Chapter Twelve
The weekend passed all too quickly. Kieran frequently assured that Sera was free of any death mark, but he still doubted.
Sera seemed to believe all was well, embracing the excitement of Levity’s ball.
Wraith hadn’t sent word or made an attempt to retrieve the Charm, which was disconcerting, though not entirely surprising.
Kieran didn’t imagine a man like Wraith operated in what Kieran would consider a normal schedule.
Whatever caused Wraith to delay, Kieran wasn’t likely to find out.
There was still every reason to believe they neared the end of the threat.
He had given Sera space these past couple days, but not to avoid her. He intended to let her control the pace going forward and she seemed intent to focus on her relationship with Seth. So he had stepped aside to allow them more time together. Seth accompanied her to the modiste for her fitting.
Kieran had focused instead on gathering sources and information from Demon Row. With no concrete news of Cole’s fate, the caution in the back of his mind persisted. He didn’t share his concerns with Sera, hoping not to dampen her excitement, but he was determined to keep his eyes open and vigilant.
When the night of the ball arrived, it felt like an ending.
As the carriage neared the Upper Ring, the homes outside the window became palatial in stature. The estates here were meant for the aldermen and other important figures, but Kieran preferred his home in Winter. Mostly because the weather was tolerable.
This ball was thrown to welcome the newly elected alderman of the Night Court, Arabelle Hargrove.
Her predecessor, Graves, had fooled the entire city into believing he was the epitome of Unity’s core virtues.
Tolerance and peace. No one had guessed his real intentions until he was found dead in the estate of newly titled Lord Devin Drake.
Levity Fairchild represented humans in Parliament.
A personable woman with easy grace and manners, who knew exactly what to say and how to win an argument.
She had thrown the party as a political move, trying to get into Hargrove’s good graces and gain her support with Levity’s more stringent city proposals.
Of all the opponents to Kieran’s ideas, Levity campaigned the hardest. It was usually her insight that kept him from achieving the majority he needed.
Not that they were enemies, exactly, but often resided at opposite ends of any given issue.
Kieran exited the carriage, resolved to ensure this evening was everything Sera wanted. This included extending his hand to help the lady from her carriage. Her fingers slipped into his, the sensation no less potent despite exposure, and the overwhelming bliss took a moment to suppress.
She stepped down, still wrapped in her coat so that only fragments of whatever she had ordered from the modiste was visible, though he thought he recalled the color from the shop front window.
He offered his arm as he led her up the front steps. She was too engrossed to provide any sort of comment on the gesture, her eyes bounded over the glittery splendor of Levity’s home.
It was a bit much, honestly. Purple and gold with jeweled accents, priceless art scattered throughout like beacons screaming ‘look at me, I am important.’ There was way too much light for this time of evening, so many flickering lamps and candles positioned so that the halls were illuminated as if by sunlight.
Kieran was used to the softer, more subtle glow of lumenore.
Combined with the heat he could feel in his bones and he’d already reached his fill of the evening.
Every subsequent hour would be an ordeal.
“You should know,” Kieran started as they entered the throng of guests, “your presence here will draw notice. Especially arriving with me.”
“Oh, right. The human thing.” Her grip tightened a bit on his arm, and he set his other hand gently on hers, her muscles instantly relaxing.
It was not a gesture he was used to making, soothing others with touch, but with her it had happened almost mechanically.
Naturally. He kept his breathing steady and forced himself not to dwell on the implications.
Not now, when he intended for her to have an enjoyable evening.
“It won’t be negative attention. These sorts of arrangements are no longer frowned upon.
But I’m afraid someone must be first. I thought the union of Lord Drake and Miss Wilde would be enough, but given Drake’s rather unconventional bid for his title, they have remained on the outer fringes of society. ”
Sera nodded, fingers still flexing lightly against his sleeve. “But us, on the other hand, would be pretty significant,” she said.
