Getting through security took a good twenty minutes. Two different soldiers frisked us, then wanded us with some kind of magickal device that supposedly identified hidden spells and potions. Our tickets were scrutinized so closely, I started to fear we’d already blown our cover—that at any minute, the guards would haul us down to the dungeons.
But eventually, they cleared us, and we made our way up the winding staircase to the fourth-floor ballroom, my heartbeat steadying a little more with every step as I borrowed some strength from my fearless, superhot demon.
As if he could sense my thoughts, Jax slid his arm around my shoulders and drew me a little closer, whispering into my hair for the hundredth time in an hour, “You’re fuckingstunning, Haley Barnes.”
Heat rose in my cheeks. I was pretty sure I’d never get tired of hearing it.
The truth was, Ididlook pretty damn fine tonight. The dress Gem had picked out for me was black, of course—a strapless silk gown with a long sleeve on one side. The fitted bodice was hand-embroidered with tiny red roses that trailed down along the skirt, which flared out to my ankles in a series of layered petals—easy access to my thigh holsters, assuming I could reunite with them soon.
All part of the plan.
I’d left my hair down, curled in loose waves that Jax couldn’t stop touching.
Jax…
I’d meant it when I told Elian I was still in love with him. I probably always would be. But I couldn’t deny the feelings simmering for my demon, either. Even Hudson had found a place in my heart—a place that was quickly expanding to allow for the possibility that he could be more than a friend, too.
Something about these men—these monsters—belonged to me. And I belonged to them. Whatever happened in Midnight, whichever paths we walked when all was said and done, they’d never leave my heart.
The ballroom was as massive and ostentatious as I expected, like something straight out of a Regency romance novel. There were a few hundred people gathered there, some dancing, some drinking—a more refined version of the party exploding downstairs.
We didn’t spot Keradoc, though.
“Remember,” Jax said. “Long black hair. Violet eyes. He’ll be the best-dressed fae here. And he’sextremelycompelling, so you’re gonna need to watch yourself at all times.”
I grinned. “I don’t know if you know this about me? But I’m pretty good at fending off unwanted advances from creepy supernatural men.”
Jax cupped my face and brought his lips to my ear. In a dark whisper, he said, “And that sounds like a fun game for us to play later, angel.”
Laughing, I slipped away from him and headed into the bathroom located beside a tapestry of a fiery lake—the place Gem was supposed to leave my package.
Lifting the top of the toilet tank, I choked back a sob of pure relief. There, taped inside, was the promised leather pouch.
Gem had come through for us. She’d fucking come through.
I removed the pouch and retrieved my weapons—my favorite hawthorn stake that’d somehow managed to survive the long trek from New Orleans to Midnight. The dagger Jax had given me. My thigh holsters. And there, last but certainly not least, a tiny glass vial no larger than my pinky finger, fitted with a needle so short and thin I could only see it when I held it beneath the torchlight.
It was attached to a leather bracelet that fit snugly against my wrist, just inside my sleeve.
When I was ready to do the blood extraction, a quick flex would release the needle.
A magickal numbing agent would ensure Keradoc didn’t feel a thing.
Then, assuming his blood responded to the call of my magick, I’d be able to guide it straight into the vial without it losing any of its potency.
The Goddess didn’t require much—even a few drops of his blood would be enough to break the moonglass spell—but I wasn’t taking any chances.
Locked and loaded, I searched my face in the bathroom mirror, trying to find the woman that Jax had seen the other night in the shower when he’d whispered all my secrets.
Inside you is an abyss so black, it could turn even the most fearsome monsters into smoke…
You’re afraid if your sisters saw the same darkness I see in your eyes, they’d abandon you…
Nothing can keep you safe from that kind of darkness, and every day you believe that lie is another day some part of you fucking dies…
I’m not afraid of what’s inside you. I’m fucking drowning in it…
Jax was right. Iwasdark.
