Page 57 of Taken By Shadows

“Tonight?”

“The garden party.” I had no idea what she was talking about, but then a vague recollection from the conversation in the study hit me. But I was struggling to piece the days together.

“I thought Kaed wasn’t invited to parties?”

“Having impending nuptials is improving his invitation rate.”

I hated to admit that he had been right. It seemed doors were beginning to open to him with our betrothal.

I’d thrown the midnight blue dress Kaed had chosen to the ground. It made a uniquely pretty heap and moved like flowing water between my fingers, but I wasn’t wearing it. It didn’t matter that it was exquisite layers of gossamer and shimmering spider silk. He’d chosen it. I wasn’t wearing it.

Instead, I’d opted for a black gown with a high neck and central split section showing off a daring amount of cleavage. But the open back with gold chains that dangled down to skim the small of my back was what made this dress. This one had no shimmer, it was more like an endless darkness. I opted for thick gold cuffs on both wrists, each featuring a ruby.

My stomach twisted as I fitted the cuffs. Even just one of the pieces I wore could be traded for an entire flock of sheep back home. Or a barn of feed and hay. It was unnerving to be thrust into such wealth.

Staring at the mirror, I wasn’t sure I recognised the person who stood before me, draped in elegant night.

I felt unbalanced. I wanted to hate Kaed for being so keyed up over the attack. It hadn’t been my fault, and yet he had looked like he would break something in his jaw from the tension roiling inside him when he’d escorted me from Celeste’s. But I felt grateful to Kaed for saving my life.

And I hated that.

A hard knock at my door sent a bolt up my spine.

Not Audrie. She would already be in the room, trying on clothes or rearranging furniture at this point. My skirts were silent as they trailed the floors. I wasn’t prepared for the devastation that hit me upon opening the door.

Kaed stood, broad-chested, arms folded in a structured leather chest piece with subtly winged shoulders, looking like iniquitous night clad in black.

He was imposing. Powerful.

His shoulders were solid to begin with, not hulking like Gavrin’s, but in this, he looked like a destroying god before me.

I didn’t know if my eyes roamed up or down, but they were lost in everything.

His hair was coiffed high and tumbled forward between his eyes. No part of his facial scar was hidden. And I was shocked to feel I liked it that way.

Neither of us spoke.

Kaed extended a hand and put the other behind his back.

But gods … when he moved his arms … there was a sectional cutout that exposed the carved plane of his abdomen.

To top it off, there were two red smudges of make-up just where he liked to pinch the bridge of his nose. The effect was a dramatic, furious statement.

“We match,” I said, far too breathy for my own comfort.

What part of me was misaligned that I couldn’t ignore the shattering beauty he wore on him the way the ancient gods wore divinity?

I hated that he had this effect on me.

And I hated that I’d discarded the navy dress in favour of his counterpart in black.

As he stood before me, Kaed was everything I wanted to taste and everything I shouldn’t. What would it feel like to belong to someone like that? To truly be by their side and not just play at it. More than a role to cover the truth of the situation. In actuality, we couldn’t be farther from each other in our roles in this life.

But we did match. Black. Daring to expose our skin across our chests. Even the red rubies I’d chosen complemented his red eye make-up.

I don’t think I’d seen anyone who made me ravenous before. I wasn’t even sure why that feeling rippled across my skin. He was intriguing to be close to; his fae aura sang from him and wove around me. And he was beautiful to look at, in a sort of destructive way. Look too long, and you might forget where you came from, where you were meant to be. His eclipse took you in until the sun and moon were no longer the most powerful things in the sky, but darkness.

But I’d never tell him that. Looking was acceptable.