I lay there, cycling through the same thoughts as I stared up at the stone ceiling. At some point, I must have dozed off, because my next moment of awareness came when a door creaked open. I jolted up, blinking hard as I took in Harthon at the entranceway.
He was striking in his formal black attire, but this time, a gold crown sat upon his head.
“You’re wearing a crown,” I said, stating the obvious.
He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. “And you have excellent vision.” A pile of dark fabric was piled in his hands.
Swiping at my lips to make sure there was no drool, I rose to my feet. “I never thought you’d be one to wear jewelry.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
Seriously? I waved my hand at him. “Pretty jewelry takes away from the whole deadly mercenary image. I thought you like being scary.”
He dropped the fabric onto a chair beside me and crossed his arms. “You think this crown makes me less deadly?”
I studied the polished, pointed tips. Nothing could ever soften the dangerous edge that Harthon constantly wore, but still, the crown was unusually Princeps-like for him. “I think it implies that you caremore about appearance than strategy and skill.”
“Sometimes, appearances are important,” he allowed. Then the corner of his lips lifted in challenge. “But I wear it for more than appearances. Anything can be a weapon, Etarla.”
Again, I examined the sharp metal peaks. “A weapon of intimidation, or a weapon that can make someone bleed?”
“Both.”
“You’re telling me you’ve stabbed people with yourcrown?”
“It makes quite the statement.”
He was ridiculous. I shook my head slowly. “I don’t want to know what you’d do if you were given a necklace.”
His grin was predatory. “I’ve enjoyed it in the past.”
“There’s so much that is wrong with that.”
“While I disagree, I can’t argue it with you now, as much as I’d enjoy that.” There was no sarcasm in his voice. “The party’s starting, and you need to get changed. I brought you your clothes,” he said, nodding toward the pile. “I’ll be waiting outside.”
When he left, I was relieved to find that he hadn’t brought some awful dress, which I imagined was standard attire for women at elite parties. He’d given me the same black leather pants as those I’d been wearing, but instead of a tunic and vest, the top was a thin long-sleeved leather, dyed a rich violet and adorned with swirling gold and silver embroidery that caught the light. Golden laces stretched across a gap that ran down the front of the garment. I pulled on the clothes, cinching the top together so no skin peeked through and securing the laces with a bow just above my chest.
Then I turned to the mirror and stared. My unnatural eyes were vibrant, highlighted by the colored leather, and the clothing wrapped tightly around my body, dipping in at my waist and slightly flaring at my hips. While my breasts weren’t full enough to spill out above the neckline, my collarbone and upper chest were on display.
I looked regal. Feminine but powerful. Like an important woman, rather than a villager.
I didn’t dislike it, and that was unexpected. I’d never cared much about my appearance—always thought it was a pointless thing to worry about.
When I opened the door, I found Harthon leaning against the wall across from me, his ankles crossed. The position was almost lazy, if such a man could ever appear that way. I had no doubt he could land a dagger between a person’s eyes faster than they could blink, if required. His eyes scanned my body, tracing the outline of the clothing. My skin tingled with awareness, and when he finished his perusal and met my gaze, those irises were almost like midnight.
It was the poor lighting, of course.
“Beautiful.”
At the soft, sincere comment, those tingles morphed into a warmth that bloomed inside of me. “You gave me nice clothes.”
“I did. But you were beautiful even when you were ripping into Ellan earlier. Before the nice clothes.”
Warmth turnedbackinto tingles that shot from my toes straight to my head. I wasn’t beautiful. People likeAnawere beautiful. I was…plain. Fine.
Aware that my cheeks were a brilliant hue of red, I shook my head, searching for an appropriate response and coming up empty.Harthon finds you beautiful.
“I should also mention that I enjoyed watching you challenge him.”
