Once Upon Stilettos (Enchanted Inc #2) (3 page)

By the time we got to dessert, I was barely registering the life story Henri told us about the wine. I thought he said something about moldy grapes, but that couldn’t be right. It didn’t sound like the sort of thing you’d brag about. I did like the wine, though. It was probably my favorite of the evening because it was so sweet. They served it with poached pears that would have been a challenge to eat under the best of circumstances. As tipsy as I was, it was nearly impossible. I spent about five minutes chasing a pear around my plate, only to have it leap onto Ethan’s plate.

“Oops, sorry about that,” I said, hoping my words didn’t slur too much.

“No problem.” He gently returned the pear to my plate with his fork. I thought I detected a wink behind his glasses when he added, “Want me to cut that up for you?”

“What, and then have multiple moving targets?”

He chuckled. “Good point. You’re not used to having this much wine, are you?”

“Is it so obvious? I’m not even drinking the whole glass. Well, except this one. I like this one.”

“Don’t worry. It only looks like a slight bit of motor coordination difficulty. In this crowd, you look like the picture of sobriety. I’m not sure you could be obnoxious, no matter how drunk you got.”

Aww, wasn’t he sweet?

By this time, the party was in full swing. I shouldn’t have worried about people noticing me struggling to eat my pear. Their attention was more likely focused on the female stockbroker standing on the table and doing a striptease. The things she wore under her pin-striped suit showed that there was a whole other aspect to her personality.

Henri and his cronies chose that time to swoop in with order forms, going one by one to the guests. I noticed that each guest stiffened, losing the looseness of intoxication for a second or two before taking a pen and signing the form. After the paperwork was completed, the host made a note on his clipboard, and the guest passed out. It reminded me of something I’d seen recently, but in my foggy state I couldn’t quite remember what it was.

Fortunately, Ethan was practically sober, so I thought maybe he’d know what was going on. I tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, “Is there something odd about this, or am I just drunk?”

But before he could answer, Henri had reached me with his order form.

“A
nd are you enjoying your evening, mademoiselle?” Henri smarmed to me.

“Oh yeah, sure,” I said, trying to approximate the level of drunkenness at the rest of the table without resorting to removing my clothes. I sensed it would be best to play along until I was sure what was happening.

I must have done a good job (not that I had to fake being drunk) for he went straight into salesman mode. “Then if you’ve enjoyed the wine this evening, I’m sure you’d like to order several bottles so you can repeat the experience while dining at home. We offer discounts if you buy a case, and you can mix and match the wines in the case.” He then handed me an order form and a pen and said, “Now, what would you like to order?”

“Nothing, thanks,” I said cheerfully, handing him back the order form and pen.

“Are you sure?” he asked a little more forcefully, handing the form and pen back to me.

“Yeah. Not only can I not afford a case of wine, but I can’t think of where we’d store it in our apartment, unless maybe we threw a scarf over it, put some candles and magazines on it, and called it a coffee table.” That struck me as the funniest thing anyone had ever said, and I collapsed in hysterical giggles. I glanced at Ethan to see if he appreciated the humor. He just frowned.

But he wasn’t frowning nearly as severely as Henri was. “I’m sure you’d like to order,” he said in a commanding tone, and the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up. It wasn’t his tone that had that effect. Magic was being used nearby. It might not work on me, but I could feel it. Suddenly I realized what it was I’d been trying to remember. The behavior of the guests when Henri handed them the pen and order form reminded me of when the people at MSI had tested the initial spell being marketed by Phelan Idris, a rogue wizard with very different ideas of how magic should be used. That spell made it possible to control the actions of others. Was that what was going on here?

When I still didn’t order any wine, Henri moved over to Ethan, who was as immune to magic as I was. He had similar results, except for the witty quip about using the case of wine as a coffee table. Instead of making jokes, Ethan studied the form like the lawyer he was. “There appear to be some errors on this order form,” he said at last. “Surely you aren’t charging this for a case of wine? It doesn’t match the market prices I’m familiar with. Maybe you accidentally got the decimal point in the wrong place.”

