The entire hall went quiet. So quiet you could hear a pin drop. The air felt heavy with anticipation, every head turned towards the host in awe and admiration.
If I wasn't a god, I would have thought them divine. The only other people I knew with the ability to hold a room by its throat were Father and Askarion.
The piano let off a slow French classic. Debussy'svalse romantique echoed through the halls, beautiful and tragic all at once. Sir Marticc Altican began his descent, the marble glowing under his boots. He moved with a soldier's precision, his daughter's arms in his and his son by his side.
"They're awfully posh," Joshua whispered.
"That's awfully ironic coming from you," Catherine chided, though her hands tightened around her glass. I could not help but wonder about Catherine's history with the Alticans. But alas, that would be for another time.
Marticc's eyes surveyed the crowd until they landed on his goddaughter and then up at the two men at her side.
He's creepy, Joshua whispered in my head. Another ironic take from him, but he wasn't wrong. Something felt fundamentally off about the man, something I could not describe.
He beckoned for Catherine. She turned to us, her eyes nervous. "Excuse me for a moment."
We watched as she made her way through the crowd towards her godfather. Marticc still had his eyes on me, studying like a hunter. I for one, was not one to fray under a challenge. I stared the man down until he was forced to turn away.
"Say Josh, what's the whole thing about 'the spark' anyway?" I asked.
Joshua had a glass of champagne to his lips. I was so annoyed I frosted the glass so hard it turned into mist, freezing Joshua's upper lip along with it.
"Magnus!" he gasped. A few nearby guests turned and my idiot brother chuckled uneasily.
"Yes, Mr. Secretary General of Altrincham. That is so very funny. Ha-ha-ha."
The faces looked on for a moment before deciding the tall figure in a clown mask wasn't worth their time. I thoroughly agreed with them for once.
Joshua glared at me from behind his mask, in effect making him look like Father's mad joker reborn. "I would appreciate it if you'd refrain from doing that," he grumbled, adjusting his sleeves. "You're lucky my acting skills are on par, or they would have called security."
"And I would like for you to stop drinking. You've had enough," I countered.
In truth, alcohol wasn't even supposed to be a problem for him, but Joshua was a different sort of rebel. His divinity was always completely shut off when he wanted it.
He could get pissed-face drunk, plus the fact that he was a millennium-old god meant that he didn't care for human opinion.
"I was just sampling their vintage. It looks like the good sort."
"The spark. We're here for business, brother, not champagne." I couldn't help it; irritation laced my words. Joshua nodded in understanding.
"Well, it's not something I know a whole lot of," he said, his eyes following a waiter's tray with longing.
"But you know of it. I do not."
"Fine," he said with a sigh. "The wedding with the children of fire is supposed to be a catalyst," he began.
"Wait, what?" I couldn't help but sound confused. "Children of fire? What children of fire?"
Joshua turned to me and I could see the amusement in his eyes. "You're so unintentionally funny, Magnus." He pointed at Marticc, tall and graceful, brown hair sprinkled with grey around the edges.
"That man is a god, just like us."
It took me well over a minute to fully grasp the gravity of his words. God... just like us.
There were no other gods like us.
"Mhmm, take it in," Joshua added, while nodding his head. "I had that exact same look on my face when Father told me, which is funny to say since I can't actually see your face."
"You're joking," was all I could manage in the end.
"I wish I was. I actually enjoyed us being the only pantheon in town."
My mind buzzed with a hundred different questions, each one about to be fired at my brother in rapid succession, but I caught Catherine making her way towards us. I couldn't help but wonder if she was a goddess too. I tried my best to sense something off her. An aura, a divine energy. All I got was Catherine.
Her ocean blue eyes looked more nervous than they had when she left us. "Uhm, so. Good news and bad news," she announced.
"Let me guess," Joshua said. "People have discovered we are actually superstars and, bad news, would barrage us for autographs." He turned to a young lady in a cat mask. "I see the way Meowky looks at me."
"No." Catherine shook her head. "As horrifying as it is to admit, I wish that was the case." She turned around and my eyes followed her gaze. Marticc was staring again, a small crowd of masked, middle-aged men around him.
"For some reason I cannot fathom..." Catherine began while turning back to us.
"Our gracious host demands our presence," I finished for her.
Catherine nodded slowly.
"I don't know how the two of you did it, but you grabbed his attention. Which I must add is very... rare."
"Divine knows divine," Joshua whispered into my ear. I hated it. I hated this evening. I hated Father for setting me up this way. Something told me everything was going according to his plan.
"Lead the way then. We can't keep him waiting," I finally said, sounding more confident than I actually felt.
"What?" Catherine exclaimed. "We don't even have a lie for who you are. I don't think you remember, but your father hates that man, and I believe he hates him as well."
I looked down at her jade fox mask, my voice dropping to a low rasp. "Plus there's the unfortunate detail of you being seen with us. And maybe the guards outside could even add the details of you being dropped off by a vehicle that looked remarkably similar to Magnus Sterling's car."
"Yes!" she immediately concurred, then her eyes clouded over in embarrassment. "No. That would be selfish... but still..."
"Don't worry, Catherine." Joshua placed a hand on her shoulder, his voice serious for once. "We can handle ourselves."
I nodded in agreement. "Now, lead the way."