"Do it," Wilder said next, but his eyes were on Keir.
"I'm trying," Keir assured him.
And now I was laughing. "I'm doing it!" I assured all of them.
Which made Pascal look back. "Kinky!" he teased, earning himself a middle finger from me and a grunt from Keir.
My only request was that instead of waiting until dinner, we had lunch in the atrium. That way, we could sit around as long as we wanted without watching the clock and worrying about curfew. Needless to say, Keir agreed easily.
So the moment I woke up on Saturday - which was closer to noon than morning - I began rummaging through my wardrobe for the perfect outfit. I wanted to be cute for this. After all, Keir was making a whole picnic for us! But did that mean I should wear a dress or jeans?
Ok, so the dining hall was making the food, and I had no clue how he was getting it there, but he'd said date, and that made this feel bigger and heavier than it should've. My hair was twisted up in a claw clip, and I was still in my crow jammies when Aspen peeked her head in to let me know she was heading out with Torian and the rest of the court.
"You're not even ready?" she gasped the moment she saw me.
"I don't know what to wear!" I whimpered. "Aspen, I've never had a real date before."
But the sound of Torian scoffing made it clear he'd heard. "It's not a date when you're still at school, Rain." Then he pushed around Aspen and stepped into my room.
Slowly, his eyes ran across my body. When he reached my crow-covered pajama pants, I saw one corner of his mouth lift ever-so-slightly, then it was gone. And yet, when his spring-green eyes made their way back up to mine, there was a glint in them I wasn't used to: a playful one.
"Bippity boppity boo," he said more blandly than I thought possible before flipping his first two fingers at me. "Now, don't forget that your prince takes care of you."
It sounded impressive as fuck, but Aspen's little giggle proved he was full of shit. With a groan, I turned away, intending to make yet another pass through what counted as my closet - and stopped hard. There, lying on my bed, was the perfect dress for this. It was a soft grey color with delicate crows embroidered all over it, and long. If I had to describe it, I'd have to say this was the sort of dress a woman wore when sitting on a wooden swing - which made sense in my head, at any rate.
"Tor?" I asked, turning around just to find him and Aspen disappearing through her side of the bathroom.
Yet the sound of his name made him glance back. "This doesn't repay our debt," he told me. "But it's a start."
"There's no debt," I countered.
He shrugged. "I disagree. I'm also enjoying myself. You deserve nice things, Rain le Fae."
And then he was gone, but the dress was still there, daring me to try it on. After closing my door, I definitely did, and the fit was magically perfect. Somehow, this thing made my cleavage look amazing, hugged my waist like I was wearing a corset, and yet felt like I was still in my jammies. Plus, it was long enough I could sit on the ground without showing the wrong thing.
"Ready, Jack?" I asked once I was as good as I was going to get.
"Knight!" he cawed, swooping across the room to land on my wrist. "Rain-Knight." And he nodded emphatically.
Well, I was going to take that as encouragement. It was a little weird heading to the elevator on my own. Aspen wasn't worried, having pointed out that Shadow's alerts still worked, but we'd been pairing up for a while now, making sure no one in the court was isolated unless necessary.
Even more weird, when I made it down to the atrium - on a Saturday - there was only one guy waiting inside. Keir, wearing a mouth-watering pair of dark jeans and a slightly-too-tight t-shirt, leaned against the massive silver oak in the middle. His arms were crossed over his chest. His legs had been kicked out before him and crossed at the ankles.
His violet-blue eyes slid slowly down my body.
"Now that," he said, pushing away from the tree to close the distance between us, "might be the most beautiful dress I've seen in my life."
"Court!" Jack cawed before taking off, heading into the trees to stretch his wings a bit.
Both Keir and I watched him, turning to see where he'd disappear to this time. When he ducked into the branches of a weeping willow, I turned back, only to find Keir smiling at me softly. It was definitely a good look on him.
"So you like the crows on my dress?" I asked, trying hard to pretend that was a naive question.
Which made him laugh. "I can hear that, Rain. And no, I like that dress because of the woman inside it." Then he offered his arm. "I've already set up a nice little spot back here, though. It's entirely possible I had some help too."
I let him lead me through the massive garden built into the middle of our school, all the way to the back. Just before we reached the giant glass panels that looked out on the grounds, Keir turned a bit, then lifted the branch of a cedar tree.
"Your dining hall, my lady."
