Page 19 of Shift of Morals
I blinked, and they were normal again. The room had stopped moving, but Caroline was weeping. “I’m not supposed to remember him. He said he’d make me like the groom if I talked.”
The flap of wings sounding made me turn once more to the window. A huge black bird with burning red eyes landed on the sill.
Not Poe. Not a raven at all. Something different, a modified crow perhaps.
The thing watched us with an unnerving intensity, but there was something familiar…
Shit.
I turned to where Caroline couldn’t see my face and mouthed, “Fuck you,” to the window.
The bird let out an unholy shriek and pecked at the glass. A hole the size of a bullet appeared, sending spider-webbed cracks spiraling throughout the glass.
I turned away, trusting Moira to take care of the problem if the bird that was not a bird managed to get inside. The vampire’s eyes flashed with violence as she sauntered closer to the window.
“What happened to the groom?” I asked Caroline.
“I don’t know!” Caroline’s hands trembled. A broken sob escaped her. “I can’t remember. I’m so sorry.” She put her head down on her desk and cried.
The bird let out another ear-splitting shriek and flapped away.
We’d gotten all we could out of her. Ash, who’d sat quietly through the entire ordeal, said nothing as we walked out, past the receptionist staring at us with judgment in her eyes, and into the elevator.
“That bird,” he said at last. “Was it Finn?”
I nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
“Does he always have the red eyes?” Moira asked. “If he does, that will help us identify him.”
“I don’t think so. At least not while he’s in human form. Maybe only when he’s in animal form?” The memories of my attack were hazy at best, prone to showing up in my dreams, but try as I might, I couldn’t remember Finn’s eyes when he shifted.
“Caelan might know,” Moira mused. “There’s no way he didn’t shift into wolf form while the Lords were gathered.”
As loathe as I was to talk to Caelan about anything, we’d already be at the Keep tomorrow, and I had other things to discuss with him. “I’ll ask,” I said begrudgingly.
Right after I bitched at him about the dress.
Once we were safely in the car and a few miles down the road, we spoke about Caroline.
“I don’t think she’s lying,” Moira said.
“Agreed. She’s too scared to lie convincingly.”
The bouquet lay in the back seat, as far away from Ash as he could get it.
“And Finn was involved. Somehow,” I said, surprised that I was actually surprised. He’d shown himself to be a despicable male, so it wasn’t a stretch for him to curse a symbol of love and hope to get his way. But what did he want?
That was the million-dollar question.
Later, when we returned to the shop, I opened the box Simone had given me and pulled out a shimmering emerald silk floor length sheath dress pulsing with magic. It was similar to the other gown he’d given me for the formal dinner where Finn had attacked, but this one was slinkier with cleaner lines. The other dress had embroidered flowers all over the skirt, hundreds of tiny flowers brimming with plant life. This one only had embroidery across the bodice, primed with deadly seeds and vines.
I wanted to hate it but smiled despite myself. The dress was gorgeous and deadly. Like Caelan.
Maybe like me, too.
Ash whistled under his breath. “You’re going to look like a knockout in that, Evie.”
I turned, holding the dress up to the golden light. The silk shimmered like a jewel, magic glinting from the bodice. Ash moved closer, peering at the bodice with narrowed eyes.
