Bombshell (Monstrous Ink #2)

Chapter 10

“ T his dress is itchy,” I complained as I tugged at the too tight black fabric that I had painstakingly zipped myself up in earlier. “And I can’t breathe.”

“Beauty is pain,” Odette intoned sagely as she finished applying the rosy pink gloss on her lips that accentuated the shimmering highlight cresting her cheeks.

Her blue eyes slid to mine and she frowned at the shawl that I was wearing over my shoulders. “Are you sure you want to wear that?” “

I shifted uncomfortably from one heeled foot to the other, picking at the frayed ends of the silver material.

As soon as I showed up at the mansion tonight Alexander had handed it to me wordlessly, its use abundantly clear.

My vines were usually unnoticeable when I had them curled against my back, but the low cut of the dress would do little to hide the green lumps.

“It’s chilly tonight,” I mumbled, pulling the shawl a little bit tighter around my shoulders.

That was a lie and Odette knew it. Even though it was only just the start of April it had been unseasonably warm on the west coast, bringing more and more people out to the beaches and to the Wharf to enjoy the early spring sunshine.

It was so warm, actually, that it was starting to err on the side of almost supernatural. I also had a sneaking suspicion the early onset of spring had something to do with whatever was making Dallan look so grave all of the time.

He hadn’t told me anything about it yet. I figured he was trying not to stress me out, but it was starting to bother me when he got up in the middle of the night to go and talk on the phone in the other room.

Long gone was the girl who couldn’t let a man sleep in her bed. Now the Cthulhu could barely get rid of me.

And by getting rid of me, I literally meant he couldn’t get physically rid of me. By the time we both woke up in the morning my vines were wrapped so tightly around him that it took quite a bit of cursing and untangling to get us free.

No, I was a new woman… even if I still wouldn’t let him tell me how he felt about me.

Baby steps.

Odette’s blue eyes narrowed at me in the mirror.

“Do you want me to throw it into the fire and pretend like it was an accident?” she asked seriously.

It was so serious that it made me laugh and shake my head. “I don’t mind wearing it. Wouldn’t want to freak people out looking like a plant Slenderman with my vines.”

“What’s Slenderman?” Odette frowned, her pink lips twisting in confusion .

I paused, not quite sure how to explain an internet myth. “Doesn’t your dad let you use the internet, like, at all?”

Golden brows drew together as her gaze shifted away from mine and her wings drooped to hang dejectedly against her back.

“Yes, but with parental controls,” she told me quietly.

The faerie had been so excited all evening about the gala, fluttering around her room with enough energy to make me dizzy, but all it took was a few words from me to deflate her like some kind of sparkly balloon.

I leaned down so that we were eye to eye. “Say the word kid, and I’ll spring you from this pretty cage.”

Getting Odette out of here was easier said than done, but I knew that if she wanted it, that Dallan and the rest of the supes at Monstrous Ink would do anything in their power to help her.

It was in Dallan’s nature to help those that needed it most—it was why he’d helped me that day fifty years ago and I knew it would be why he would help Odette too.

“It’s not a cage,” Odette sniffed, giving my shoulder a pat. “Daddy means well, he’s just so protective because—”

“Because fae children are the rarest of the rare and everyone wants the chance to kidnap one, blah, blah, blah ,” I repeated the same tired excuse that everyone seemed to give for why Odette couldn’t live her life like a normal adult. “It’s bullshit and you know it. Arsenio might have the right reason for himself, but not for you. What do you want?”

Odette’s mouth opened and closed, like she didn’t know what to say.

Then someone knocked on the door, making the both of us jump.

“Miss Sidhe, your father is waiting downstairs to leave,” came the voice of the head housekeeper of the mansion.

“Okay!” Odette called, her voice high and panicked.

She turned back to me and dropped into a whisper, “We shouldn’t talk about this in the house. The staff tell Daddy everything.”

Odette turned to fluff her hair in the mirror as if we hadn’t just been talking about the fact that she was a fully grown adult that couldn’t even have a conversation in her own home without people running to snitch on her.

“Let’s go!” she said with a false brightness before grabbing my hand and dragging me to the door. “And we’re all riding in the same car, hope that’s okay!”

I groaned.

Great. A twenty minute car ride with Arsenio glaring at me like I was a roach that he’d rather squish under his very expensive shoes rather than sit in a car with.

“I need a drink,” I said as soon as we stepped into the fancy country club ballroom and made a beeline for the fancy drink table .

The Port Haven country club was perched on a cliffside overlooking the yacht club, and if I were to squint hard enough through the dark windows, I could see the bright, colorful lights of the Wharf in the distance.

It felt so far away now as I downed a glass of dry champagne and winced.

