Wings of the Wicked (14 page)

“Why?” she sputtered.

Cadan’s expression remained cruelly resolute as he stepped up to her and raised his sword again, the blade glossy and wet with Ivar’s blood.

Her eyes were glued to his. “You’re going to kill me?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “But I can’t let you go back to Bastian knowing what you know. I can’t let any of this happen.”

He swung, lightning fast, sweeping the blade through her neck cleanly. Her head slipped free, hit the ground, and rolled away, her pale hair streaked with red. Her body hardened to stone, and as she collapsed, it shattered into a thousand pieces.

I shut my eyes for just a moment, feeling Ivar’s pain echoing through my heart. When I opened them again, I saw that Cadan hadn’t moved except to let his arms hang heavily. He stared at Ivar’s remains and said nothing.

I stepped closer to him, reaching out a hand to touch him, but he jerked away from me. “Cadan—?”

He turned his face only slightly in my direction, but it was enough for me to see the shattering pain across his face. With that look, I wondered if he might have loved Ivar once or if something had happened between them.

“Don’t, Ellie,” he said. His voice wasn’t cold or cruel, just full of hurt.

I studied his face carefully, perplexed by what had just happened. “Are you okay?”

His fiery eyes were dull, and he didn’t look away from me. Snowflakes clung to his hair. “No.”

His wings spread and he leaped into the air, disappearing from sight as he melted into the Grim.

And then it was just me and Ivar’s crumbled remains. I didn’t move, didn’t speak, just sat there on the cold pavement as the snow settled on me. The cold was beginning to affect me, but I couldn’t bring myself to move to reach my coat.

“Ellie?”

I blinked at the sound of my name. My first thought was that Cadan had come back, but then I saw Will running toward me.

“Ellie,” he called again as he reached me and dropped to his knees. He inspected me as usual, but I didn’t even have a scratch on me. Thanks to Cadan. Fuzz balls swarmed in my head again as the reality hit me.

“What happened?” Will asked. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. “He killed her.”

“Who?” he asked, brushing my hair out of my face. “Who killed who?” He noticed my shivering and grabbed my coat and wrapped it around my shoulders. It didn’t help at all.

“Cadan,” I said robotically, still staring at the stone pile in front of me. “He killed Ivar.”

Will paused, maybe to absorb the absurd truth I’d just given him. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. She was going to tell Bastian that Cadan has been talking to me and then she attacked me. He stopped her from doing both. He killed her to protect me.”

“Ivar’s dead,” Will said in disbelief. “And Cadan tracked you down again? Ellie, you can’t—”

“It’s not like that,” I interjected. “He’s helped me! The necklace Zane was protecting, it was made by Aldebaran, the Lord of the East, and it’s cursed with some seriously strong mojo. It’s the real deal, and Cadan warned me that the same demonic vir who took Zane out will be coming for me next. Their names are Merodach and Kelaeno, and they’ve got almost everything they need for Bastian. Cadan killed Ivar to protect the information he told me, so don’t just dismiss this.”

Will’s jaw tightened. “All right. We’ll look into this with Nathaniel, but please don’t see Cadan alone again.
Please
.”

“It’s not like I’m going looking for him,” I grumbled. “Cadan really wants to help us. He’s risking his life to do so.”

Another long silence. I couldn’t blame him. I wouldn’t have believed me, either. At least there was one less of Bastian’s lackeys to worry about. A demonic reaper asked to be my valentine and then killed his crazy ex-girlfriend to save my life. Tomorrow I was starting up antipsychotic meds.

“Let’s get you home before your fingers freeze off,” Will suggested. He stood and took my hand, then helped me to my feet, and we walked to my car in silence.

12

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING AGAIN?” WILL ASKED IN A bored voice, on the other side of my closet door. “A Valentine’s Day party?”

I rolled my eyes as I shimmied the red strapless sheath dress up and over my hips. The difficulty in accomplishing this made me wish I’d started putting it on over my head. “It is not a Valentine’s Day party. That would be lame.”

He laughed. “It’s the same thing.”

“No, it’s not,” I grumbled. “This is a Hearts Afire party. Totally different.”

“How is it different? Valentine’s Day is in a few days.”

“It’s a
Hearts Afire
party.” The seam along the side of the dress was ruched and allowed a little movement, and the pencil shape gave me more of an hourglass figure than I had in normal clothes. I leaned against the closet shelves to keep my balance as I slipped on a pair of black heels.

All I needed now was someone to zip up my dress in the back. I examined myself vainly from every angle in the floor-length mirror hooked onto the back of my closet door. It used to be on the other side of my door, but the more Will hung out over here while I was getting ready, the more I had needed to switch it so I could change in private. I had to make sure I looked good
before
leaving the closet. “Why do you care anyway?”

“You go to these parties a lot.”

“Do not. This is my first party in practically a month.”

“Didn’t Kate have a party two weeks ago?”

I glowered. “That was in
January
. It’s February now. What are you going to do when I’m at college and go to parties three nights a week? You’re going to go crazy.”

“I hope you can fit patrolling in between all these future parties.”

“I live like five different lives. I’m the goddess of multitasking. You know this.”

I opened the closet door and stepped out. Heat flushed through me when Will’s eyes went wide and he gaped at me from my desk chair.

I strode across the room toward him, my hand pinning the front of my dress to my chest. “I need your help.”

“What?” His eyebrows lifted almost imperceptibly, but there was no way I could have missed that look.

I chomped on the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning like an idiot and turned my back to him. “Zip me?”

“Uh, yeah.”

The heat of his gaze on my back was scorching as he stood up. His fingers brushed my bare skin as he zipped up the remaining inches of my open dress.

“You look … beautiful,” he said softly, the breath of his words on my neck.

