Aiden

The ravens saw her before Aiden did. For illusions of his imagination, they were remarkably observant.

Hot, said Horatio. He was the blunt one.

she usually wears black, added Magnus. His comment was a bit unexpected.

Even Aiden hated the birds' voice in his head, he agreed with Horatio. The woman was stunning, and it was a wonder the whole party didn't come to a halt for her. she paused at the doorway, scanning the crowded room. She had to meet someone, he decided. Or maybe she was looking for the bar. Aiden had already started his third drink and wasn't sure that was going to be enough tonight. This was the fifth party he'd had to go to, and he was tired of smiling.

The woman took a few steps, still searching.

Her hair is like winter sunlight, said Magnus, almost sounding lovesick. Still, it wasn't a bad comparison. Not quite gold, not quite silver. She wore it in an old-fashioned way that still managed to be stylish, pulled back and folded into itself at the back of her head. It revealed an elegant neck, which Aiden rather liked.

"Aiden!"

Chris' slapped him back to reality, causing him to stumble into the table and spill a part of his drink. With one last look at the blonde, he put on a smile and turned his focus back to the game.

"Yeah, yeah." Aiden set his money on the line and glanced back at the doorway. The bland was gone.

By the bar, said Horatio

Sure enough, there she was. Aided touched Chris's arm and nodded toward her. "Do you know who she is?"

Chris looked at her, a small frown appearing on his face. "Never seen her. One of my prettier party crashers."

"She's military, whoever she is," said Hans, standing on the other side of Aiden.

Aiden did a double-take. "Her? No. No way."

"Takes one to know one. It's in the way she stands." Hans gave her one more look and returned to the game. "She's one of us too," he added. "EA or RUSA."

"How do you know that?"

"The dress. Next bet."

Aiden obligingly set down more one and processed Hans' words. He had a point. The woman’s dress was a deep plum crepe de chine, with no sleeves and a high neckline.

The dress’s slim-fit hugged her body and hit just above the knee. To Aiden’s eyes, it was suggestive but elegant—and completely boring by local standards.

Too refined to be from around here, Magnus agreed. At least he appreciated Aiden's fashion analysis. A woman among women. Can’t you see the stars and flowers?

Stars and flowers. Those were words Aiden hadn’t heard in a long time—ones he wasn’t sure he was ready to hear. A nudge from Hans put the rumination on hold. “Your turn to roll.”

Aiden did. He tried to spot the woman again, but she had disappeared.

Aiden

"Chris, there you are!"

A woman pushed her way in between Aiden and Chris. Aiden tried not to wince as he watched her smile up at Chris. Well, she tried to smile but had a little trouble with all the wrinkle injections that had paralyzed her face. Eye shadow reached all the way up to her brows, and the shiny gold dress she wore was at least one size too small for her plump figure.

"I had to come tell you what an amazing party this is," she exclaimed, stepping closer to Chris.

"This?" Chris said, trying a modest look but failed badly. "This is just a little thing I threw together. Barely a gathering."

Aiden recognized an opening for flattery. "Oh, no. This is definitely your best one yet.  I don’t know how you keep doing it. I’ve never seen anything like that band.”

No, it wasn't. The terrible music had probably killed the crowed long ago.

Chris laughed. "Save your charm. It doesn't work on me."

But it did. Chris was more than happy to give out cash and lodging, so long as Aiden continued to smile and show up at parties. But he had a feeling that someday Chris would get bored of him and find some other novelty to show off.

The woman turned toward Aiden, her eyes widening in a way that didn’t help her appearance. His accent had tipped her off. “Is this one from the RUSA? I’ve never met one before.”

“Aiden, this lovely creature is Ana Santiago,” Chris said. “Her husband is a dear friend and associate of mine.”

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Aiden told him, shaking her hand. “‘Lovely’ doesn’t even come close to describing her.”

A truth, but not in the way Ana understood it.

Chris laughed at the “compliment” and reached around her to slap Aiden on the back again.

“Now, now, she’s married.” Chris winked at Ana. “I’ll leave you two to chat. Be careful, though. He’s trouble.” He wandered off to find his next distraction.

Ana actually batted her eyelashes, which were decorated with multicolored crystals. That was extreme, even by the hideous standards around here. Ana had the feel of someone who’d been raised in the lower classes and was trying to compensate now.

When Chris was gone, she slid over to Aiden. The smile on his face was starting to hurt, but he knew that Chris' guest had to be entertained. "Chris didn’t have to tell me you were trouble,” she said. “A little voice in my head told me that right away.”

Aiden straightened up. “You hear voices in your head?”

She looked surprised. “I mean, not literally. You’d have to be crazy for that.”

“Right,” said Aiden flatly. “Of course.”

Ana tried smiling again and had the same trouble as before. “Not many RUSA*es come here.”

“Well, they’re missing out. Believe me, their women don’t even compare to the ones here.” Aiden knocked back the rest of his drink, looking down at the empty glass with dismay.

She giggled in a way that was completely inappropriate for a woman her age. “Aren’t you sweet. And just as cute as Blanca said.”

