Wicked Bite (Night Rebel #2)(46)
Ian had let Silver inside at some point during my slumber. I would’ve felt horrible if he’d been stuck in the hallway this whole time. He was in the corner of the room farthest away from the horn and bed debris, sleeping as Ian and I got dressed.
I’d brought many things for this trip, but I hadn’t thought to bring a ball gown. No matter, as it turned out. Katsana brought me four to choose from. I picked the strapless one with the tight square bodice and wide, swaying skirt that met in the middle with the elegance of a swan’s wings closing gently together. It was deepest indigo from the bodice to mid-thigh, then it had been dip-dyed into a shimmering silver. It reminded me of the sea when bathed by moonlight; dangerous in these parts, but lovely nonetheless.
Ian had packed a tuxedo, so his foresight meant he had no need to borrow one. His was black with a white tie, leaving just his auburn hair and his ruby cufflinks as color accents. He looked unapproachably gorgeous in the elegant ensemble. Only I knew that his cufflinks matched his new silver-and-ruby cock piercing. Ian could never be tamed, even at his most refined.
“I’d rather we spent the rest of the night here, but Yonah was emphatic about our attending the ball,” Ian remarked as I put the finishing touches on my appearance. “Said they’re celebrating the arrival of a newcomer to the island. Guess making a party out of it helps newcomers feel less like they’ve come to a prison for rejects and more like they’ve found a new home. We’ll make nice with everyone for a couple hours before we corner Yonah and convince him to do the spell.”
I swept my hair into a knot that was formal enough for the occasion. It also allowed me to bring a thin, sharp silver stick to the ball. Few people noticed a woman’s hairpin even if it could double as a weapon. “You’re confident Yonah can do the spell, but you never told me why.”
“Yonah’s a former demon prince.” Ian’s tone was so casual, he could’ve been discussing me wearing my hair up or down. “It’s why he’s got a staggering bounty on his head. Demons don’t fancy their own betraying them, and Yonah left his brethren in such a blaze of backstabbing glory, they killed everyone who knew him, trying to contain the humiliating fallout.”
That explained why I hadn’t heard of Yonah before! And wow, how wrong I’d been, thinking that Yonah was a vampire. How had he managed to conceal it so that he felt like one species when he was another? That was a trick I needed to learn.
“’Course, it’s impossible to completely erase someone when they’re still around,” Ian went on. “Despite the mass slaughter, rumors of Yonah still made the rounds. So did stories of him having a secret hideaway. One of my former lovers shared those stories with me. Shared them with other people, too, which is how she got her eyes stabbed out,” he added offhandedly. “Demons still don’t fancy hearing Yonah’s name bandied about.”
No wonder Ashael had reacted in such a visceral way when Ian first mentioned Yonah. Anything less would’ve cast suspicion on him, if Ian had been sent by another demon to test Ashael. I know, you have to disown Yonah, Ian had said. Can’t have it getting out that you’re still friendly with the most wanted bloke in the demon world, can you?
But my half brother had befriended his world’s most wanted fugitive. Moreover, Ashael must have ferried other people to Yonah’s island, judging from how easily Yonah had accepted Ashael bringing Ian and me here. Despite our very different upbringings and the thousands of years that separated us, we’d both ended up doing the same thing: sheltering people unfairly condemned by laws that governed the other half of our species.
Maybe one day, Ashael and I might have a friendship in common, too. Oddly, I found myself hoping so. In the meantime . . .
“What do you think? Sapphire, or the pearl earrings?” I asked, holding up one of each next to my ears.
“Neither,” Ian replied, drawing a slim, rectangular box from his suitcase. “I recommend these.”
He opened the box. Triple-tiered diamond chandelier earrings caught the light like they’d been chasing it until that very moment. Each flawless stone was set in platinum, the largest ones at the base before narrowing to a smattering of glittering drops at the tip. My mouth suddenly felt dry. The jewelry box looked and smelled new. This wasn’t something that Ian had just happened to have lying around.
“When, ah, when did you get these?”
“A few weeks ago,” he replied, a glint of something I couldn’t name in his eyes.
Shame smacked me again. He’d gotten me the Faery Queen Crimsons and these earrings, all while I was refusing to even read his texts. How did I begin to make up for that?
I’d find a way. I put my other earrings back in my travel case. “They’re stunning, Ian. Thank you.”
He fastened the earrings onto my ears himself. When he was done, I looked in the mirror. My upswept hair displayed them to maximum effect and they were so gorgeous, I decided against a necklace. Anything competing with these earrings would lose.
“If you don’t want to return that dress to Katsana in pieces,” Ian said in a casual tone, “take it off as soon as we’ve concluded our business. I swore when I bought these that I’d see you wearing them and nothing else. I intend to make good on that promise tonight.”
I almost took the dress off to make that happen now, but it was already an hour past dusk. If we dallied any longer, we’d miss the “fashionably late” window and end up insulting the same host we needed a large favor from.