Chapter 29 Devora
Devora
“Are you sure you’re ready for this, Devora?” Tessa asked. Her legs were casually draped over the arm of a chair by my vanity, but there was a crease on her brow that gave away her concern.
“I wish everyone would stop asking me that,” I said. I leaned closer to the mirror to swipe a line of kohl beneath my eyes.
Nox, Arowyn, Everett, and I had gotten back from Tenebra less than forty-eight hours ago.
Since then, I’d been surrounded by members of the Ashen Order as they tried to talk me through the plan at the ball, how to hide my magic, and what to do if anyone became suspicious. They were all a bunch of mother hens.
Everyone except Nox, that was. I’d barely seen him since we arrived at the Keep and he stopped me from going up the stairs to my tower. Instead, he showed me to an empty room on the first floor. Evidently right down the hall from his, or so Tessa told me.
We’d been so busy, I didn’t have much time to worry about where he’d run off to, or even to enjoy the new luxuries of this suite.
The bed alone could fit four people, and the bathing chamber was glorious.
The tub was practically a lake. If this was the room he gave me, I couldn’t imagine what his chambers looked like.
Not that I thought about him. Or his bed. Or him in his bed.
“You okay?” Arowyn asked from my bed, where she lounged on her stomach. “Your neck’s doing that thing again.”
I looked down to see red splotches crawling up my neck from the top of my gown.
Tessa swirled a finger at me. “Is this one of your tells? Because we’re going to have to do something about that with Scarven.”
I swatted her hand away. “Trust me, I don’t have any tells. I’ll be fine.” Lying was second nature at this point. Fantasizing about my ex-captor, however…
“Well, you look good, Dev,” Tessa said, scanning my body as I stood. “Can I call you Dev?”
I raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know, can I call you Jaggy?”
She threw her head back with a laugh, causing her dark braids to sway against the chair. “Fair enough. For what it’s worth, I’d let you spy on me.”
Arowyn snorted. “Yeah, especially when your breasts look like that.”
I chuckled and turned to face the full-length mirror, taking in my reflection. She wasn’t wrong—the girls certainly knew what they were doing when they picked out this gown.
It felt strange to refer to Arowyn and Tessa like that. The girls. As if we were some sort of close-knit unit who made a habit of doing each other’s hair as we laughed and gossiped and ate chocolate. As if we were friends.
I wasn’t sure what we were—what any of us were—but the way they barged in and made themselves at home in my new suite did something funny to my chest.
My hands slid over the deep red fabric of the gown. The sleeves fell off my shoulders, and the tight bodice crossed in an elegant twist between my breasts. It cinched at the waist and fit snugly down my legs until it hit my lower thighs, then cascaded into a floor-length skirt.
“I don’t know how you expect me to move in this,” I grumbled as I twisted to get a look at the back, where the smooth fabric strained over my backside.
“That’s kind of the point. Also, you might want to get rid of that,” Arowyn said, tilting her head to the slit on my right thigh where my dagger rested. “They won’t let you take it into Scarven’s manor.”
I sighed. I figured as much. “Fine.” I pulled the blade out and set it on the vanity next to my glasses.
Tessa stopped me before I unclasped the sheath. “Leave it. It adds intrigue.”
Intrigue. The whole purpose of this evening. To catch Kane Scarven’s attention and hold his interest enough to make him want to spill all his dirty secrets.
I still couldn’t believe he was Nox’s half-brother, and that he killed their father.
That must mean Nox would have been in line for the governor’s position.
My mind had been barreling through all the factors and family dynamics at play since I’d discovered the truth three nights ago.
How Scarven probably despised and envied Nox in equal measure, how he held his power over Nox using mind games, how his obsession with these experiments was driven by his hunger for more.
How I needed to present myself as something more for him to want. To collect, as Nox had put it.
In a sense, this mission was perfect for me. A way to use the skills I’d learned when that was the only way to take care of myself growing up.
“You need to leave soon if you want to catch up with the Mysthelm contingency,” Tessa said, glancing at the ornate clock on my wall.
“You have to act like you came with them. Your story is that you’re part of the ship’s crew, and they let all of you have the night off to attend the ball. Have you picked a name?”
“How about Selena Nyte?” I offered as I pinned back one side of my hair.
“Oddly specific,” Arowyn said.
“It’s the name of one of the girls I used to work with. She was a bartender all the patrons fell in love with.” I shrugged. “Felt fitting.”
“I thought you were a lady’s maid?” Tessa asked, cocking her head.
“I’ve been many things, Jaggy. Did what I had to do to put food in my stomach.”
She unfolded herself from the chair and padded across the room to fix a few strands of my hair. “Well, Selena Nyte, stick with us, and we’ll make sure you always have food in your belly and a roof over your head.”
“Yeah,” Arowyn called from the bed. “The only things you’ll have to worry about are death by carriage and deranged Shifters who experiment on you in your sleep.”
“Comforting,” I said with a laugh.
But as strange as it seemed, the thought was rather comforting. Stick with us. After three weeks, I’d earned some semblance of trust from these people. We were all working toward the same goal, after all. And it felt…nice. Different.
“Nox will be at the ball, since Scarven always makes him stand at his side for things like this. Nox’s letting Everett come as long as he disguises himself with an illusion.
