Felix's body moved in a nearly mechanical perfection, his feet moving through the steps with learned ease, his hips swinging in time with the music. His partner's face was a blur, the feeling of her hands on his hips and chest was barely there. Numb. He was numb to everything, even the press of her body against his own. His mind was disconnected from his form, lost in a haze of worry and curiosity, trapped in his wonderings about Eleonora and all of her family's secrets. He was almost glad when the song ended and he had reason to excuse himself.

Promising to fetch his patron a drink, Felix strode across Club Orchid's dance floor to the long neon-lit bar. "A cosmopolitan, please, Samuel, and a little something for me." 

The bartender, a rather large, burly fellow with dark skin that reflected the colors radiated from the lights smiled beneath his white mask. "Coming right up, Ceri." He said, his long locks falling over his shoulders as he bent to grab the needed bottles and a couple of glasses. "You didn't really look yourself out there tonight if you don't mind me pointing it out. Something on your mind? Things not going well with new Missus?" 

"You have no idea." Felix grabbed his glass of watered-down vodka like a drowning man onto a lifeboat. He knocked it back, gulping it down and welcoming the burn of it down his throat. 

"What's wrong? Is she a dog?" Samuel asked. Already, Felix could hear the bite of barely contained laughter in his voice.

"No, she's actually kind of attractive if you can look past her horrific fashion sense. She's just...how should I put it? Anti-social? She's just barely started talking to me after months of almost complete silence. Do you know how boring it is to only have the butler and my cat for conversation? And don't even get me started on my complete lack of a sex-life." Felix toasted Samuel when the man poured him another shot. 

"That's rough, buddy," Samuel said, biting back another laugh and failing to stop a snicker from spilling out through his shit-eating grin. He poured a shot for himself and leaned over on the bar. "At least you can work out some of that frustration here."

"Not nearly enough." Felix sighed, finishing his second drink.

Samuel licked vodka from his lips, his grin only growing more and more sadistic in his attempt to keep a straight face under his mask. He was no doubt eating this up. Everyone took turns working the bar. Ordinarily, Samuel would be out on the floor with the rest of the men in white. He and Felix were among the most popular hosts at the club and had acquired a bit of a friendly rivalry. "Miss Abby mentioned something about your wife wanting an open marriage. Do I have that right?"

Felix nearly drowned on his drink. "What all has she told you?" He sputtered after a long coughing fit.

"Just a little! Promise! I don't know who she is or anything of that sort. My man, if your lady wants to keep things casual, I say everything is free game. There's plenty of ladies here who'd die to have a shot at a quickie in the club restroom with the famous host, Ceri." If that didn't shine a light on Samuel's personality, nothing would. While Felix, enjoyed working at Club Orchid mostly for the anonymity and the chance to run wild, Samuel was there for the women. A playboy in every sense of the word, though Felix didn't really see any fault in it. He wasn't exactly a rare breed among the hosts. 

"I'd...rather not." Felix said, toying with his empty shot glass, batting it about between his hands like his most beloved pet.

"Why? She suggested the arrangement, right?" Samuel asked, dropping his voice into an even lower whisper. "She's probably got a lover on the side already."

"You don't know her. Believe me, there's a greater chance of you walking on the moon. I just...prefer not to mix business with pleasure."

"So look elsewhere. I've got a few friends I could introduce you to." Samuel offered, his lips pulling back from teeth stained light purple by the neon indigo light glowing up from the bar.

"That offer's mighty tempting, but I'll pass." Felix sighed, picturing in his mind, Eleonora weeping on the rooftop. "I'd like to see where this whole marriage thing goes before I complicate it with adultery." 

"My offer stands if you ever change your mind." Samuel said, taking up their empty shot glasses. "You know, maybe your lady's the real shy type. Give her a great big shove into the deep end and maybe she'll warm up to you."

Felix raised a perfectly trimmed and plucked eyebrow. "You've lost me."

Samuel rolled his pale green eyes. "What do you do for a living, my man?"

"Entertain."

"You get stuffy aristocrat ladies hot and bothered. Just do what you do here, but multiply it by ten, and you're bound to see some improvements to your sex life. Turn up the charm, give her gifts, whisper dirty things in her ear. Woo her. You know how it works." 

"I don't think I can do what I do here with her. She's...um...a bit prudish." He could only imagine the reaction he'd get if she'd given him the cold shoulder for months over touching her hand without asking. Even as he sat there at the bar with all the colorful lights flashing in his eyes, he could picture Eleonora glaring at him from across the table  as she glugged away at her her second cup of black coffee. Her hair all frizzy and voluminous from a recent bath. A too-large cardigan hanging off her shoulders over a camisole that showed off her defined collarbone...the curve of her breasts.

