25. Beautiful Things

Beautiful Things

M y coronation feast dress had been stunning, but as soon as Kat started putting me into my outfit for the revel, I understood why the first one hadn't rated as "spectacular." As sexy as it had been, it was still only a dress.

This one? Was magic.

I'd known, intellectually, that fae were famous for glamor. It was in all those spicy fae romance books the girls at the bar liked to read, and I'd heard enough about glamor while in Faery that I knew that it was the most common magical gift and a favorite of the fae. That was a lot different, though, than having Kat bring out a box of jewelry instead of a dress, and watching clothing unfurl when she placed them against my bare skin.

The style of the dress itself was fairly simple; a backless halter top with a low-cut neck and off-the-shoulder sleeves, all in heavy silk that draped over me like water flowing down a mountainside. Unlike an illusion, the glamor-cloth really was cloth, as solid and real as any other clothing. Of course, unlike actual cloth, that wasn't all it was.

Where it touched my skin, the silk was silk. But the moment it dropped away, it turned into drifting mist, floating down in streams like pictures of the Bridalveil Falls—a waterfall plummeting from the heights to be shattered into nothing more than fog. It caressed my legs, giving glimpses of my bare thighs and smooth legs; it fell off the peaks of my nipples to drift down in half-mist, half-silk drapes to cling to my hips and caress my stomach.

Vaduin had chosen to pair the outfit – which already came complete with engraved cuffs and a heavy torc – with a set of pigeon's-blood rubies from his hoard, set in what had to be fucking platinum. They hung from my ears and dripped down my bare chest like blood, the color drawing the eye against the backdrop of my sun-warmed skin and the silver-white of my dress. Combined with the smoky eyes and deep red lip Kat gave me, I looked like someone who could stand in front of a fae Court and be admired, mortal or not.

Vad arrived to do Cass' hair while I was bolting my pre-revel dinner and getting a henna-style illustration based on the Court of Mercy's seal painted on my bare back. The door was open, but he still knocked, flicking his eyes down along my outfit when I looked over.

"You look great," he said in a friendly tone. "You can keep the rubies, if you like. They suit you better than Danica."

I touched the necklace without thinking, staring at him. "That's crazy."

He laughed, his long tail curling behind him. "Consider it a coronation gift, for you to wear and Cass to admire. We got the honor of carrying your crowns, so we didn't get the chance to do a gift presentation, but we're still your loyal dukes, your majesty." Vad put his hand over his heart and gave me a playful bow. "Besides, you didn't get anything that was selected for you during that interminable affair. If you like them, keep them."

"Well, if you insist," I said, starting to smile. "His Splendor's in the consort's suite getting ready, but you can have this bathroom if you want."

"Nah," he said, sauntering over to the adjoining door. "I wouldn't want to rob you of the look on his face when he sees you for the first time in your full glory. I suspect his capacity for rational thought will vacate the building."

"Tch, sure," I said, trying not to laugh but privately delighted to get that sort of compliment from a man whose soulmate looked the way Danica did. "Whatever you say."

"You'll see." Vad rapped on the adjoining door, then flung it open without waiting for a response. "Oh, good gods, Cass, you're not even dressed ?"

Cass growled something back before Vad shut the door, and I managed to stifle my giggles until the latch closed.

"Your soulmate isn't very formal, is he?" Kat asked in a diffident voice. She asked, though, which I liked. I preferred a friendly assistant than one there for nothing but the power.

"Apparently not, though I can't imagine why," I said cheerfully. "I was poor as fuck, up until I acquired a King for a soulmate. All the events are a bit crazy-making, but the luxury sure doesn't suck."

She laughed, a soft sound. "From what I've heard, and given that he's elected to sleep in what's supposed to be my bedroom, I imagine that His Majesty doesn't have much care for admiration or luxury."

I craned my neck around to look back at her, careful not to move my torso so that I wouldn't make her smudge my temporary tattoo. "Where are you sleeping, by the way? Since Cass is squatting in your bedroom."

"In my old room in the servants' wing," she said with a shrug of one shoulder, not pausing in her careful work. It tickled. "I don't mind. "

I made a disgruntled sound at that. Though I wasn't familiar with fae politics, five days of formal events had made it very clear that appearances meant a lot to the fae, both on the surface and in layers. It wouldn't serve my purposes to have my body-servant housed with the rest of the staff.

I'd have to raise changing the layout with Cass. Maybe we could make something that suited everyone.

Kat finished with me before Vad finished with Cass (not surprising, given that Cass apparently hadn't even had on his formal clothes when Vad had showed up), so I got delivered to the royal waiting room first. I also got delivered to the waiting room last , because when the harried event manager showed up to get me and Cass to make our entrance, I was still the only one there.

