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“Nope, I’m not.” I stabbed a bit of salad and gave her a warning look. “You can’t always judge a fae by their family, though, right?”
She didn’t answer and looked down at her plate, her lips pressed together.
I tried to listen in on the conversation to the other side of me, but it was about taxes, of all things. Kill me.
“Your dress is lovely,” Rae said. “Very flattering with those rubies.”
“Oh, thank you.” Did she want to play nice? Her tone sounded sincere enough. “Your dress is beautiful, too.”
It was high-necked but sleeveless and made from a gauzy blue fabric that shimmered every time she moved.
“Thank you. My personal designer made it.” Rae paused, sipping her wine. “Most manors have personal designers for events like this. They make clothes to your specifications.”
Any goodwill I felt toward her dried up. The condescension in her tone was thick. I knew she thought I was low class, but I didn’t know she thought I was a complete idiot.
“Wow, I wouldn’t have guessed a personal designer designed clothing for individuals.”
Jagger’s attention shifted over to me, putting him on high alert. He put his hand on my knee.
“Well, these are the things that fae of a certain class aren’t aware of.” Rae shrugged. “So, I assumed that you wouldn’t know.”
Jagger’s hand heated up on my leg. Not enough to burn me, but enough for me to dig my nails into his hand to get him to calm down. I didn’t need his help, especially since his help was probably going to manifest in something getting burned to the ground. The conversation had quieted to a murmur, probably about us.
“I grew up in Smithton, not in a cave,” I said. Someone’s breath hitched in shock at the name of my neighborhood. “We have books and everything.”
Rae’s eyes narrowed at me. “The place where you grew up really shows.”
“Thanks.” I wasn’t ashamed of where I came from. “I’d say the same, but it seems like you missed the etiquette classes I assumed you had. But what do I know about that?”
“Hold back your mate, Jagger,” Rae’s husband hissed.
“Hold back yours.” Jagger’s irises went from ink dark to red, and the surrounding air started getting uncomfortably warm.
The fact that he was barely hanging on from shifting into his demon form was bad enough, but the look in his eyes was feral. Flint and Lex were poised to put out Jagger’s flames.
“Jagger,” I hissed, gripping his bicep. “It’s fine. We need to let it go.”
Jagger hesitated before cooling down, the tension in the room releasing like an exhale.
“The next course,” he said, sitting back in his seat.
The waiters scrambled to do as Jagger ordered. One young man read my body language perfectly and gave me a heavy pour of wine. Rae and the male fae next to her whispered about something. Even though they weren’t looking in my direction, I knew they were talking about me.
We hadn’t even had the main course yet, and new targets were all over my back. I couldn’t wait for a break tomorrow, even if it meant a frustrating day of research on where I came from. I’d rather do anything but sit at one of these parties for another minute.
Chapter46
Flint
The library had been a source of frustration in the past few weeks, running into multiple dead ends in our research on Arden’s family. But I already needed a break from all of our guests.
I rubbed the tension out of the back of my neck, watching the enormous book I’d enchanted slowly reveal its contents. It was nearly done, based on the magic coming off of it, but I wanted it done now. We’d been searching for weeks to find out more about the Aridunn family—how Arden’s mother was connected to it, assuming Tommy was telling the truth about that, and who the Aridunns even were. Maybe today was our lucky day, but I wasn’t betting on it.
“Stressed?” Arden asked, pulling my hand away so she could massage my neck. She had small hands, but they soothed the ache there, nonetheless.
“I should ask you that. Are you—”
“I’m fine.” Arden heaved a sigh, running her hand down my back.