"What is this, your first day?" Samuel chuckled, snapping Felix from musings that were delving into dangerous territory. "Start small. Ask her out on the town and work your way up." 

It wasn't the worst idea, Felix thought.

"Robin?" Eleonora blinked in confusion at the boy leaning as far back as he could in the dining table chair without it falling to the floor. "Where's my coffee?"

"No coffee this morning." He said.

"Bacon?"

"No bacon."

"Why not?" She asked with what truly sounded like genuine horror. "Are we out?"

"I thought we could go out for breakfast this morning." Felix chimed in, descending the staircase in a stylish pinstriped suit. The stripes were a shiny black against a mat black fabric, giving the suit a subtle shimmer. "Think of it as a date, if you will." From behind his back, he produced a heavy bouquet of various red flowers. 

"What are you on about?" She said with noticeable annoyance, taking the bouquet and unceremoniously tossing it atop the dining table without sparing it more than a glance. "Why would we go out for breakfast when we can just eat something here?"

"Don't you think Robin gets tired of waiting on you hand and foot? You should give him a break every now and then."

"Robin doesn't mind. Do you, Robin?" She asked the boy through pouting lips.

"No, but if the Mister wants to give me a day off every now and then, I'm not going to complain."

"What are you up to?" Eleonora eyed Felix suspiciously. "Why are you so eager to get chummy? Didn't you just tell me yesterday that I was a stranger to you?"

"We are, but we don't have to stay strangers. I'd like to get to know you."

I eyed him suspiciously. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with me."

"I don't want to have any part in your plans to upheave the entire continent and bring the empire back to its former glory through violent force. I never said I didn't want to try and make this marriage work. It would be pleasant, don't you think, to have someone to come home to when you're done playing anti-hero."

Eleonora looked him over, appraising, considering. "You're wearing red." She muttered, seeing the red silk handkerchief peeking out of his breast pocket.

"I figured I should start letting it bleed into my wardrobe. I am a married man now."

"You are entirely too cheerful..." Her eyes twitched over him again. "Fine. We'll go out." She said it with the same enthusiasm one announces a dentist appointment as she stomped back up to her room to change.

She returned twenty minutes later in a baggy red dress. Lace dripped down from her throat and shoulders like a tablecloth from the corner of a table. "I'm ready." She muttered, pinning a plain hat into place over haphazardly done up hair. It looked like she'd just balled all her hair up at the nape of her neck and called it a day.

Every vain bone in Felix's body ached at the very sight of her. "Do you own any clothing that actually fits you?" He blurted. 

Eleonora glared at him. "This dress fits me fine. I'm sorry I prefer clothes that don't look like they were sewn onto my body. Let's hope I don't stir up any fires in you or you're going to rip a hole in those tight pants." 

Ah, he was wondering when her true personality was going to show up. She usually tried to be cordial with him or appear painfully shy, but every once in a while, much like her power, a mean quip would slip out from beneath the façade. 

"At least let me fix your hair." He moved without waiting for permission. 

Her mouth opened to protest, but she quickly shut it, allowing him to work. He undid her sloppy knot and began to twist her hair into a series of braids, which he then wound up into a simple, yet elegant updo. 

"Do you do women's hair often?" Robin asked, amused. 

"No, just my own." He lied. He'd helped Abby get ready on numerous occasions. He even did her makeup sometimes. He was tempted to prod Eleonora to let him do hers, but he figured it was best to move with baby-steps with her. 

Eleonora checked his work in a mirror, which hung on the wall near the entryway. "I can't say I'm surprised at your talent, as much as you primp." She grabbed a bright red parasol from the corner by the door. "Well, let's get on with it."

"Wonderful." He offered his arm and with a bit of hesitation, she took it, holding onto him by his bicep. 

Lay on the charm, you know how to do that. You've known how to get women to eat out of the palm of your hand since you were eighteen. Woo her. Tell her what she wants to hear. Tell her she's the most beautiful woman in the world. Lie through your teeth if you must. It's better to make women with power love you than despise you. This, he knew from experience. 

"W-what can I get you?" The young waitress stammered through her greeting, her eyes big as saucers and bulging from her skull. Her pen shook in her hand and Felix could see the sweat stains beneath her arms spreading while she stood there.

"The omelet, please, and an espresso." Felix said, unfazed. 

Eleonora gave the girl an apologetic grimace. "Black coffee and bacon."

"J-just bacon?"

