“Come,” he said, holding out his arm.

I really didn’t want to touch him, but there wasn’t much choice. I settled my hand on his forearm — which was covered by his shirtsleeve, thank god — and followed along as he led me through the crowd.

Over the next two hours, he stopped and spoke to at least twenty guests. He greeted each one formally, but the long names quickly blended together in my mind. Not a single one of them addressed me, but most seemed to notice me. Several gave my dress a pointed look. A few others revealed displeasure before schooling their features.

They all made me nervous, but the last — a tiny, caramel-complexioned woman with curly black hair and pretty, delicate features — was the only one who really scared me. She was wearing a pair of loose blood-red pants and a matching sleeveless top. The female Seconds seemed to prefer gowns, so her look stood out. They also seemed to like height, but this one was making no effort to look taller than her five-foot-nothing: she was wearing red beaded flats.

She studied me very directly as Cordus greeted her, which the others hadn’t done. Finally she turned to him and nodded, greeting him by name.

Then, apropos of nothing, she said, “I will give you Florida for this one.”

I was shocked, then flooded with horror. I didn’t want to go with that woman, whoever she was. I glanced at Cordus and saw that he was quite surprised himself. He’d actually arched an eyebrow.

A pained silence ensued. Was he considering it? Surely it was a good deal — I couldn’t really be worth a whole state.

Finally he said, “Thank you for so handsome an offer, my Lady, but I must decline.”

Then he stood there chatting with the woman. She wasn’t much of a small-talker, so the conversation was a bit stilted. Maybe she just had trouble keeping up her end because she was so busy staring at me like I was a prize steer.

Cordus finally moved on from the tiny woman. Instead of greeting another guest, he steered me to a dark corner, where a large someone in all black was standing. It was Williams. Great.

“Miss Ryder needs to rest,” Cordus said to him. “Keep her company.”

Cordus smiled briefly at me — Good girl, I imagined him saying — and moved back off into the crowd. I was left standing there awkwardly.

Well, whatever. At least Williams was human. Sort of.

“Do you know who that small black-haired woman is?” I asked him.

“Lady Innin.”

Shit. The one Koji had mentioned.

“Is she someone important?”

“A great power. Controls the Caribbean and the Gulf — Florida, eastern Mexico, Central America, northern South America.”

Wow. I wondered if she was stronger than Cordus. I felt chilled.

“She just offered to trade Florida for me.”