Page 60 of Cloak of the Vampire
I gave her a strained smile. “Pastel colors are not exactly my favorite ...”
“No worries,” Zoey said, rummaging through her backpack. “I have another dress here that you might like. Blue’s good?”
I was about to say yes when I remembered the neon-blue eyes of the man, the Lord, who rejected me. “Do you have something black?” I asked hastily, pushing that thought away.
Zoey hummed and then pulled out a black dress. It was the most basic dress, a medium length with short sleeves and a modest neckline. “It’s not really special,” Zoey murmured, seemingly put out.
“I’ll take it,” I said, then grabbed the dress and put it on. It was a tad tighter than I would’ve liked—Zoey was thinner—but it fit.
Aisha fixed my makeup according to my request—nothing too hard or too soft, just as standard and natural as possible. Then Tansy motioned for me to take the seat before her so she could do my hair.
After yesterday, I expected Tansy to behave differently. Yet she seemed back to her usual self and treated me no differently than before. Maybe she didn’t necessarily know anything about my past after all.
Tansy’s touch was gentle, soothing, as she brushed my hair. “It’s pretty, you know,” she told me softly.
“Thanks,” I said, lips quirking.
She didn’t say anything until she finished brushing and began braiding my hair. When she spoke, though, she said one single word. “Gold.”
I frowned. “Gold?”
She let out a breath. “Your hair. It should be gold.”
I froze in fear. That was the second time in less than twenty-four hours Tansy had said something that could be directly related to my past.
After everything that went on with Ragnor last night, I hadn’t even dwelled much on what had triggered the whole panic attack.
Tansy had said something that, on the surface, seemed like a typically nonsensical Tansy thing to say. But talking about the Morrow Gods and my hair being gold ... it was too close to home. As if she knew what I knew.
And that didn’t make sense because she couldn’t possibly know about that. No one knew but my father and me.
But my father was also very much a liar. Perhaps Tansy knew of them because of her family too?
That thought was disturbing. I hoped Tansy’s family wasn’t like mine.
Could such coincidences exist, anyway?
Whatever it was, it put me on edge.
I didn’t respond to her comment, and she didn’t speak again.
The girls weren’t the only ones who made an effort; the boys did too. Bryce and Jakob were actually wearing suits with bow ties, and the rest, while not wearing ties, cleaned up well.
Abe and Logan were dressed similarly in buttoned shirts tucked into black trousers. Logan especially looked good, with his hair brushed to one side, his bristles recently shaved, and the sleeves of his dark-blue shirt rolled up to his elbows.
All of us were waiting for Ragnor and Renaldi in the casino-bar lobby. It was located in a different wing of the underground Renaldi compound and was usually open to human and vampire customers alike, but tonight Renaldi had closed it for the event.
Ragnor appeared from the hallway, along with Renaldi and two others. The difference between the two Lords was staggering; Renaldi was dressed in a dark-red two-piece suit with enough buttons open onhis shirt to show half of his chest, and his shoes were a white Mussolini-pointed type. He looked so extra that it was almost funny.
Then there was Ragnor. Dressed casually in his regular faded jeans, combat boots, and simple black tee, he was ten times sexier than Renaldi could ever hope to be. His hair fell in soft, dark-brown waves around his face, the tips brushing his broad, strong shoulders.
Ragnor’s midnight blues met my gaze, but I averted them at once, looking stubbornly ahead, at Renaldi. I could feel Ragnor watching me still, though, his gaze making me feel tingly down south.
He rejected me,I reminded myself angrily.He has no right, affecting me like this.
My hands curled into fists.
“Welcome to my pride and delight,Casino La Vrais du Nord!” Renaldi announced, spreading his arms in a manner as pretentious as the name of his casino. “Since we have time till the feast itself, we’ll fill our wallets with money and our bellies with booze!”
