Chapter Thirty-Three
“Remington! Why did you keep your engagement a secret before now?” one of the press members shouted.
“I value my privacy,” Remy said, pausing on the indigo carpet. “But I’m too happy to keep Raine to myself any longer.”
More flashes went off, along with shouts of “Raine who?” and “How’d you two meet?”
I fixed a smile onto my face. “I’m Raine Stone. We met when I helped care for his grandfather. I’m a nurse.”
“The nurse and the mogul!” someone called out.
“That’s it for now. You’ll have a full press release about our engagement tomorrow,” Remy said, angling me inside.
White silk tents had been set up in the Cipriani’s ballroom, sectioning the huge space.
In the dinner section, countless tables held mouthwatering displays of food.
There were also so many tall, gorgeous flower arrangements I fought the urge to take pictures of.
In the main section of the ballroom, the soaring ceiling was lit by a mystic light show haloing acrobats and aerial silk performers.
They flitted from perches suspended several stories above the dance floor, and each time they did one of their graceful, gravity-defying leaps, a scattering of tiny stars trailed behind them before fading away.
“Ooh, three-D computerized effects,” I heard someone say.
Or it was magic out in the open, and the human people here only assumed there was a technological explanation.
I wished Angela could see this, but I’d told her not to come.
I couldn’t say it was because there might be a dragon fight, so I’d just said, “This event is so I can meet all of Remy’s rich cronies.
I’d skip it myself if I could, but I’m stuck.
We’ll hold a private engagement party with just close family soon. ”
“Remington!” someone said. “I must meet your new fiancée.”
Thus started a throng of introductions. It didn’t take long to realize I’d told Angela the truth.
Most of the people here were financial big shots.
I received a lot of leers from the men and many envious glances from the women, especially at my new dress.
Remy had made it less than an hour ago, when he arrived at his New York hotel wearing a black tuxedo with a split white mask made famous by the villain in The Phantom of the Opera.
“What do you want your gown’s theme to be?” he’d asked me.
“Embers.” I had risen out of them as a teen because of the Beast, and I’d done it again today after dragons tried to either light me up or burn me down.
Remy had turned fireplace ashes, a handful of necklaces, and a gauzy drape into a sleeveless, plunging gown.
The bodice was made entirely from wide platinum bands that glimmered like sunlit smoke before darkening into ashen-colored ruffles on the voluminous skirt.
Charcoal tips gave those ruffled swirls an ombré effect, resembling darker tendrils of smoke, and hints of amber peeked out from beneath the layers like the glowing flicker of fading flames.
Yeah, I’d stare at this dress, too, if I wasn’t the one wearing it.
When there was finally a pause in introductions, I pulled on the Beast’s power to see our guests through its eyes. At once, the ballroom became filled with a fog machine of gray. Many of the auras were streaked with vermilion, with only an occasional blue hue or bright flash illuminating the gloom.
“They’re … mostly terrible people,” I whispered to Remy. “Their auras look like a volcanic ash cloud.”
Remy snorted. “They’re the one percent of the one percent. Of course they’re mostly terrible. I didn’t need you to tell me about their auras. Our real guests are now arriving.”
“Remington,” a woman’s voice said.
We turned back toward the entrance. A tall, statuesque Black woman walked toward us.
Her dark hair was upswept, and her feathery white gown was sleeveless and low-cut, showing off her deep-brown skin.
Her train had an elegant bustle that looked like two folded-up white wings, and hints of black and orange decorated the front of her bodice.
“Swan?” I guessed when she reached us.
Her red lips parted in a stunning smile. “Yes.”
Remy smiled back. “Jessica, so pleased you could make it. Allow me to introduce Raine Stone, my fiancée and céile.”
That right there told me Jessica wasn’t another rich human. This was the first time Remy had used the word céile tonight.
“Raine, this is Jessica Torres, Warden of the Southeast Territories,” Remy went on, confirming that.
“A pleasure,” I said as I shook Jessica’s hand.
Her smile held a hint of mischief. “A shock,” she replied, winking at Remy. “I thought this one would never settle down. My own céile wanted to be here, but the twins have a soccer match tonight, so he had to stay behind.”
A soccer match? That sounded so … normal.
“Give my love to Sheldon and the girls,” Remy said, kissing her cheek. “I can’t believe they’re already fifteen.”
“Neither can I.” Jessica’s smile didn’t slip, but something sad flickered in her dark umber eyes.
Suddenly I remembered what Remy had said when he told me about his own shockingly normal childhood.
Potential Warden traits are very rare, and can skip several generations.
Why tell every Warden’s descendant about magic, hidden lands, and supernatural creatures when in all likelihood, those descendants will live a normal human life?
Jessica’s teen daughters probably had no idea that their mother was a Warden of the Southeast Territories. Chances were, her kids had no idea what a Warden was at all.
“If it isn’t the protectors of the entire East Coast,” a new, mocking voice said.
A man strode toward us, wearing a silvery webbed mask covering his eyes, nose, and cheekbones.
More silver webbing decorated his long black tailcoat, and he had a spider pendant in the cravat at his throat.
He was white, with a square jaw and dark brown hair long enough to touch his shoulders.
Hazel eyes raked me before settling on Jessica and Remy.
“Owen.” Remy’s tone was casual. “How good of you to come.”
A dark brown brow arched above the top of his mask. “You damn near summoned the lot of us, so don’t hide behind politeness now.” He paused to give me another raking glance. “At least the view is worth the flight.”
“‘The view’ has a name,” I said before Remy could speak. I’d been not-so-subtly objectified for the past two hours. I wasn’t about to let someone be a dick about it to my face. “It’s Raine. I’d say charmed to meet you, but that’s likely doubtful.”
