“How does it look?” he asks Elsie.
She claps her hands together in front of her. “Oh,” she gushes. “You’re the prettiest princess.”
Wylan stomps his foot jokingly. “I thought I was the prettiest princess? You’ve done passed off my title, Els.”
Her eyes widen. “Oh no. You are the prettiest princess.” She looks at Dagen. “You’re all pretty princesses, equally pretty.” She looks at Felix. “Would you like a tiara, too, Otto?”
He laughs. “Maybe next time. My hair took an hour to get looking this good.”
She nods. “I’ll save one for you.”
“So where are these masks we’re supposed to be wearing?” I ask, interrupting the pretty princess competition.
Dagen smiles at me and picks up a bag I hadn’t seen. His tiara falls off and he catches it before setting it on the table. “Right here.” He reaches inside and pulls the first one out, handing it to Wylan. “A weasel for Wylan.”
“Because I’m such a slippery bastard,” Wylan says. “Why, you shouldn’t have!”
“A cat for Otto,” Dagen continues.
Felix takes the mask and nods. “Makes sense. I’m often the cat during cat and mouse.”
“A fox for me,” he says, taking out another large mask and setting it aside. “And a bird for you.”
The mask he pulls out of the bag matches my dress with shades of red and orange, making the bird look more like a phoenix than anything else. I realize that was probably the intention when I take it from him and he smiles. It’s a really pretty mask, the short beak small enough that it won’t get in the way. Whoever made these is incredibly talented. Every mask has enough detail to stun and none of them look cheap against our black-tie attire.
“I love it,” I murmur. “Thank you.”
John peeks his head inside the door. “Everyone ready? We’re going to be late.”
I pick up my skirts and grab my small bag. “Don’t go to bed too late,” I tell Elsie. “Tonya will let me know.”
“Of course I will,” Tonya says, appearing from the kitchen. But she shoots a look at Elsie that tells me they’re just going to worry about having fun rather than bedtime. I don’t mind. Elsie deserves to have some fun every now and then. “Now, you kids go have fun and don’t worry about us,” she says as she ushers us toward the door.
“Dagen,” Elsie says, before we can get out the door, “don’t forget the tiara.”
Dagen glances at the tiara on the table and sighs. He picks it up and settles it on his head again. Elsie claps her hands together in excitement.
“You are such a pretty princess!” she squeals.
Dagen nods and leaves the house, leading me and the others toward the limo, the tiny tiara flashing in the darkness.
“The prettiest princess,” Wylan teases as the door closes behind us. “Putting all us other princesses to shame.”
“Shut up,” Dagen grumbles before helping me into the back of the limo. “Before I put up a billboard of you wearing your own tiara for everyone to see.”
Wylan laughs. “The world would be so lucky.”
It takes about thirty minutes to reach the venue. In that time, Dagen keeps the tiara on his head as promised, as if Elsie would somehow know. It would almost be laughable, the sight of this serious man in a pristine suit wearing a cheap one-dollar tiara on his head, if it wasn’t also the sweetest thing he’s ever done. He’d made a promise to Elsie and he kept it despite Wylan’s little teasing remarks and Elsie not being here. When we get in line for the literal red carpet outside the building in downtown New York, Felix grabs his bag and scoots over to the door.
“This is my stop,” he says with a quick grin to me. “See you inside, Frogger.”
I blush scarlet as he hops out and closes the door behind him.
“Frogger?” Wylan asks, raising his brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s a game,” I answer, but I don’t go into why the game means anything. I’m certainly not going to explain it’s the one Felix had fucked me with in the arcade.
“Why isn’t he walking in with us?” I ask once we start moving again.