"Try something different for a change, Dear. Their pancakes, I hear, are amazing."

Eleonoa rolled her eyes. "Sure. Throw in a pancake." 

The waitress quickly jotted down their orders and all but ran for the kitchen. 

"Relax. I even got us a patio table so you would have some fresh air and not so many admirers." He gestured around them at the empty patio. It was still early enough that they'd missed the brunch crowd, thankfully. Usually the café was packed inside and out at that time of day. He was sure that Eleonora would've ran home had he dragged her into that. 

"It's still too crowded, for my taste, she said, glancing toward a couple in orange entering the cafe. Both stared at them and whispered between them until they got inside. "You saw how that girl reacted to me. Van Brandts tend to get that reaction everywhere. It's difficult to enjoy a meal with everyone gawking at you just because you're the Prime Minister's kin."

Felix leaned forward, propping his cheek on his knuckles. "It's an understandable reaction, isn't it? Considering your mother is second in power only to the Empress herself."

Eleonora bristled, looking around sheepishly at all the passersby, going past the café on morning strolls. "I still don't see why we couldn't just eat at home." 

"You need to live a little, Eleonora. Get out every now and then, eat good food, drink some nice wine, meet new people, have a few orgasms." He smirked devilishly. A smirk that quickly grew at the flush in her face. It was the exact reaction he'd wished to incite. "It would do you a world of good." He added with a purr.

Eleonora glowered at him, pouting with reddened cheeks. "And who is going to provide these orgasms? You?"

"You wanted an open relationship, apparently, so I suppose that's up to you to decide, though I wouldn't object. You're a pretty girl." He nearly bit his tongue off. Beautiful! He meant to say beautiful!

"Pretty, am I?" Eleonora's stare sharpened. She smiled a smile that belonged on an angry cat. "Somehow that rings a bit hollow coming from you. I can't imagine I meet your standards."

"Now, why would you think that?"

"You're the most beautiful man I've ever seen, and I don't mean that as a come on." Eleonora leaned forward herself, mirroring Felix's body language. "It's actually a little off-putting."

"Offputting?" Felix guffawed, gripping at the fabric over his heart theatrically. "Honey, there's absolutely nothing offputting about me. What you're feeling is desire."

"Salazar men all look the same to me. A face is meant to be a little asymmetric. A nostril is wider on one side than another. An ear sits a little lower than its pair. The men of your family, especially you and Marcel, lack this. You're horrifically, perfectly symmetrical. I find it more than a little creepy, to be honest." She quieted as the waitress returned and set their orders before them. Upon dropping everything off the girl ran away again and Felix noticed Eleonora sigh a sigh of relief as well.

"It's just good genes. That's all." Felix said, cutting into his omelet. "We can't help that there's a strong family resemblance. 

"Were you born with your hair greased down like that? You all even style your hair parted in the same direction, not just you and your brother, which might be understandable, but your uncles and cousins too." Eleonora sipped her coffee and made a face.

"Not to your liking, I'm guessing?"

"It's not Robin's brew, that's for certain." She set her coffee aside, pushing it away from herself like it was poison. "Now, may we get to the real topic at hand?" She leaned forward again, propping her chin up on her folded hands. Her lips formed that slash-like smile. "Why did you really ask me to go out with you?"

Felix swallowed his morsel of egg and elegantly wiped his mouth with his napkin, demonstrating the rigorous etiquette lessons he'd been submitted to from an early age. "I want to get to know you better, Eleonora. I want at least a cordial, friendly marriage."

Eleonora poked at her bacon. She tended to prefer her bacon on the verge of burnt, so the more flaccid strips of salted pork were most definitely not impressing her. "You made it very clear where you stood with me."

"I said I didn't want anything to do with your plans, not anything to do with you."

She glanced up at him, a look of surprise softening her severe expression. "So you're not still suspicious of me?"

"I didn't say that. I'm still very suspicious of you, honestly, but I'm open to changing that. That's why we're here."

"I didn't kill him." Eleonora insisted once more.

"Yes, Dear, I know." Felix rested his chin on his knuckles, leaning forward in interest, eager to listen. "Now, tell me a little about yourself. Likes? Dislikes? We can start small, like...What's your favorite color?"

Eleonora's lips pulled back from her teeth in a crooked grin. "I can't say I have one, though my least favorite would be red."

Felix's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You don't like your own family color?"

With the drop of a hat, Eleonora's emotions changed. She frowned at her untouched plate, poking her syrup saturated pancake with her fork. "Red is an abrasive, intense color. Just looking at it too long makes my head hurt." 

