Judged

by Liz de Jager

  Anticipating the pomp and ceremony of the day takes my breath away and I wonder how exactly I’ll be able to get away with not attending any of it. But then I remember Strachan’s words, when he delivered my invitation to the ball. Though it’s impossible to believe that was only about a week ago. Apparently no one turns down an invitation to the Midwinter Ball.

  I sigh into my fizzy apple juice and get a look of sympathy from Aiden. He drops an arm around my shoulders and hugs me lightly.

  ‘Just keep smiling,’ he murmurs. ‘We’re outta here tomorrow.’

  ‘Then a week of shouting and anger, then a party. Yay,’ I say, and he grins.

  ‘You’ve got it easy. My grandmother wants to meet me,’ Dante says as he leans across the table towards us. ‘Dina’s set it up. I had to tell Dina about Yukiko’s visit when she started questioning me about the sluagh attack.’

  ‘Dude, that’s brilliant news. You get to meet your fami—No? You don’t want to meet them?’ Aiden trails off. ‘I’m confused.’

  ‘I’m just nervous.’

  ‘It’s important, Dante.’ I shuffle closer and keep my voice low so that our table companions can’t hear us. ‘If your grandmother accepts you as her grandchild you’ll be safe. You will be claimed as kami. It means protection and safety in the Fae world. It also means that if any of Aelfric’s cronies decide to come after you, for whatever it is that Eadric’s done in the past, they’ll be facing an entire race of pissed-off nature spirits.’

  ‘I get all of that, Kit. But what if they don’t want me? They didn’t even bother trying to find me all those years ago. Why would they care now?’

  ‘Just. Dante.’ I grab hold of his wrist and force his eyes to meet mine. ‘Stop this, okay? Give them a chance to talk to you. Take Uncle Andrew with you if you want to. He’ll be on your side and act as an arbitrator if you’re uncomfortable about any of this. Let him help. Let us help. You’re not alone.’

  Dante drops his eyes to his plate of half-eaten roasted game before nodding.

  ‘Fine, just stop shouting at me with your eyes.’

  I open my mouth to retaliate, but he grins and I start laughing because this is a conversation we’ve had in the past.

  ‘No one can shout with their eyes,’ Aiden points out. ‘That’s just weird.’

  And it just makes us both laugh harder while he ducks his head in annoyance at our shared amusement.

  ‘I can’t do this.’

  I meet Megan’s frustrated gaze in the mirror as she wrangles my hair into some kind of weird up-do that makes me look both older and more elegant and ridiculously harmless. I mean, who wants to look harmless?

  ‘Kit Blackhart, I will stab you to death with all these pins I’ve sorted through if you don’t shut the hell up.’

  I eye the pins she’s holding. They’re diamond-encrusted combs and are possibly worth the combined GDP of several European countries. They also look lethally sharp.

  ‘Fine, I’m shutting up.’

  ‘That counts for fidgeting too.’

  I growl at her and she actually laughs. ‘You must stop spending so much time with Aiden, you’re getting worse than him.’

  ‘I’ve always been this bad. I’ve just disguised it better in the past.’

  She pats my shoulder and turns my chair around so she can inspect her handiwork.

  ‘Why can’t you just grow your hair out like a normal girl, Kit?’

  ‘Not everyone is cut out to have Rapunzel hair, Megan.’ I barely refrain from pulling at her own elegant up-do that looks effortlessly incredible. I have no idea how she manages it. My cousin is stunning and no matter what she wears, she looks like a dream. Me, on the other hand? Not so much.

  ‘Okay, I’m going to my room to change into my dress. Are you sure you’re going to be okay getting into yours?’

  ‘No, but I’m a fully grown young woman and I’m sure I can manage this by myself.’

  Megan looks at me with amusement. ‘Okay, grumpy. I’ll be back in five minutes. Try not to hurt yourself.’

  I put my tongue out at her back as she leaves for her own room.

  The week after Aelfric died and Thorn saved Dante has been a busy one for everyone. The news of Aelfric’s death spread like wildfire. We kept a careful ear out and heard nothing but the official version of the story: that the beloved High King of Alba, Aelfric the Wise, had given his life to prevent the return of the Elder Gods. He’d fought the gods in single combat as his sorcerers kept them trapped, preventing them from rampaging across the realms once more.