I inhaled deeply and swallowed hard as I imagined him drawing the zipper in the opposite direction and his lips touching the place his breath had warmed. Things fluttered in my chest, and I shivered. “Thank you.”

He didn’t step away and I didn’t move for the longest, most excruciating moment. At last I turned to my dresser to touch up my makeup in the mirror. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye and grinned, my confidence returning.

“You’ve got a little drool,” I teased, tapping the corner of my mouth. “Right here.”

His cheeks actually grew rosy and he gave a nervous laugh as he sat back down on the chair. “You’re funny. Really.”

I looked back into the mirror and applied another coat of mascara. My heart pounded as I tried to be fearless. “Not as funny as your face right now.”

“How can you walk in those heels?” he asked, changing the subject.

“You have entirely too little faith in me.” I turned around to look at his outfit. I grimaced. “Is that what you’re wearing? Really?”

He frowned and looked down at his jeans and long-sleeved tee. “What’s wrong with it?”

I tilted my head to examine him. “You look normal. You don’t look afire at all. At least your shirt is black. Dress code said red or black only. Anything else will get you thrown out, just warning you.”

“Ellie,” he said, sucking in his top lip, “I know you love these parties and I don’t mind going with you. I
prefer
being with you. But I hate it when you make me dress up for them. That’s just not me.”

I stepped toward him and ran my hand through his hair, something that I knew calmed him—and me. He closed his eyes, and butterflies danced through my belly. “I’m sorry. I just really like to torture you.”

He opened his green eyes to meet mine, but he didn’t respond. This was the first time I’d really looked into his face since the night he told me he’d slept with Ava. I tried so hard not to think about her, and about Will’s hands on her the way I wanted them on me, but the longer my gaze lingered on his, the more the vise around my heart tightened. I felt my lip quiver once and I tightened my jaw immediately, but it was too late. He caught the break in my expression and a look of worry passed across his face.

“Are you ready?” I asked, wheeling away from him before I let a tear come.

He let out a tired breath. “Yeah.”

Josie Newport’s parents had an obscene amount of money, and their house was gorgeous. Since they were always out of town and the housekeepers let her do just about whatever she wanted, her parties were amazing. Josie and I had been close when we were little because our moms were friends, but as the years went by, Josie’s mom became more interested in pricey vacations and making sure her husband’s wandering eye didn’t turn into wandering hands and other wandering whatnots. Josie was a sweetheart, though, and my friends and I got invited to her parties.

I strolled up the plowed drive in my four-inch heels with Will trailing behind me. The line of parked cars stretched all the way down the drive to the gatehouse by the main road. Before I even entered the mansion, I could hear the music thumping. I glanced back at Will, who met my gaze after he finished surveying the snow-covered lawn. I gave him a reassuring smile.

I raised my hand to knock, but the butler opened the door at just that moment. The walls of Josie’s grand foyer were draped with textured red cloth, and bright red light streamed up from the floor. We followed the red drapes through a vast corridor where they were blown by a wind machine. They looked gorgeous clouding in the wind with the red floor lights dancing against the cloth.

The corridor opened up to the banquet hall—which was a lot more like a ballroom—and I smiled wide when I saw practically the entire senior class dancing, all wearing red or black as required. More drapes hung from a chandelier in the center of the room and extended to the walls. White lights hung from the ceiling like stars, and the DJ booth at the front of the long room glittered with white and red lights.

Knowing Will wouldn’t dance with me, I looked around at the many faces in hopes that I’d spot Kate. I told Will that I’d be right back and pushed my way through the sea of red and black but didn’t find her anywhere. Doubling back, I looked for Will and scowled. He already had some girl on him, running her mouth, and he looked entirely bored.

When I walked up to them, the girl gave me a dirty look. I just rolled my eyes and grabbed Will’s arm before dragging him off, despite her protest.

“I can’t take you anywhere, can I?”

I grumbled. “I was waiting for you to come back,” he replied. “I didn’t move.”

I sighed. “I’m still looking for Kate, so try not to get picked up while I’m gone, all right?”

He gave me a puzzled look. How anyone could be that clueless was beyond me. “She’s right there,” he said, looking over my shoulder.

I followed his gaze. Sure enough, Kate stomped toward us like a supermodel on the catwalk, wearing a bubble cocktail dress made of gleaming white satin.

“The invitation said black or red only,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “What happened to the dress you tried on?”

“I don’t like to blend in,” she said dismissively. She gave me a wide smile. “Your dress looks gorgeous on you. Doesn’t she look gorgeous, Will?” She stared at him expectantly.

“Always,” he said.

Kate grinned with approval. She looked around and waved at someone across the room. Marcus. He sauntered over to us wearing a deep-red tuxedo. He wrapped an arm around Kate’s waist and kissed her on the cheek, lighting a spark of uneasiness in my gut.

“Will, Ellie.” He greeted us with a smile and met my gaze. “You’re looking lovely.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I like your suit. You look like the fanciest tomato I’ve ever seen in my life.”

He laughed. “How sweet of you. I really do like your dress. Red is a good color on you.”

A river of ice rushed through my veins. Bastian had said the same thing to me when I’d met him, but instead of wearing a red dress that night, I had been drenched with blood.

Marcus gave me a strange look. “You okay, Ell?”

I brushed it off. “I’m fine. I’ll be right back.” I needed a cool drink. The refreshments buffet was along the adjacent wall, near some plush chairs and loveseats set in the darkest corner of the room. I walked over and filled a cup with punch and sipped quickly, relishing the cool, sugary syrup running down my throat.

“Did I say something wrong?” asked Marcus as he stopped by my side.

I waved a hand at him. “When you said red was a good color on me, it reminded me … it’s just something that Bastian said to me. Got a little freaked out for a second. I’m all right.”