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Chapter Fourteen

B riony

The tower clock chimes at seven o’clock and I am suddenly a bag of nerves, probably feeling a lot like Cinderella did herself.

I take one last glance at myself in the warped mirror.

I have to admit, Fly has worked some kind of miracle.

I don’t look like myself at all. It makes me uncomfortable – this isn’t me, is it?

Some glamorous woman hanging on the arm of powerful men?

For the last few years it’s been just me looking out for myself, scraping by to survive.

Will others look at me and think I’m one big fat fraud? Will they resent me even more for it?

I straighten my shoulders and lift my chin.

Do I care what they think? No, no I don’t. After all the girl from Slate has a damn firestone hidden in her room!

With one last straighten of my skirt, I walk towards the door. Fly has returned to his own room, and I promised to go knock for him.

However, I get no further than my own doorway, because there, standing on the other side of the door when I draw it open, is Dray Eros, leaning against the wall and chewing gum.

A huge grin stretches across his face as his eyes meander down my form. Slowly. Very slowly.

“Fuck me, Kitten,” he says, removing the gum from his mouth and pressing it into the wall, “you look good enough to eat.”

“Jeez,” I say, nearly jumping right out of my skin. “You scared me.”

“What? Me?” He grins. “The big bad wolf?”

“What are you doing here?” I ask, closing the door behind me, before I realize this leaves the two of us trapped together on the narrow strip of landing.

“Come to collect you. That was the deal, right?”

“Were you going to knock, or were you just going to wait there all day?”

“Depends if I got impatient or not. Come on, the others are waiting.” He goes to take ahold of my elbow and I move it straight out of his reach.

“Erm, no. I’m going with my friends – not with you.”

He groans like I’ve just said something really dull. “Not this bullshit again. Can’t you and Beaufort just kiss and make up already? It’s getting boring.”

“We did … sort of …” I say, crinkling my brow and trying to decipher what exactly did happen yesterday.

“Sort of?” he says with a smirk.

“It’s complicated with him. Every time I think we can get along, he shows me who he really is.”

“You didn’t know already? ”

“Oh, because he’s so popular and so wonderful, I’d have to know who he was.”

“No, because he’s an asshole and it’s clear all the way from outer space. Look,” he bends down low so our gazes are level, “he messed up. You never mess up before?”

“Did he tell you what he said to me?” I ask, scowling right into Dray Eros’s ridiculously mesmerizing eyes.

“Uh uh, but, come on, he can tell me now.” He grabs my hand and this time I don’t get the chance to dodge it, nor am I strong enough to pull my hand from his tight grip. Unless I want to scream and shout and make a scene, I’m left with no choice but to trot along after him as he pulls me along.

It’s as I do that I take in for the first time what he’s wearing.

Not the academy uniform or his usual favored outfit – sweatpants and a T-shirt.

Tonight he’s dressed in a well-fitted dark suit.

Okay, so he isn’t wearing a tie and his shirt is undone all the way to his sternum, but he still looks the smartest I’ve ever seen him, especially with his long platinum hair combed loose.

I guess his nose really does have super powers or something because as I’m checking him out, he peers over his shoulder at me and grins. I don’t need superpowers myself to know what that look means.

My cheeks warm.

“Where exactly are we going?” I ask.

“There are drinks in the shadow weaver common room before the ball starts.”

“Uh uh,” I say, shaking my head wildly. “There is no way in hell I’m going to that.”

“Rather go back to my room and mess around instead?” he growls.

The way he looks tonight, I hate to admit, but that offer is tempting.

I bite on my lip. What the hell is wrong with me?

Okay, so protectors share their thralls and, though Thorne is clearly unhappy about that prospect, Beaufort and Dray have both made it very clear that they want me.

That they both want me. But isn’t it still crazy that maybe, just maybe, I want them both as well?

Because, aren’t I only meant to want one person at a time?

Isn’t it a little bit greedy that I’d happily take both of them?

Dray chuckles and pulls me in close to his body, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist and peering down into my face.

“I can see you’re considering that offer, Kitten.” He leans down and whispers in my ear: “I can smell you are too.” He nips at my earlobe. “But good things come to little kittens who wait. I’m going to have you dripping wet by the time I take you home to bed tonight.”

I swallow. Dray Eros has a very dirty mouth and I wish it didn’t have such a potent effect on me. Unfortunately, with that damn nose of his, he knows exactly how potent he is.

He nibbles his teeth down my throat, then back up to my ear and whispers, “Come on. I want to show you off at this party. Every other dude – and every other girl – is going to be fucking sick with envy.”

He’s pulling me along again before I can voice any more objections. His pace is swift and excitable and I have to trot along to keep up, relieved the heels Fly found me were too big and I’m in flats instead.

We weave along the campus pathways, brimming with other students this evening – some already dressed up, others dashing from one tower to another with arms full of dress or bags of makeup.

Everyone we pass stops and stares as Dray pulls me along.

They’re not even subtle about it and as usual I can hear them whispering, wondering who the girl Dray is with is.

Do I really look that different or are the students here extremely unobservant?

Outside a tall glamorous-looking tower, my heart once again leaps into my throat.

“Do we have to go to this party?” I ask, peering up to the top of the tower. The top floor is made of glass and multi-colored lights flash from within and the pound of music wafts our way. It’s like nothing I’ve seen before.

“Yep,” Dray says. His grip on my arm has loosened but his grin is just as wicked. “I wanna show those other losers how fucking amazing you look. Rub their noses in it.”

“I don’t think that is going to do me any favors,” I mutter.

“What do you mean by that?” he asks, suddenly serious.

“Nothing,” I mutter.

