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“I tried to hide them a bit so you wouldn’t have to see. ”
I turned my back on the sight. Something about seeing the woman in her white cotton slip made the death all the more grisly. It made me angry—angry at the situation, and angry at him, too. “She was probably innocent, you know. ”
He put his finger beneath my chin, his expression soft, and tipped my face to his. “Never forget. Nobody who finds himself on this island is ever completely innocent. ”
I opened my mouth to protest, but in my heart I knew he spoke the truth.
“We’ve wasted too much time. ” He piled a mound of dark purple satin into my hands. “New plan, new disguise. ”
He went to the far side of the room and turned around to give me some privacy. “If we make it out, there’s a wee stream that runs along the eastern edge of the grounds. We can escape that way. ”
“You want me to cross a stream in a dress?”
“No, I want you to dance in a dress. Though, if we’re lucky, it won’t come to that. ” Carden stripped off his soiled shirt, revealing a glistening—and very naked—back.
I turned abruptly, my cheeks burning. “Sorry. ”
“So shy?” He chuckled. “No apology needed, I assure you. Just dress yourself before they find us. ”
The gown was an old-fashioned thing, reaching to the ground, but having an Empire waist, it looked easy to slip on without help. Still, I was skeptical. “Wouldn’t wearing a couple of those brown monks’ robes be better?”
“Jacob likes a party. At the end of every summit, he hosts a dance to rival the grandest of cotillions. ”
“What is it with you vampires and dancing?” I was changing as quickly as I could, and my cheeks burnt hotter as I worried that he might see me in my underwear. Finally, I was wriggling into the dress and smoothing it into place. But when I turned, he was still standing with his back to me, waiting patiently.
“We vampires and dancing?” he asked.
He was acting the gentleman, which was probably what guys did back in the eighteenth century. I studied him. In his stolen waistcoat, he looked the part. The dress clothes made his shoulders seem broader, and though the pants were too short, all in all, I thought he’d pass in the candlelight. “Never mind,” I told him. “You can turn around now. ”
He did, and it took my breath away. He’d combed his fingers through his hair, and it framed a striking face. But Carden wasn’t handsome in a pretty-boy sort of way—he was more rugged than that. He was a man.
I shook my head. This silly girl crap was just the bond talking, not me.
He walked right up to me, coming nearly chest to chest. “You’re a vision, Acari Annelise Drew. ” When I didn’t answer, he tilted his head. “Is aught the matter?”
“Aught’s fine,” I said, turning from him. “Let’s blow this cookie stand. ”
His hand on my shoulder stopped me. I looked up just as he draped a purple veil over my head. “As much as I enjoy looking at that pretty yellow hair, you’ll need this, too. ”
Normally I hated dresses, but the get-up was so foreign that it made me feel safer, and we walked briskly toward the east wing, Carden peeking into random rooms as we went. “It’s no good,” he said finally. “The only room with a balcony is the ballroom. So that’s where we’re going. ”
I frowned. “Can’t we just, you know, sneak out the front door?”
“Too many guards posted there. Jacob will recover and raise the alarm soon, if he hasn’t already. There’s only one way out. ” He took my hand
and placed it in the crook of his arm. “Fancy a dance?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
He put a hand at my back and swept me toward the sound of chatter, music, and clinking glasses, and in the torch-lit hallway, scurrying along in my low-cut gown and veil, I really did for a moment feel like a woman from another time.
As we drew closer, though, I got more nervous. Carden sensed it and leaned down to whisper in my ear, “Courage, little Acari. Isn’t this what you’ve trained for?”
He caught my eye and gave me a jaunty smile, as though to say, I dare you. His fangs flashed white in the shadows.
Trained for this? No way. All the dance classes in the world wouldn’t have prepared me for a bond with an eighteenth-century vampire. But I nodded anyway, and with a deep breath, let him glide me into the ballroom.
There were vampires all around, and my heart kicked alive, hammering against my chest. I was prey, and these men around me were predators. Instinct told me to flee, but Carden’s firm hand on my back kept me in place. I pasted a calm, detached expression on my face.
