Page 20 of Seas the Reckoning

“Leena, love, if we didn’t have to be somewhere tonight …”

I’d laughed.

“You’d prefer to remove it? After all the effort I made picking it out?”

“Good point. I’d take you to dinner, and then⁠—”

“We could go somewhere private and enjoy dessert?” I teased.

He groaned in response.

“You’re going to kill me before we even set foot in that manor.”

He went on to suggest a few other things we might do in the process of removing the dress, and I blush just thinking about it.

The memory bolsters me. I look good, and I am confident. At least that’s what I keep repeating to myself.

“If we can’t actually threaten these potential suitors, we should at least be dressed to kill,” Starla had reasoned at the shops.

She and Jackal are right. I feel better knowing that we will blend in with the other elite supernatural guests.

The gentlemen are no less dazzling. Each in suits. Jackal in a classic-cut slate, Exos in a slightly lighter grey that fits over his muscles in a way that suggests expert tailoring. Ji-hwan is wearing a cream number with an asymmetrical cut on the front of his blazer. The Were walks with the confidence of someone who knows he looks good.

“Remember all, we’re on our best behavior, yes? Be your most winning self. Make a friend, find our answers.”

In the name of that goal, and following Starla’s insistence that her father ought to know as little about her as possible, we’re not shouting about our interpersonal relationships. As tricky as it will be, I am not advertising that Jackal is my mate.

Just as Starla will be keeping far away from Exos. If anyone asks, she chose him for his sheer size and intimidation factor, in case she needed such a thing.

Finding out that his daughter is dating the gargoyle escorting her would no doubt sour her father’s plans and his mood, and we all agreed that would not be to our benefit.

Ji-hwan flashes our group a smile that shows the faintest sharpness to his canines.

“We all do look exquisite, although I like to think that with my charms I could have gotten us admitted even if we were wearing potato sacks.”

“True enough, mate,” Jackal says.

Pickles is the only one missing from our party at the moment. The basset hound will remain safely tucked away at Zyra and Theodore’s. Grammy said to bring him to England, but she also said to trust our instincts. And my instincts tell me that I will have enough anxiety trying to hunt for information, when I’m not even certain what I’m digging for, without having to monitor the basset hound this first night out.

I’ll have to trust that when his moment does come, I’ll be able to recognize my gut vs. my anxieties.

I’ve only had to remind myself eleven times since we’ve left Zyra’s house that it’s highly unlikely the dog will accidentally set fire to the home where my mate’s family resides.

One small spark. It wouldn’t be his fault either. It would be yours.

Twelve times.

But my intrusive thoughts will no doubt find something new worth fixating on once the event begins. Can’t say I’m looking forward to it, but it’ll be a change, if nothing else. Not that I can’t multitask and catastrophize multiple situations at once.

We’re making our way up a long driveway. The entrance to the estate, after we were let through gates on the property perimeter, wound through rows of tall trees. It was Starla’s idea to have Jackal pull under some and park the vehicle inconspicuously.

“Where some English estates like the sprawling view, my father likes keeping prying human eyes away from his property. Plus, if we do need a quick escape, there’s less chance of him following us if we don’t just hop in a car parked by his own valet staff,” she had reasoned.

I’m not sure if we really need to be ready for battle, or if Starla’s just extra-jumpy after enduring her father’s welcome wagon and being on the precipice of being reunited with an estranged parent. But I’m not going to argue with her.

Sports cars whose prices would rival that of most peoples’ homes make their way past us, and I can see the valets in the distance, waiting to park them all.

“If this follows years past, there will be a dinner and then dancing. But prior to that, there will be a cocktail hour. I’d hoped we’d beat the earliest drinkers, but I can see I was mistaken,” the witch says.