I’d been spending the whole night trying not to think about my family at Monstrous Ink. In all of the craziness of the past few weeks I forgot to tell them that I was going to this gala until earlier today when Daphne invited everyone out to get dinner together.

Okay, well, I didn’t necessarily forget about it. I just didn’t want to see the look on Dallan’s face when I told him that I was going outside of my usual deal with Alexander to go to this thing.

I didn’t think he’d understand why I was doing it and damn it if I’d hadn’t been right. After I finally told him, the man stomped around angrily for the rest of the afternoon despite my trying to explain why I was doing it.

But Dallan didn’t know Odette—not the way I did—so every time I tried he kept asking me why I was pushing myself back into this world when I hated it so much.

And I did hate it. All of the glitz and the glam that the upper crust of Port Haven flaunted during these parties made it the last place I ever wanted to be. These were the people who had looked down on me for the first eighteen years of my life and now they were eyeballing me again like I was some kind of anomaly amongst their polished lot.

I’d gotten out of it before it rotted me from the inside out, but Odette hadn’t. I hated going to the mansion, but I also hated leaving her alone in it all after basically abandoning her for five decades.

The faerie woman trailed behind me as I moved from window to window, largely ignoring the gathering in the center of the banquet hall and trying to drown out the wealthy laughter that filled my ears.

“It’s not so bad,” Odette said softly but she still grabbed my glass and drained it in one go. Her nose scrunched at the taste. “Though the champagne is as awful as ever.”

“Oh? Does your daddy let you drink alcohol?” I teased.

She rolled her eyes at me and reached back to put the champagne flute on the tray of a passing waiter before turning to punch me in the arm.

I hissed with pain and rubbed my arm. “Hey! Don’t use that freakish fae strength on me, Odette Sidhe. I’m liable to break into pieces.”

Most faeries looked dainty so it was easy to forget that they possessed the same kind of supernatural strength as vampires or lycanthropes. I’d once seen her bend a tire iron in half without breaking a sweat.

“Then don’t make fun of me. I’m not the only one with daddy issues here,” Odette sniffed with a snap of her sparkling wings .

I glanced over to where Alexander and Arsenio were standing and talking to a group of equally snobby looking supes. “I don’t consider Alexander to be my father.”

Odette grinned like I’d walked right into her trap. “That’s quite literally the definition of daddy issues, Eff.”

Her expression quickly fell when her father noticed us hiding against the wall and gestured for her to come and join him. “Oh no, I can already see two faerie men over there. What should I do?”

I glanced between her and the fancy looking men standing with Arsenio before making a decision.

“Something completely out of your nature.” I said, sliding my hand into hers. “You pretend like you didn’t see him and run.”

With that I pulled her deeper into the crowd and out of the double doors that led onto the veranda and overlooked the ocean.

“I can’t just do that, Effie,” Odette gasped once we came to a stop.

The night was warm and even the breeze coming off of the ocean was balmy and thick.

I took a long, deep inhale of it and felt an odd magic on the edge of my senses. It was light and faint, but felt nothing like anything I’d ever experienced before. Nor could I pinpoint exactly where it was coming from.

It was almost like it was calling out to me, but I didn’t know where to go or how to follow it. The urge to throw myself into the ocean was almost overwhelming as I stared out into the inky darkness.

I was so distracted by the zing of it that I nearly forgot that Odette was still standing next to me until she growled with frustration.

“ Effie .”

I blinked hard, shaking my head as the magic all but disappeared from my senses and I was back in my body again. All of the noise that seemed to have faded away was back again, the laughter and music inside, and Odette’s huff of annoyance at being ignored.

“Sorry,” I muttered with a frown, shaking my head a little bit harder to get rid of the last tidbits of weirdness that was still lingering as I tried to remember the last words she said. “You can do that, Odette, you are a fully fledged adult and have been for a while .”

“It’s different for fae…” Odette trailed off, nibbling on her lower lip.

My brows shot up. “Is it that different? You’ve been on the mortal coil for the better part of a century and you can barely leave the house.”

This was the part of the conversation we didn’t get to finish earlier in Odette’s bedroom. The tough love part that I’d been hoping to avoid.

“How old are those faerie men in there, O? Are they centuries older than you? ”

She shook her head. “No, Daddy didn’t want someone too old…”

“Exactly. They are all around the same age as you and yet it looks like they are all independent from their parents. They have jobs and lives that they get to live. But what about you? Do you want to do anything with your life? Or do you want to live in that giant ass prison you call a house.”

“That’s hurtful. I happen to like my house.” Odette’s golden brows drew together as she glared at me, showing the first true sign of anger that I’d ever really seen from the woman. “And I do want to do stuff outside of it. Of course I do!”

“Then prove it.” I knew I was being harsh, but if I didn’t do this now, in four months when Daphne gave birth and my deal with Alexander was over she would still be stuck in that damn house.

