Earnest flashed that devilish grin at her again. “I certainly do.” The fabric flickered on that deep green a moment longer than the color before it, before shifting again.

Fuck, twenty years, and she’d thought she’d learned it all, but she hadn’t, and it was biting her in the ass.

He cleared his throat. “Have a drink preference?”

She could order her own damn drink, but that wasn’t how this world worked. “7 and 7, heavy on the soda.”

The bartender was another telleefee. Both pairs of hands were busy mixing drinks. When they walked up, his eye locked on Earnest’s face, disregarding her completely. “Sir! I mean—”

Earnest held a finger to his lips. “Relax, relax. Vodka martini for me, a Manhattan for the lady.”

The telleefee bowed, making Ronnie raise an eyebrow. Almost as if he could tell what she was thinking, Earnest’s hand pulled her closer, and he brushed his lips to her ear in an approximation of a kiss. “Part of that story for later,” he whispered, his warm breath running over her ear and sending a shiver down her spine that she knew the bastard would feel. To his credit, he didn’t comment on it, choosing to give a curt nod in return and unwinding his arm from her as he reached forward to accept their drinks. 

For the first time, Ronnie felt a strange sense of loss when he pulled away- the air felt noticeably colder. Not wanting to dwell on that at all, she sipped her drink instead, frowning slightly when the liquid touched her tongue. “Why does this taste strange?” 

Earnest looked at her with concern, but her dress didn’t change. “Strange how?” 

Ronnie paused, taking another sip. “It’s… sweeter,” she said thoughtfully. “Like… I know I’m drinking whiskey, but…” Ronnie thought about it for a moment, then stared at her glass. “I can also taste the honey, the apple, and even the oak from the barrel on my tongue.” She looked up at him, then frowned. “Did he spike my drink?” 

Earnest’s tie shimmered with those rainbow colors again as he wrapped his arm around her again, the warmth of his arm making her let out an unconscious sigh. “No,” he said flatly, guiding her toward the tables. “Let’s just go inside… we won’t get any info out here.”

They moved through the casino quickly, the whole thing getting even more ostentatious, as if it was even possible. Ronnie giggled at the spread of planars, many of them kinds she’d killed or stripped or banished over the years at Vent’s demands. Pausing, Ronnie scowled down at her glass. “Is planar booze more potent?” she wondered aloud. She had a damn strong buzz going on after only a few sips. 

Earnest sighed as a human admitted them into the VIP area, slot machines reflecting the rainbow hues painting their linked wardrobe. “Depends,” he said, his hand resting gently on her elbow as he guided her to an unoccupied bar top table just outside the slots. “I need to make a trade so we can gamble, otherwise the entire ruse is a waste.” 

“Trade?” 

“Need human money to gamble here, but the exchange works planar to Earth currency.” He smirked when she wrinkled her nose in question. “We’ll get you better educated another time. You alright here for two minutes alone?” 

Ronnie rolled her eyes, leaning in close to his ear to whisper, “You didn’t forget who I am just because I’m wearing a dress, did you?” 

Their clothes dropped the connected glamour, and she stared into Earnest’s very human eyes when she backed away. Her grin fell. She just reminded him she killed his kind. Really cute, Ronnie. 

“No, I didn’t. Just…try not to cause trouble.” He stalked away, and she watched her dress, but the colors didn’t shift, the fabric just fabric. 

“Way to be a bitch, Ronnie,” she mumbled to herself, taking another drink. 

“If it isn’t Vent’s little human shit,” a voice growled as a shadow engulfed her. Ronnie titled her head back, about straining her neck to make eye contact with the yeti. 

He was an ugly bastard, despite having brushed his pale fur and stuffed himself into a sleek black suit. Fur tufted out at all the seams, and the beast snorted through wide nostrils, yellow saber teeth both broken down to his oversized lips — which happened when she deported his asshole brother for eating human women, one of the few of Vent’s jobs she’d actually enjoyed.

“Wangchu,” Ronnie said. “The fuck do you want?” 

“Fuck you doing in here, slave toy? Planars only, no human cunts like you.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Your brother liked eating ‘cunts’ like me just fine, now didn’t he? How is he? You ever hear from him, or don’t they let postcards through from the deep ice?” 

The yeti snarled and lifted a meaty, fury fist, ivory claws extending. She touched her fingers to the coin woven into her updo for hiding, using her left hand to draw a rune in the air with a cocky smirk. Yeti’s never fucking learned. Felt Earnest’s soul, warm in her veins and… 

…nothing happened. 

