Then, of course, there was Sebastian, who was still looking for his father’s killer, despite the fact that the cops had nothing to go on, no witnesses, no evidence, and absolutely no suspects. The Vaughn murder was rapidly becoming a cold case, and everyone knew it, including Sebastian.
Still, after the initial shock wore off, Sebastian didn’t seem all that upset by his father’s death. Several times, he let it slip that Vaughn wasn’t the stand-up guy he’d pretended to be. He never said anything about his father abusing Charlotte, but I was beginning to think that he’d suspected that something was going on. But as soon as he said something to that effect, Sebastian would look away from me, guilt flaring in his eyes, not wanting to speak ill of his beloved papa.
Still, despite the memories, my lingering guilt, and my growing feelings for him, I had no delusions about telling Sebastian what I’d done to his father. That was a stupid way to get a ticket to death row, no matter what kind of relationship we had or how much I thought he cared about me. But more than once, I had to bite my lip to keep from telling Sebastian that he was exactly right about his father and that he and Charlotte were better off without Vaughn in their lives.
“What are you thinking about?” A whispered voice broke into my thoughts.
I focused on Sebastian. The two of us were lying on a thick blanket in the shade of the greenhouse, having enjoyed a picnic of fried chicken, macaroni salad, fresh summer vegetables, and all the other fixings that I’d made at the Pork Pit. “I was thinking how nice it is to be here with you. Just the two of us.”
Sebastian smiled. “Just the two of us. I like the sound of that.” He hesitated. “Actually, I need to ask you something.”
I froze, thinking that he’d somehow figured out my involvement in his father’s death. The same paranoid conclusion that I jumped to every single time he asked me a question. And once again, I wasn’t sure what I would say if he ever found out the truth.
“I’m going ahead with the event that my father was planning for this weekend,” Sebastian said. “The party marking his and Charlotte’s birthdays. Only now it will be a celebration of his life too. I was wondering if you’d be my date.”
Despite the fact that part of me wanted to say yes, I hesitated. I’d already known that Sebastian was going through with the party, thanks to Fletcher’s sources. The problem was that it was going to be a huge event, with people coming in from all over Ashland and beyond. Even Finn had managed to wrangle an invitation, thanks to his internship at the bank. Everyone who was anyone in the city would be at the party, if only out of curiosity about Vaughn’s murder, and Sebastian would be the center of attention.
And so would I, if I agreed to this.
“Please,” he said, sensing my hesitation. “It’ll be fun. I promise. Plus, I figured that it was time for us to be seen out in public together. I’ve kept you all to myself for too long. Don’t you agree?”
His voice took on a light, teasing note, and I finally smiled, giving in to his request. “But I don’t have anything to wear.” I paused. “Unless you think that showing up in my waiter outfit is okay.”
He chuckled, then waved his hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything. All you have to do is get dressed and show up. Please, Gin? This is really important to me. A final way to honor my father.”
It was the soft “please” that did me in, despite the guilt that tightened my stomach again. What was it about Sebastian that made it so hard for me to deny him anything? “Okay,” I said. “Just tell me when and where, and I’ll be there.”
“It’s a date,” he whispered.
Sebastian drew me into the warm circle of his arms, and I forgot about the rest of the world and all the worries that went with it.
For tonight, anyway.
• • •
I smoothed down the fabric of the dress I was wearing. “I’m not sure about this. It’s a little . . . fancier than I thought it would be.”
I stood in front of a full-length mirror in my bedroom, staring at the gown that Sebastian had sent over to the Pork Pit for me to wear. It was the night of his party, and I’d spent the last hour getting dressed. Now I was all ready to go, even if I was freaking out about my dress.
