Epilogue

Connor leaned against the bar, his foul temper clearing his immediate surroundings. The customers kept as far from him as possible and even the bartender set up camp at the opposite end. Nothing had worked out the way he intended.

Not. One. Damn. Thing.

The alcohol in his glass bubbled, but he ignored it.

“Stop scowling like the world is ending, Connor. It’s very unattractive.” Heidi’s voice punctured the dark cloud around him. He found her sitting on the stool next to him. In the bar.

Outside of the Midnight Mystery Lounge.

“Stop gaping like an idiot and buy me a drink.” She set a small evening clutch onto the bar and crossed one leg over the other.

“What are you doing out here?” Where she couldn’t just wave her hand and make him go away. Where—she could be under his power.

“You wanted a drink. I’ll have a drink with you. Buck up and stop being a sore loser. You went to a lot of trouble to bring that man here just to get at me, and you didn’t win—but I think that kind of effort deserves a little reward.” Her eyes softened, and he didn’t mistake it for weakness. She was the only woman alive who could stop his world with a word. He might be an Overseer and could have anyone, anyone who entered the Arcana Royale, but in so many ways, she was the only mistress he ever wanted—even when he fought his way to power to make her call him master.

“Just one drink?”

“Don’t be pushy or you won’t get that.”

Pursing his lips, Connor bowed his head and turned on the stool to sit sideways. “One drink it is.”

Heidi grinned and Connor forgot about Finn Mikelson and the human and their exodus from the Arcana Royale. Heidi had no idea, not really. She’d come out of the theatre to see him.

Mission accomplished.