I couldn’t have described the exact feeling that sweptthrough me, except a sense of being ridiculously honored and loved. Since I had no idea what to say, I said nothing.
Ed studied my face in the mirror, his lips pursed as if making a judgment. Pulling the plaits on the left together, he wrapped them around my head and then braided the ends into one. He repeated the process with the ones on the right. He pulled up the partial braids in front, then twisted them around and braided the ends together until I had a crown of braids all around my head.
“Yes. Sophisticated. Elegant. This will do for now,” he muttered. “I’ll have Quint call me when you are dressed and ready for your crown.”
He pursed his lips again, his eyes making sure each braid was perfect. Adjusted a pin here and a pin there. “Are you wearing weapons tonight?”
“I hadn’t decided. It was supposed to be the Mughal blade, but I kind of ruined it.”
“Hmmm. I have something that might do.” Without another word he left the room, speaking to Quint on the way past my bodyguard.
My cell rang and I answered a video call from my sweet-cheeks, who was wearing black tie and tails. He looked old-fashioned and what people used to calldebonair. Scrumptious, elegant, sex on a stick. His brown eyes appeared darker against the black tux, his hair darker too, slicked back with some hair product. His slightly Roman nose appeared sharper, giving him a commanding look. Bruiser had never risen to his full potential under Leo. Now he was coming into his own as a Consort to the Queen, and in reality, the hand behind the throne I didn’t want but couldn’t give away.
Bruiser’s face softened as his eyes met mine. He took my breath away.
“You look beautiful,” he said to me by way of greeting.
“You look edible,” I said back.
His eyes took on that glow again and he said, “Done and done, though seconds and thirds would be lovely.”
I was pretty sure I blushed, but I pretended I didn’t. “How are things?”
“Everything is in place. Your honor guard is ready.You will arrive just before ten p.m. with Edmund, in the same limo—though notourlimo.”
I blushed again.
Bruiser grinned. “You two will proceed up the front stairs.” He continued on in the same vein, telling me what was going to happen, who would be where and when. And I mostly ignored his words, watching his face, and eyes, and knowing that he was mine, that I was his. And we suddenly, finally, might have a future together.
When the call ended, Eli and Alex entered my bedroom. I pulled my lapels closer, muttering, “This is not Grand Central Station. Don’t you ever knock? And shouldn’t you be at HQ already, all tuxed up and prettified? Because if you get to wear jeans to the coronation, I should be able to wear jeans.”
Eli, a faint lift to one corner of his mouth, said, “We’re backing up Koun and making sure that the sexcapades at HQ are over so the children aren’t scarred for life when they walk in the door. Then we’ll dress and pick up the Everharts and the outliers, making sure they get to HQ safely.”
“So not fair,” Alex said, shaking his head, his expression woebegone, his dark curls swinging over his brown-skinned face. “All that sex. And me having to cover security.”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t watch it all through the security cameras,” I said. The Kid was legally old enough to participate in vampire games, but...ick.
“Watching ain’t doing,” Alex said, sounding all grown-up, and maybe a little droll. “Anyway, everything is good to go, Janie, no hitches, no problems that haven’t been handled.”
Eli said, “You got this, Janie.” He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.
Through that soft kiss, I felt Eli’s connection all through me, like light in the darkness. “No,” I said. “Wegot this. Because I have you guys.” The last few words were whispered, and blast it if I didn’t start to tear up.
Alex rolled his eyes and handed me a tissue. “Girls.”
Eli shook his head and said, “Babe.” He socked myshoulder, which felt much more normal. “I’ll make sure all the body fluids are cleaned up at HQ. Don’t be late.”
***
By nine, Quint had painted my nails with a scarlet that matched my lipstick and helped me into my clothes, as if I couldn’t do all that by myself.
I was wearing a silky body smoother beneath a long shimmering slinky dress of heavy black fabric, split to my right midthigh, with long sleeves that came to points on my wrists. The neckline plunged in front, low enough to be interesting, exposing my gold nugget necklace, held in place on the smoother with tiny clasps. The dress was low enough in back to be dangerous, also held in place.
I had ended thehedge of thornsin my closet and was wearing all the magical jewelry I had: The ring Sabina—the real Sabina—had left for me in the muck below her burned chapel weighted down my left index finger. The red flying lizard amulet was pinned over my heart and matched my lips like a splotch of blood. The locket was looped around my left wrist like a bracelet.Le breloquerested on the foot of the bed. I looked good. But not finished. And it wasn’t just the crown that was missing. I looked... safe.
I was staring at myself in the mirror when Edmund knocked again and reentered as Quint left again. “I look boring.”
Edmund stood to the side. “You do not look boring. But you do look like a queen who was granted her title rather than claiming it herself, and being claimed by her crown. You should look what you are—a warrior queen. It’s the edge of danger that you are missing.”
