What an . . . an eejit. That’s what he was. A complete and utter eejit.
Although, he was the one with a smile on his face as he carried a woman upstairs, and I’d be going back to the castle tonight alone.
Maybe I did need to kill someone.
Luckily, death was on the agenda for midnight.
I managed to haul myself upright, clutching the table to keep from splatting face-first on the manky floor. All the empty glasses rattled. I shifted my pocket watch.Half-nine?Far too early to be this drunk. I would need to sober up before heading over to the Bannons’.
Then again, maybe being drunk would make a night among humans more tolerable.
I glamoured myself into the ambassador before stumbling out of the bawdy house, searching this way and that on the empty street.
For some reason, I started thinking of Ruairi carrying that faerie up those stairs.
What would Aveen do if I threw her over my shoulder and carried her to bed? She’d probably curse and threaten to kill me. The thought made me smile as I called on my magic, focusing on where I needed to go.
Not that I’d ever find out what it’d be like to bring her to bed. I didn’t dally with maidens. Not a hope. They always had too many expectations I’d never be willing to meet. I’d been Leesha’s first, and she’d been mine, and that was one of my few memories that hadn’t been tainted by darkness. Something she gave to me and I gave to her that I would never take from another.
My magic swelled, and the void that came before evanescing took hold. Even though I knew it would never happen, a vision of Aveen lying beneath me on her bed popped into my mind, and instead of arriving in the Bannons’ garden as I’d planned, I ended up in the woman’s bedchamber like some child who’d only just learned to evanesce.
Dresses had been piled on the bed, a mountain of blue. More draped over the chair and chaise, and still more hung askew in the open closet. As foolish as it was, I imagined her trying to find the perfect one just for me.
This place smelled like her.
I collapsed onto her bed, staring up at the canopy. What did she dream about? What did she wish for above all else?
For the only way to save him was at her own expense.
The drunken smile that had found its way to my lips vanished.
“Sir, ye cannot be up here.”
I shot upright, finding a dark-haired maid clutching the white apron covering her chest. My gaze flew to the mirror in the corner. Luckily, my glamour remained in place. Would have been a shame to have to kill her.
“My apologies,” I murmured, standing and straightening my waistcoat. “I’ve had a little too much to drink and wandered away from the party.”
“No one need know if ye hurry back downstairs,” she said with a wink.
“Thank you . . . ?”
“Sylvia, Yer Lordship.” Although she curtsied, her dark eyes remained on me.
“Thank you, Sylvia.” I gave the maid a quick bow, then went to find my poor, unfortunate soulmate.
The moment I entered the ballroom, my eyes found hers, and damn it all if I didn’t smile so wide my face hurt. Instead of avoiding me as I’d been sure she’d do, she headed straight for me, dodging men who looked as if they wanted to gobble her up. Men from her world without murderous mothers. Then again, quite a few elderly women glared in Aveen’s direction, so maybe I was wrong about the murderous part.
I took in the neckline of her sky-blue dress, the cameo at her throat, the swell of her breasts, the dip at her waist, and the curve of her hips on my way to a bow. “Lady Aveen, it is a pleasure seeing you again.”
“Unfortunately, I cannot say the same,Ambassador,” she clipped, chin lifting so I could see the spark of fight in her deep blue eyes.
“Is that any way for the lady of the house to speak to a distinguished guest?”
Her nose wrinkled before she lifted a gloved hand to hide it. “It is when thedistinguishedguest smells like a bawdy house.”
“And how do you know what a bawdy house smells like?”I shot back.
That chin lifted a little higher. Instead of answering my question, she said, “It’s a wonder you decided to show at all. You were obviously enjoying yourself elsewhere.”