"I always thought it an attractive color. It certainly catches the eye." Felix purred suggestively. "It's the color of romance...passion...heat."

"You really are laying it on thick, today." She frowned at him, practically recoiling in disgust. "What do you want?"

"I'm merely trying to learn what I can about you, Dear Wife. Why don't you tell me a little about you and Charles?"

Her frown deepened. "That's hardly any of your business."

"It might ease some of my suspicion of you if I knew what sort of relationship you had. Robin told me that he wanted a romantic relationship, but you didn't and you fought often over it."

"Robin needs to learn when to keep his beak shut." Eleonora huffed. "I see now. Do you think that was my motive for murder? That I'd want him dead over a stupid fight over personal goals? Well, Robin doesn't really know what he's talking about. He didn't see everything that went on between Charles and me. We liked each other and got along well enough and it's not like Charles and I were completely celibate. We did try a more romantic relationship and we tried...things...but it didn't work out." Her face pinked.

"Ah. Did he have trouble..." Felix made a gesture with his fingers that might've made his mother consider castrating him as a child.

"No! God, no!" Eleonora's blush deepened, turning her Van Brandt red. "It was nothing like that. The problem was me. I just...I never felt anything romantic toward him. I preferred to be friends."

"But he didn't agree?"

Eleonora shook her head. "It wasn't really about that. I don't think he loved me either, not in that way, but he wanted to do what was expected of him. He wanted to have children, play househusband, the whole nine yards. I want and have always wanted the exact opposite. That's where the arguments came in."

"And so you killed him for it."

"I didn't kill him!" She yelled. The dishes on the table jumped and trembled. 

"Not even by accident? I still don't quite believe that you didn't play a role in it, considering his manner of death and your motive. I've never heard of a magician that could take a storm's lightning and turn it on them until you." Maybe it was his buried fear, that deep-rooted, historied trauma that forced his innermost thoughts from his mouth. Maybe he was just being stupid. He truly didn't know which. 

"I watched him burn to death!" She screamed, jumping to her feet, and the dishes levitated off of the table, flipping in place without letting the food splatter against the table below.

"Calm down. You aren't making your case very well." Felix said. He could feel her power tugging at him. His stomach pinched at the poke of its sharp fingers.

Eleonora looked around them, only just remembering where she was. Thankfully, it was a sleepy morning. The street wasn't busy and they were still the only ones eating on the patio. She sank back down in her seat and dropped her head, looking down into her lap. Her voice softened to a low whisper as the dishes settled themselves back on the table and the feeling of her power creeping in on him lifted. "We were running out of my burning house together, then suddenly he let go of my hand." She watched her fingers open and close against her palm. "When I turned around, there was a wall of fire. Through it, I could see him, writhing in pain, his skin turning black and peeling away, his fat melting and muscle falling away from the bone. I wish I had a name to give you, Felix, I really really do. If I have anything to say about it, someday, I will." 

Out of the corner of his eye, Felix saw an automobile round the corner, its tires squealing. It veered suddenly, barrelling towards them at full speed. 

Tossing the table, Felix leaped, grabbing Eleonora and tackling her out of her chair and onto the ground as the automobile plowed through the patio where they'd been sitting and into the side of the cafe. Bending metal screamed as loudly as the frightened people inside. 

Felix slowly lifted himself up off the ground.  Eleonora pressed against him, shoving him the rest of the way off. "What happened?" She breathed heavily, following Felix's fixated gaze to the destroyed black automobile and the man in black half-hanging out of the driver's seat with blood drenching his pure black suit.

"Marcel!" Felix shouted in a pained voice, leaping up and racing towards his destroyed old automobile. 

Reaching the wreckage, Felix cupped Marcel's face, patting his cheek. "Marcel!" He shouted again his voice cracking. There was so much blood! It painted Felix's hands, meaning red on everything he touched. "Speak to me! Stay with me!" He pleaded, hearing a rattling groan come from Marcel's throat.

"Out of the way, Felix." He heard Eleonora's voice, stern, and cold, come from behind him.

"Can you help him?" Felix asked her, her face and form a blur in his tear-filled eyes. 

"Something like that." She said, reaching into the shattered window and taking hold of the twisted metal of the door. "Step back." He forced himself to release Marcel and moved away. He heard the metal creak and groan. The metal bent beneath her fingers as the loose strands of her hair moved around by her face, As easily as one might open a garden gate, she wrenched the door free. She caught Marcel by the collar of his fine suit, as dark a black as both his hair and eyes. His old family colors and not the one he should be wearing.