I held up a finger to stop the poor man from trying to delicately ask where the King was, and leaned into my sense of Cass. It was easier now that I knew him, and had a little practice. In the space of a heartbeat I had his anxiety running in my veins, and could feel the movement of his muscles as he paced. Cold air in his lungs; wind playing through the feathers of his wings and catching on drifting tendrils of hair hanging around his face. That same breeze kissing the bare skin of his chest, his abs, his back.

He didn't seem to notice my attention, too focused on whatever it was that was keeping him from showing up where he was supposed to go. I got the sense that I could make him pay attention, prying my way to the forefront of his mind, but the idea made my skin feel slimy. Whatever was between us gave me more of a connection to him than I thought soulmates ever had. I didn't want to abuse that bond.

It was more than his reflexive command healing, and more than me getting better at parsing his body language. I was accessing some core part of Cass. Maybe that was the "soul" of "soulmates"—but I didn't think it was a normal part of the soulmate bond. If wild magic settled into familiar ruts of the soul, though, emphasizing the monstrous or empowering mages, maybe it had spent six weeks carving the magical link between me and Cass wider and deeper.

"I'll go get him," I said, my voice sounding dreamy and faraway. "We can make our own entrance."

I didn't wait for the man's response. Instead, I leaned into the siren lure of the Court, and stepped through a doorway to my soulmate.

Moonlight filled my eyes. The chill mountain breeze stirred my loose hair, playing across my skin like a lover's breath. I turned, one hand on the stone of Cass' throne – the throne whose back I'd just stepped through – and caught sight of him.

If I was a waterfall, Cass was the mountain from which I fell. Moonlight gleamed off heavy silver body-chains strung across his rugged body, the chains connected by small metal plates with dark gems set in each. Sleeves cut like armor covered his arms and ended on armored epaulets. Gauntlet jewelry covered his fingers, ending in claws. Dark leather snakeskin pants clung to his powerful thighs, and the broadsword hanging off his hip looked more deadly than decorative.

Vaduin had put his hair up in a whorl of braids, with loose tendrils dangling down to soften his strong jaw. It did nothing to soften the tense expression on his face, nor to distract from the sinful way those body-chains draped across his taut shoulders.

"We're late, your splendor," I purred at him.

Cass' attention snapped towards me with predatory aggression that sent a thrill down my spine. For one adrenaline-hot moment, I thought he might pounce on me like a hungry mountain lion, but Cass' brain caught up to him. His ears dropped and eyes widened, and then, in a dazed voice, he breathed, " Oh ."

Even though I knew the picture I made – having stared in the mirror for long enough – I still bit my lip, my skin prickling with something a lot like stage fright. I struck a pose, trying and failing to look casual about it, and said, "How do I look?"

His throat bobbed. Cass took one step towards me. "Spectacular," he said, his voice rough.

"Yeah?" I asked shyly. "Not too much like a feral cat someone stuck in a magic dress?"

"No," he said. "You look a Queen. Like you were born to be a Queen." My cheeks heated from his embarrassment as he gestured to himself. Gleaming chains swung from cuffs on his ears, drawing attention to the ruby drops dangling from his lobes. "Unlike me."

"It's true, you're not very queenly. All that testosterone really does you in on that front," I said in a fake-comforting voice, still taking him in. I was going to have to find some way to express my appreciation to Vad for bullying Cass into wearing an outfit like this. If anyone was going to spend the night possessively ogling their soulmate, it was going to be me.

"Quyen," he said with mild exasperation. "Look at me. It's like someone trussed up a bull in a vault's worth of jewelry and expected to turn a cow into a fae lord. If Vaddy hadn't called due a favor, I…" His shoulders sagged. "Fuck. I really don't want to be the center of attention. I feel like a laughingstock."

I pushed off the back of his throne and walked over, the glamored mist drifting behind me in pale veils and my legs stepping through the skirt with every pace.

Cass' eyes dropped to my bare thighs. I felt him swallow.

"I'm pretty sure Vad dressed me for you, and you for me. You don't look like a bull in jewelry. You look…" I paused, trying to think of a comparison that wouldn't sound bad to him. "You look like one of those ancient-times warlords," I said at last. "Someone so powerful and dangerous that he can dress like the idol of a god, and know that everyone looking at him will see it as a message instead of thinking he's just some rich pretty-boy they can take advantage of. Vad knows what he's doing."

I came to a halt in front of him and reached up, standing on my tiptoes to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear without touching his skin, then traced my fingers down along the dangling chains of his earrings. "I especially like these on you. It's my favorite faery style I've seen so far." Trembling pleasure ran down the edge of my ear, an echo of his own anticipation of touch.