It was a beautiful gown, a Fiona Fine original according to the hand-stitched tag, so I knew that Sebastian had paid a pretty price for it. The dress had wide straps covered with large, milky moonstones that gleamed underneath the lights. The straps led down to a tight, corseted bodice, also covered with jewels, before the gems gave way to soft, muted silver fabric, and the rest of the dress cascaded into a rippling skirt that flowed like a river of silk around my legs. Three-inch stilettos in the same silver covered my feet. He’d even sent over a small silver purse, although the only things I’d put into it were some lip balm, a pack of tissues, and one of my knives.
I saw this and thought of your beautiful eyes. That’s what a note in the box with the dress said. I didn’t know about that, but it was definitely the finest garment I’d ever worn.
“Well, I think it looks wonderful, darling,” a firm voice cut in.
A pair of clear, almost colorless eyes met mine in the mirror, and the dwarf smiled at me, her white-blond curls looking even more exquisite than my own.
Jolene “Jo-Jo” Deveraux had come over an hour ago to do my hair and makeup, and her efforts more than matched the gorgeous gown. Jo-Jo had expertly piled my dark brown hair high on top of my head into a simple bun, leaving only a few, softly curled wisps free to brush along my face. She’d rimmed my eyes with silver liner and a smoky black shadow and painted my lips a dark blue, almost the same shade as the dozen roses that Sebastian had sent along with the dress. All put together, I looked like some glittering Goth princess, and I felt that way too.
I sashayed from side to side, watching the dress swish around my body and taking in my reflection in the mirror. No waiter uniform tonight. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, though. Fletcher had taught me how to blend in with the shadows, but this dress would definitely make me stand out in the crowd.
“Jo-Jo’s right,” a rough voice said behind me. “You look real pretty.”
I turned to see Fletcher leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, still wearing his blue work clothes from the Pork Pit. He hadn’t said much when I’d told him that Sebastian wanted me to attend the party as his date, but the old man had given me a sad, almost disappointed look that I hadn’t quite been able to decipher. Tonight, though, his face was carefully neutral. It made me love him even more to see how hard he was trying to let me go have a good time without mentioning his misgivings about Sebastian yet again.
“Thank you,” I told Fletcher. “That means a lot, coming from you, especially tonight.”
He harrumphed, but his lips twitched up into a small smile.
“Just . . . be careful, darling,” Jo-Jo said.
Her eyes took on a cloudy look, like she was staring at something in the distance. Most Air elementals had a bit of precognition, and Jo-Jo was no exception, since the wind whispered to her of all the things that might come to pass.
I waited, wondering if Jo-Jo would say anything else, but her eyes quickly cleared. She smiled at me again before gathering up her makeup supplies, stuffing everything into a bag, and going downstairs, leaving me alone with Fletcher.
I turned away from the mirror to face him. “I know that you think this is a bad idea,” I began. “Me seeing Sebastian, spending so much time with him, going to the party tonight, all of it. But I know what I’m doing. If nothing else, this will finally give me a chance to search the library to see if I can find Vaughn’s file.”
Fletcher nodded. “I appreciate that. But be careful tonight, okay, Gin? I might not have magic like Jo-Jo does, but something about this whole situation still doesn’t sit right with me, and the deeper I dig, the less I find. One of my sources is supposed to contact me later on tonight. I’m hoping his information pans out and that we’ll finally at least k
now who hired us to kill Vaughn.”
“You’re still worried, even though the cops have no leads and the back half of the money for the job cleared?”
The money had shown up in one of Fletcher’s anonymous accounts three days after I’d killed Vaughn, right on schedule. Whoever the client was, it seemed like he’d been happy with services rendered, and Fletcher hadn’t heard a peep out of him since. No follow-up e-mails, no more ads in the newspaper asking about pork prices, nothing.
He nodded again. “Even though.”
I walked over and kissed his wrinkled cheek, careful not to smear the lipstick that Jo-Jo had applied to my lips.
“Don’t you worry,” I said. “I’m not going to turn into a pumpkin at midnight like Cinderella, and I’ll be back home before you know it.”
“I hope so.” Despite the smile on his face, that strange, troubled light flared in his eyes again. “I really hope so.”
