He pouted at her, but Tabitha just looked back at him with no hint of remorse in her face. She’d be an excellent poker player, if she wasn’t already.
“Nice to meet you,” I said with a courteous nod, ignoring the flicker of heat in my heart. Maria. Tabitha. Fortuna. Laurie wasn’t certainly short on the company of beautiful people.
The same could be said for you, I reminded myself. I really was jealous. There was no point in pretending otherwise. But what was I supposed to do with this feeling?
When Tabitha moved toward the bedroom, I shot a confused frown toward Laurie. I thought we didn’t want anyone to know I was here? I hoped it said.
He interpreted my look correctly. “Tabby has been in my employ for fourteen years, give or take. She knows she’ll always benefit more from loyalty to me than offers from anyone else. Isn’t that right, Tabby?”
“Sixteen years. And speaking of offers, I just got another one from Lord Arthion.”
Laurie smiled again, his gaze flicking to the doorway where Tabitha now stood. The dress and the bag were no longer in her hands. “Just wire the money into your account, little thief,” he said.
“Already done,” she returned.
Seeing the familiarity between them, I realized that Laurie had an entire life I knew nothing about. I’d always been aware, of course. With all his comings and goings, his occupation, and the history with Collith, it was obvious there were parts of this faerie prince I wasn’t privy to. Catching glimpses of it now was startling, unsettling, and riveting.
I cleared my throat and asked, “Do you have a suit for Gil to borrow?”
The question was meant for either of them. As Laurie answered, he followed his assistant into the bedroom. “Tabby has already given the vampire some clothing. It’s not a suit, though—it’s a uniform. There’s no way to explain his presence to the Court, not to mention that his kind wouldn’t be invited to the palace as a guest.”
“His kind?” I echoed hotly, going after him. Tabitha had seen Gil? I wanted to ask how he was, but I couldn’t let this comment pass by unacknowledged.
At the threshold, I slowed and held my hand up, protecting my eyes. Tabitha had opened the curtains. Sunlight streamed over the wooden floorboards and thick rugs. How long had we been asleep? Had it been an entire day? No wonder my stomach was growling. Still holding the paper bag Tabitha had given me, I moved deeper into the room, waiting for my eyes to adjust.
The dress now hung on the wardrobe door. Tabitha sat on the bed, lining makeup and hair tools across the bedspread. I stopped near the bathroom door and watched Laurie pick up an armchair from the corner. Making it look light as the kitten he’d given me, he carried it over to the mirror. Then he perched his elbow on the back of the chair and turned as he said, “My dear, there’s no time to delve into the discrimination, corruption, and politics of a worldwide organization such as this one. What matters is this vampire you seem to care so much about will be at the party, and he will be at our side when we’re making our anticlimactic escape. Isn’t that enough?”
I glared at Laurie for a long moment, thinking of everything he’d done for me. “Fine,” I said.
It was as close to agreeing that I would get, and Laurie probably knew it. He straightened. “Well, then. Now that you two have sworn to be on your best behavior, I’m going to make some calls. Tabby, which room did you say my suit was in?”
“The study.”
“Excellent. Oh, and you really should eat that, Lady Sworn. It’s from my favorite café, an adorable place owned by the wrinkliest pair of humans I’ve ever seen.” Laurie retreated to the doorway, rapped on the wooden frame with his knuckles, and moved out of sight.
The fact that he was leaving me alone with Tabitha meant he trusted her. However complicated he may be, Laurie cared about whether I lived or died.
“Take a seat,” Tabitha said the moment he was gone. “You can eat while I’m working on you.”
She didn’t waste time or mince words, and something about the way she spoke reminded me of Adam. Maybe that was why I kept finding myself inclined to like her.
I settled into the armchair Laurie had moved, and Tabitha’s fingers immediately began rearranging my hair. I noted how careful she was to avoid skin-to-skin contact. As I finally began eating the sandwich she’d brought, I looked at Tabitha in the mirror, studying that beautiful, impassive face behind me, and I couldn’t contain my curiosity.
“So how did you and Laurie meet?” I asked impulsively, swallowing.
Tabitha didn’t hesitate, and her response was matter-of-fact as she gathered my thick hair and secured it into a high ponytail. “Sixteen years ago, His Majesty purchased me at a black market in Cairo. After the auction, he brought me to an apartment that was furnished and paid for. The deed was in my name, he said. Those were the first words I ever heard him say. There was also a bank account that would help me survive for several months. And then he offered a job, a position in his inner circle. If I turned him down, he would leave and never return. The apartment and the account were mine, no strings attached.”
“There are always strings,” I retorted, eating the last bite of the sandwich. Why was she telling me this so freely?
Tabitha’s rosebud lips curled into a wry smile. She plucked the crumpled paper bag out of my hands and stepped away. She put the bag in a small trash bin, then went to the bed to retrieve some of her makeup supplies. She came back to the chair and said, “Of course. King Laurelis had been watching me at the market, you see. He saw the vengeance burning in my eyes. He knew I would not be able to resist a chance to undermine the creatures who had raped me and killed my family.”
“Faeries,” I said. It wasn’t a question; my voice was flat.
“Faeries.” Tabitha’s dark eyes met mine in the mirror. Her smile became bitter, her eyes two hollows. “They wore masks, but I could see their ears. They moved like only faeries could, as well. I still don’t know which ones broke into our home that night, though it doesn’t really matter anymore. I live here, ruining them one by one. Learning their secrets. Making them dance like puppets. They look at me and see a slave, and I allow it because it suits my needs right now.”
“Not to mention, it pads that bank account,” I remarked. Tabitha made a sound of acknowledgement. I absorbed her story while she circled the chair. It was a mutually beneficial partnership—Laurie got a loyal spy, and she got her revenge. She was the king’s secret weapon; all he had to do was point her in a certain direction. But somewhere along the way, as things usually did, it had gotten more complicated than that. Real warmth had formed between them.
Unaware of my thoughts, Tabitha bent and touched my face with a makeup brush. Every few seconds, she dipped it on a pallet of powders. Once she was finished with a layer of foundation, the female picked up a tube of eyeliner. “Don’t move,” she instructed.
I nodded and closed my eyes, inwardly struggling. I wanted to ask Tabitha what she was, but amongst Fallenkind, it was generally considered rude. I’d also been meaning to ask her about Gil. The eye makeup took longer, though, and I got distracted by more thoughts, other worries.
When Tabitha leaned away, my eyes went to the mirror again. I didn’t care about how I looked; I focused on the wardrobe, where the dress still hung in its protective sheath. My forehead wrinkled with lines of apprehension. “Do I want to know what he picked out for tonight?”