“You look lovely. Absolutely lovely.”
Jessica met Talia’s eyes in the gilt mirror that hung in her bedroom. “I thought you were downstairs with the guests.”
“I just came up for a moment, to see if you need anything.”
After they had returned to the mansion, her mother had sent her upstairs to freshen up. When Jessica looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, she knew why.
Her hair was a rat’s nest. Her face was flushed, and there was a smudge of dirt across one cheek. Her dress was dusty and torn in two places.
Definitely not what the Fae nobles expected of North America’s princess.
Jessica sent word by one of the servants that it would be at least an hour before she came down again. She could have managed in fifteen minutes by just redoing her hair, washing her face, and asking one of her mother’s ladies-in-waiting to do something with her dress, but she was desperate for a shower.
No…a bath. In scented water as hot as she could stand. She wanted to soak away the memory of everything that had happened tonight, as if that could wipe the slate clean and allow her to start over.
But as she lay back in the sunken tub, breathing in the scent of lilac and narcissus, Hawk’s face kept appearing in her mind’s eye.
Damn that vampire.
She opened her eyes and looked down at her body. Men had looked at her with desire before, but she’d never felt an answering passion of her own. She’d always felt a kinship with Artemis, moon goddess and virgin huntress, and every time she rebuffed an advance she thought of her.
Artemis had been a warrior, too. And she had never surrendered to lust.
Lust. There was no other word to describe what she’d felt for Hawk. She, Jessica Greenwood, had been overwhelmed with lust.
She had to forget it. Put it out of her mind completely. But as she stared down at herself, she couldn’t stop picturing Hawk’s hands on her. The way he’d touched her, covering her breasts with his palms.
Sharp twinges of excitement sparked through her body. She felt restless, and at the same a kind of voluptuous languor made her limbs seem heavier than usual. Slowly she raised her own hands out of the water and settled them on her breasts.
What if her mother and the prince hadn’t come along? What if she’d let him keep going?
What if she’d said yes to his outrageous proposal, there at the edge of her mother’s property?
She started to knead her breasts the way Hawk had. She moved her thumbs over her nipples and they hardened, the way they’d hardened for him.
She closed her eyes and let her head fall back.
There was a knock on the bathroom door. “Your Highness?”
Jessica sat up with a splash, her face flaming. “Yes. Come in.”
It was one of her mother’s ladies-in-waiting.
“Your Highness, the queen asked me to do your hair for you. Are you nearly through with your bath?”
Jessica was already stepping out of the tub and reaching for a towel. “Yes, thank you. And I would appreciate your help with my hair. It’s a skill I’ve never mastered.”
Now, ten minutes later, she was standing in front of her bedroom mirror with her mother at her side. Her dress had been invisibly repaired, her hair looked beautiful, and her expression was calm and cool.
Everything was exactly as it should be, and the satisfaction in her mother’s face reflected that.
“You know, Kel was very impressed with how you handled yourself during that…ordeal. And he was quite relieved when you came back safely.”
“That’s nice of him,” Jessica said dryly. “But you and I both know that the ‘ordeal’ would never have happened if I hadn’t been such a fool.”
“You weren’t a fool, Jessica. You were taken in by a master manipulator.”
She couldn’t deny the truth of that. “I know.” Then she turned away from the mirror and faced her mother. “Will you tell me what the two of you were talking about?”
Talia stiffened. “That doesn’t concern you.”
In her twenty-three years, Jessica could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she’d pushed her mother about something, or opposed her in any way. But she wasn’t willing to let go of this.
“After everything that happened tonight, I think it does concern me.”
Talia turned away and went over to one of the windows, overlooking the circular front drive.
“A few stragglers are still arriving, but most of the guests are here. We should go down to them.”
That made Jessica think of something else that bothered her. “I wish you had let me invite Liz and Celia.”
Talia turned back to face her again, probably thinking that her daughter had accepted the change in subject.