  The human children had all been returned to their parents after a brief stay in hospital. We called Detective Shen in to deal with that. Jamie’d turned up to help with this and he worked hard at coming up with plausible explanations for the children’s reappearance.

  The newspapers had a field day and ran the carefully constructed story of the children being discovered in an abandoned home, where they’d been kept prisoner. Apparently the man who’d taken them suffered from various personality disorders – chief among these being the fact that he thought he was the Pied Piper from the Andrew Lang fairy tales. As such, he thought he was keeping the children safe from the terrors of the real world.

  The kids soon left the hospital and, although they were a little undernourished, ultimately they were physically unharmed.

  The morning after the news story broke, I received a text on my phone from a blocked number. All it said was: You kept your word. Thanks, Chem.

  I showed Dante the text from our young contact on the kid’s estate and we hugged it out, biting back tears. We did it. We fixed things a little.

  Later that same day Antone Pensa came to the Garretts’ house. He didn’t stay long at all. He just thanked us for arranging his wife and son’s escape from Zane. It turns out that Zane had been in the amphitheatre when everything went down, along with Merrick. Dina’s Stormborn had gathered them all up in a sweep, and they were awaiting judgement and sentencing along with everyone else who’d taken part in the ritual. With Aelfric, Merrick and Zane tidied away, new incidents involving Glow in the Frontier went right down.

  And we’d effectively cracked the case, once we’d passed Antone’s business contacts onto the SOCA guys. They were now having fun investigating all those involved.

  As Antone was about to leave he slipped me a slender black box and told me he’d be honoured if I wore the contents to the ball. When I went to open it, he shook his head and told me to open it only on the night of the ball.

  I walk over to the carefully wrapped dress hanging against the wardrobe door, pull the cover off and stand back to look at what I’m expected to wear.

  ‘You have got to be kidding me.’

  It wasn’t a dress; it was far more than that. It was a thing with a tight bodice, cut low at the front and even lower at the back and the skirt was huge and pouffy and basically it was a meringue in black and silver. I move closer. No, not silver. Diamonds. Actual diamonds. Hundreds of them. I pass my hand over the fabric to check for glamour but no – no glamour. It was the real deal.

  ‘How?’ I pick the creation off the door and hold it up. ‘How do you even get into this?’

  I stare at the bodice and the back and eventually find what look like hundreds of tiny buttons along the side. I put it back against the door and groan.

  There was no way this was happening. Not ever. I turn away feeling panic rising in my chest but then my door opens again and Megan’s back.

  ‘You haven’t changed.’

  She glides towards me, taller than me for once, in high heels and a dress that looks as sheer as mine does not. I gape at her. It basically looks as if she’s not wearing anything, except for swirls of lace encrusted with diamonds and pearls. I touch her shoulder just to make sure there’s a bit of fabric there – it’s almost invisible.

  ‘You look … wow,’ I manage and she preens a little.

  ‘I know. I know. I can’t believe they sent me this to wear.’ She steps back an
d spreads the skirt a little so I can see the full effect of the dress. Whoever created it had spring in mind, not winter. ‘Your turn though, Kit. Come on.’

  I slump my shoulders and shake my head. ‘I’m never going to fit in that. Have you seen how tiny it is? How do I get into it?’ I point at my chest. ‘It looks like a torture device.’

  ‘That dress was made for you by Dina’s seamstress. Come now, you’re going to be the most gorgeous thing at this ball. And I’ve seen Dante in his suit. That boy is stunning.’

  She takes the dress off the hanger and inspects it. ‘Okay, this is actually easier than you think. Strip.’ She snaps her fingers at me in annoyance. ‘Come on, you’re already late.’

  Chapter Fifty

  It really is easy to hide knives in a ball-gown. Especially if that ball-gown was designed specifically for you and the designer knew you had a fondness for bladed weapons. The skirts are less of a problem than I’d anticipated because of the underskirt. There are layers that keep most of it from twisting between my legs when I walk but the train is a definite issue. How would I run with it?