“You did,” he says, eyes boring into me. I glare right back at him but he’s a hell of a lot scarier than I am and in the end I have no choice but to concede.

“Everyone in this academy already hates me.”

“We don’t,” Dray says, grinning. I think of Thorne. I don’t think Dray is right about that.

“You guys are largely responsible for that. They don’t think I should be your thrall.” Because I’m not good enough – not pretty enough, or popular enough, not even that skilled at anything.

“We don’t give a shit what those losers think. And they’re wrong,” Dray says.

“Doesn’t matter. They still hate me.”

“Who cares,” he says, snaking his arm around my waist.

I care because the hate directed at me from the other students has often been physical.

Black eyes, broken noses and strained ankles are all testaments of that.

If I mention that now though, there will be a lot of follow-up questions.

He’ll want to know who has hurt me. I don’t fancy being dragged down that path again.

“Can’t we just go to the ball?” I try one last time.

“Come on,” Dray says, “it’ll be fun. I promise.”

I let him lead me inside the tower, because, really, what choice do I have?

It’s grand – like I imagine the interior of a posh hotel in Onyx Quarter must be like – all mahogany woods and dark velvets.

There is no staircase leading up to the top of the tower where I assume the common room and this party is.

Instead, there’s an elevator. I’ve never been inside one – not even the ones back in the mines in Slate Quarter.

Although, I’m sure the mine elevators don’t have polished mirror walls, gold buttons and twinkly music.

The box lifts us up into the air and I gasp as my stomach fails to keep up with the rest of my body.

“All right?” Dray asks.

“Uh huh,” I say, laying my palm over my stomach. “I’ve never been inside one of these before.”

“We’ve got four inside the mansion back home,” he says, matter-of-factly without a trace of a boast.

“Did you go back home for the break?” I ask, suddenly curious. “To your family?”

He examines my face with amusement. “You heard about my brothers, huh?”

I shake my head. “Brothers.”

“Yeah, there’s seven of us.” My eyebrows shoot up my forehead. “But don’t get excited, little Kitten,” he leans in and whispers in my ear. “I’m the most handsome, the strongest and the best.”

Somehow I don’t doubt it. “That wasn’t what I was–”

“Fuck! That reminds me !

He steps to the side and slams his fist against the array of golden buttons. The elevator comes to a juddering halt, jolting me forward and into his waiting arms.

“I got something for you.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls something out. “To match your eyes.”

“I’m not wearing a col–” I begin.

“Relax, Kitten.”

He opens his fist and a delicate golden chain falls through the air and catches. At the end is a bright green gem the shape of a teardrop and the size of a galleon. It bounces on the end of the chain.

“I figured you’d need something pretty to wear.” I watch mesmerized as it swings from side to side, wondering if it possesses magical, or maybe even hypnotic, properties.

He snaps open the clasp and then he reaches around my throat and fastens it at the back of my neck.

“W-w-where did you get it?” I ask, trying to keep a hold of my thoughts as he slides his hands under my loose hair, his fingers warm on the back of my neck, and frees my locks from the chain, letting the cool necklace settle against my skin.

“My mom,” he answers, his gaze fixed on the crystal that now hangs against my chest.

“Your mom let you give this to me?” I say, surprised. Does that mean his mom knows about me? Does that mean she approves? I can’t see that she would. A girl from Slate.

Dray strokes his fingers over my shoulder, along my clavicle and positions the crystal at the apex of my cleavage.

“Not exactly,” he says, his eyes flashing darker. He sweeps his fingers along the soft skin of my chest.

“Huh?” I say, finding it even harder to focus on our conversation and not the feel of his fingers, of his magic, against my flesh, warming my skin, making it tingle with awareness, my body turning to liquid. I’m surprised I’m not a puddle on the floor.

“I wanted it for you,” he growls, leaning down to nuzzle at my throat, “so I took it.”

My eyes start to drift shut and I’ve definitely lost all track of his words. But then, without warning, the lift creaks and shoots upward again.

Not that it deters Dray, he’s still scraping his teeth up and down my throat, inhaling my scent, as the elevator rises quickly – I can hear the passing floors rushing past us – and then it slows and comes to a halt, the doors drawing open and two large shadow weavers waiting right there, the party in full flow behind them.

Beaufort and Thorne.

Like Dray, they are dressed up tonight in expensive-looking suits. Beaufort’s a midnight blue that makes his silver eyes all the more dazzling and Thorne a jet black. Beaufort has tied his hair back showing off his chiseled features and Thorne’s gaze seems even more penetrating than usual.

If they chose to seduce me tonight, I think I’d need super powers in order to resist.

“Dray,” Beaufort growls, and with a petulant groan, the shifter lifts his mouth from my throat and turns to face his friends. “Where the hell have you been?” Beaufort says.

“I got distracted,” he says, shrugging his shoulders and then stepping aside so the other two see me properly for the first time.

“Fuuuuck,” Beaufort says, his eyes swimming all over me. “You look so damn beautiful, Briony.”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised,” I mutter, because I don’t exactly know what else to say. I’m not used to people offering me compliments. Especially about the way I look.

“I’m not,” he says, meeting my eyes. “I saw it from the moment I first laid eyes on you.”

That sounds like bullshit to me. I had a black and swollen eye and had just spent eight hours on a train.

Although I do remember how good he looked, even in the half-dust, even in the darkness.

Thorne doesn’t say a thing, just stares at me unblinking. I can’t tell if, like the others, he thinks I look great, or he disapproves.

“Come on,” Dray says, hand on the small of my back, guiding me out of the elevator.

It’s probably my imagination but I swear, as I step into the common room with the three Princes by my side, the party music cuts off and every single person in that room turns to stare at us.