“My darling, we’ve been over this. This ball is the first time in centuries that we have welcomed one of the Dark Fae among us. Royalty have come from all over the world to meet the prince and to congratulate you on your engagement. There simply isn’t room in the house to invite everyone we wish. And you must remember, however much you like them, that Celia is an eighth-blood—and Elizabeth is only a sixteenth. A hundred years ago, she would never have been admitted to the Green Fae.”
Jessica bristled. “Liz is one of the best warriors we’ve got.”
“I know, I know.” Talia smiled now as she returned to her daughter’s side. “You are a true American in many ways, do you know that? You’ve always insisted that people should be judged on merit and not by birth. I sometimes think you would make a better queen in North America than I. You seem so suited to the sensibilities here. But your destiny is to rule in another land, over a proud and ancient people. In truth, I envy you, my dear. Now let’s go downstairs, where a handsome prince is waiting for you.”
Jessica looked her mother in the eye. “I want to know what you and Hawk were talking about.”
“Jessica!”
She held her ground. “I’m serious, Mother.”
For a minute the two women stared at each other in silence. Then Talia huffed out an angry breath.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you tonight. Hawk was here because of a misunderstanding. I hired him to help with a…situation. Involving another vampire, which is why I thought he’d be useful. Now he’s insisting that I didn’t give him his full payment.”
“I see.” Jessica felt a little sick to her stomach. “That’s what his urgent business was. Money.” She rubbed a hand across her eyes. “I hope you agreed to pay him. You should do whatever it takes to get him the hell off our continent. He’s the one I told you about, you know. The vampire who was in the alley that night. The one who was hired to kill Celia.”
Talia’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that. Is she still in danger?”
Jessica shook her head. “No, that job was called off.” She smiled without mirth. “He hasn’t had much luck on this side of the pond lately. Maybe after this he’ll stay in England.”
Talia pursed her lips. “Once he has his money, I’m sure we’ll never see him again.”
“I’m sure you’re right.”
Jessica took a deep breath and looked at herself once more in the mirror.
This time, when she pictured Hawk, she felt only disgust—for herself as much as him. She’d known what he was all along, of course, but her conversation with her mother had brought it home to her somehow.
Those were the hands she’d allowed on her body. The hands of a hired killer, interested only in money. Hawk was an assassin who couldn’t care less about the lives he took or the lives he destroyed, as long as he was paid. And he wouldn’t hesitate to use any tool necessary to achieve his goals.
Including her.
As her mother had said, he was a master manipulator.
Talia came up behind her again, repositioning one of the jeweled clips in her hair. “Are you ready to go downstairs?”
Jessica nodded.
Talia smiled at her in the mirror. “That’s my girl. I’m very proud of you, you know. I probably don’t say that often enough. I wish you would change your mind, and stay here until your wedding.”
The thought of spending her last few weeks on Earth surrounded by courtiers and nobles made her feel like she was choking.
“No, I want to go back to Boston.” She had an apartment there, an elegant brownstone, and she was looking forward to returning to the privacy of her own home. In fact, she was planning to dismiss the guards and servants her mother had sent to her when she first moved into it.
Growing up, she had never had enough time to herself. Now, for the first time, she was going to indulge in the luxury of solitude.
At least for a little while.
“Very well. But you’ll come here on weekends?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now let’s go find that handsome prince of yours.”
Handsome prince.
Somehow, describing him that way made him seem less real, as if he were a character in a fairy tale instead of a flesh-and-blood man. As Jessica descended the marble staircase with her mother beside her, she spotted Kel near the entrance to the ballroom, surrounded by Fae royalty from all around the world. He smiled politely at something the Icelandic princess said, and Jessica paused on the staircase to watch him.
He came from another dimension, but if she hadn’t known that she wouldn’t have guessed it from observing him. Was it possible that his world was as similar to this one as her mother had promised? That the myths of the Dark Fae had been exaggerated?
“Good idea,” her mother murmured behind her, and before Jessica had time to wonder what she meant the crowd downstairs began to quiet gradually, as more and more people looked up and saw them.
Her mother thought she’d stopped here on purpose, for effect.
