13
“Witnesses are important,”I told my brother. Otherwise, who’s to say what happened? It would be best to curse Aveen on a night when people saw her so there could be no denying that she was gone. Did Aveen realize she could never return to Graystones? Eventually she could invite her sister to visit her wherever she ended up, but for a long time, she would need to be alone.
All to make her spoiled sister happy.
Waste of time if you asked me. If Robert loved the sister, he would’ve refused a match with Aveen. Spineless. That’s what he was. And yet Aveen seemed content to let her sister go off with him because they were “in love.”
Fools, the lot of them.
Not that I was complaining. The thought of her marrying that pretentious prick, of him laying a hand on her . . .
“I’m sorry, are you wanting a response?” Tadhg drawled from the settee. “Usually, you just tell me what to do and expect me to do it.”
Speaking of useless fools. . .“Go back to your bottle.” I don’t know why I bothered coming into the family room. It wasn’t as if Tadhg was actually useful.
“What about the ball?” he said before I reached the door.
I stilled. “What ball?”
“Don’t humans celebrate impending nuptials by throwing some lavish party? I seem to remember that being a custom ages ago. Maybe it still is.”
Huh. He may have had a good idea for once.
If we did this at a ball, I would need to make sure my darling brother didn’t set one foot inside. Unleashing the Gancanagh on a roomful of women was a problem in and of itself that I had no time for. And I already knew Aveen would balk at the thought of him anywhere near her precious sister. If they met in the garden, though. That could work.
How was she feeling after last night? I’d bet she was hungover. The idea of her being in a foul mood made me far happier than it should’ve. “Right, so. I’m off.”
“To see your lady love?” Tadhg drawled, his voice oozing sarcasm.
“What’s wrong, brother? Jealous?”
“Of you?” He laughed but didn’t deny it. Was that because his truth curse kept him honest or because he didn’t think my question deserved a response? Not that it mattered either way. “Once yoursoulmatelearns the truth about you, I’ve no doubt she’ll leave you just like everyone else.”
The truth behind his words cut me to the core. Still, I’d spent far too long establishing an air of unaffected irritation to lose my composure now. “Enjoy your day alone. Try not to kill anyone.”
This would only be a quick trip to Graystones to tell Aveen the plan, not to visit or ask if she’d dreamed of me or if she wished things had gone further between us. Certainly not.
Like before, I evanesced to the trees just beyond the Bannon estate. But unlike the last time, I could hear a familiar voice grumbling—not from the house but from deeper in the garden.
I couldn’t take the chance of someone else seeing my face, and the ambassador had no real reason to call on Aveen now that she was engaged to someone else. There was one person who had every right to be seen with her, though. I felt my lips curl into a smile and turned myself into her fiancé.
When she saw me, the smile on her face melted. Damn, she was dirty. How she could stand that shite all over her hands was beyond me.
“Good morning, Robert,” Aveen clipped, going right back to what she’d been doing before I arrived, transferring what looked like onions from a canvas sack to the dirt.
I tried to recall the annoying timbre of his voice, the way he clipped his consonants and held himself as if he had a post shoved up his arse. “From this day forward, I expect you to greet me with a kiss. I am your fiancé, after all.”Nailed it.
Aveen stabbed the dirt with her little shovel. “I’d rather kiss a goat.”
The shovel clattered to the ground, and her hand flew to her lips. Wide eyes locked with mine. I wanted to trace the blush painting her skin all the way down to the square neckline on a dress far too fine to be covered in filth.
“Kiss a goat?” Had she ever seen a goat up close? Those things had crazy eyes and smelled like they’d rolled in shite.It took far too much magic, but I glamoured myself into one of the smelly beasts for the fun of it.
Aveen snagged her shovel from the ground, wielding it like a weapon as she waved it at me. “Change back. Now.”
I couldn’t hold it very long, anyway, letting all the glamours fall until it was just she and I and her weapon. “Ohhhhlook who’s back. Violent Aveen. If you’re going to stab me with your tiny shovel, would you mind cleaning it first? This is a new shirt.” Came all the way from the continent. Made of the softest cotton. I should’ve bought an entire trunk of them.
Aveen launched a hunk of mud right at my face. I barely had time to evade it. This was my favorite feckin’ shirt! Had she forgotten who I was? The terror I could inflict on her—on her family? “I could turn you into ash, you know,” I ground out.