But the rest of us don’t have access,” Tessa continued.
“Arowyn and I will be just on the perimeter of Scarven’s manor, so I can hear if anything goes wrong, and Arowyn can stride in to get you.
Remember,” she gripped my shoulders so I couldn’t look away, “don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with. If you need out, just say the word.”
“Tessa, this entire thing is the furthest from comfortable any of us could be,” I pointed out. “I have a mission. I’m not going to jump ship if things get hard.”
“Devora—”
“What would you do, if you were in my position?” I pressed. “If you had the power to find out what Scarven’s planning? If you could figure out a way to get all those prisoners free?”
She twisted her lips and sighed. “I’d do everything I could. Even if it got me killed.”
I nodded tightly, and a nervous energy settled over the room.
Until Arowyn said, “Well, I’d cut his balls off.”
I snorted while Tessa burst into laughter, her shoulders shaking as she grabbed my cloak from the bedpost.
“Come on, Miss Nyte,” Tessa said with a chuckle. “Your carriage awaits.”
I peered out the carriage window from around the corner of the Governor’s House. The cloudless sky let the moon and stars cast enough light for me to watch the caravan of Mysthelm carriages pull up to the estate. I quickly signaled to my driver to follow, and we settled in place behind the others.
Everett sat across from me, his illusion making him appear a couple decades older and several inches shorter than his normal stature. Long, greasy black hair replaced his short-cropped cut. He had a hooked nose, sharp chin, and dark brown eyes instead of his ruggedly handsome, stoic features.
“That’s still creepy,” I said, pointing at him and his illusion.
He smirked. “But useful.”
He had a point. I didn’t want to admit it, but I felt far more at ease walking into this mess with someone I knew at my side.
The driver came around the side to open our door.
The gray mansion we stood before was an imposing sight.
Sharp stone turrets reached into the sky, nearly blending into the darkness.
Moss overgrew along the walls, with gnarled vines snaking around columns all the way to the ground.
A plethora of guards stood at the entrance.
Drivers dismounted from their carriages and opened doors for the passengers, and Everett and I followed the wave of swishing cloaks and elegant ballgowns.
I saw the familiar faces of the regent families from Mysthelm—the lords and ladies who oversaw each of the four territories.
A twinge of worry shot through me. I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of any of them recognizing me.
Although, if they did, that would only prove my standing as a citizen of Mysthelm.
We strode up the sleek steps to the manor, doing our best to blend in with the crowd.
Nerves were beginning to churn in my gut and creep up my chest. Nox and his Order wanted me because of my magic, but also because they knew I had a reputation for playing the other side.
For spying and remaining undetected. While this mission included those things, it also relied on the exact opposite: I was supposed to put myself out there.
To be the bait on a line sinking into the depths of Scarven’s madness.
What if I wasn’t good enough? What if this failed before we even had the chance? Or worse—what if he discovered our plan, and someone got hurt?
What if Nox got hurt?
I swallowed hard, unsure when the thought of him being in pain made every fear inside me come alive.
But as I walked across the shining oak floors, I thought about how he’d been held prisoner here.
How he’d been ripped from his home and tortured.
How Scarven made him come back as a glorified lapdog, reliving those moments again and again.
If Nox could withstand that for the sake of his sister and all the defenseless Veridians held captive here, then I could do this.
A wrinkled hand touched my elbow, and I glanced back at Everett, who gave me a quick nod of encouragement. I smiled and took a deep breath.
We were led to a grand staircase that descended into a two-story ballroom, where sounds of live musicians playing a hauntingly beautiful melody drifted up the steps. Light from a hundred candles flickered as I gripped the railing and forced my feet down the staircase to the mezzanine level.
Everett left my side with another quick touch to the arm.
He was going to mingle and get the “lay of the land,” as he put it.
The magic-less humans continued down the steps on either side of me, where it leveled out onto the dark marble floor.
A vaulted ceiling soared high over our heads, with arching beams and intricate bronze designs carved into the walls.
On the lower floor, four large lion statues rested in each corner of the enormous room. I watched from above as those from Mysthelm and Veridia alike reached for glasses of sparkling wine. Chatter mixed with the stringed instruments playing on the far wall.
My eyes scanned the room from the balcony, instinctively searching for something. Someone.
At a tall table near the foot of the staircase stood three men. The first had his back to me and was deep in conversation with one of the lords from Mysthelm. And the second man…
Navy eyes flashed up to mine, and I could’ve sworn they narrowed into slits before widening again as his gaze raked over my form.
Fates, Nox looked good. Too good. He was in sleek black from head to toe, with a dinner jacket that hugged his muscular arms and a shirt with the top buttons undone. His gaze burned through me as he raised his glass and took a sip.
My breath caught as I remembered his body hovering above mine that night in the tent. Heat licked up my spine and bloomed to the place on my neck his scruff had grazed.
His eyes shifted to the man across from him. The stranger slowly turned his head up to the balcony, following where Nox had been looking.
Dark brown hair with a streak of gray, strong chin, sharp jaw, high cheekbones. A short, clean-cut beard that spoke of control and precision. Black eyes beneath a raised brow.
I instantly knew who this was.
Kane Scarven’s gaze met mine, replacing the heat from Nox’s stare with an iciness that chilled my blood.
I gave him a hint of a smirk before turning away.
Game on.