She hadn’t, of course, but it certainly was effective. In less than a minute a hush had fallen in the great hall, and even the servants with their trays of champagne had paused. The sudden silence and stillness felt like a tableau.
As though it had been choreographed, Prince Kel stepped forward and bowed low. Then he straightened and held his hand towards her.
Feeling again that strange sense of unreality, as though she were acting a part, Jessica began to descend the stairs again. People shifted to create a path from the staircase to the prince. When she reached the bottom, she put a smile on her face and walked towards Kel as he began walking towards her. When they met, he took both her hands in his and kissed them.
“I am glad to see you looking so well after everything that happened,” he murmured.
His voice was really rather pleasant—smooth and easy and cultured. But Jessica found herself comparing it to another voice, one deeper and rougher and with a British accent.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
“None of that between us,” he said with a smile, offering his arm as a servant threw open the doors to the ballroom. “You will call me Kel—and I will call you Jessica. We are affianced, after all.”
“As you wish—Kel,” Jessica said, taking the prince’s arm as they led the way into the ballroom.
It felt like someone else was walking beside him into the elegant room, smiling as the musicians began to play their first notes. When Kel had led Jessica to the very center of the room, right underneath the massive crystal chandelier, he turned to face her.
“May I have this dance?”
She nodded, still smiling, and the two of them moved into a waltz with easy grace.
“They have waltzes in your world,” she said after a moment. Kel was a wonderful dancer, and she was trying to feel something from his touch. One of his hands was at her waist, and she tried to will her body to take notice, to shiver and tingle the way she had when—
“Yes, we have waltzes. Our worlds are similar in many ways. I think you will feel at home there, Jessica. That is certainly my wish.”
It was weak and foolish to feel this longing for another man’s touch. And it was up to her to conquer that feeling, to do everything she could to accept her new life.
“Would you tell me about your home? My mother said you live in a castle in the mountains, with your mother. Queen Navril.”
She’d actually seen it, once—or a room inside it, anyway. When she and Celia had gone into absinthe trance, their spirits had traveled to the Dark Fae realm, where they’d observed the queen discussing her plans to unleash the demons of their world upon Earth.
But that was all she’d seen—and she didn’t remember much about the castle itself. Her vision had been blurred and strange in the absinthe trance, and Celia had dragged her away as soon as they’d heard what they needed to.
Her mother didn’t know much more. She’d gone in spirit to meet with the Dark Fae queen, but since that wasn’t a particularly safe mode of travel, she hadn’t stayed long. And after that first meeting, the queen had sent Talia a magic mirror that functioned as a portal between the worlds, to allow them to communicate that way.
Kel smiled at her. “Our fortress was built eight hundred years ago, by my great-great grandparents. It’s very beautiful. It’s high in the mountains, above a lake and an ancient forest.”
“Are there cities? Towns? Where do your people live?”
“There are fewer of us than there are of you, remember. And no humans in our world. Our entire population is no more than a hundred thousand, perhaps. Most of our people live in villages, although there are several cities—what we call cities, anyway. When I say that you will find much that is familiar in our world, I don’t mean in comparison with human modernity. Our ways are older, as are our arts and crafts and sciences. We honor blacksmiths and silversmiths and glassmakers, not mass production and factories. Our sciences tend towards astronomy and navigation and medicine, and have not followed the path of your world.”
“The humans in our world, you mean.”
He nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. The Fae here have adapted to humanity—and adapted beautifully, I might add—but our culture developed without that influence. And in the last few hundred years, as we’ve learned more about Earth, we’ve rejected that influence. We find little to admire in humanity.”
“But now you need us.”
She’d used the word us deliberately, as a reminder that she herself had human blood in her veins.
Kel had no visible reaction, and she marveled again at how flawlessly cool his expression was. That emotionless demeanor was the Fae ideal—the court ideal, anyway—and one she’d always striven for. But looking at Kel now, she knew she’d never achieve it.
And then, in spite of herself, she thought about Hawk. How fierce and angry and riled up he’d been as he backed her into that tree. How hungry he’d looked as he touched her, his eyes following his hands.