“Odette?” Arsenio’s voice came from the open doorway.

I dropped my voice as low as I could so that only she could hear me. “You don’t need me or James to stick up for you, Odette, you are strong and capable and can stand up for yourself. If you don’t like these guys, tell Arsenio that. If you want to leave the mansion you have to speak up or I’m afraid you’re going to be stuck with real life parental controls forever.”

Odette glanced over her shoulder at her waiting father before turning to look at me again, her shimmery pink lips thinning into a firm line. Then, she hurried inside, tucking her hand into her father’s elbow as they both left me standing on the veranda .

“That conversation went about as well as it probably could have,” Dallan’s voice came from behind me, making me jump and whirl around only to find him hovering on the edge of the balcony standing on a funnel of water.

It was so rare to see him using his ability to control water that, for a moment, I was sure I was hallucinating his presence here entirely.

Earlier he’d been dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of faded, ripped jeans, but now it looked as if he’d changed as he stepped over the balcony railing and landed right in front of me. He was dressed in a dark button down and equally dark slacks that cut an imposing but handsome figure.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, already reaching for him.

It had been hard to leave the shop earlier knowing that he was upset with me, but I’d been pushing the feeling off so much that just seeing his gold eyes was enough to nearly make me throw myself at him and never let go.

“I figured you could use some moral support, Lass,” Dallan said with a charming smile that made my stomach flutter. “Though I think going inside with all of those rich assholes might get the both of us kicked out. I have no fans there. Not since I’ve been busy jamming up their plans to turn the Wharf into a miniature version of this fucking place.”

“I thought you were mad at me.” I nearly cringed at the whine in my voice.

Dallan’s smile dropped a bit as he reached for my face, tilting it up so that we were looking each other in the eye.

“Not mad, just worried. It feels like you keep pushing yourself further and further into this life and it scares me.” He gestured to the brightly lit party inside, his face grim. “I can’t help but think about what would happen if you actually came to like all of this and wanted it back full time.”

I’d be lying if I said that it was all bad all of the time. Finally being able to do the magic that I’d wanted to do desperately as a child filled me with a sense of fulfillment I’d never felt before. Not to mention the fact that I was even seeing new sides to Alexander that I’d never experienced before.

He wasn’t warm by any means. I wasn’t sure if Alexander Finch was even capable of the fatherly warmth I used to crave.

But now I finally felt a different sort of kinship with him. A magical one. It was suddenly like I was one of his peers and not just a resounding disappointment.

And damn it if that isn’t one of the most heady, addicting feelings in the world.

“I don’t want this full time,” I whispered, still worried about voicing what I really wanted from Dallan because of the doubts that still filled my mind. “I don’t even really like these people.”

“You like Odette,” Dallan pointed out with a murmur.

I shook my head. “She’s different.”

Dallan snorted. “She was bred and born to be in this life, Lass. Her and her father are the closest thing to royalty that we have in this part of the world, and if he gets his way, she’s going to marry some foppish faerie prince and continue her fancy life forever regardless of whether or not you are trying to save her. ”

Dallan glanced down at my frown before gently kissing it away. “Sorry, I didn’t come here to argue.”

“Why did you come here then?”

The Cthulhu grinned at me, the tentacles along his jaw curling in as he reached down to grab my hand and placed his other hand on my hip. “To dance.”

“You aren’t serious?” I asked, gawking as he started to move us around the balcony. I wasn’t a dancer, a fact that was made very clear when I stumbled over his feet. Dallan, however, moved like he’d been doing it his entire life.

He led both of us with an ease that I’d never seen from the man before and it was very different from the times we danced at the bar.

Those times the pulse of music had taken us away and it was more like very close swaying versus the measured, formal steps he was leading me through now.

“How have I known you for almost fifty years and never known that you can waltz?”

“I have many talents just waiting to be revealed.” His words were almost a purr and it was easy to forget that we were still standing just outside of a banquet hall full of people.

Dallan pulled me close and I could feel the flutter of his hearts against my chest as he gently tilted my chin up for a kiss.

“Come away with me?” he asked, golden eyes on mine.

I hesitated. “But Odette…”

He cut me off gently. “Will still be here when I return you, just come with me for a bit. ”

Water began to leak onto the balcony, covering our feet as we were lifted by the same tunnel of water that had dropped Dallan off.

I glanced up at Dallan’s face of concentration, my fingers tightening on his arms as we were lowered to the sea level where waves were crashing up against the cliff below. “Doesn’t this exhaust you?”

“It does, but it’s only for a moment.”

Then we were underwater, the currents carrying us away from the cliffside and back into the bay.

