Page 190 of Blood and Fire
“Ah, but they need a mamma, hmm?” Zia Rosa murmured, sentimentally. She pinched Lily’s cheek again.
A strong arm slid around her waist, pulling. “Zia, that’ll do.”
Lily didn’t know whether to be grateful or panicked when Bruno swept her away from them all, maneuvering her into the ballroom, all decked out for dining and dancing. A band was setting up, and the glamorous string ensemble she’d noticed at the ceremony were tuning up, too. “What’s with the musicians?” she asked him.
“The Venus Ensemble?” he asked. “What about them?”
“Six gorgeous girls in low-cut sequined gowns, and they play really well, too? It just seems like a statistical anomaly to me.”
Bruno grinned. “Nah. Remember when you read about what happened to Kev and Edie? The mind control, and all that crazy shit?”
“Sure I remember,” she said.
“Those were the girls that got imported to do the crowning jobs. Trafficked from Moldovia, Belarus, the Ukraine, with all the usual tricks. Promises of jobs, green cards. Since the best crown interfaces were with female artists, the traffickers recruited girls from conservatories. And obviously, they favored the pretty ones.”
“That’s so creepy.” Lily looked at the group of beauties, busily tuning their instruments, chilled at the thought.
“It is, but it turned out OK. After Kev saved them, they got green cards and formed this string ensemble, and now they’re raking in the dough. Posh weddings, receptions, concerts. They’re famous, and hot, and they kick ass. Their agent can’t handle all the offers.” He waved. A dark-haired violinist smiled back. “But this gig, they’re playing for free.”
The first violinist lifted her instrument to her chin. The others looked at her for a moment of expectant silence.
A nod, and they launched into Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.”
* * *
Bruno gasped,as the music slammed into him like an eighteen-wheeler. He hung onto reality by a thread. The music dragged him back to that hour in Julian’s car, lying in the back seat with a smothering black mask over his head, wondering what was happening to Lily.
His blood pressure dipped, his stomach flopped, his heartrate soared. He gasped for breath. Everything swirled and spun.
“…the matter? Bruno? Are you OK? Bruno!”
He was against a column, Lily’s shoulder bracing him. He dragged her anxious face into focus.
“Are you OK?” she asked. “Should I call someone? Are you sick?”
“Just get me away from this fucking music. Please.Fast.”
He kept his arm around her as she steered him away from the music. It almost disappeared when she pushed through a door into a dark, quiet corridor. She opened the first door she found, which proved to be some sort of library. She positioned him in front of a wing-back chair. He thudded into it, still gasping for breath.
Lily put her hands on her hips. “So. What’s this all about?” she asked. “You don’t like Baroque violin suites?”
“Nah, they’re OK.” He swallowed, his mouth trembling. “That particular piece was playing on the car radio while Julian was driving me to King’s headquarters. It’s just…it’s a bad memory.”
“Ah. I see.” She squeezed his shoulder. “Wait here. Be right back.”
“Lily! Don’t—”Don’t go.He was saying it to empty air.
He lurched to his feet, but his knees wobbled, and he flopped back down again, despair opening inside him like a sinkhole.
He’d scared her off. Too needy. She didn’t want any part of his cracked up, stressed out bullshit, and he didn’t blame her.
He could chase her through the ballroom, bleating for her love, but how pathetic, how useless, how undignified would that be. How painful for everyone to watch. All he could do now was try not to lose his shit, at Kev’s wedding. That would be selfish, and childish.
“Hey.” The door opened. His heart sprang up into the air.
Lily held a steaming cup in her hand. “I saw them setting up the coffee station. Thought you could use a shot of caffeine.”
His eyes drank her in, and overflowed. He covered them with his hand. “Thanks,” he said thickly.