Chapter Twenty-One
THE NEXT DAY CAME TOO QUICKLY, and I didn’t feel any better about the altercation with Aldwin the night before. Too many things didn’t add up, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it all meant. I was obviously missing something, and as soon as I could put the energy and thought into it, I was going to figure out what it was.
I was picking at my lunch when Marie brought me a black card with Soren’s name embossed in red on the front. On the inside, written in a bold, slashing hand, was the equivalent of a vampire summons.
I will pick you up at seven tonight. Please wear the gown I have provided.
Even though it wasn’t signed, I knew who had sent it.
What gown?
I looked up at Marie, who I’d just realized was still standing close by, and sure enough, she held a large, black box with a red velvet bow attached to the top. I scrunched up my nose. Great, next he’d be telling me what underwear to put on.
In the privacy of my own room, after writing a quick note to Elaine to tell her I’d be accompanying Soren out to a private dinner later, I stood at the foot of my bed, staring at the offending box. I contemplated ignoring his instructions altogether. I had several lovely gowns, and I didn’t want him to think he was calling all the shots. That would have worked out well, had I not opened the box.
My curiosity got the best of me once again, and having opened the box, there was no possible way I was going to wear anything else. I caressed the silky fabric with a finger, and then gently lifted the sapphire-colored dress out of the box. It had very fine sleeves that would drape elegantly at the edge of my shoulders and across my breasts, leaving a lot of skin exposed. The bodice was finely ruched all the way down to the hips, and then the wispy fabric fell elegantly to the floor. It was breathtaking.
I bathed a few hours later and washed my hair with the lemongrass-scented soap I’d come to enjoy. Afterwards, I dressed quickly in my specialty underthings and slipped my dirks in their proper places. My hand caressed the engraving of my sgian-dubh, and I felt a pain in my chest at the thought of Aldwin and how we’d left things. He hadn’t shown up at all that day, and I wouldn’t get to talk to him until at least tomorrow.
I sighed and slipped into the dress Soren had given me. Marie came in, and her eyes widened when she took in my appearance. I hoped that was a good reaction. She buttoned me up and then expertly managed my hair into a loose bun on top of my head, shaping a few small, escaped curls around her finger to lie softly around my temples and on the back of my neck. Marie made my unruly, semi-curly hair look like it was purposely styled to look whimsical.
I heard voices downstairs, so I quickly grabbed my cuff bracelet and made my way down to begin my first night as the pretend mistress of Sir Soren Blackwell. As a result of some meditating and deep breathing I had done that afternoon, I felt calmer than usual. That’s not to say I wasn’t intimidated at the thought of being out at night with a vampire, investigating violent vampire crimes. Geez, I felt like I was in the middle of a bad horror film. I just had to remember not to go into any basements.
Soren met me at the foot of the stairs, wearing a fashionable black suit with a black waistcoat and a sapphire-blue neck cloth. His eyes seemed brighter than normal, and I wondered if he had dropped using his glamour a little, or if his mood affected his eyes. He didn’t say anything, but he continued to stare at me like I was some intricate mystery to solve.
I stepped off the last stair, causing him to take a step back. He cleared his throat and offered me his arm. I took a deep breath and grasped it. Nodding to Zachary as he held the door open for us, I tried to give him a reassuring smile as we passed. Soren helped me into his fancy black carriage and seated himself right next to me. He tapped the top of the carriage, and we were off.
The silence was unsettling, not to mention the vampire sitting too close to me. I could hear my breathing and the clopping of the horse’s hooves.
“I hope you don’t think you have a right to tell me how to dress since I wore this tonight,” I blurted. I looked over at my silent companion and raised my brow, pretty sure his nighttime vision was good enough to see it in the dark interior of the carriage.
“Of course not. You have to admit, it does look divine on you, though,” he answered dismissively. “I need you to look the part tonight since we will be dining with a very particular group,” he said in an annoyingly vague manner.
I relaxed slightly back into the plush cushions. “What kind of group? I need to know what I will be getting into.”
“It will be a mixed group of important people from the preternatural community—a few leaders, some influential people, and their wives or lovers. Nothing to get nervous about. You will be with me, and no one is foolish enough to harm someone under my protection,” he said, as though he dealt with this every day.
Oh wait, he probably did deal with this every day. Oh how I longed for the days when the most drama I ever saw was who was kissing whom on The Bachelor. I closed my eyes and wondered if my life would ever be so utterly safe and boring again. Somehow, I didn’t think I’d like the answer to that.
We arrived at our destination a few minutes later, and I was glad to see that it looked like nothing nefarious was going on, just a normal house party. As Soren helped me out of the carriage, he whispered into my ear, “No matter what you see inside, please remember that most of these people are not human or are only partially human, so they don’t abide by society’s moral code.”