“The fuck?” She blinked, staggering back just in time before Wangchu’s fist shattered the bar table into splinters instead of her head. 

Aether smacked her hard, and suddenly she was ten feet back and nauseous, her dress an impossible, flaming violet. The yeti was on his knees, Earnest’s clawed hand around his throat, his dragonfly wings expanded wide and fucking amazing. Delicate as spun glass, patterns shifting in a hundred shades of purple, five pairs of wings to Binks’ two. 

His voice carried in the room, lower than she’d ever heard it, the sound making fear replace her awe in a sharp smack. “This may be neutral ground, yeti, but I’m still well within my rights to decapitate you for threatening my date.”

The yeti gurgled. “Vent’s — whore,” he choked out.

Earnest leaned in, nose to nose with the yeti. “You’d be welcome to test that assumption with the lady at another time, yeti.” His hand squeezed, drawing drops of yellow blood. “If you survive, that is.”

Wangchu’s eyes went wide. “You! You’re—”

A blink and Earnest’s other hand clapped over the yeti’s mouth. “Ah, I see we can come to an understanding after all.”

Wangchu’s hands grabbed up at the hand by his throat and tried to pull it down. His feet scrambled against the floor, face beginning to pale.

Ronnie recovered enough to step up next to Earnest. He didn’t look at her, attention focused on Wangchu. Heat radiated from him in waves. Her outfit hadn’t permitted her usual weapons. She wished she could slide her knife into Wangchu’s gut herself. Ronnie suspected his brother hadn’t been the only one with a taste for human, but she could never prove it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her dress had woven a stormy gray thread into the deep purple. She frowned, but Earnest’s attention remained focused on Wangchu. With no answers in sight, Ronnie pushed it to the side, adding another question for her growing list. She took a deep breath to put her hand over his elbow, just as a pair of half-giants in security uniforms appeared behind Wangchu.

Earnest snapped his face to lock eyes with her. There was a moment of confusion before the purple shine disappeared from his eyes to return to flat human brown. “Ronnie—”

“I didn’t start this fight,” she rushed out.

“I know.”

One of the half-giants took a half-step forward. “Sir, we can offer you a private room to resolve this matter.”

Earnest let go of the yeti, wings twitching. Wangchu fell to the floor, clutching at his neck. “I would rather return my attentions to my date, gentlemen. If this pecashu qatar can behave himself, I can consider the matter at an end.”

The half-giant gave a shallow bow. “As you wish, sir.” He waved a hand, and his partner stepped up to help haul Wangchu off.

Earnest drew in a breath with a rush of aether, and his wings retracted. He straightened and smoothed his suit. Rainbow hues returned to the fabric.

Ronnie took a breath herself. She was about to speak when a familiar face caught her eye. Her head snapped to see her sister in a cocktail server outfit, holding a platter of drinks.

Instantly, Ronnie’s eyes went wide, and she tried to storm across the room and snatch Sarah up by her hair, but a warm hand came to rest on her arm. “I don’t know what’s flashing through that pretty little head of yours, but I can assure you, it’s a bad idea,” Earnest murmured, guiding her back and toward him with a casual ease. “Haven’t you had enough trouble for the evening? We haven’t even gotten inside yet...” 

Doing her best to play along and monitor the quiet young girl, Ronnie snaked her arm around the small of his back and angled her lips to his ear. “That girl over there is my sister,” she whispered, growing more anxious by the second. “Goddess, what is she doing in here?” 

Once again, Earnest was surprising her- without moving his head, he cut his eyes into the direction of the young woman, then returned his attention to her. “She doesn’t look anything like you… full or half-sister?” 

“Full,” Ronnie replied, trying to fight a blush creeping up her cheeks. “Sarah just got all the looks in the family, that’s all.” 

To Ronnie’s surprise, her dress shimmered in hues of purple and grey again. “I think you’re exaggerating,” Earnest said evenly as he guided her away from the bar. “C’mon — we got a job to do.” 

“But…” 

Before Ronnie could say another word, Earnest had taken his thumb and started tracing it over her lips. “They don’t know she’s your sister, and we need to keep it that way,” he murmured, pulling Ronnie closer to him. To anyone else, it looked like he was about to kiss her, and Ronnie wondered what it might be like to actually be on a date with him. “You almost got your ass kicked and you’re competent- if anyone in here figures out that her sister is the Rainmaker, we’re all in trouble.” 

His words were as effective as dumping a bucket of water over her head. Ronnie shuddered a little, then pressed her lips together in a tight line. “Point taken,” she grumbled, doing her best not to think about the hand that had moved back down to her waist. “Let’s get the fuck inside.”