“It’s your night,” I said, smiling up at him. “I’m just your sidekick, remember?”
He let out a low, throaty laugh. “Yes, I suppose tonight is my night in many ways. I’ve worked hard to get here, and now it’s finally happening.”
I frowned, wondering what he meant, but Sebastian gave me another winning smile.
“Actually, if things go well, I thought that we might sneak out of the party a little early. Have a quiet drink and talk—about us.”
“Us?”
My heart hammered in my chest, so loud that I thought he would hear it. I’d been so happy being with Sebastian these last two weeks that I hadn’t thought much about the future, other than my stupid daydreams. I hadn’t let myself think about it, because I knew that as soon as I found Vaughn’s file or Fletcher figured out what was bothering him about the job, I wouldn’t have an excuse to see Sebastian anymore. Fletcher would insist that I break things off with him, and rightfully so. But Sebastian’s serious tone indicated that he’d given a lot of thought to the future and that he wanted me to be a part of his.
“Gin? Are you okay?”
“Of course,” I said in a smooth voice, hiding the turbulent emotions racing through me. “But don’t you think that it’s a little soon to be talking about the future? We’ve only been seeing each other a couple of weeks.”
“I know it’s soon, but I also know exactly how I feel about you. And I think I know how you feel about me too. So what do you say? Let’s slip away from the party later, have a drink, and talk. Okay?”
He smiled again, and I was simply . . . lost.
The same way that I’d been lost ever since that first night when I’d talked to him outside the library at Dawson’s mansion. And again when he’d kissed me inside the Pork Pit. And yet again when he’d arranged that romantic dinner for us. And all of the sweet, wonderful, thoughtful things that he’d done for me since then.
“Gin?”
I stared into his eyes, letting myself drown in them, in him, yet again. “I’d love that.”
Just like I love you.
The words rose unbidden in my mind. For a moment, everything just stopped. Then my brain kicked back into gear, and I realized that my heart was hammering even harder than before.
Because the words were true—so very true.
Assassins weren’t supposed to fall in love. Oh, it wasn’t one of Fletcher’s hard-and-fast rules, but it was one of those things that simply went without saying. Because how could someone ever really know you, much less ever truly love you, when you spent your life in the shadows? When you went from one dirty job and violent confrontation to the next? When being an assassin was what made you, well, you, for better or worse?
It was bad enough that I’d been foolish enough to fall for someone, but the unavoidable thing, the really terrible thing, the truly insurmountable thing, was the fact that I was in love with the son of the man I’d killed and that Sebastian would hate me if he ever found out the truth.
I’d never thought much about irony before, but I couldn’t escape it, not now, when it felt as sharp as one of my own knives buried in my heart and twisting in deeper and deeper. Oh, yes, irony was a capricious bitch, just like luck.
“Gin?”
I gave him another smile, hiding my inner turmoil, then stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “I would love to talk about our future—later. Right now, though, we’ve got a party to attend.”
Sebastian grinned, tightened his grip on my arm, and led me up the stairs and into the mansion. For a moment, I felt a sinking sense of déjà vu. I’d jokingly told Fletcher that I wasn’t some character out of a fairy tale, doomed to heartbreak, that I wasn’t Cinderella, but that’s exactly who and what I was tonight, because my time with Sebastian was rapidly running out.
And there was nothing that I could do to keep the clock from striking midnight.
Sebastian led me to the grand ballroom on the second floor of the mansion.
It looked like a scene out of one of those old Hollywood movies that Sophia loved to watch. The wooden parquet floor had been waxed until it glinted like gold underfoot, while the crystal chandeliers dripped down from the ceiling like clusters of diamonds, throwing out rainbow sprays of color in every direction. Vases full of those dark blue roses perched in alcoves in the walls, adding more color to the scene. Food tables had been set up around the perimeter of the room, along with several elemental Ice bars, the frosty surfaces steaming slightly underneath the heat from the lights. Members of an orchestra were checking their instruments and warming up in the back corner of the room. Sebastian had had people working around the clock the last few days to get ready for the party, and it had more than paid off. The ballroom had been transformed from a simple open space into a place of lush, opulent elegance.
“What do you think?” Sebastian asked.
“It’s beautiful.”
“I’m glad you think so, miss,” another voice cut in.
A dwarven woman strode into the ballroom behind us. She held a clipboard in her hand, while a black plastic headset was clamped down over her frizzy black hair. I blinked. Meredith Ruiz. The same event planner who’d put together the dinner at Tobias Dawson’s mansion.
Meredith’s gaze took in my silver dress, shoes, and purse. I waited for her eyes to narrow and sharpen, but all she did was turn up the wattage on her bland, polite smile. She didn’t recognize me. Why would she? I wasn’t one of the waitresses she could bully around, so I was of no use to her.
She turned to Sebastian. “Now, sir, if you’ll step over to the patio doors with me, there’s something that I need to discuss with you . . .”
Meredith grabbed his arm and led him away, but I stayed where I was, looking at first one thing, then another. The glistening chandeliers, the silver platters of gourmet food, the golden champagne that the bartenders were pouring into delicate crystal flutes. I was so focused on the sights that it took me a few moments to realize that the stone walls of the ballroom were whispering. But not with pride at how the room had been transformed.
No, the stones muttered with malice and ill intent.
I frowned, reaching out with my magic, wondering why the stones were so upset. Now that Vaughn was dead, I’d thought that the harsh whispers would slowly start to fade away, but instead, it seemed as if they’d only intensified since I’d last been in the mansion a few days ago—