Alexandra looked around the room, slowly sipping the opalescent green liquid, letting her tongue savor the strong and slightly sweet anise flavor of the spirit. Her eyes fell on a pair of tall, strong looking men who were surrounded by women flirting shamelessly with them. She grimaced to herself as she looked at the ill fit of the ladies’ low cut dresses and her hands itched to be able to tailor them properly.
The tall men caught her attention again and after a second look at them Alexandra was sure they were twins, their features were too similar even for brothers. The waistcoats they wore were made of beautiful textured teal and yellow brocade and were tailored exquisitely with elegant seam lines to enhance their broad shoulders and slim waists. Alexandra’s eyes then flicked up to their hats, stylish black bowlers with a matching teal and gold striped ribbon around the crown. A sudden realization dawned on her as she saw the small plume of feathers and copper swallow pinned to the ribbon.
“Oh my,” Alexandra breathed as she recognized the emblem, “they’re from Cirque de la Hirondelle. They must be the acrobats.” The fortune teller turned to her young friend. “Marie,” she whispered, “find Marguerite and tell her that the acrobats of Circus of the Swallow are here.” She took another look at the acrobats and noted their slightly flushed faces, loud voices and the table covered in empty pint glasses, shot glasses and a partially filled wine bottle. “And tell her they are quite drunk. Oh, and be discreet, we don’t want to get people worried.”
“Ok! I’ll find her!” Marie said as she scampered off.
Alexandra smiled slightly at her friend's enthusiasm, returning to her drink and surveying the crowd. Her eyes fell on a beautiful purple tailed waistcoat with twisting elegant designs in gold braid. Following the slim lines of the waistcoat up to the collar she met the blue eyes of the man wearing it and almost choked on her last sip of absinthe. It was Asmodeus.
Eyes going wide, Alexandra frantically looked for an escape route. The magician would tease her mercilessly over her new dress and probably try to steal her garters again. But she knew that trying to lose herself in the crowd would only give him more satisfaction and ammunition to tease her about later. Seeing no other way out, Alexandra decided to hold her ground. She leaned casually against the bar and tried to compose herself by sipping her favorite drink as she watched Asmodeus approach.
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