Owen laughed, taking the hand I extended. Instead of shaking it, he raised it to his lips. I tensed, about to yank it back if I felt a wet kiss, but he only air-kissed the space above my skin.
“I can honestly say I’m charmed to meet you,” he replied. “I love salty women. Just ask all my exes.”
“Raine, this is Owen Geralt, Warden of the Great Lakes Territories,” Remy said.
That made him Remy’s neighbor, considering Remy had said he was Warden of the entire Northeast. Did that mean they split some of New York and Pennsylvania? If so, which parts?
East and west, I immediately answered my own question. Otherwise, Owen’s acerbic greeting about Remy and Jessica protecting the entire East Coast made no sense.
“Jessica, you’re exquisite as always,” Owen said, finally releasing my hand. He didn’t take hers, though, and Remy didn’t extend his. Were they uneasy allies? Or frenemies?
“And you’re already on my nerves, like always,” Jessica said with another dazzling smile.
Owen laughed. “Told you I loved the salty ones,” he said to me. “Soon she’ll tire of Sheldon and come back to me.”
“Never,” Jessica said without losing a watt of her smile.
Owen clutched his chest. “That hurt me right here.”
“Then you’re fine. You have no heart,” Remy said dryly.
I gave Owen a sharper look. Was Remy being sarcastic? Or did Owen belong to a species that didn’t have hearts?
“There was a supernatural attack in the Maryland part of the Allegheny Mountain range earlier today,” Remy went on.
Owen’s smirk vanished. In a second, I felt like I was looking at a different person. “The campers? Or the wildfire?”
“The campers,” Remy replied, surprising me. When he said “attack,” I thought for sure he meant the dragons lightning-bombing us. “That was no bear that killed them.”
“Then what was it, and why am I hearing this from you?” Owen asked in a dangerously smooth voice.
Remy smiled. “The latter is a question for your own people. As to the former, a beithíoch killed them.”
The Beast punched me in the sternum. At least, that’s what it felt like. I clutched my stomach while giving Remy a fraught look. Why would he call it by its true name? He of all people knew what would happen when a Warden did that!
“Are you all right?” Jessica asked, touching my shoulder.
Owen didn’t even glance at me. “I heard there were several body parts on scene. Beithíochs generally don’t leave those.”
Punch, punch, punch!
“This isn’t the beithíoch’s first attack, either,” Remy went on as if he had no idea how this would affect me. Inner stomps felt like the Beast was kicking in my rib cage, but I was holding it down and it was staying down.
I started to breathe a little more normally.
“It killed several people two weeks ago,” Remy continued. “Left them dismembered just like the campers, and once again, there were ashes at the scene from where it changed hosts.”
Owen’s mouth tightened. “I heard rumors that an off-worlder had succeeded in summoning a new beithíoch, but I didn’t believe them. Every few decades someone tries, but it rarely works. Why, I even heard that your grandmother tried to summon one once.”
Punch, kick, stomp!
“Those who attempt such summonings usually die, because the magic is so primal it backfires,” Jessica said. “Still, people keep risking it to either become a beithíoch or control one.”
Remy didn’t look surprised. He’d told me there was another Beast on his lands, but he hadn’t said it was a “new” one that had been recently summoned.
Or that his own grandmother had tried to do that.
Was that how she’d died? I realized I’d never gotten around to asking about the details.
So, Juli had managed to summon a new Beast, and then it killed her.
“Yet someone clearly succeeded,” Remy noted. “What else did you hear about this new summoning, Owen?”
Owen gave him a sardonic smile. “I expect I owe you this. The Allegheny Mountains are close to my lands, so this attack threatens me, too. Very well, I heard that someone—I don’t know who—twisted what was left of the ancient spells to summon a new beithíoch, except of course the newer ones can’t consume life forces.
So, they sustain themselves by feeding on pain and fear. ”
“People would definitely feel those while being ripped asunder,” Remy noted in a dispassionate tone. “I wonder if this new beithíoch is also not strong enough to stay in the same host for very long. It’s already switched hosts twice this month.”
“Both would be inconvenient for the beithíoch, but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous,” Jessica said with a sigh. “Or its blood any less potent when it comes to spells. If more people realize there’s been another successful summoning…”
“We’ll be overrun with others copying this method to summon their own beithíochs,” Remy finished.
Now I barely winced at the continued pummeling inside me. If I concentrated hard enough, I could dull most of the pain.
Owen grunted. “The last thing we need is more Warden-killing creatures. Many would already like to see Wardens retired permanently. Why, my own successor told me that other Potentials don’t understand why Wardens safeguard the treaties at all when humans slaughter each other more than the old ruling creatures ever used to. ”
Jessica snorted. “Because supernatural dictators are worse than human ones.”
“Exactly,” Owen agreed. “Alexander and Genghis drove our world to its knees when they came here from the other realms. It took multiple Wardens to end their reign, but do the Potentials think about that? No, because history bores them. It bored me, too, but at least I learned from it.”
Jessica sighed again. “As did I.”
I was fascinated. Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan weren’t human? What had they been? Hybrids of some kind?
Owen smiled, suddenly back to the roguish man instead of the dangerous one. “And after this discussion, I need a drink. Care to accompany me, my beauteous Jessica? You can remind me of all my faults while I’ll remind you of all my skills, since we’re both such students of history.”
Jessica shook her head. “You have no shame, Owen.”
He grinned. “Listing my skills already? You’re too kind.”
Remy only chuckled. “I’ll leave you both to it, then.”