I looked up into his very inhuman eyes and whispered back, “Why tell me this now and not earlier?”
“I just don’t want you to be shocked, or I wouldn’t have said anything at all,” he murmured close to my ear.
“I am from a hundred years in the future, Soren. It would take a lot to shock me,” I whispered back. My lips accidentally grazed his ear.
His body jerked almost imperceptibly as he stepped back to hand me all the way down from the steps of the carriage. I hooked my arm under his, and we strolled up to the front door like we had been together for years.
A beady-eyed little butler, whose eyes widened when he saw who was standing on his front step, answered the door. The butler jumped into gear very quickly, taking Soren’s cane and hat, and I had to suppress a laugh at his fawning.
Soren frowned in my direction as if he knew what I was thinking. I cleared my throat and sobered. This is a pretty serious situation, and I could possibly be the only human present. Okay, that thought knocked the grin right off my face.
We were led into a very large sitting room filled with dinner guests. Several heads swung our way, and the eerie silence that followed made goose bumps pop up on my arms. Soren’s hand came around to rest on the small of my back, bringing me closer to his side in a show of possession. A man, maybe an inch or two taller than me with not-quite-normal eyes and reddish-brown hair, walked up to us and extended his hand. Soren squeezed my waist in encouragement, and I put my hand into the gentleman’s.
He bowed over my hand and kissed the back of it lightly, then spoke smoothly. “Any guest of Soren’s is welcome in my home.” There was a throaty, masculine rumbling in his voice that reminded me of a great cat purring.
My eyes widened in understanding. His eyes were a beautiful honey brown, but they definitely had a feline quality to them.
“Sage, this is Dwennon MacAllister.”
“Pleased to meet you, Mr. MacAllister. I am honored to be invited into your lovely home.” I plastered a smile on my face, hoping it came off as sincere. Truth was, I was already feeling a little out of my element, standing between a vampire and a shifter. I pushed all my doubts to the back of my mind and breathed in deeply through my nose.
I noticed a tall, runway-model-perfect woman approaching out of my peripheral vision, and the closer she came, the more confused I felt. I swear I could smell her skin, or maybe it was her perfume? If it was perfume, why did it remind me of Aldwin down to the warmed-honey notes? I narrowed my eyes as
she joined our little group, and when she met my eyes, hers widened for a split second, probably wondering why I was giving her the stink eye.
Dwennon turned to the woman and introduced her as Milena. Milena and I exchanged the normal pleasantries, but it was evident to everyone that a little tension was going on. She cleared her throat and motioned toward a trio of women that were probably every man’s fantasy come to life. They were standing by a far wall, drinking out of tall glasses.
Milena said in a silky voice, “The merleaders are getting anxious to begin, so the sooner we start, the better, Dwennon.”
“Yes, of course; let us begin the meeting, then. If you’ll excuse me, Sage, Soren.” He smiled as he moved away with Milena at his side to address each group in the room.
I raised my brow at Soren when he kept his arm around me. “Merleaders?” I asked softly.
My brow furrowed as I gazed over at the three women, all dressed in soft shades of blue and green silk. Their eyes seemed a little larger than normal, but there was something compelling about them, something that made me want to walk across the room just to be closer to them.
Soren leaned in close to whisper, “Those are the leaders of the merfolk.”
I looked up into his eyes to see if he was joking with me, but I was pretty sure Soren didn’t joke very often; and if he did, it wouldn’t be about something like this. His brow, too, was creased in thought, and I had a sneaking suspicion that he hadn’t known the merfolk would be at this little gathering.
I wrinkled my forehead in thought. From the little I had learned of merfolk from Travis, I knew that most of them never left the water, and the few who could only did so for hours at a time and very rarely. There were only a select few who had the ability to transform their fins into feet, and not without great difficulty and some sort of sacrifice.
My eyes were once again drawn to the ethereal trio—so beautiful and unearthly. I could smell the faint scent of the ocean and hear the call of the waves beckoning me before Soren pinched my arm, snapping me out of the merfolk’s spell. I rubbed my arm and shook my head, making up my mind to steer clear of the compelling, Tim Burton version of The Little Mermaid.
I was trying not to look in the far corner of the room, where I was pretty sure a vampire was having an appetizer, but it was very hard not to see something when I desperately wanted to be sure the appetizer was okay. I made a slight movement, and Soren squeezed my side lightly just as I heard a soft moan coming from said appetizer. Sheesh. Mortified, I blushed and was relieved to hear Dwennon announce loudly that we would all discuss business over dinner. I was a little shocked that I was to be included in this meeting, but I guessed being with Soren was really going to pay off.
Time Warper: Fated, A Sage Hannigan Novel Page 22
