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“I got it.” Kris popped off the bed, then turned me to face the mirror. “One of the laces is loose.”
“Loose?” My reflection revealed a gold corset, embroidered with black-stitched roses on the front of the bodice. It may have been a lovely work of craftsmanship, but it was sucking the life out of me. Kris tightened and tucked the laces. I winced, both at the squeezing of my ribcage and the further heightening of my breasts. I’d never put myself quite on display.
“I don’t know, Kris. I feel…overexposed.”
“Isn’t that the point?” She grabbed the short leather jacket off the bed and tossed it to me. “Here. This’ll help.”
I slipped into the jacket, glancing over my shoulder in the mirror at the copper-studded dragon in flight on the back. A leather-clad woman with a dragon stitched on her jacket would be a silent invitation to the more aggressive Morgons. I was hoping to draw the one Bennett Cremwell had told me about. Of course, I hadn’t admitted a word of this to anyone else. A shiver of anticipation trembled through me. Was I pushing things too far? Still, I felt safe knowing several Morgon men from Nightwing Security would be incognito at the games. As well as Kol Moonring, whoever he was.
“Your outfit is hot. Hair looks great. Makeup is awesome. Because of me, of course.”
I laughed, heading out of the bedroom. “Okay, Vaengar Games. Here I come.”
“Isn’t your date picking you up?”
“Morgons can’t ride in cars, and I’m not letting him fly me there, so we’re meeting at the stadium.”
She followed me to the door of my studio apartment, picking up her bag off my thrift-shop coffee table on the way out. “Mmm, why not let him fly you there? Damn, if that wouldn’t be cool.”
“It’s a business date. I told you that.” I locked the door to my apartment, ignoring the flutter in my stomach at the thought of flying with a Morgon.
“Well, if it’s business, you should’ve taken me along. I could’ve photographed the scene for you.”
Hope laced her voice, but I didn’t want to involve Kris on this dangerous mission. She was not only my best friend, but also an award-winning photographer and videographer for The Herald. I had no idea what I was walking into, and I wouldn’t drag her into it.
“Not necessary.” I hated seeing the disappointment in her eyes. “I’m just getting some preliminary info for a new story.”
She shrugged, falling in stride with me on the sidewalk. “I still say you should’ve hitched a ride, business date or not.”
“I’m not letting a man carry me around like some child. That’s ridiculous.”
“You’re ridiculous sometimes, Moira, with all your feminist ideals. It’s okay to let a man treat you like a woman. Being feminine isn’t being weak.”
“It’s not that.”
“Why not give this Morgon a chance then?” she asked.
“It’s not that I’m a racist or anything, if that’s what you think.”
She burst into throaty laughter. “No. I never suspected you of being a racist.”
Kris’s unusual mixture of tawny skin and bright green eyes came from her parents’ interracial marriage. Her father was from a dark people in the southern province of Nebea along the Sorrel Sea. Her mother was born and raised in Gladium.
People might raise an eyebrow at a human interracial union, but that’s all. What ruffled society’s feathers more was marrying outside your class. What rankled the aristocracy more than that, even with desegregation laws in place, even with high-profile marriages like my sister’s to Lucius, was the mating to a Morgon. The old mindset was hard to break, despite the façade of being generally accepted in public society. Behind closed doors was another thing altogether.
We stopped at my car. My shitty old clunker with peeling paint was a daily reminder I was standing on my own feet, not allowing my father to rule my life. Kris might have had a point. Had I pushed my father away in order to appear strong? To be an independent woman who relied on no man to stand on her own two feet? In doing so, I seemed to have pushed all men away.
“Are Morgon men too tough for you to handle?” she teased.
I sighed, giving her a brief hug. “Let’s talk gender politics in a male-dominated society some other time.”
“You’re avoiding my question.”
“You’re so smart. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
She waved over her shoulder. “Have fun on your business date!” She yelled into the night air, giggling all the way to her car.
Traffic was heavy, but I found a spot in the stadium parking lot and arrived at the entrance just in time. Kraven waited for me under the double-archway. His eyes swept over me in an assessing glimpse as I approached. He straightened, wings half open, expression unreadable. I hoped I hadn’t overdone it trying so hard to fit in. “Is it too much?”