  I grumble under my breath and fluff the skirt a little. My hands disappear into the lush fabric and I try to smooth it out before I wrinkle it, but the movement makes me smile because it just feels so nice.

  I look at myself in the mirror and honestly don’t recognize the girl I see there. I look like me, but different. Older, perhaps, and far more graceful than I’ve ever looked in all my life. Megan’s done magic where my hair and make-up are concerned. My eyes are massive with subtle shading. She’s given me real cheekbones and a strong mouth.

  ‘Okay, someone told me you need to wear this.’

  Megan pops back from the dresser with Antone’s slender box in her hand. I open it and stare in awe at the large teardrop diamond suspended from a gossamer-thin necklace. The glimmering stone is the length of my thumb and shines so fiercely it hurts my eyes a little.

  ‘Kit …’ Megan takes it out of the box and dangles it in front of me. ‘This is stunning. Who gave you this?’

  ‘Antone Pensa,’ I say, turning around so she can put it on. ‘He helped us with the Glow case. He’s a jeweller.’

  ‘You are a lucky girl,’ she says quietly, fastening it around my neck. ‘Turn around.’

  The front of the dress is not as low as I’d feared and the diamond drop comes to rest in the hollow of my throat, somehow gently illuminating my skin.

  ‘This is insane,’ I say, as I look at myself in the mirror, catching Megan’s own wide-eyed stare. ‘This isn’t me.’

  ‘No. This is you tonight. Accept it. Mostly we run around and fight monsters who’re trying to kill us, but occasionally nice things come our way.’ She hands me my wrap and it’s even softer than the dress I’m wearing. ‘You have your knife to hand so you’ve nothing to worry about. Come on, let’s go crown a king.’

  I press a shaking hand to my stomach and Megan takes hold of it.

  ‘This is meant to be fun. Just breathe with me, like we’ve practised with Dr Forster and his witch. Come on.’ Megan puts my hand on her diaphragm and breathes. ‘Come on, Kit. This is meant to be fun. You have an actual god waiting to dance with you.’ Then she grins at my bleak look. ‘Fine, Thorn’s waiting down there for you. You’re going to dance and have a good time.’

  We breathe together. I centre myself and after a few minutes the rising panic’s evened out and Megan gives me a gentle hug.

  ‘You look amazing. I look amazing. We’re going to go have a great time. Let’s go.’

  We leave my rooms and four Stormborn in dress armour form up around us. Megan and I share a look and start grinning at one another. I lose track of the route to the ballroom but we start passing more and more Sidhe and various lesser Fae in elegant evening and party wear. They come in all shapes, all kinds and all sizes. The Stormborn keep close and we’re escorted to the main doors of the ballroom, where we’re made to wait for our turn to be introduced to the room by the major-domo.

  I stand at the top of the stairs beside Megan and stare down at the gathered throng spread out below. I’ve never experienced anything like this before and all eyes turn to us as our names are announced. A page leads us down the stairs and I’m tempted to just turn around, pick up my skirts and leg it back to my rooms. But as I’m about to just do that, Dante’s right there, taking my hand in his and bowing over it in a very formal way.

  ‘No running away, Kit,’ he says, voice low and teasing. ‘Not unless you take us with you.’

  Aiden bends over Megan’s hand and smiles at me. ‘You both look incredible. It’s going to be hell tonight, Dante, keeping the girls safe.’

  Megan laughs at that and points a beringed finger at Dante. ‘Aide, he’s the one you should be keeping an eye on. I’ve seen a few mamas eyeing him up for their daughters and granddaughters and I’ve not even been here five minutes.’

  Aiden straightens and scowls at the offending mothers, who are not paying us any attention at all.

  ‘I’ll have to graciously rip them apart if they even think about that,’ he says through a tight smile, and Dante chokes on air, making me laugh.

  ‘You both look very handsome too. How about we go and find a corner and hide until the coronation starts?’

  I let Dante guide me through the assembled masses. If I thought the dress I’m wearing is over the top it doesn’t hold a candle to some of the gowns present. We blend in perfectly, for which I am suddenly very grateful.

