I snorted. “You hate socializing? Well, I’m downright shocked.”
He chuckled. “There’s no need for your sarcasm.”
“Is it truly sarcasm when it’s fact?” I countered.
“I guess not.” He sobered and took a breath. “At least this year I’ll have you as my date.” He paled when he realized what he said. “Not that we’re dating, or even can date, but as your protector, I’ll escort you.”
“Don’t worry,” I began, my voice hard and resigned, “I know you didn’t mean it as a real date.”
He winced. “Mara—”
“It’s okay. I get it, I really do. You don’t need to explain.”
His jaw clenched but the bathroom door opened. Adelaide saw us and stopped in the doorway. “Uh … I’m not interrupting something, am I?”
“No, not at all.” Theo strode back over to the door to my room and sat down on the floor.
Adelaide looked at me skeptically as she took her place beside me.
I scrolled through the website clicking on dresses here and there. There were plenty of pretty dresses, beautiful ones, but none of them felt like me.
“Ugh, I don’t like any of these,” I groaned.
“You’re too picky,” Adelaide scolded. “Here, give it to me.”
She sat up and took her laptop back. She hid the screen from me as she scrolled through the pages.
“A-ha,” she finally cried. “This is the dress. I know it. But please, keep your mind blank so you don’t hate it right off the bat. It’s perfect.”
She slowly and gently placed the laptop in front of me. I gasped. She was right. It was perfect.
The dress was a silvery-gray color with flowered detailing on the top and part of the bottom. It was flowy and soft, not showy at all, and perfectly me.
“You like it? You do, right?”
“It’s beautiful.”
She smiled and clapped her hands excitedly. “I knew it was perfect. Now we just need masks.”
A couple of minutes later she’d selected a peacock mask for herself and a plain silver lace one for me. She placed the order for our stuff and closed her laptop. I had no idea how it got delivered, maybe by magical little fairies flying the stuff through the air, or maybe for all I knew it was an enchanted website and everything appeared in Victor’s office the moment it was ordered so he could inspect it.
“So, what’s with the enchanters and masks?” I asked.
“Nothing, really. We’re not allowed to wear costumes for Halloween, so we wear masks instead. The ball is a masked ball, because why not? The mystery of the masks covering your face makes it fun. It’s been tradition since like … forever. So, why mess with tradition? By the way, how are things with you and Winston?”
I shrugged, and it didn’t escape my notice that Theo perked up to listen at the change in conversation.
“We haven’t talked much,” I admitted. “The last time I was really with him was the day the alarm went off and he took us to his room. I don’t really know what to say to him and I can’t blame him for steering clear.”
Adelaide sighed. “You should at least try to talk to him. He deserves it.”
I knew she was right, but it still made me feel sick. I wasn’t the best at this kind of thing.
I rolled over onto my back and she quickly swiped her laptop out of the way so I didn’t kill it.
“I promise I’ll try to make the effort to speak with him.”
“A bit of advice, Mara, maybe don’t be quite so formal with him.”
I snorted. “Noted.”
“I think Churchill should stop being such a pussy. He must be blind and an idiot if he couldn’t see Mara wasn’t into him,” Theo spoke up.
Adelaide rolled her eyes. “Only you’d say that because you’re hopelessly in love with her and she loves you too.” She grabbed her laptop and slid off my bed. “Ta-ta for now,” she called sarcastically and slipped out of my room.
Theo sighed. “I’m burning her Christmas present.”
“You already bought her a present? What’d you get her?”
“A cat,” he replied with a smirk and I knew he was lying.
“It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to burn a cat.”
“S’pose not,” he agreed with a shrug.
I returned to my position by the window looking at. “I miss it,” I whispered.
“What?” he asked and stood, coming to stand beside me to peer outside.
“The air, the feel of the sun on my skin. I hate that we can’t go out there. I feel trapped.”
He frowned. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
He shrugged and shoved his hands in the pockets of his pants. “For messing up your whole life. Things were normal for you … good, great I guess … but then everything changed and I had to come. I had to take you away and I’m sorry. I wish things could be simpler for you.”
“It’s not your fault.”
He sighed. “I know, but sometimes it feels like it.”
“I was born an enchanter. I might not have known it, but that’s who I was—who I am. You can’t change that. It’s your job to keep me safe and you’ve done it. I’m lucky to have you.”
He swallowed, his gray eyes meeting mine. They were an infinite sea of pain and sadness. “I couldn’t keep them safe, but I won’t make that mistake with you.”
“You’re talking about your parents?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“You were a boy,” I breathed. “It wasn’t your job to save them—but you did save your sister. You protected her long before you had to protect me. You kept her alive and safe. Focus on that.”
“It still hurts, though,” he admitted. “Knowing my actions caused their death.”
“You were a boy,” I reminded him again. “You trusted them to tell them about me, and when they figured out what you were they had to trust others to protect you. Someone along the way compromised something, or leaked it on purpose, that’s not your fault Theo. It’s not. It’s on them—whoever gave up an innocent family.”
“You’re right,” he whispered. “But it doesn’t hurt any less.”
“It’s okay to hurt. It’s okay to miss them. I … I still miss my dad. I always will. And I hate—hate—that he died because of me, but I can’t change it. What I can do is refuse to give up and fight like hell to punish the man who did this.”
Theo stared at me. “Wow,” he murmured.
“What?” I blinked, taken aback.
“You amaze me more and more every day. You’re a force to be reckoned with. A mighty and vibrant storm they’ll never see coming. You’ll slay them all and I can’t wait to see them lay dead at your feet, finally defeated.”
“You think I can do it? Take them on and win?”
He smiled, the barest twitch of his lips. “I know you can. I’ve always known.”
Chapter 25