“It is not too late for you to enter without me. All I need to do is take a step back and allow you to be introduced alone. You are under no obligation to enter on my arm, as such an entrance would be making a rather pointed insinuation about our connection.”
His eyes cast sideways. They took another step forward. He would not blame her for leaving his side, but he was shocked to find that he did hope…
“No. I don’t care about that. Let them assume whatever the hell they want. You invited me here, you’re the only reason I even get to do this, and I’m not abandoning you simply because people might stare.”
Kieran swallowed, his exhale almost faltering as relief washed away the tension of waiting for her answer. He could feel a smile forming, and this time, he did not fight it.
Guests queued for introductions and provided invitations—a ball was defined as much by those excluded as those invited.
He found the lingering human sentiment elitist, but that was the game and he merely a player.
This one, however, was not a game he enjoyed so much as tolerated.
There were other games that he recently discovered to be pleasantly diverting.
Games that, even now, in idle thought sent thrill rippling through his body.
Kieran attempted to regain his focus and not lose stride.
This was the last night he would have with Sera, or at least, very nearly the last. The socialites here would assume they were courting or perhaps nearing an understanding, but that was far from the case.
They had no understanding beyond mutual desire.
Sera was not likely to stay with him once her freedom was secured.
Certainly, Cole’s time was measured. Soon there would be nothing tying them together, no reason for her to linger in his house despite his invitation to stay as long as she needed.
His job offer would put them in work proximity, but with her personality and no need to specifically seek him out, their rapport was not likely to continue.
The idea of her leaving left him more disquieted than he previously anticipated. Several weeks ago, he would have been elated to see the end of his forced association with Seraphina—the woman who left riotous upheaval in her wake.
An attendant offered to take her coat and Kieran helped her slip her arms free of the sleeves, passing it along.
He might have removed his own coat, if it were not considered improper, for just a little relief.
Resigned to suffer the temperatures, as he always did, Kieran’s attention was drawn to movement in the mirrors lining one side of the hall for guests to check that their appearance was above reproach.
To the sight of Sera twirling in the candlelight.
She was radiant. Pale pink silk melted with her movements, the bodice stitched to Sera’s exact shape with professional precision.
Lined in beads of emerald, she had adorned her raven hair in matching decorations, subtle in their extravagance.
It was a lovely dress, but Sera’s utter joy as she admired herself in the mirror transcended mere beauty.
Her eyes found his in their reflection.
“Is it too much?” she asked, cheeks flushed and sucking her bottom lip between her teeth.
“I know it’s a bit much, but I saw it that day when…
well, I was almost captured and then it was still in the window when I went to be fitted and I crumbled.
” She began touching at the dress, fiddling with the beads and seams, like she mistook his silence for dissatisfaction. “Is it ba—”
He snatched one of her hands, firmly encasing it in his. “You will be the envy of every eye here.”
She took a deep breath, stepping closer, the voluminous skirts brushing his legs. As he moved to guide her back into the line entering the main ballroom, he leaned close to her ear to add, “And it has little to do with the dress.”
Before she could respond, they were swept into the flow of people that poured into the grander, more spacious ballroom.
“Holy shit,” Sera breathed, her eyes wide as she attempted to take in the space.
The tiered tray ceiling was supported by columns adorned with decorations inspired by the Night Court.
Kieran couldn’t name the dense, almost black leaves with their white blooms set in evenly spaced ornamental vases, but it was all a bit heavy handed.
The standard string ensemble played softly in the far corner along a wall made entirely of floor to ceiling windows that—in daylight—looked out over Levity’s expansive terrace and gardens.
The light inside was too strong to see out of at present, the glass acting like mirrors encased in gold trim.
Kieran had been here several times over the years. Levity loved to throw a politically strategic party, but he could appreciate Sera’s charming wonder.
“This room is bigger than the combined surface area of my apartment building. And it’s only purpose is to hold parties.”
He wouldn’t doubt her calculations, but she rushed on before he could respond.