  Aiden snags glasses of something fizzy for us all from a passing page and hands them to us. We make conversation and attract some attention, but it’s due to our novelty rather than our outfits, being two Blackharts, a kami and a werewolf attending the biggest event in the Fae world’s social calendar.

  ‘Kit, heads-up. You’ve a godling prince heading your way. And he looks yummy.’ Megan lets a hand drift to her neck and she glances at me. ‘I am just a little jealous. But only a little.’

  I look over my shoulder and turn to find Thorn striding towards us. He’s dressed to complement my dress, I realize, and for some reason this makes me shake a little. He wears a black heavily embroidered double-breasted waistcoat beneath a plain black coat cut in a military style. Unlike the boys and many of the men present, his shirt collar’s open and he’s not wearing a necktie of any sort. The embroidery on the waistcoat echoes the style of embroidery on my dress.

  ‘You look incredible,’ he says, and if he acknowledges the others I’m not even aware of it, just as I’m not even aware of him moving us away from Megan and the boys. But suddenly we’re alone near the windows, which open out onto a large balcony. ‘I’m glad you decided to come.’

  ‘Hey,’ I breathe and I wonder how to be polite about wanting to just rub my face against his, because he smells fantastic. ‘I, yeah, it was a close thing. I got to the bottom of those stairs and almost ran back up them. But Dante got to me first.’

  ‘I’ll have to thank him for that.’ He smiles softly. ‘My, what large eyes you have, Lady Blackhart.’

  I laugh a little, feeling myself colour. ‘Fairy tales now? Seriously?’

  ‘It seems to fit, don’t you think?’ With his back to the ballroom he’s shielding me from curious eyes. Over his shoulder I spot Megan giving me a grin and a thumbs-up.

  ‘I suppose.’ I tilt my head up a little so we’re eye to eye. ‘I missed you. This has been the longest week of my life.’

  ‘I know. I’ve hardly had any time to myself. My new duties … the new role,’ he trails off and shakes his head. ‘No, tonight is not about that. Tonight is my chance to spend time with you. I get to dance with you and there will be no blood or gore and we will converse like civilized beings. You’ll stand with me as we crown Petur as the new high king and then we’ll have dinner and dance some more.’

  ‘Really? No one else to dance with?’ I tease and desperately try to still the wild fluttering of my heart when his gaze lingers on my mouth for that fraction too long.

&
nbsp; ‘None that I care for.’

  I swallow with difficulty when he lifts my hand to his mouth, kissing my knuckles. ‘None? Not even Aiden?’

  ‘I saw him having a dancing lesson earlier today. I would not wish that on anyone.’

  I lean into him and laugh because he’s not wrong. ‘Poor Megan. Poor Dante. They will have to dance with him.’

  ‘They’ll be fine,’ he says, and he sounds so dismissive of their potential pain that I laugh harder, but I become sober when he links his hand with mine, ducking his head lower.

  ‘Kit?’

  ‘Thorn?’

  ‘I don’t want to wait until things are bad again.’

  ‘Neither do I.’

  I look over my shoulder at the empty balcony and the flickering lights out there. It’s been snowing non-stop and no one seems to have been out there for hours. I raise myself on tiptoes and glance over his shoulder at the milling Fae in the ballroom behind him before I pull him behind me, out of the doors and onto the balcony.

  He reaches for my wrap before it can fall in the snow and drapes it around me, using it to pull me closer to him so I’m pressed up against his chest.

  ‘You were saying?’ he says, dropping a kiss on my temple.

  ‘Bad things.’ I swallow and stare at the hollow of his throat. ‘We mustn’t wait for bad things to happen again, to say what we mean to each other.’

  ‘I agree.’ He peers down at me. ‘Kit, I have fallen very much in love with you. I think it happened in the forest, that first day, when you fought off the redcaps, then curtsied and told me that you were my rescuer. I have never in my life seen anything as bright – or as brave or beautiful – in my life.’

  ‘You were barely conscious and possibly delirious,’ I point out because I can’t help it and he shakes with laughter against me.

  ‘Even so. You made an impression. I wanted to get to know you, and everything I tried to keep you safe, you just ignored. And then you argued with me all the time, you never listened and then you just did whatever you wanted.’