Storm Born Page 0,35

before your imminent death becomes more imminent and robs me of my chance to kill you myself."

I turned back to Dorian. I didn't like this turn of events. I didn't like being in a nest of gentry, nor did I want to be at one's mercy. Why was I here again? In my head, I summoned an image of little Jasmine Delaney, imagining her being tormented in a similar way over at Aeson's court. Only she would be subject to more than just mockery.

"I accept," I said.

Dorian regarded me in silence and then nodded. "As do I." He looked up at the crowd. "Odile Dark Swan is now under the protection of my hospitality. Anyone who so much as lays a finger on her will get his own fingers chopped off and fed back to him." He issued the threat with as much cheer as Volusian might have.

A buzz spread through the crowd, not entirely pleased. "What's to keep her from breaking her oath?" I heard someone mutter. Another said loudly, "She could slay us all!"

Dorian's eyes flicked back to me. "Did you have any idea what a creature of nightmare you are around here? Mothers tell their children Odile Dark Swan will come for them if they're bad."

"Hey, I don't seek them out. I only come for them if they come for me first."

"Interesting," he said, arching an eyebrow. "But if that's how you like it, so be it. I always admire women who know what they want in the bedroom."

"Hey, that's not what I - " I hadn't realized the extent to which our slang had permeated the gentry world. Theirs was a reflection of my own; things seeped through.

He cut me off with a gesture. "I gave you hospitality, now come up here. I want to see the terror that haunts the darkness."

I hesitated, both from distrust and defiance to his taunting. Volusian's voice whispered in my ear. "He will not harm you now that he's given his word."

"I don't know if I can really believe that."

"I do." My minion's voice was calmly serious. "You know I can't lie to you."

Turning back to Dorian, I took the steps until I stood at the same level as his chair. I met his gaze evenly. "Look at those eyes," he sighed happily. "Like violets in the snow. You smell like them too."

Beyond us, I heard another rise of murmurs in the crowd.

"What's got them all worked up now?" They couldn't hear our discourse.

His own eyes danced. They were golden-brown, the color of autumn leaves falling from the trees. "You've broken protocol. They expected you to stop one step lower. Instead, you've put yourself at the same level as me. The fact that I'm not chastising you means I'm treating you as an equal, like royalty. You should be flattered."

I crossed my arms. "I'll be more flattered when we have the private talk."

He tsked me. "So impatient. So human. You've asked for my hospitality. You can't expect me to not give it now." He made a gesture with his hands, and spirit servants appeared, bearing serving platters of food. For some reason, I suddenly started thinking of the song "Hotel California." "We were about to eat when you so kindly dropped in. Dine with us, and then we'll have as many 'private encounters' as you like."

"I'm not stupid. I won't eat anything in the Otherworld. You have to know that."

He shrugged, still sprawled out on his throne like a comfortable cat. "Your loss. You can sit and watch, then." He rose gracefully and offered me his hand. I stared at it blankly. Shaking his head with mirth, he simply walked with me down the steps, not touching.

"Where's the rest of my group?"

"Your servants and human friend are safe, I assure you. We've given them their own accommodations since they don't have a guest-of-honor seat at my table, that's all."

He beckoned toward a low, polished table, a bit larger than the others in the room. Like the rest, it was surrounded by sumptuous-looking chairs and sofas, patterned in bright brocades and velvets. Dorian settled down onto a small loveseat and patted the spot beside him.

"Keep me company?"

I didn't dignify that with an answer, instead sitting down in the chair next to his sofa. It was a single seat. No one could sit with me. We were soon joined by about a dozen others, including Rurik and Shaya. She reported to Dorian that the people I'd injured had been healed and were