It was impossible to imagine Kel ever looking at her like that. Of course she didn’t really know him, so it wasn’t fair to make any determinations about what he was or wasn’t like. But his detachment was so perfect, so…
She noticed suddenly that his dancing had become more purposeful. He was steering her towards the French doors that led to the back terrace. Two of her mother’s guards were stationed there, and Kel nodded to them as he and Jessica went through to the terrace.
The monarch’s personal guard was an ancient tradition, one followed by all Fae royalty. With the existence of other supernaturals—and the often antagonistic relationships between them—the guards served a practical as well as a ceremonial function. Unlike their famous counterparts at Buckingham Palace, the Fae guards were occasionally called upon to defend their kings and queens with their lives.
Still, because of the extensive magical protections noble Fae placed around their mansions and palaces, they usually felt safe when they were at home. Certainly Talia did. She almost never stationed guards outdoors at formal balls.
But there were four guards outside on the terrace, and Jessica was sure the extra precaution was because of Hawk.
Did Talia think he might return?
Jessica closed her eyes, hating herself for the sudden rush of excitement that coursed through her body.
“Jessica.”
She opened her eyes again and looked at Kel. He’d led her to a small alcove out of sight and earshot of the guards.
“It is true that we need you. There are fewer and fewer children born to my people, and even with our long lives our race declines every year. The fear of extinction is a powerful thing, and it led us first to plan an invasion of your world—and then to plan for this marriage.”
She hadn’t expected him to speak so openly of the circumstances around their engagement. Why was he talking to her about this? They both knew why the marriage had been planned. What good could it do to bring it up?
“That’s why I came here tonight,” he went on. “Not just to meet you, but to make sure that…” He paused. There was no change in his expression, which remained impassive, but Jessica was sure that there was some feeling beneath the surface. “I want to be sure that this marriage our mothers have planned for us is acceptable to you. That you have agreed to it of your own free will.”
Jessica stared at him. She had no idea what to say. Did he expect her to rhapsodize about how delighted she was to be marrying him? Or was he sincere, and simply looking for reassurance that she hadn’t been coerced into this engagement?
She could at least provide that. “I can assure you that I have agreed to this engagement freely.” A thought occurred to her suddenly. “Have you?”
It was his turn to stare at her. She sensed that he was surprised, although his expression still showed nothing. “What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if you agreed to this marriage of your free will.”
“Of course I did,” he said.
But there had been the barest hesitation before he spoke. And that made Jessica wonder, for the first time, how this arrangement was affecting him.
“You weren’t expecting this any more than I was. Your life will change, too.”
He shook his head dismissively. “You’re the one leaving your home—your very world—to come and live in mine. You’re giving up far more than I am. Don’t waste your concern on me, Jessica.” He offered his arm to her again. “I’m glad to know that all of this is acceptable to you. I look forward to the day when I can welcome you to my world as my bride. And now, we should return to the ball.”
And that, apparently, was going to be that.
The rest of the night passed pleasantly enough, but it felt endless. The music, the dancing, the superficial conversations…there were times when Jessica thought she was going to fly to pieces. She was used to feeling restless at balls and formal occasions, but this was different. This felt almost…desperate.
She’d never felt at home with nobles. Only with the Green Fae, where she was respected for her skills and not her position.
Her one respite from meaningless chitchat was a brief conversation with Yana. Since her father had been killed in battle ten years ago, Yana was the only person at court she felt completely at ease with.
This year, Yana had been named Arbiter of North America—one of the few royal positions earned by merit and wisdom and not by the accident of birth. Tonight, she wore the simple black robes of her office. They went well with her stern expression and long silver hair.
“And how do you find Prince Kel?” she asked Jessica over a glass of champagne.
“I like him better than I thought I would,” she said honestly. It was hard to dissemble with Yana, who saw through people better than anyone Jessica knew.
Until she’d met Hawk.
“I can’t get a read on him,” Yana said with a frown. “He’s certainly polite, but…”
“I think he’s more than polite. I think he’s kind.”
Yana studied her in silence for a moment. “You know I spoke against this marriage to the council.”