17
As thoughtful as always, Sebastian had sent a car over to Fletcher’s house to pick me up. I stepped out onto the front porch to find that the vehicle had already pulled up the driveway and stopped in front of the house.
Instead of Porter, another giant was driving, one with broad shoulders, a shaved head, and skin that was a shade darker than his ebony eyes. He wore a formal tuxedo, which only added to his air of ultimate cool.
He bowed his head when I approached and gestured at the car. “Your chariot awaits.”
I raised my eyebrows, not sure if he was being serious.
The giant flashed me a slightly mischievous grin. “I always wanted to say that.”
I grinned back at him. “Me too, Mr. . . .”
“Xavier.”
I nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too.”
I slid into the backseat. Xavier shut the door behind me and walked around the car to get into the front. I glanced over at the house. Fletcher was standing on the porch, his hands stuck in his pants pockets, watching me leave. I waved at him. He hesitated, then waved back at me. And that was the last I saw of him before Xavier threw the car into gear and steered down the driveway.
I hadn’t seen Xavier before, so I casually chatted him up as he drove, asking about his background and anything else he was willing to talk about. Fletcher always said that the staff knew all of the best, juiciest gossip about what really went on behind closed doors. Xavier was happy to tell me all about how he was Charlotte’s personal driver and took her back and forth to school every day.
“She’s a sweet kid,” he said. “It’s a shame what happened to her father.”
I shifted in the seat. “Yeah. A shame.”
“But driving Charlotte is only a part-time gig, so I’m getting ready to start working as a patrolman for the police department,” Xavier said. “I’m hoping to move up the ranks, but for now, I’m going to be patrolling in Northtown, mostly around this new nightclub that’s opening up there.”
I kept quiet, letting him talk.
“You should go check out the club sometime,” he said. “It’s supposed to be something else when it’s finished. Besides, I know how much Sebastian loves to party.”
I frowned. Sebastian hadn’t struck me as the party type. He didn’t smoke, and I hadn’t seen him have more than one drink at any given time. Plus, he’d seemed perfectly happy with our quiet, low-key dates so far. Maybe Xavier wasn’t the best source of information after all.
Either way, I didn’t get a chance to question him further, because we’d arrived at the estate. Xavier dropped me off at the front of the mansion, then drove the car around to the back.
Sebastian was waiting for me at the top of the steps outside the mansion. Like Xavier, he wore a classic tuxedo that fit him perfectly. The black jacket and pants showed off the sleek lines of his body, while the white shirt hinted at the hard muscles underneath. His black hair was slicked back in an artful style. His face split into a wide smile when he saw me, one that made his eyes light up like dark, polished gems.
He was the epitome of suave and sexy, but even more than that, the good, kind man underneath the suit made my heart speed up.
He sauntered down the steps and offered me his hand. “You look amazing,” he said in a husky voice. “Although seeing you like this makes me want to take you inside and peel that dress off you—slowly.”
I couldn’t help the blush that blossomed in my cheeks and the heat that thrummed through my body. So far, Sebastian and I hadn’t gone beyond kissing and some heavy petting, but I was no virgin, and neither was he. I could tell how much he wanted me whenever we were together, but he’d respected my wishes not to take that next step.
Tonight, though . . . I felt like anything could happen.
“Thanks,” I murmured back. “I might take you up on that later.”
He kept his eyes on mine as he raised my hand to his lips. The chaste kiss he brushed across my knuckles sent another hot spike of anticipation through me. “It’s a date, Gin.”
Yes, it was—and a promise of pleasure to come.
His lips lingered on my skin a moment before he straightened up and tucked my arm through his. “Are you ready for tonight?”
“It’s your night,” I said, smiling up at him. “I’m just your sidekick, remember?”
He let out a low, throaty laugh. “Yes, I suppose tonight is my night in many ways. I’ve worked hard to get here, and now it’s finally happening.”
