gave me a smidgen of trouble, and I finally gave up trying to zip it the last inch.
I gave myself one last look, tucking my complexion amulet between me and my waistband. Splat gun in my thigh holster, I came round the screen. 'Zip me up, honey?' I said lightly, earning what I thought was a seldom- given smile from Quen. He nodded, and I showed him my back. 'Thanks,' I said when he finished.
He turned to the table and chairs, stooping to pick up a corsage that hadn't been there when I went behind the screen. It was a black orchid bound with a gold and green ribbon. Straightening, he took the pin from it, hesitating as he looked at the narrow strap. Right off I knew his dilemma, and I wasn't going to help him a bit.
Quen's scarred face pinched. Eyes on my dress, his lips pressed together. 'Excuse me,' he said, reaching forward. I froze, knowing he wouldn't touch me unless he had to. There was enough fabric to attach it, but he would have to put his fingers between that pin and me. I exhaled, collapsing my lungs to give him a smidgen more room.
'Thank you,' he said softly.
The back of his hand was cold, and I stifled a shiver. Trying not to fidget, I sent my attention to the ceiling. A faint smile crossed me, growing as he got the orchid fastened and stepped away with an exhalation of relief.
'Something funny, Morgan?' he said sourly.
I dropped my head, watching him from around my drooping bangs. 'Not really. You reminded me of my dad— for a minute there.'
Quen adopted a look both disbelieving and questioning. Shaking my head, I grabbed my shoulder bag from the table and went to sit at the vanity against the screen. 'See, we had this big seventh-grade dance, and I had a strapless dress,' I said as I brought out my makeup. 'My dad wouldn't let my date pin the flower on, so he did it himself.' My focus blurred, and I crossed my legs. 'He missed my prom.'
Quen remained standing. I couldn't help but notice he had put himself where he could see me and the door both. 'Your father was a good man. He'd be proud of you tonight.'
Quick and painful, my breath caught. Slowly I let it out, my hands resuming their primping. I really wasn't surprised Quen had known him—they were the same age—but it hurt nonetheless. 'You knew him?' I couldn't stop myself from asking.
The look he gave me through the mirror was unreadable. 'He died well.'
Died well? God, what was it with these people?
Angry, I turned in my seat to see him directly. 'He died in a cruddy little hospital room with dirt in the corners,' I said tightly. 'He was supposed to stay alive, damn it.' My voice was even, but I knew it wouldn't stay that way. 'He was supposed to be there when I got my first job, then lost it three days later after I slugged the boss's son when he tried to feel me up. He was supposed to be there when I graduated from high school and then college. He was supposed to be there to scare my dates into behaving so I wouldn't have to find my own way home from wherever the prick dumped me when he found I'd fight back. But he wasn't, was he? No. He died doing something with Trent's father, and no one has the balls to tell me what great thing it was that was worth screwing up my life for.'
My heart pounded, and I stared at Quen's quiet, poxscarred face. 'You've had to be your own keeper for a long time,' he said.
'Yeah.' Lips pressed tight, I turned back to the mirror, my foot bobbing up and down.
'What doesn't kill you—'
'Hurts.' I watched his reflection. 'It hurts. It hurts a lot.' My black eye throbbed under my higher blood pressure, and I reached to touch it. 'I'm strong enough,' I said bitterly. 'I don't want to be any stronger. Piscary is a bastard, and if he gets out of prison, he's going to die twice.' I thought of Skimmer, hoping she was as bad a lawyer as she was good a friend to Ivy.
Quen's feet shifted, but he didn't move. 'Piscary?'
The question in his voice brought my gaze up. 'He said he killed my dad. Did he lie to me?' Need to know. Did I finally 'need to know' according to Quen?
'Yes and no.' The elf's eyes flicked to the doorway.
I spun in the chair. He could tell me. I think he wanted to. 'Well, which is it?'
Quen ducked his head and took a symbolic step back. 'It's not my place.'
Heart pounding, I stood, my hands clenched into fists. 'What happened?' I demanded.
Again Quen looked toward the bathroom. A light flicked on and a beam spilled into the room to diffuse into nothing. An effeminate man's voice chattered seemingly to itself, filling the air with a bright presence. Jonathan answered back, and I looked at Quen in a panic, knowing he wouldn't say anything in front of him.
'It was my fault,' Quen said softly. 'They were working together. I should have been there, not your father. Piscary killed them as sure as if he had pulled the trigger.'
Feeling unreal, I stepped close enough to see the sweat on him. It was obvious he had overstepped his bounds telling me even this much. Jonathan came in trailing a man dressed in tight black and shiny boots. 'Oh!' the small man ex claimed, hustling to the vanity with his fishing-tackle boxes. 'It's red! I adore red hair. And it's natural, too. I can tell from here. Come sit, dove. The things I can do for you! You won't recognize yourself.'
I spun to Quen. Tired eyes haunted looking, he stepped away, leaving me breathless. I stood, staring, wanting more, knowing I wouldn't get it. Damn it, Quen's timing sucked, and I forced my hands to remain at my side instead of throttling him.
'Sit your fanny down!' the stylist exclaimed when Quen inclined his head at me and walked out. 'I only have half an hour!'
Frowning, I gave Jonathan's mocking expression a tired look, then sat down in the chair and tried to explain to the man that I liked it the way it was, and could he just give it a quick brush through? But he hissed and shushed me, pulling out bottle after bottle of spray and odd-looking instruments whose use I couldn't even guess. I knew it was a battle already lost.
Twenty-five
I settled into the seat of Trent's limo, crossing my legs and arranging one of the narrow panels of my skirt to cover my knee. The shawl I was using instead of a coat slid down my back, and I let it stay there. It smelled like Ellasbeth, and my subtler perfume couldn't compete.
The shoes were a half size too small, but the dress fit perfectly: the bustier tight but not confining, and the skirt riding high on my waist. My thigh holster was as subtle as dandelion fluff, completely unseen. Randy had styled my shorter hair up off my neck, binding it with thick gold wire and vintage beads into an elaborate coiffure that had taken the man twenty minutes of unending prattle to fix. But he was right. I felt completely unlike myself and expe-e-e-e-ensive.
This was the second limo I'd been in that week. Maybe it was a trend. If so, I could handle that. Jittery, I glanced at Trent staring out at the huge trees as we approached the gatehouse, their black trunks standing out against the snow. He seemed a thousand miles away, not even aware I was sitting next to him. 'Takata's car is nicer,' I said, breaking the silence.
Trent twitched, recovering smoothly. The reaction made him look as young as he was. 'Mine's not a rental,' he said.
I shrugged, foot jiggling as I looked out the smoked window.
'Warm enough?' he asked.
'What? Oh. Yes, thank you.'
Jonathan drove us past the guardhouse without slowing, the rising bar reaching its apex the second we passed under it. It closed equally fast. I fidgeted, checking my clutch purse for my charms, feeling for the press of my splat gun, and touching my hair. Trent was looking out the window again, lost in his own world, which had nothing to do with me.
'Hey, sorry about the window,' I said, not liking the silence.
'I'll send you a bill if it can't be fixed.' He turned to me. 'You look nice.'
'Thank you.' I sent my eyes over his silk-lined wool suit. He wasn't wearing an overcoat, and it was tailored to show off every inch of him. His boutonniere was a tiny black bud rose, and I wondered if he had grown it himself.
