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Now,thatwas what I was worried about.
“May I have the first dance, empress?” he asked, offering her his hand.
I cringed at his cheesy line. But Mindy smiled and took his hand.
“I hope to have a dance with you as well, Genevieve.”
I nodded tightly, trying to smile. I didn’t like him but couldn’t be rude either. He was the son of Mindy’s mother’s friends. We were their guests.
And what was he doing that other guys didn’t do on a regular basis? Ogling pretty little Mindy was a regular pastime for most guys in her vicinity. It was the cold hunger in those hazel eyes that made me nervous. I might be oversensitive due to recent events in my own life, suspecting every man when it was unwarranted. But still.
“Relax, Genevieve,” I whispered to myself, downing my wine in two gulps and strolling out to find another.
An orchestra of strings played at the front of the ballroom along with a modern band onstage. In sleek black suits, two men played electric guitars in accompaniment with the classic instruments. The drummer wore black slacks and a white T-shirt, his hair a wild mess. A statuesque redhead in a floor-length green gown stepped up to the microphone. Her hair draped in shining waves over one shoulder. Were it not for the full-sleeved tattoo on one arm, I’d have thought she fit right into the mix.
I liked this touch of incivility in the room. It made me more comfortable. As she began to sing a soft, melancholy melody, I drifted farther across the hall. The effect of violins and cellos in harmony with the electric guitars was haunting and lovely.
I drew closer, seeing a server holding a tray of red wine. I knew I should refrain from drinking too much, but I needed a bit more liquid courage.
My VS tingled with Flamma present. Jude, Kat, and George were here somewhere, but there were others as well.
I took a glass and sipped lightly and slowly from the sidelines. The myriad of masks had a fantastic effect in the dimly lit room while the ghostly melody echoed through the grand hall.
Vibrant colors, curving shapes, glitter and satin, all enhanced the beautiful dancers under crystal chandeliers. Then there were others. Strange and bizarre masks—animalistic, suggestive of large cats, predatory birds, and ravenous wolves—adorned the more eccentric.
Nathaniel spun Mindy close by. She tossed her head back, laughing.
“He should be wearing one of those,” I said to myself, thinking of the slit-eyed wolf mask I’d just seen.
“Who should be wearing one of what?” came the feminine voice next to me.
I jumped, then relaxed. “Kat! Oh, thank God.”
She wore a formfitting gown in leopard print, a feline mask framing green eyes swimming unnaturally with eddies of black. Her platinum hair spilled over her shoulders in crimped waves. She was breathtaking.
“Damn, Kat. If you’re trying to blend in, it’ll never happen.”
“All in a day’s work, my friend. Just trying to fit in with the nobility.” She said the word “nobility” as if it were something contemptuous that might bite. Who knows? Maybe it would.
“Has George seen you in this dress yet?” I grinned.
Her head snapped to mine. “What do you mean? Who cares if he sees me?”
“Oh, I think you care very much, Kat.”
She huffed out a breath, gulping her pink champagne. “Is it that obvious?”
“Yeah. But he’s got it bad too. The way he looks at you.”
“Really?”
Her austere gaze transformed to something more vulnerable. My heart hurt for her. I wondered what had happened between them, but this was certainly not the time or place to get the details.
“Without a doubt,” I assured her.
She swigged the rest of her champagne and placed the empty flute on the tray of a passing server.
“So, have you seen any demons?”