I frowned, wondering what he meant, but Sebastian gave me another winning smile.
“Actually, if things go well, I thought that we might sneak out of the party a little early. Have a quiet drink and talk—about us.”
“Us?”
My heart hammered in my chest, so loud that I thought he would hear it. I’d been so happy being with Sebastian these last two weeks that I hadn’t thought much about the future, other than my stupid daydreams. I hadn’t let myself think about it, because I knew that as soon as I found Vaughn’s file or Fletcher figured out what was bothering him about the job, I wouldn’t have an excuse to see Sebastian anymore. Fletcher would insist that I break things off with him, and rightfully so. But Sebastian’s serious tone indicated that he’d given a lot of thought to the future and that he wanted me to be a part of his.
“Gin? Are you okay?”
“Of course,” I said in a smooth voice, hiding the turbulent emotions racing through me. “But don’t you think that it’s a little soon to be talking about the future? We’ve only been seeing each other a couple of weeks.”
“I know it’s soon, but I also know exactly how I feel about you. And I think I know how you feel about me too. So what do you say? Let’s slip away from the party later, have a drink, and talk. Okay?”
He smiled again, and I was simply . . . lost.
The same way that I’d been lost ever since that first night when I’d talked to him outside the library at Dawson’s mansion. And again when he’d kissed me inside the Pork Pit. And yet again when he’d arranged that romantic dinner for us. And all of the sweet, wonderful, thoughtful things that he’d done for me since then.
“Gin?”
I stared into his eyes, letting myself drown in them, in him, yet again. “I’d love that.”
Just like I love you.
The words rose unbidden in my mind. For a moment, everything just stopped. Then my brain kicked back into gear, and I realized that my heart was hammering even harder than before.
Because the words were true—so very true.
Assassins weren’t supposed to fall in love. Oh, it wasn’t one of Fletcher’s hard-and-fast rules, but it was one of those things that simply went without saying. Because how could someone ever really know you, much less ever truly love you, when you spent your life in the shadows? When you went from one dirty job and violent confrontation to the next? When being an assassin was what made you, well, you, for better or worse?
It was bad enough that I’d been foolish enough to fall for someone, but the unavoidable t
hing, the really terrible thing, the truly insurmountable thing, was the fact that I was in love with the son of the man I’d killed and that Sebastian would hate me if he ever found out the truth.
I’d never thought much about irony before, but I couldn’t escape it, not now, when it felt as sharp as one of my own knives buried in my heart and twisting in deeper and deeper. Oh, yes, irony was a capricious bitch, just like luck.
“Gin?”
I gave him another smile, hiding my inner turmoil, then stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “I would love to talk about our future—later. Right now, though, we’ve got a party to attend.”
Sebastian grinned, tightened his grip on my arm, and led me up the stairs and into the mansion. For a moment, I felt a sinking sense of déjà vu. I’d jokingly told Fletcher that I wasn’t some character out of a fairy tale, doomed to heartbreak, that I wasn’t Cinderella, but that’s exactly who and what I was tonight, because my time with Sebastian was rapidly running out.
And there was nothing that I could do to keep the clock from striking midnight.
• • •
Sebastian led me to the grand ballroom on the second floor of the mansion.
It looked like a scene out of one of those old Hollywood movies that Sophia loved to watch. The wooden parquet floor had been waxed until it glinted like gold underfoot, while the crystal chandeliers dripped down from the ceiling like clusters of diamonds, throwing out rainbow sprays of color in every direction. Vases full of those dark blue roses perched in alcoves in the walls, adding more color to the scene. Food tables had been set up around the perimeter of the room, along with several elemental Ice bars, the frosty surfaces steaming slightly underneath the heat from the lights. Members of an orchestra were checking their instruments and warming up in the back corner of the room. Sebastian had had people working around the clock the last few days to get ready for the party, and it had more than paid off. The ballroom had been transformed from a simple open space into a place of lush, opulent elegance.
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