A muscle jumped in Henri’s jaw, and I knew we’d caught him doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. I tugged on Ethan’s sleeve. “I think something strange is going on here,” I whispered.

Ethan smiled at Henri and said, “Would you excuse us for a moment?” Then he stood, reached around Henri to grab my wrist, and pulled me to my feet. “What is it?” he asked.

I forced myself to be as coherent as I possibly could be in my condition. “It’s a spell he’s using. I’ve seen one like it before. It’s like the one Idris was selling, the one he signed papers saying he wouldn’t sell anymore because it was based on MSI intellectual property. It lets you make people do things, and they don’t even know what they’ve done.”

“But he can’t sell that spell—that contract was supposedly unbreakable.”

“I don’t know how it all works. Maybe these people bought the spell earlier. The contract might not affect spells sold before it was signed. Or maybe it’s a slightly different spell and they were testing it. It seems a bit different. But I’m pretty sure they’re using magic to make people order the wine, and I’m even more sure the wine was enchanted, especially considering I’m almost the least drunk person here and I’m a total lightweight.”

“Okay, then let me handle this.” We went back to Henri, me hanging on Ethan’s arm, partly for support and partly because he was pretty hot when he was being all authoritative. “It does seem like there are some irregularities on these order forms that I’m sure you didn’t intend.”

Henri raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really?” he asked icily.

That set me off, in spite of Ethan’s warning grip on my arm. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with here, do you?” I asked, unable to hold back a triumphant grin. “I know what you’re trying to pull, and I’m not going to let you get away with it. Enchanting all those people with your magical wine, then hitting them with a spell to make them buy wine at inflated prices.” I tried to keep my voice low, so it was just between us, but it seemed to echo loudly throughout the restaurant. I’d forgotten that I tended to talk louder when I was drunk. Oops. Not that anyone else noticed. The ones who weren’t passed out were too busy doing the limbo under a curtain rod with the heavy velvet drapes still attached to it.

Ethan gripped my arm hard enough to cut off the circulation. I caught the hint and shut up. “I think she’s had a bit much to drink. But I do think there’s a problem with your forms. I’m an attorney and I’d be happy to correct the forms for you before anyone leaves. No fee, unless you want to send me home with a bottle of that Botrytised Semillon.”

“Was that the sweet one?” I asked.

He looked down at me with a fond smile. “Yes, that was the sweet one.” He pinned Henri with a steely gaze. “So, want to take me up on that offer?”

“Of course. Thank you. I’m grateful you caught my error.” Henri didn’t sound the least bit grateful, unless he was grateful to be given such an easy out. He’d still make out like a bandit on wine orders, since everyone was both drunk and enchanted from the wine, but he wouldn’t be able to pull off the full scam.

While Ethan went around the table correcting the forms, I drained his unfinished glass of the sweet wine. It sure didn’t taste like it was made from moldy grapes. If they were tricking people with enchanted wine, the wine was still good without the magic.

When Ethan returned to me, Henri approached him with a bottle of wine. “With our compliments, sir, and thank you again for your assistance,” he said with a thin-lipped smile.

“Glad to be of service,” Ethan said, giving no indication that there was anything out of the ordinary about the situation. “Now I’d better get her home. She seems to have had a little too much fun tonight,” he finished with a laugh. “Come on, Katie.”

The floor refused to cooperate, and if it hadn’t been for Ethan’s steady guiding arm around my waist, I probably wouldn’t have made it to the exit without taking a bad tumble. The cool air outside made me a little more alert, but the moment we were safely ensconced in the backseat of a cab, I suddenly felt very sleepy. I rested my head on Ethan’s shoulder, and he put his arm around me.

“Mmm, that’s nice,” I murmured.

“You’re really drunk, aren’t you?” I could hear the smile in his voice. “Sorry about that. It honestly wasn’t my plan to get you wasted. I just wanted to do something nice.”