Cass shivered from it, and turned away. "They feel far too delicate for someone like me," he said, his voice rough. "This is something Vad could wear, but me ? I don't know what he was thinking."

"I really like it, but if you don't want to wear it, don't wear it. There'll be more revels." I smiled at him, my heart hurting for him.

I didn't understand why he disliked his looks so much, but I understood being self-conscious. When puberty had seemingly forgotten me and left me with A-cups and twiggy legs while my friends turned into bombshells, I'd hated wearing anything that would let people see my body. As I'd learned to love my body for the things it could do, and as age and exercise had helped me fill out, I'd gotten over it, but maybe Cass hadn't had a chance to learn to live in the body he had.

"Vaddy called in a favor," he reminded me, sounding tense. "Wear it, let you see me in it, dance at the revel in it." A muscle in his jaw tensed. "He surely knows full well that if I flee once I walk into the revel dressed like this, it will be far more of a spectacle than for me to simply remain."

I downgraded my thank-you gift to Vad from something valuable to a gimlet stare. The last fucking thing we needed was the entire palace emoting a self-conscious desire to hide in the middle of the coronation revel.

"Well, luckily, you won't see anyone looking askance at you tonight, so you don't need to worry about being a spectacle," I said, putting a hand on my hip.

He raised a brow. "No?"

I shook my head, leaning into my best imperious voice. "Not at all. I'm taking you up on the offer of possessive ogling." When he rocked back, I flashed him my teeth. "Your eyes will remain on me the entire night."

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. One ear cocked forward, and he purred, "Will they."

"They will." I leaned a little closer, tilting my chin up so I could regard him through my dark lashes. He looked stunning in the light of the near-full moon, washed in silver with his wings gleaming in deadly promise. "Not that you'll have far to look, since you'll be spending the night dancing with me."

That smile grew sharper. "Will I."

The inhuman warmth of his body radiated against me. I wanted to lean into that heat, and didn't. Cass deserved to get to choose.

"I feel almost naked wearing nothing but glamor," I said, crooning the words at him. "Don't you want to protect me? Someone could slip their hand right up under this drifting mist. I'd be helpless."

Heat sank into me, pooling on my chest and in my groin. His dark eyes dropped to my bare shoulders and followed the lines of the ruby necklace down.

"Hardly helpless," Cass said in a low rumble. He shifted his weight forward, wings half-cocked for balance. The body-chains brushed against my nipples and I practically lit on fire from lust. "You can melt anyone who gets handsy without your invitation. They'd deserve it."

"Hm. Seems rude." I traced my fingertip along one of the metal pieces spanning the chains like I was touching him instead of his ornamentation. Fuck, his nipples were almost exactly at the height of my mouth. That was a temptation nearly beyond bearing.

A shiver of desire that wasn't mine played across my skin. Cass started breathing so hard our torsos stopped brushing and started touching , but the impact of his nearness didn't amplify our connection.

The metal, I realized. He couldn't heal through metal. He probably couldn't heal through a glamor, either. Cass was practically shirtless, and he was better-armored against me than he would have been if we'd both been dressed head-to-toe.

Okay, fine. Vad could still get a reward. A note, maybe, stating "brat."

Cass didn't say anything. He stared down at me, wanting, and he didn't speak and he didn't move—a tiger on a chain.

One thing at a time. "Come on. Let's go make our requisite appearance. We can dance until we're bored of it, admire each other while sitting in fancy chairs, and then call it in early."

He flicked one ear. "You should probably dance with the dukes. Perhaps a lord or two."

"Sure thing," I said, flashing him a bright smile. "Just keep your eyes on me. Make sure you work up a real possessive glower for the occasion."

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. His eyes hooded and lips parted in a hungry expression, tension limning his face and body. "Like this?" he said in a low purr.

My stomach did flip-flops from the predatory look in his eyes. "Exactly like that," I said, trying not to drool about it.

He smirked at me, then proffered his arm, holding it low. "Well, then. Shall we?"

I lifted my hand, but hesitated, the illusory veils of mist drifting down off my forearm to curl over his. "Are you sure?" I asked, looking up at him. "You don't have to let me touch you. I know it's a lot, and tonight's not going to be easy for you."

That smile spread, such a look of warmth that my heart felt like it might stop. "It's your choice, Quyen," Cass said softly. "If you want to touch me, then touch me. You're my soulmate. You have the right to lay claim to me." He wet his lips, voice going hoarse, and asked, "Will you?"

Please say yes.

His silent plea echoed in my thoughts, longing vibrating through my bones.

There was no way I would ever say no. Without any hesitation, I set my hand on his.