Page 43 of A Blade of Blood and Shadow
I breathed in deeply, letting that cool leather scent of Kaden fill my lungs. With the warmth of his body to guard against the chill, I was perfectly content, and I had to resist the urge to rest my head against his broad shoulder.
Part of me wondered if he’d used some fae magic to calm me down, but in that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care. The lights of the city were growing brighter — the outline of buildings more defined. We swooped over them with a speed that stole the air from my lungs, and I had to turn my head into Kaden’s chest just to catch my breath.
Once I was confident I wasn’t going to pass out, I dared a glance over my shoulder. Kaden angled his wings to bank around a copse of trees, and we drifted down, down, down.
Fisting the fine velvet of his jacket, I braced for the impact, but I hardly even noticed as his feet touched down on the ground. Kaden took a few smooth, gliding steps to absorb the landing, bringing us to a halt in a quiet garden.
My heart was hammering as he set me on my feet, keeping one hand on my back to steady me. I was standing on cool, lush grass surrounded by weeping willows. Flowering shrubs of every shape and size sagged with fresh blooms. There wasn’t a withered blossom in sight, and yet I couldn’t find the garden beautiful.
A varnish of unnatural perfection seemed to ensconce the place — perfection and stillness. Not a single cricket chirped. No birds rustled in the trees. Even the wind seemed to be holding its breath, avoiding the temptation to brandish the long fingerlike leaves of the willows standing sentry along the wrought-iron fence.
In the distance, a silver mist gathered around a line of flowering crepe myrtles. The curled edges of their fuchsia blooms seemed to beckon us down the crushed gravel path toward the most fae-looking house I’d ever seen.
The two-story manor was painted shell pink with intricate gilded molding snaking around the overhangs. Long white pillars spanned the front of the house, and little art deco accents gave the place an eclectic, slightly unhinged look.
Kaden led me across the lawn, and I followed, my eyes darting this way and that. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched, and that put me on edge. I reached for my daggers, but my fingers brushed only chiffon. I swore. I should have come dressed for battle rather than sheathed in this flimsy gown.
As we drew closer, my skin started to tingle with a strange pulling sensation — like the air was being stretched too tightly over my face. It pulled and pulled until I felt something give, and it was as though I’d broken some invisible membrane that separated this world from the next.
Suddenly, I could see them — the fae cavorting on the second-floor balcony. Sounds of drunken revelry drifted over the garden, and I immediately understood why Kaden had felt the need to dress me.
The faeries drifting along the ornate golden railing looked . . . not of this realm. Like the circus faeries, the partygoers seemed to flaunt their fae-ness. Scales, horns, and feathers were on full display, as was an ethereal beauty that made my hair stand on end.
The other guests were bedecked in an astounding array of fabrics and colors — jewel-toned dinner jackets, sheer misty scraps of cloth that clung to pale, lithe bodies, andhuge, billowing gowns in neon silk that seemed to glow in the faelights floating above the crowd.
The faeries laughed and shrieked as champagne sloshed out of elegant flutes that looked as though they’d been spun from the finest glass.
I turned slowly to Kaden and found him watching me. There was something off about the look in his eyes — a mixture of curiosity, sadness, and cold, hard steel.
The expression vanished as soon as I met his gaze, and he extended an arm in invitation. “Shall we?”
Chapter
Fourteen
My throat was dry as I took Kaden’s arm and let him lead me toward the house.
His expression was relaxed, almost bored, as we strolled up to the tall wooden doors, though I could tell from the stiffness of his body that he was anything but.
Kaden’s own wariness made my heart beat faster. Caladwyn had to be a powerful fae if he could make the likes of Kaden nervous.
The doors swung open of their own accord, and a cacophony of music and aromas assaulted my keen hunter senses. The cloying sweetness of freesias overpowered everything else — the fruity wine, the tang of sweat, the spiced scent of roasted meat.
The room was a blur of whirling silk gowns, frothy lace, and lurid bouquets of unfamiliar flowers. Tables sagged with food and wine. The floor had been polished to a gleaming shine, creating a mirror-like surface that reflected the dancers and the rainbows of light from the crystal chandelier. The walls were gilded with intricate designs thatseemed to rearrange themselves into new patterns each time I looked away.
Everything hummed with the off-kilter music that kept a frenetic pace for the dancers twirling around the long tables. Up close, the faeries were even more beautiful and frightening. Ebony scales glittered beneath an emerald tuxedo. Sets of five, six, even seven eyes followed us through the crowd. One female in a burgundy dress leered at us with needle-like teeth.
Above it all, leaning against the second-story railing, was a male whohadto be Caladwyn. He was dressed in a velvet jacket of robin’s egg blue and gray knee-length breeches. His eyes were the same vibrant shade as his coat, and his spun-gold hair seemed at odds with his pale porcelain skin. The male stood with a stillness I’d only seen in vampires, and his eyes gleamed with an ancient shrewdness as he surveyed the crowd.
“Is that . . .” I trailed off, curling my arm more tightly around Kaden’s as he wove a path through the dancers.
“None other.” He didn’t ask whom I was talking about.
Caladwyn’s piercing gaze seemed to follow us around the hall, and his wasn’t the only one.
At every turn, fae eyes swiveled in our direction, and a low hiss grated on my ears beneath the trill of music. At first I thought they were staring atme— the lone huntress in a room full of faeries — but then we passed a group of females who all looked to Kaden.
They all stopped tittering at once and cleared a path, shrinking away from the dark fae as though he carried some contagious disease.