“You were trying to impress me,” I said, only realizing after I’d heard the words that I’d said them out loud. I was never going to drink on a date ever again.

“Yeah, maybe a little bit, since I don’t think I impressed you so much on the first date.”

“Why can’t I have a normal date, one where magic isn’t involved? Did I ever tell you about the frog guy?”

“No, you didn’t. Maybe later. But wouldn’t normal be boring?”

“That’s what I used to think. Now it might be nice.”

“Well, you can never claim there’s no magic to our relationship,” he said with a soft laugh. “I can’t believe we still haven’t managed a magic-free evening. You’re sure they were using magic?”

“Yep. I could feel it. There’s a little tingle. Besides, did any of that look normal to you?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been to some law firm parties that looked a lot like that.”

I must have drifted off to sleep, for next thing I knew I felt cold air on my face. I opened my eyes and realized that Ethan was carrying me from the cab to the front door. I then closed my eyes because the movement made me dizzy.

Ethan pressed the buzzer, then Marcia’s voice said over the speaker, “What?”

“It’s Ethan, bringing Katie home. She’s a little, um, incapacitated.”

“Come on up.”

Ethan gave me a little shake. “Katie? Wake up.”

I forced my eyes open again. “Huh?”

“If you lived on the second floor, I might be able to carry you up, but I’m afraid the third floor is beyond me. Can you walk?”

“Yeah, sure. Put me down.”

He put me on my feet, keeping one arm around me to steady me while he opened the front door with his other hand. We made our way slowly up the stairs, with him supporting most of my weight. I must have been really heavy to him, for I felt like I weighed a ton. I could feel the gravity pulling me toward earth. “Just a few more steps,” he urged.

Marcia was waiting with the apartment door open and a disapproving scowl on her face. Ethan would have been better off facing my father. “You got her drunk?” she snapped.

“I took her to a wine dinner. I didn’t realize she didn’t have a lot of experience with wine.”

“I liked the sweet one, the one they make from moldy grapes,” I put in helpfully.

“If my intentions weren’t honorable, I wouldn’t have brought her straight home,” he pointed out.

Marcia had to see the logic in that, even if she wasn’t overly fond of Ethan. “Well, let’s get our little drunk inside,” she said. The two of them walked me to the sofa, then got me settled onto it.

Ethan knelt in front of me, and I struggled to bring his face into focus. “We’ll have to drink that bottle of wine I got some other time,” he said. Then he stood up and told Marcia, “I’d better go. The cab’s waiting.”

“Did you hear that?” I asked Marcia as soon as the door shut behind him. “He wants to see me again.”

“And why wouldn’t he? You seem to be a pretty cheap date.”

“Not cheap. I think this was expensive.”

“You’d better start drinking water or you’ll regret it in the morning.” She disappeared for a moment, then I heard her voice coming from the kitchen. “Argh. Gemma forgot to buy water again.” I heard water running from the tap, then she pressed a glass into my hand. “Drink up,” she ordered.

I managed to get the whole glass of water down. My head was already clearing, though I still felt sleepy. “I didn’t drink that much, really,” I told her. “Only five little glasses of wine, and I only finished one of them. Most of them I just sipped. And that was with food, over several hours.”

“You really are a lightweight, aren’t you? Now, off to bed with you.”

Before I fell asleep, I pondered which was worse, getting so drunk on a few glasses of wine and making a fool out of myself in front of Ethan, or having magic make yet another unwelcome appearance on a date. I’d once been the most normal person on the face of the earth, but almost everything in my life had become weird.

It said something about how my weekend had gone that I was ridiculously happy when Monday morning rolled around. Sunday was characterized by a nasty headache, grillings from nosy roommates about my date, and a depressing phone call from my mother, who remained convinced that I must be terribly homesick living in the big city. Going to work allowed me to escape all that. It was a relief going to a place where the weird was perfectly ordinary.