“Be careful with her, Arden. She’s not what she seems,” Seven says.
Arden bristles. “Mrs. Faust has been nothing but nice to me, and I like her. I want to be with Edmund, and that means getting along with his family. Whatever went on between you, it’s in the past, right?”
There’s an edge to Arden’s voice, and I watch Seven’s jaw harden against it.
The sound of cheering grabs our attention, and we all look out the tinted windows. Thanks to special approval by Godmother, Jericho is able to drive us right up to the edge of the rainbow carpet.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Seven says.
Arden shoots him a look that makes it clear the conversation is over as far as she’s concerned.
“Arden,” I say quickly. “There’s more to this than you think. The Fausts have a history.”
“We’re here,” Seven says. “Masks.”
I tie on my Titania mask and help Arden to do hers. The door opens. Mask in place, Seven steps from the vehicle to a roar of cheers and a storm of flashing lights.
Voices scream, “Seeeeveeen! Seeeveeen! Oh my gods, he’s Loki!” Crowds of women wave at him from behind the velvet rope. He holds out a hand to me.
“Here we go,” I whisper to Arden. I place my fingers in Seven’s and use a little luck to gracefully slide from the limo, unraveling my wings as I do so that they are on full display.
The cheering stops but the camera’s don’t. I smile up at Seven, and we take a step forward. The murmurs in the crowd grow louder as Seven holds out his other hand to Arden. She emerges from the vehicle, careful to straighten her bow and quiver as she takes Seven’s hand and steps between us. Jericho closes the door behind us, and then the three of us walk the rainbow carpet, arm in arm, toward the building.
The walk feels long with every eye boring into us. I concentrate on the entrance. Black balloons have been strung together to make the hotel entrance look like the side of a cauldron. There’s nothing subtle about it. We are pieces of gold, sliding down a rainbow into a pot of gold.
“Seven!” a woman calls from up ahead. She’s standing beside a camera with aDaily Hatterbadge on the side. “Who is that with you?”
Seven pauses and turns to her, a smile spreading across his face that perfectly fits his Loki costume. “This is my date, Sophia Larkspur, and our daughter, Arden.”
We start to walk again as the murmurs rise to a fever pitch, and the woman from theHatterelbows her way through the crowd to keep pace.
“Sorry, but did you say Arden is your daughter?”
Seven stops again, and we all smile for a picture. “Yes,” Seven says clearly. “Arden is my and Sophia’s daughter. We are a modern family. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
We walk again as the crowd goes absolutely wild. We’re surrounded by a sea of recording cell phones and snapping lenses, people crying out questions.
“Why are you dating a pixie?”
“Did you pay for Sophia to leave Devashire because of the baby?”
“Why are you legitimizing Arden now?”
All the questions are aimed at Seven, as if Arden and I are mere accessories on his arms.
Eva arrives alone behind us and waves to the crowd. Her dress is evocative ofThe Little Mermaid, making stunning work of her red hair, but no one is even looking in her direction aside from me. They don’t stop screaming questions at us. A few charge the barrier, and the security guards have to intervene. We all take a deep breath when we enter the antechamber inside the front doors.
“Wow, that was scary,” Arden says, one hand pressing into her stomach. “Did you see how they were shoving the security guards?”
“Stay close,” Seven says. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
An usher directs us up a flight of stairs to a balcony overlooking the gala ballroom.
A sharply dressed leprechaun with a clipboard glances at Seven. “Mr. Delaney, pleasure to see you again. The master of ceremonies wishes to know how you would like to be introduced?”
“Seven Delaney with Sophia Larkspur and, introducing for the very first time, their daughter, Arden Delaney.”
The man lifts his head in alarm, frowning at my wings, and glares at Seven as if he smells something bad. “Are you certain, sir?”
