Righteous indignation filled me with a cold fury. I glared back at each of the guests in turn, using every ounce of skill I had learned from my mother.
“I’m so sorry to have alarmed you. This is Jinx, he is an incubus and quite harmless,” I said sweetly.
Several people flushed at my insult. Implying they were staring because they were cowards and too ignorant to tell an incubus from a dangerous demon, had certainly riled them. It was petty, but it felt good. My death stare soon made the others look away.
The hum of conversation resumed awkwardly as everyone pretended to ignore us. I spied Rufus standing alone in the corner, clutching his drink far too tightly. I pretended not to see him. There was nothing to say to my former friend.
“You can come out now,” I whispered to Jinx.
Timidly, he stepped around to stand by my side. He had every right to be cautious. These people weren’t just cruel snobs, some of them actively hunted demons. All of them despised demons. They knew incubi were not dangerous and that put Jinx beneath their contempt. But that did not mean they wished him well.
“They are going to say mean things, but I will not let them hurt you,” I reassured him.
He looked up at me. There was uncertainty in his gorgeous amber eyes but there was far more trust than anything else. I swallowed dryly. I needed to fulfill my promise to him. He trusted me, despite everything I had done to him, and I wanted to earn that trust.
I could have ranted and railed that he had wanted this, that I had tried to keep him safe. But he was right. I shouldn’t be ashamed of him. I should be ashamed of my shitty, judgmental family. Jinx was wonderful, and I had done nothing wrong in falling for him.
Ezme ran in, looking both flustered and beautiful in her red cocktail dress. She saw me and Jinx and her eyes widened. She hurried straight over.
“Damn, I’m a few minutes late and I miss all the drama. What the hell were you thinking bringing him here?”
“It’s a long story,” I said.
Ezme smiled at Jinx, “Hey Sweetie, you look great in that suit.”
Jinx stood up straighter and puffed out his chest. I chuckled, they were both right, he looked as hot as hell. It was quite likely that at least half of my mother’s disgruntled guests were hypocritically seething with jealousy. I liked that thought, probably too much. But I couldn’t help being proud that Jinx was mine.
He looked up at me again, and I wanted to kiss him. Kiss him passionately in front of everyone and give them something to gasp about. Fuck my mother’s plan of telling everyone he was just my pet. I wanted to show them the truth.
My gaze drifted down to his plump lips, and I had to suppress a moan. If I started kissing him, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stop. I’d want to feel his smooth skin against my own. It would be hard not to strip him naked and oh boy, did Jinx look good naked. Everyone would definitely be jealous then.
The dinner bell interrupted my naughty thoughts. It was a relief, the sooner dinner started, the sooner it would be over, and the sooner I could take him upstairs and lose myself in his arms. It was the only place I wanted to be.
Chapter twenty-three
Everyonefiledintothedining room. I scanned the place settings, all handwritten in my mother’s beautiful calligraphy. She had sat me halfway down the table, with Jinx to my right and Rufus to my left. No doubt in an attempt to show me what I was missing out on by not dating a nice respectable mage.
I was momentarily touched that she had used Jinx’s name for his place setting and not something demeaning like ‘Septimus’s Demon’ but then I realized she had probably done it for the optics rather than any decency on her part. Heaven forbid that the place settings look ugly.
Ezme walked past me, heading not only to the other side of the table, but right down the far end. I tried not to feel too dismayed. I was a grown man after all. I didn’t need my sister.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t help myself staring longingly after her as she took her seat. She gave a big false smile to Derek Windthrush as he sat beside her. I winced in silent sympathy. Derek’s wife had recently left him, no doubt mother was hoping to achieve something by placing Ezme next to him.
Resignedly, I took my seat. Jinx copied me and slid into the chair next to mine. I gave his knee a little reassuring squeeze under the table. At least everyone was casting semi discreet glances at him now, rather than blatantly staring. It was a small improvement. If we could get through this dinner with everyone remaining civil, it would be a win in my eyes.
Staff that I didn’t recognize, came out of the side door with the soup. Mom must have hired caterers. It was clearly meant to be one of her special nights. Impress everyone, matchmake at least one of her children, and remind everyone that she was the unofficial self-proclaimed queen of the city’s magic community.
Just great. It would have been torture even without a demon by my side. Now it was going to be a horrendous ordeal. But it wasn’t just my misery I had to bear, it was Jinx’s, and he didn’t deserve it. He was the sweetest person I had ever met. But these assholes didn’t care, they weren’t going to bother to get to know him. They saw a demon and nothing else.
Frowning, I picked up my soup spoon and started eating. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jinx was copying me closely. He was even moving his spoon through the soup the right way, as well as managing it with a grace I would never possess. My spirits lifted, maybe there was hope. If Jinx could continue to mimic table manners, the guests may leave us alone. They’d have no fuel for the fire of their hatred.
Rufus said something to me. Some polite small talk of nothing. I ignored him. He was lucky I wasn’t punching him in the face again. If he thought I was going to forgive him enough to talk to him, he was an idiot. He had hurt Jinx and that was unforgivable.
A small dark part of myself whispered how I had hurt Jinx, far worse than Rufus had, and my attack had been a betrayal of trust. I swallowed awkwardly over the sudden lump in my throat.
The soup bowls were efficiently collected and the next course brought out. I stared down at my plate. Whatever the hell it was, it was so fancy it was impossible to tell. The only thing I could identify was the green jus that had been artfully swirled around it.
It was amusing to look around the table and see everyone pretending to know exactly what they had been served. Sighing heavily, I picked up my knife and fork. Jinx copied me again, but as he tried to position the cutlery to cut into his food, he dropped them. They tumbled right onto the floor, disappearing right underneath the table.
