“Evie,” Soren acknowledged. “It must be an honor for you to have a Lord host a gala for you in his home.”
Moira snorted softly.
“I don’t like surprise parties, Lord.”
Soren’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t know?”
I was saved from answering him by the crack of power heralding Caelan’s arrival. His magic, usually tightly leashed to his body, rolled around him, snaps of lightning around his skin. A show of power for the other Lords and guests, telling them they were in his domain, and he ruled over all.
My breath caught as he walked inside. I hadn’t seen him close up in months. He was just as handsome as he always was, but there was an edge to him that hadn’t been there before. A sharpness in his eyes, a hint of violence as his gaze swept the room.
The stormy gray of his eyes snared me in their net. Everything inside me tightened. Caelan’s face was blank, but emotion burned in his eyes.
If only things were different, maybe I could have loved him.
The thought took me by surprise, considering I wanted to punch him in his stupid face about eighty percent of the time.
His hair was shorter than normal, artfully arranged, and still a little messy. His jaw was clenched tight. Something must have happened just before he walked in. Caelan was a master at managing his emotions in public, but while his face was blank, anger beat from his tense form.
He made a beeline over to the table. I sat, frozen, hoping he would choose a seat by Soren or Moira, but my luck had run out. Caelan chose the seat right next to me. Even before he sat down, his power crackled against my skin, a testament to his power.
“Evie,” he murmured. “It’s nice to see you again.”
I studied him for a long moment. “One day I’m going to stab you in the kidney, and you’ll never see it coming.”
His low, wicked chuckle rolled down my spine. “Nice to see you haven’t changed a bit.”
Now that the Lords were seated, the other guests entered the ballroom, Simone directing people to their seats with her trademark efficiency.
“Why are you doing this?” I hissed under my breath.
“Because our local Floromancer has chosen to ignore every request for a meeting I’d sent her over the last few months.”
“So you throw a ball in my honor without telling me? What kind of fucked up shit is that?”
“Evie,” Moira said quietly.
“The kind of fucked up that gets your attention,” Caelan said. He made a gesture that had two servers hurrying over. “Red, please. Evie?”
“Red as well.”
They refilled mine and filled a different glass for Caelan, a deep royal blue goblet.
“Fancy,” I said, unable to keep the shitty note from my voice.
He laughed under his breath. “You’re so easy to antagonize, Evangeline.”
“Stop calling me that.” One visit with my mother, and Caelan assumed he knew everything about me.
“It’s a beautiful name. Why don’t you want to use it?”
“Because it’s none of your business.” I flicked a hand at the rest of his adoring audience. “Can we get on with this so I can get out of here?”
“I’m wounded you find my presence so appalling. Many women consider me handsome and alluring. They fall all over themselves?—”
“Please stop,” I begged.
“And crawl into my bed,” he continued. “Short women, tall women, pale women, tanned women…”