Aiden’s smile almost slipped. Almost. “Blanca Jessup?” he asked carefully.

Ana nodded. “She’s a good friend of mine. She told me so much about you.”

Wonderful. Aiden’s last encounter with Blanca had involved bad judgment and even worse tequila. Definitely not one of his finer moments.

She leaned forward on the table, giving her cleavage increase that it most certainly didn’t need. “Blanca said you were some kind of witch hunter?”

He heard that a lot around here. Sometimes they called him a “priest killer.” “Nothing so exciting. I used to investigate religious groups for the government. Had to make sure they weren’t dangerous.”

“Doesn’t the RUNA think all religions are dangerous?” she asked.

Ha, maybe she’s not as vapid as she seems, said Horatio.

If you were of any use to me, you’d magically appear and get me another drink, Aiden told him.

She’d be happy to get you a drink back at your place, said Magnus helpfully.

“It’s a little more complicated than that." Aiden placed another bet.

“I’d love to hear more,” Ana said. She moved even closer. “Perhaps we could go somewhere quieter to talk.”

Not on your life, Aiden thought. Hans came to the rescue.

“Aiden doesn’t like to talk about his past,” he said, looking award-winningly grave. “Too many painful memories. Aiden, you should tell her the story of why you left.”

Aiden averted his eyes. "I don’t want to burden you with my personal drama.”

“I’m sure Señora Santiago wouldn’t mind. She seems like a great listener.” Hans was playing a good supporting role

“I am,” she said, nodding eagerly.

“I can tell.” Aiden gave her a small smile. “It’s in your eyes, you know. That kind of understanding and kindness…it shines out from the soul.” Hans cleared his throat and had to look away.

“People say that all the time,” Ana replied, moving even closer. “Now, please. Tell me what happened.”

Aiden took a deep breath. “Not much to tell. You see…there was this girl….”

Aiden

"I thought so." Ana squeezed his hand. Her hand was sweaty. "As soon as I saw you, I thought, 'He's a hopeless romantic.'"

“People say that all the time,” he said, echoing her.

I’m impressed you said that with a straight face, Horatio commented.

Shut up, Aiden told him

"Anyway, when I met her, it was love at first sight. I’m sure it was the same way for you and your husband.”

Ana’s face suggested otherwise. “What was her name?”

“Phoebe,” he said immediately.

“I thought it was Pamela,” Hans interrupted.

Aiden gave him a warning look.“Phoebe. I’ve never felt so connected to another person. It was like we were made for each other, perfectly matched in every way. Every moment with her was like living in a dream. I knew we had to be together forever, so I finally proposed to her on a beach at sunset. There were doves flying in the sky. I can still see the way her face glowed in the light when she said yes.”

“What happened next?” Ana asked breathlessly.

He sighed and looked down again, fully aware that half the table was listening now. “Oh, the usual. We began making plans for the wedding. It was going to be amazing. The greenest place you’ve ever seen, filled with flowers and butterflies. We were going to have a cellist and a choir of children to sing wedding songs.”

“Don’t forget the horse,” said Hans. “Pamela was going to ride in on a horse.”

“Phoebe was going to ride in on a horse,” Aiden corrected.

“A white one?” asked Ana.

“Yes, of course.” He never mentioned the horse’s color when he told this story, but women always guessed white. “Everything was perfect. Then, a few days before the ceremony, we had our compatibility test. You know what that is?”

“They force you to do it to get married,” she said promptly.

That wasn’t exactly true, not anymore, but he’d found it was a common belief here. It carried more mystery and romantic complications. They loved that out here.

“Well, we weren’t a match—not by their standards, at least.”

Ana gasped. “So you weren’t allowed to get married.”

“Oh, we could, but there were…punishments.” He left it at that. Her imagination would do far more than his storytelling skills could do. “We didn’t care, of course. We still went forward with the wedding and planned to leave the country afterward, before they could come after us. Only when the day came…she didn’t show up.”

“They…they got to her first?”

He shook his head. “Worse. She backed out. She was too afraid of what would happen. She wasn’t brave enough to be with me. And so, after that…well, how could I stay in the country that had torn us apart? It was too painful. I had to leave.”

So help him, Ana actually had tears in her eyes. She squeezed his hand even tighter. “You poor thing.” He hoped she wouldn’t try to “comfort” him later. It happened sometimes when he told the story. Sometimes that was actually his goal but certainly not this time. “I can’t imagine what you must have gone through.”

“It surely seems unreal, doesn’t it?” asked Hans. “It’s impossible to believe anyone could endure a tragedy like that. You’re out.”

Aiden looked down. His pile was gone. “S****.” He hadn’t been paying attention while talking. There went his pay for the week.

Hans shook his head in false sympathy. “Tragedy just follows you around, doesn’t it?”

“Aren’t you going home soon?” Aiden asked pointedly.

“Tonight, actually.” Hans waved his hand when the bet came around to him and gathered up his winnings into a large pile. “In fact, I should go right now. The plane’s probably waiting on me.”

The news hit Aiden harder than it should have.  Aiden had gotten used to having his friend around and suddenly felt as though he was about to be swallowed up into darkness.