Hers had been one of the few dissenting voices to Talia’s plan. Jessica was glad that Yana’s position among the Fae was too entrenched for her opposition to bring any negative consequences.
“I know.”
“You have a strong sense of duty, and I admire that. But if you have any doubts at all…”
“I don’t.”
Jessica forced herself to hold Yana’s gaze without faltering. It wasn’t really a lie. She was going through with this marriage, so what good would it do to entertain doubts?
After a minute, Yana nodded. “Very well, child.” She held up her glass. “To your happiness.”
The prince left them a few hours after midnight. Just before he disappeared he pulled Jessica aside again.
“It’s not the custom of my people to give engagement rings,” he told her. “But I have this to give to you.” He was holding something in his hand.
It was a small silver bag on a silver chain. An odd gift, but—“Thank you,” she said automatically, reaching out to take it.
His hand closed before she could touch it.
“Don’t touch the stone inside this bag until you’re ready to travel to my world. When your flesh comes into contact with it, a portal will open and you’ll pass through it. Which is what you’ll do one month from now, for our wedding.”
He opened his hand, and Jessica reached out again, a little more hesitantly this time. The bag was the size of a robin’s egg.
“Will you let me put it on you?” he asked.
She nodded. Wearing a reminder of her engagement, of her duty, could only be a good thing. She had to do everything possible to embrace her new life.
She turned her back to the prince, and his fingers brushed the bare skin of her nape as he fastened the chain around her neck.
She felt nothing at his touch. No thrill of excitement, no goose bumps sweeping over her skin. And then, suddenly, she was engulfed by the memory of Hawk’s fingers on her throat.
“Are you cold?” Kel asked as she turned to face him again. “The Fae of my world suffer little from the cold, unless it is severe.”
She cleared her throat. “My guess is that we feel the cold more than your people, although much less than the humans of this world,” she said.
He nodded. “I will make sure there are warm fires in your rooms during the winter months,” he said.
That, more than anything that had happened tonight, made their coming marriage seem real. She was going to travel to the prince’s world, and live in his palace, and sit in front of a fire as the snow fell outside.
Kel raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. “Until we meet again,” he said formally.
“Until we meet again.”
Then he went to her mother, who was dancing with the King of Australia on the other side of the room. Elegant bows were exchanged between the two men, and then Jessica watched Kel and her mother speak for a few moments. After that Kel jumped up onto the dais where the musicians played.
They fell silent.
When he spoke, his voice rang out over the crowd. “We share the same ancestry, and I speak for all my people when I tell you how happy we are to be meeting again in peace, after so many centuries of estrangement. I am honored beyond measure to receive the troth of Her Royal Highness, the Princess Jessica Greenwood. My world could receive no greater gift than her presence. I thank the Queen Talia for this marvelous ball, and I thank all of you for attending. And I pray that this occasion marks the beginning of many years of peace and communication between our worlds.”
He smiled as the crowd applauded, and then he disappeared.
There was a gasp of pleased excitement from the assembly, and Jessica smiled to herself. Good theater, she thought.
No doubt her mother approved.
* * *
Jessica lay awake for a long time that night, but she must have eventually dropped off to sleep, because when Talia sat on the side of her bed she was startled awake.
“Mother! What is it?”
“Hush, child—I don’t want to wake your ladies-in-waiting.”
They were actually her mother’s ladies-in-waiting, attending to Jessica while she was at the mansion. They were sleeping in the room next to hers.
Jessica sat up in bed. “What’s going on, Mother? Is something wrong?”
“Very wrong, I’m afraid. I have a terrible favor to ask of you.”
Talia’s voice was grave, and her face, too. She was wearing a sapphire-blue nightgown and matching robe, and her hair was braided down her back. Dressed like that, and illuminated by moonlight, she didn’t look much older than her daughter.
“What is it?”
Talia laid a hand over hers, on top of the coverlet. “I told you tonight about Hawk. That he came here because of a dispute over payment.”
“Yes.”
