a thicker jacket. And, you know, pants. Shorts just weren’t adequate to battle Orion’s bizarre spring weather.

Without a word, Aaron tossed me a cloth, which I quickly wrapped around my neck like a scarf. It smelled like him: clean skin with a teasing hint of spicy aftershave, mixed with metal and…explosives?

“So, Moonswallow is dead. That complicates matters,” I said.

“That is unfortunate. I’d hoped to question him. I think I could have gotten something out of him. Veronica must have realized we were getting close to the truth,” he said. “She knew Moonswallow would crack under pressure, so she had him killed.”

“You’re jumping to conclusions.”

“No, I’m not. If I were, I’d already have arrested Veronica.”

“We need to have a look at the files on Veronica’s computer,” I said. “The answers we seek are there. What’s her security system like?”

“Tight.” He frowned. “But there’s a party at her house on Imperial Lane tonight. That’s our way in.”

“Is there a gala every night of the year on Imperial Lane?”

“Pretty much.” He looked down at his watch. “I have a few hours until my next meeting. That gives us enough time to go shopping.” His grin returned. “You can be my date at the party.”

“I am not going to be your date at some vampire gala. Again,” I said. “And I’m definitely not going shopping with you.”

“Of course you are. You can’t wear the same dress two nights in a row.”

“I am perfectly capable of going shopping on my own. I’ll bill you the cost of the dress.”

“Very well.” His armored chest rose under the weight of his heavy sigh, but he was still grinning at me. “Then I’ll see you at eight o’clock.”

* * *

The snow fell all day. By the time Veronica Frostwater’s party rolled around in the evening, the sidewalks were lumpy with the dirty snow cleared from the street. I stepped around the bigger piles, my boots crunching down on a chunky layer of ice and snow. Aaron walked beside me, dressed in a tuxedo as black as the abyss.

My dress was a long sapphire gown with short chiffon sleeves and a skirt that hugged my hips. There were slits in both sides of the skirt, nearly all the way up my thighs. I’d selected the dress because it looked pretty and allowed me a full range of movement.

The guards at the gate waved us inside. Putting on a big smile for everyone who was watching, Aaron took my arm and set it over his.

“You look amazing.” His breath caressed my cheek, dissolving the cold night air.

“Thank you.”

He winked. “No, thank you for being my date.” His hand slid across my cheek, brushing back a stray strand of hair.

I caught his hand. “This isn’t a real date, Aaron.”

“As you wish.”

I tensed as Aaron leaned in, as though he wanted to kiss me. Except he didn’t. He turned his head at the last moment, and his mouth slid past my cheek to whisper into my ear.

“When we go inside, you head for Veronica’s study. It’s one floor up at the end of the hall. I’ll keep Veronica distracted. Do you have the stick I gave you?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Insert it into her computer, just like I told you. Then get out of there before anyone sees you.”

“I’ve broken into offices and swiped information before. I am a PI, you know.”

His smile was pleasant. “Forgive me. Repeating the mission calms my nerves.”

“I didn’t know you had any.”

“Of course. I’m not a machine,” he replied. “And I’m worried about you. If Veronica’s guards catch you, they’ll shoot you on sight.”

“Thanks for the pep talk.”

“You’ll be fine,” he declared. I wasn’t sure if he was saying it for my benefit or for his. Aaron took my arm once more, and we stepped inside the house.

Like all the other territory rulers of the Selpe Empire, Veronica had more money than she knew what to do with. If the ostentatious furnishings in the entrance hall were any indication, she suffered from that problem even more than most. Blue and silver silk banners hung from the walls, long crystal icicles hung from the ceiling, and cascades of roses and lilies hung from the twin staircases’ gold banisters that swept up either side of the entrance.

Aaron released my arm, then with an encouraging smile, he walked under the archway to enter the ballroom. I watched him disappear into the jungle of satin and diamonds. A few more vampires followed him inside and were swallowed up as well. When the entrance hall was empty at last, I hurried up the stairs, the music from the ballroom fading with every step. It was only a muffled hum by the time I made it to the end of the hall, picked the lock on the door, and slipped inside Veronica’s study.