Even though we were under the surface of the water, Dallan was somehow making an air pocket around us allowing for me to breathe and I settled in, only the sound of his beating heart and my own short gasps of breath filling my ears as we zipped past other sea creatures in the nearly pitch black water.

Curious, I reached for my magic and used what Alexander and I had spent the entire day yesterday working on. My body began to glow, illuminating the dark waters until we could see nearly twenty feet around us.

The light startled most of the nearby fish who scuttled off back into the darkness, not to mention the massive whale that gave a bellowing echo as it dived to get further away from us.

“You scared him, Lass,” Dallan told me as he twisted us in a barrel roll so we could get one last glimpse at the retreating behemoth.

“What kind of whale was that?” Despite the Wharf running whale watching for all of the tourists, I’d never gone. Something about being out on the open ocean made my instincts go haywire—probably due to my tree nymph nature.

There were no trees in the ocean, so sailing far away from them made me ridiculously uncomfortable.

“Minke,” Dallan provided with a frown. “Which is odd because they’re rarely down this far before the summer.”

“Maybe the weird early spring is throwing them off?”

Dallan’s previously flirty demeanor was gone for a brief moment as he sat deep in thought, then when the yellow submarine that was the entrance to his home came into view the moody expression was gone and he was back again.

“Maybe,” he finally said as he reached out and touched the hatch to the submarine. Both of us were sucked magically inside until we were standing together in Dallan’s grotto, completely dry.

“You’ve redecorated,” I commented dryly as I looked around at the new, much cozier space.

Previous to the change in our relationship I’d made it a point not to come down into Dallan’s grotto.

It was a line in the sand that I’d created for myself. If we were up in my apartment collecting ink, then I could control every aspect of our interactions and Dallan knew it.

So, the last time I’d been here had been a few years ago when Dallan was sick and no one else wanted to risk pissing off the magic of the submarine. There was a false door up in the shop that could transport you down into his grotto and I’d tangled with the magic until it gave up and let me inside to take care of him.

Before, Dallan’s apartment had been sleek and modern, like the fanciest of penthouses in New York City.

Now, however, it actually looked like a nicer version of my own apartment except all of the windows, even the massive bay window, showed the dark ocean beyond the glass.

“I did,” Dallan said from behind me as he placed his hands on both of my shoulders and steered me further into the space. “Do you like it?”

There was an innate, knee-jerk urge to run screaming from the place because I knew without him even needing to say anything that he’d done this for me.

Everything that I liked was here. From the warm woods to the large, plush furniture that you could melt into if given half a chance.

There was even a larger replica of my potions station from upstairs. If I wanted to, I could step right into life here. With him.

The question hadn’t been asked out loud, but as I turned to look at him it may just as well have been.

We kept dancing around the elephant that had been in the room for a month now. We slept together in the same bed most nights now and I’d systematically broken all of my rules over the past month. Business-with-Benefits had been chucked clear out of the window the moment I let him stay the night.

But I was still scared .

Dallan, always able to read my thoughts and emotions without even needing to access the mental bond we now shared, leaned down so our faces were level with each other.

“You don’t need to move in tomorrow, Lass,” he reassured me gently. “But I want this to be a place for you and for me.”

It was just about as close as he’d ever gotten to outright saying what he’d been trying to for years.

Instead of answering him out loud, I gently grasped the tentacles on his face and pulled his mouth to meet mine, my eyes drifting shut as our tongues intertwined.

“Can I show you the bedroom?” Dallan asked, his voice husky with need.

That was an easy yes.

Taking my hand, he led me down a long hallway past several doors. This space was definitely much bigger now than the bachelor pad that Dallan’s grotto used to be.

At the end of the hall the door was open to a massive master bedroom that still had all of the warm tones from the rest of the apartment, but it was much bigger than my room upstairs. A large bed sat on a carpeted pedestal in the center of the room, the tall wicker headboard going nearly up to the ceiling.

On one side of the bed there was a large, two-person hanging chair gently swaying by its tethers to the ceiling and around it were several houseplants that I wasn’t sure would be able to survive under water without sunlight or my own magical interference .

On the other side was the same window bench as in my bedroom upstairs but now it was bigger and wider. The image of cuddling together on a cold morning with Dallan flashed into my mind as clear as day.

“We can change the enchantment on the window to be the same at the window upstairs too,” Dallan told me softly, wrapping his arms around me from behind as I took the room in.

A life seemed to span out before me—one that I never thought I was capable of having.

I’d always been the disappointment. The science experiment gone wrong. The daughter who couldn’t do magic.

But Dallan never saw me like that. No, even now he was looking at me with affection as he waited for me to speak.

“Come here,” I said, reaching back to cup the back of his head and pull the beanie he was wearing off as I pulled him in for another kiss.

This was perfect. Everything about it was just perfect.