“Arden,” she began seriously. “He knows your color palette.”
“Mywhat?” I asked, bewildered.
She huffed as though I was being incredibly dense. “Arden, do you know how few straight men—or even women—take the time to learn their significant other’s color palette?” She gazed down at the dress, still concealed from my view. “It’s even more stunning than the one you wore to Bryce’s party.”
I rolled my eyes and gave a skeptical snort. “How can you even tell what the dress looks like when it’s still in the box?”
With a flourish and a smile, Gwen presented the dress, which cascaded like molten silver to the floor. It was my turn to be at a loss for words. A masterpiece of silk and metal, the dress was the color and texture of liquid mercury. At the sides, the fabric had been artfully cut away to show slivers of skin, accented with glittering, interwoven chains. The thin straps were brocaded to look like chainmail, and yet the material was still light and gossamer. It was a dress designed with feminine grace and beauty, sheathing a warrior beneath.
“There’s something else in here,” Gwen whispered, her voice trembling. She lifted something shiny and glittering from the bottom of the box, and gasped again. “Oooh, Arden, look!”
My stomach lurched as my eyes locked onto the coiling, interlocking chains accentuated with diamonds and a familiar pair of emerald eyes. The eyes of a serpent. I recognized the cruel piece of silver immediately. Did Casimir seriously expect me to wear a stolen family heirloom to the Jewel Ball? An event Bryce’s parents had probably donated a hefty chunk of gold toward? I glared at the necklace, but Gwen was too busy gazing in admiration at the strands of diamonds to notice.
“Try it on!” Gwen demanded as she barreled toward me, necklace in hand.
On instinct, I recoiled from her reach, taking a step back.
Her face fell. “What’s wrong?”
Gwen didn’t know the necklace had been purloined from Bryce Yu-Ri’s family safe, and part of me still feared she might catch me draped in her stolen family jewels. Not to mention the fact that the silver was supposedly infused with enchantments and magical protections. Irrationally, I worried that if I let the metal touch my skin, I might not be able to take it off again. I imagined how the silver chains might squeeze around my throat until I turned blue, choking me like the coils of a python.
Gwen frowned at my wariness. “Don’t be ridiculous, Arden,” she huffed. And before I could protest, she approached and slid the necklace around my neck. I shivered against the feel of the cold metal pressing like a rope of ice against my skin, but?—
Nothing happened. I sighed in relief. It was silly, really, to worry that the necklace might hurt me. Casimir wouldn’t have stolen it for me to wear if it would cause me any harm. Gwen ushered me before the mirror, and I froze when I beheld my reflection. The silver shone like a halo of moonlight against my pale skin. The emerald eyes of the snake glared back at me.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” whispered Gwen.
“Was there a note attached to the necklace?” I asked, my throat dry.
Gwen frowned. “I didn’t see one. Redirecting the conversation, she added, “You have to try on the dress after the lecture, I want to see it with the necklace. I can’t wait to show you my dress too! It’s this gorgeous shade of burgundy…”
An icy sort of dread filled me as I stared and stared at my reflection, Gwen’s chatter about the ball fading into a dull hum in the background. Casimir had claimed that the necklace could protect me from glamours, and, considering I wasn’t able to resist them, wearing it made sense. But I hated the way it glinted maliciously in the light, the way the metal felt colder than frosted glass against my skin.
Beware eyes of venom, the winding coil’s twist, and death’s slithering kiss.
Gwen’s sharp voice cut through my haze like a knife.
“Arden? Arden?” she sounded concerned.
I realized I had been staring numbly at my reflection for several minutes, and I shook my head.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.
I gazed at the winding coil chains, the eyes of the snake on the clasp for a moment longer. “Can you help me take it off?” I pleaded.
Gwen obliged and unclasped the necklace, her eyebrows still knitted together in concern. I sighed in relief when the weight was lifted from my collarbones.
“How dare he blatantly disregard my request not to send me anything?” I grumbled. “And the necklace? It’s too much.” I gave Gwen an appealing look, which she did not indulge.
“I say this as someone who loves you,” Gwen began, “but you’re one of the most stubborn people I’ve ever met. A guy like August might have respected your wishes—stupid as they are…” she added wryly, ignoring my scowl. “You would’ve shown up to the ball wearing something that didn’t make you stand out, and what a shame that would be!”
I shook my head in denial. “You don’t understand, Gwen. It’s different for me. People like Bryce and Monty—they’re always going to see me as an outsider.”
Her tone was gentle as she replied, “I can’t imagine how hard it’s been for you, Arden. At a college full of trust-fund babies looking forward to futures they didn’t have to work to earn. To feel as if you don’t belong.” Gwen clasped my hand in both of hers, her eyes shining. “You might not be ready to hear this, Arden—” she met my gaze warily “—but youdobelong here. Maybe August was too full of pride and self-loathing to see how amazing you really are. But Casimir—he’s different. He sees you. He knows you belong.”
I bit my lip in consternation.
Gwen’s intentions were pure, but she was working off a partial picture of the truth. She didn’t know Casimir was a Daemon in a power struggle with the Bloodthorn Order, or that the heavy bracelet I wore on my arm covered the rune, the proof of my bloodbargain with Evren; or that it itched and burned and refused to heal. She didn’t know about the Keeper’s Heir, or our harrowing search for the cipher, or the endlessly infuriating riddles whispered by theBook of Erebos. She didn’t know that the full moon spelled grave danger for August, and just for a moment, I wished I didn’t know any of it either.