I was a prisoner in a gilded cage, trapped in luxury. Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to be with Severn again. I wished I could turn back time to the night before and not listen to Briar’s manipulations. I wished I’d never confronted Severn about his previous girlfriend. Never broken up with him. Maybe then he’d have come to the airport with me and stopped me from being taken.
Now that I’d broken his heart, would he even want me anymore?
It terrified me to think of what Black Ember would do to me if—and when—he discovered that we weren’t married, weren’t even together. I was safe only as long as I was valuable.
And after last night, I had no way of knowing if I was valuable to Severn anymore.
ChapterThirty-One
Hours passed, and I started to drive myself stir-crazy in my hotel room. It had every luxury imaginable—the sumptuous tub, a built-in TV screen with every channel, fluffy pillows—but I could hardly take advantage of them. Ultimately, it was a cage, just a beautiful cage. I found myself pacing the length of the room from door to windows, worried about Severn.
I’d been such a fool to listen to Briar! And now Severn was in grave danger. If I couldn’t convince Black Ember’s fae that Severn and I were through, they were going to use me to hurt him. I watched the sun sink over the ocean as the city’s lights lit up to match the stars overhead.
Finally, I heard a knock at the door, followed by the electronic lock opening. I looked around frantically for a weapon if I needed to defend myself. I still had no idea what this terrifying legend Black Ember looked like or if he was as cruel as everyone made him out to be. I ended up grabbing a heavy brass desk lamp, ripping the cord out of the wall, and wielding it like a baseball club.
The door opened to let in a small group of LA fae dressed in their usual over-the-top fashion. They carried shopping bags with designer logos and had a room service cart filled with glasses of bubbly drinks and silver-domed meals.
Coral came in last, giving me an odd look, and then dismissed the others with a wave. Once we were alone, she said, “What on earth are you doing with that lamp? Silly human, put that down. We could set you on fire with one flick of our fingers before you even raised it over your head.”
Her words stung because they were true. I slowly lowered the lamp back onto the table, feeling a flush of embarrassment run up my neck.
“That’s better,” she said with a smirk. “Now, as promised, here’s proper attire.” She motioned to the shopping bags. “Pick out something to wear, and eat what you want from the cart.”
My eyes fell to the room service cart. The fae who’d brought it had removed the silver dome to reveal a mouthwatering feast of roast lamb chops, herbed vegetables, fruit tarts. Apparently, for as modern as the LA fae were, they still preferred traditional fae food.
As much as I wanted to refuse anything, my stomach grumbled audibly. It had been almost a full day since I’d eaten anything. I couldn’t help but sink into the chair next to the cart and start tearing at some decadent meat pie.
Coral sauntered over and poured herself a glass of champagne, then one for me, but when she offered it to me, I shook my head. “I’ve been warned about fae wine.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You mean you never drank Severn’s wine?”
Mouth full, I shook my head.
She filled my glass with bottled water instead. “Here, then. Sparkling water. I promise all it will do is hydrate.”
I gave her a wary look, hesitant to trust her, but itdidlook like water. “Thanks,” I muttered as I chugged some down.
She began poking around in the shopping bags, pulling out outfits and evaluating them before tossing them in piles on the bed. She gave me an appraising eye and pronounced, “I think green is your color. Blue green, like the ocean. Turquoise.”
The color of Severn’s eyes.
Thinking of him caused a jolt of pain to stab me in the chest.
She tossed me a silky aquamarine dress that had scandalous cutouts along the back. “Put that on.”
I wiped my mouth with a silk napkin as dread filled me. “Why?”
As though she could read my fears, she said, “Not to meet Black Ember, if that’s what you fear. He’s still out of town.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “So where are we going?”
“A party.” There was a cryptic edge to her voice. At my hesitation, Coral held out the silky dress tantalizingly. “At this venue, you can’t show up wearing glorified pajamas.” She looked pointedly at my yoga pants.
I relented and took the dress into the bathroom to change. Unfortunately, she had a point—if I were to gain any dignity from these fae, I wouldn’t command much respect wearing yoga pants. The dress was so stretchy that it hugged my curves perfectly. The cutouts in the back were reminiscent of the shapes of waves running down my spine. Once I smoothed out the mid-thigh hem and looked in the mirror, I decided I looked like a punk mermaid.
When I emerged, Coral gave a begrudging sound of approval, then nodded at me to follow her into the hall. The hotel took on a different air at night. When I’d arrived earlier in the day, its large windows had let in airy sunshine. But now, with dusk falling outside, the hotel’s lighting had turned moody, like a club. We rode the elevator down several floors, and when the doors opened, I stared in shock.
The doors had opened straight into a club. A fae hostess at a stand nodded to Coral, who dragged me out of the elevator. A mosaic sign on the walls said “The Deep,” and the facility had an ocean theme with its bluish, mottled lighting. Giant aquariums had been built into the walls, with a stunning array of colorful fish inside. Another glass wall gave an underwater view of the hotel swimming pool, where swimmers in bikinis glided effortlessly underwater. My fae sight let me see that there wereactualscales on some of their legs.