“What I didn’t tell you was that the payment he’s looking for is something I can’t deliver. I thought I could, but I can’t.”
Jessica shook her head, confused. “But you have access to an enormous fortune. How much did you promise to pay him?”
“His payment was not to be in money. It was to be in the form of…something I can’t provide.”
Jessica rubbed her free hand across her eyes. “I don’t understand. What did he want?”
“Something I can’t provide,” she said again. “But I don’t believe Hawk will accept that answer, or an alternative payment. And I think he’ll take his anger out on me…or our people. Unless he’s stopped.” Talia paused, and her hand tightened on Jessica’s. “Unless he’s killed.”
It took almost a minute for her mother’s words to sink in fully. “You want me to kill Hawk.”
“You’ve killed vampires before.”
A cold weight settled in the pit of her stomach. “Yes, but only in a fight. In self-defense, or to save a life. Not in cold blood.”
“You will be saving lives. Hawk is the lowest kind of animal—a demon and a killer. And when he finds out I can’t give him his payment, he’ll come after me. You’ll be saving my life.”
“He could never get to you.”
“He got to me here. Think about that. After what happened tonight, do you think any of us are safe from him?”
Jessica couldn’t answer.
Talia frowned. “Why are you hesitating? He’s a demon, and you’re a demon hunter. This is like any other mission. A last service to this world and to your people before your new life begins.”
Everything inside her felt twisted, like she was being put through a wringer.
“How would I get to him?” she whispered, finally.
“He’s going to contact me in forty-eight hours. When he does, I’ll set up a meeting. I’ll tell him that I don’t have his payment yet but that I have information for him. And I’ll tell him that you’ll be the one meeting him, not me. That will put him off his guard.”
“It will?”
“He obviously doesn’t regard you as a threat. More fool him,” Talia added with satisfaction. “It will actually work to our advantage that he got the upper hand on you tonight. He’ll be inclined to underestimate you.”
Not anymore. Not after their confrontation.
What would her mother think if she told her about that? If she told her she’d had Hawk at knifepoint, completely at her mercy? That she could have taken him out then and there?
She remembered her parting threat. If you ever hurt my mother, or anyone I care about, I’ll hunt you down like a dog.
But he hadn’t hurt anyone yet. He hadn’t even fought back when she’d started punching him.
“You don’t know for sure how he’ll react,” she said now. “Maybe he would accept an alternate payment. Maybe you should wait and see what he—”
“Do you really want to play Russian roulette with an assassin? On the off chance he won’t try to kill anyone?” Talia’s eyes narrowed. “Is this the influence of Liz and Celia? Are you going soft on vampires now, because of the choices they’ve made? They’d be the first to tell you that most vampires are vicious, evil killers. Jack Morgan would tell you that himself. Don’t forget this creature held a knife to your throat, Jessica. And he wouldn’t have hesitated to use it.”
Except that he hadn’t used it. And when she’d fought him, he hadn’t fought back.
“Jessica.” Her mother put both hands on her shoulders and leaned close. “There’s a better than even chance that if you don’t take him out, I’ll be dead in three days. Is that a chance you want to take?”
Jessica bit her lip. “Set up the meeting,” she said finally. “I’m going back to Boston in the morning, so set it up there.”
She could feel the tension leave her mother’s body. “Thank you,” Talia said softly. She hesitated a moment, and then went on, “I’m sure it goes without saying that this is a secret mission. Don’t speak of it to anyone. It’s a family matter. That’s why I came to you with this. And because I knew I could count on you, my brave and loyal daughter.”
Talia gave her hand a final squeeze and left the room, her bare feet making no noise on the tile floor.
Jessica leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes.
Praise from her mother was rare indeed. If she were younger, she’d be glowing.
But when she was younger, she never doubted herself as she did now. She never questioned what was right and what was wrong. What was good and what was evil. All she asked was that someone point her towards the enemy, as if she were a loaded weapon.
Well, now her mother had pointed her at Hawk.
She wouldn’t think about it tonight. She’d put it out of her mind and go to sleep.
And pray that she wouldn’t dream of anything…or anyone.