According to Aaron, Veronica was nearly as paranoid as she was rich—to the point that she didn’t even trust cameras. She was afraid they would be hacked. Well, that worked in my favor. Instead of cameras, Veronica employed a lot of guards. While the party was going on downstairs, her guards were making regular rounds of the upper floors, checking every room. I didn’t have long. A few minutes at most. I relocked the study’s door. It wouldn’t stop the guards, but it would buy me a few extra seconds. I would need every single one of them.

Veronica’s study was enormous; it was twice the size of my entire apartment. There were cabinets, desks, some kind of peculiar water fountain in one corner of the room, and shelf after shelf after shelf of books. I headed for one of the desks, but I found nothing but cosmetics in the drawers. The next desk was stuffed full of notebooks of nonsensical poetry, and the last one was empty. There wasn’t a single computer anywhere in the room. At least not anywhere that I could see.

I turned to the bookshelves. It sounded cliche, but people really liked to hide secret rooms behind bookshelves. They thought it was clever. I poked at the shelves. I shifted a few books around. I even knocked on wood a few times. Nothing.

I crossed the room, heading for the water fountain. It was the only thing left in the room that I hadn’t checked. And, sure enough, as I stood over it, staring down into the bubbling stream, I saw a button built into the inside of the basin. Would it open a secret room, or would it just set off an alarm?

While I pondered that, distant footsteps came up the stairs. The guards. My time was up. I reached through the water stream and pressed the button.

The floor shifted beneath my feet, swallowing up the fountain almost before I could jump back. With the fountain gone, a narrow doorway had opened up in the wall. A small room hardly larger than the desk inside of it waited beyond.

The guards’ footsteps were coming down the hall now as they opened each door in turn. I took a deep breath and stepped through the open doorway. No alarm went off. No gas was released. The door didn’t slam down and trap me inside. As far as victories went, this wasn’t a big one, but it was one I could appreciate nonetheless.

I crawled under the desk, where Veronica’s computer was just waiting for me to break into it. I reached into my boot, pulling out the slim plastic memory stick Aaron had given me. I inserted it into the computer.

“And Aaron had wanted me to wear open-toed high heels,” I muttered as the stick began to flash blue.

He’d given up on those silly shoes when I’d explained the superior storage capabilities of the boots. Even Silas stored things inside of his boots. For him, that meant knives, but I wasn’t sold on the idea of sharp, skin-piercing things pressed up against my feet.

The blue lights were positively racing now. Aaron said his people at the Diamond Edges’ office would be waiting for me to connect the stick. And now they were getting all of Veronica’s files. When the stick stopped blinking, that meant they had everything, and I could pull it out again. He’d assured me it wouldn’t take long, but as I waited there under Veronica’s desk, watching the lights dance back and forth, it felt like an eternity.

The handle on the door to Veronica’s study rattled. The guards were here, and those blue lights were still blinking happily along, as though they had all the time in the world. Keys jingled together and a pair of deep voices were chuckling over the indecent way the aristocrats below were stuffing their mouths full of creamed desserts and deep-fried finger foods.

The stick gave a final blink, and I snatched it out of the computer. I ran out of the tiny concealed room into the larger office. As I moved past the sunken fountain, it rose out of the floor again. Metal scraped against metal, the telltale sign of the key sliding into place.

I had to get out of here. Somehow. The door to the hallway wasn’t an option. The guards were standing right there. And there weren’t any other doors. I ran to the window, my pulse pounding in my ears. It opened! I shimmied out of the window and hopped down just as the study door swung open.

I landed below, my heels sinking into the soft grass. Then I circled back around the house and walked through the front door. In the ballroom, I found Aaron sipping wine and making smalltalk with Lord Adrian. They both turned to face me as I approached.

“Aaron, your date has dirt on her dress,” Lord Adrian said.

Aaron leaned in toward me and dusted away the grainy dirt that coated my chiffon sleeves. “Veronica is coming. Time to go,” he whispered into my ear.

He wrapped his arm around my waist, said a quick farewell to Lord Adrian, whose brows lifted, then we ran out of the house.