Willem
The lanterns hanging from gazebos and trellises left spots in Willem Vandekamp’s vision as he crossed the topiary garden, and the string quartet was already giving him a headache. But he had to admit it, Tabitha knew how to throw a party.
She wore strapless white silk tonight, and in it, she looked every bit as fresh and young as she had the day they’d met, even with the snowy, feathered mask hiding the top half of her face.
“What do you think of the new painter?” she whispered, as Willem slid his arm around the gathered waist of her gown. “I think she’s worth every cent.”
“Which ones are hers?” He glanced around the Savage Spectacle’s monthly masquerade, noting a familiar mask here and a distinctive chin there as he took inventory of the regulars among the incognito guests.
“The leopard. And the Egyptian goddess. And the snake...girl.”
“She’s an echidna.” His gaze snagged on the cryptid in question. In human form, her most prominent tells were her diminutive fangs and her eyes—coppery, with vertically oriented oval pupils. But thanks to Tabitha’s latest hire, the echidna now sported hand-painted scales down her spine and the backs of both of her legs in a luminous python-like gold. Which didn’t resemble her natural coloring in the least.
As usual, Tabitha was more concerned with the aesthetics of her projects than the accuracy of them. And as usual, she’d made the right call.
“Gorgeous.” Willem pulled her close to murmur against the back of her jaw, just beneath her ear. “The governor and her guest seem to agree.”
The governor, a small woman in red sequins, was recognizable in spite of her nondescript black mask by her petite stature and her ubiquitous French twist. And—for those who knew her—by the covetous way she ran one hand down the echidna’s back when the cryptid turned to offer a tray of hors d’oeuvres to another guest.
The governor’s companion also wore a mask, but she would have had to wear much more than that to pass as the First Gentleman of the state.
“How long before we can engage the rest of the new additions?” Tabitha asked. “It’s time they earned their keep.”
“Any that don’t need costumes can be used immediately. Just like her.” He nodded at the leopard shifter as she carried a fresh tray of champagne from the outdoor bar set up on the fringes of the party. “Except for Delilah.”
“But I thought—” Tabitha swallowed the rest of her sentence as a pair of guests approached the host couple.
The man wore a laser-cut mask inlaid with jade and copper in a harlequin diamond design. “Beautiful evening,” he said, smoothing down the front of an elegantly cut dark gray suit jacket, buttoned over a tie that matched his mask.
“It’s even more beautiful now.” Willem offered his hand to the man’s wife, a curvy woman in jade satin with a neckline that plunged nearly to her navel.
She smiled beneath a simple black feathered mask and gave him her hand.
“How are you enjoying the party?” Tabitha asked, as the man’s gaze trailed down her dress, then finally wandered back up.
“It’s splendid, as always,” the man said.
“Really lovely,” his wife agreed.
“I’m so glad.” Tabitha smiled and ran one hand up her husband’s arm. “Will you be booking an extended engagement this evening?”
“We will, and we’ve made our selection. Dear?” The husband turned to his wife.
“That one,” the woman said, pointing with one finger at a young naiad as she emerged, naked and dripping, from the fountain at the center of the garden. “We’ll take her. For the rest of the evening.”
“Wonderful choice.” Tabitha let go of her husband’s arm and took a step back. “Come this way, and I’ll get that set up for you.”
Willem watched his wife as she escorted the couple toward one of the event coordinators standing on the edge of the party, electronic tablets in hand. She returned minutes later, as the coordinator led the customers toward the main building, tapping on her tablet and chatting with them as they left the party, to make sure they understood the options and limitations their private event would include.
“That was the candy couple?”
Willem chucked. “Their corporation owns the companies that produce nearly every candy bar you’ve ever eaten.”
“Well, they better not be paying in chocolate coins.” Tabitha returned a nod from a guest in a maroon suit and a Phantom of the Opera–style mask studded with matching red rhinestones, then she snuggled closer to her husband. “Tell me again who the man in the silver suit is?” Tabitha’s gaze settled on the man in question, standing off from the rest of the guests. “The one in the silver-and-black gladiator mask?”
“Senator Aaron,” Willem whispered. “Chairman of the Cryptid Regulation Committee. I’ve been inviting him for months, but this is the first time he’s come.”
“A senator. So this is about influence, not money, right?”
Willem gave his wife a private frown, but Tabitha only shrugged her bare, shapely shoulders.
“You said most politicians can’t afford our services,” she reminded him.
“Yes, but that’s a generalization, and a crass frame of mind.” Though accurate, in this instance. A strong champion in the senate would enable Willem’s containment collars to move beyond the current small-scale beta-testing phase. “If you think like that, it’ll inevitably show in your bearing,” he scolded gently. “So just be your usual charming self, and I’m sure he’ll be eating out of our hands.”
“I think he’s more interested in a different set of hands.” She nodded subtly at the masked senator as he accepted a flute of champagne from a slim cryptid who had been meticulously painted with leopard rosettes across her exposed breasts, limbs, and the sides of her torso, leaving her navel undisguised. Her bikini bottom had been decorated to match the rest of her, but she wore significantly more paint than material. “I assume any services he requests are on the house?”
Willem nodded. “For tonight, at least. Let’s give him a taste of the possibilities and hope he develops an appetite.”
A man with a secret is useful, Willem’s father used to say. But a powerful man with a secret is indispensable.