"Who sent you!" Eleonora hissed at him. "Was it the Salazar witch! Is she behind this!" Eleonora raged her face as red as her dress, her eyes bulging. "Did she give her son to me, thinking he'd serve a nice distraction?" She shook him hard. "Talk!" 

"Eleonora, stop." Felix pleaded, pulling at her arm.

"Are you in on it?" Eleonora wrenched her arm free. She whirled on him like a snapping dog. "Were you apart of this?"

"What are you talking about?" Felix asked, outraged. "I saved your life!" Felix moved around her, taking hold of her brother by his dinner jacket. "This was an accident. I'm certain of it. Marcel wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Unless his mother told him to." Her eyes, staring with dot-like pupils honestly frightened Felix down to his very core. What was even more frightening was how right she might be. Marcel was a good Salazar boy. He always did what his mother told him. Without question.

For now, his fear and suspicion ebbed away with the blood flowing from the gash on Marcel's forehead and a vicious wound in his side. "Help him. Please."

"He almost ran us both over." She growled, her fingers clawing at her skirt. "Why should either of us care if he bleeds out?"

"If you'll help him...I'll help you. Eleonora...he's one of the few of my old name that means anything to me. Please...please...help him. I don't have the ability." Tears fell down Felix's too pretty face. Even weeping, he remained lovely.

"I hope you mean to keep that promise because I'm going to collect. Lay him down." Felix, shaking in fear and growing more and more saturated in Marcel's blood, did as he was commanded and laid Marcel at his wife's feet. Eleonora reached into the shattered window and purposefully dragged her palm on the sharp edge of a large piece of jagged glass. Dripping streams of blood poured from her open palm then began to float. Droplets, like tiny orbs of red hung in the air around her as a gust of wind erupted from below at her feet. It thrashed her too-big dress about, showing her ugly boots and the red stockings she wore beneath them. Her hair came undone and undulated around her and over her, tendrils moving like an octopus' many arms in a wind no one and nothing else reacted to.

Eleonora knelt at Marcel's side, glancing around at the gathering crowd with a knowing anxiousness. Her cover had been blown wide open, Felix knew as well as she did that they were now in more danger than they ever were before. She laid her hand over Marcel. The droplets of blood moved with her, changing in color and thickness until it appeared more like luminescent rain. Eleonora closed her fingers and the transformed blood down, dousing Marcel completely. The blood seeped into the wounds, the edges glowed that bright ever-changing color as they were drawn together and sealed into raised, pink scars.

The spell dissipated in a rush and Eleonora pitched over, crumbling to the ground. Felix saw her catch herself, saw her squeeze her eyes shut, feigning unconsciousness. Felix looked desperately around the crowd. "Hurry! Someone, fetch a doctor!"

It took two hours for the physician to release Eleonora and Felix from his clinic. In his left hand, Felix carried a prescription for stabilizers that might help Eleonora regain her strength after pushing herself so far beyond her limits. It had taken every ounce of self-control Felix possessed not to laugh in the woman's face. He couldn't fathom Eleonora having limits at all.

"Are we not going to check on him?" Felix asked as he followed Eleonora out to the waiting red automobile with a very peeved Robin at the driver's seat.

Eleonora tore away the bandages on her hand and shoved them in a trash bin on the curb. The wound was nicely healed. All that remained was a faint, thin scar. "He should be fine. If you want to visit with him, it'll have to wait until later." She opened the door and paused, glancing toward him with a pinched, worried expression. "We're being summoned."

Felix nodded, already expecting such an outcome. "I can go by myself. I'll meet you later at home."

"No, we are being summoned. My mother wants to see us both." She got into the passenger seat and slammed the door as she closed it.

Felix bunched himself up on the backseat, pressing his knees to his chest. "I think our excuse worked. Everyone will think you poured everything you could into healing Marcel. I don't think there's a reason to panic just yet."

"We'd better hope so." Robin growled lowly, pressing the gas pedal to the floorboards. Felix could feel the man's eyes on him even without seeing them reflected in the rearview mirror. "You wouldn't have any idea why your brother would try to run you both over do you?"

"I'm telling you it was an accident. How would he know we were even there?"

"How indeed." Robin's eyes narrowed to slits.

"I don't know what's going on. I'm as lost as you are." Felix insisted.

"I'm not lost at all," Eleonora said, quieting both men. "Felix, I hate to tell you, but your family just shot up to the top of my list of suspects. Currently, it's in third place."

"Who's first and second?" Felix asked.

"My family is second. The first is the Grand Imperial House of the Aurorian Empire itself. House Belmonte."