Page 34 of Midnight of Ashes
Any other time, I’d simply marvel at the miracle I’d created. At feeling truly beautiful. But not tonight. Not when I would have to face the council. Countless unfamiliar dragons.
The last few days had passed in a blur of catching up on studying, trying to avoid Professor Brent, and wondering where Maddox was. He still hadn’t returned to class or home. As much as he didn’t want it, I was worried about him.
A knock sounded on the open closet door.
“Hayden, we’ll be leaving in ten minutes. Are you?—”
Cillian’s deep voice cut off as he took me in. I met his eyes in the mirror. His dark green irises deepened to almost black.
“What’s wrong?” Knox asked, hurrying in behind him. But he drew up short as I turned around.
Cáel barreled in behind them. “Is she okay?”
He, too, came to a jerky halt, his pale blue eyes going wide. “Little One,” he breathed.
“Stunning,” Cillian growled.
Knox grinned, but there was a simmering heat beneath it. “Second favorite outfit ever.”
My cheeks heated, remembering Knox on his knees, gazing up at me.
“Is it too much?”
Cillian strode toward me, his hand cupping the juncture of my jaw and neck. “You’re perfect.”
“Too perfect for these assholes,” Cáel grumbled.
I smiled at that, his words easing some of the tension thrumming through me. “Walk me through it?”
Cillian jerked his head in a nod, releasing me as he stepped back.
For the first time, I really took them all in. God, they were breathtaking. Cillian was in his usual black suit and black dress shirt. They fit him as if the designer had crafted the garments just for him. And maybe they had. He had just a hint of stubble along his sharp jaw, and his hair was freshly buzzed.
Knox wore a dark blue suit that made the green in his eyes pop. It accentuated his broad shoulders and muscular chest. His hair was perfectly styled in an artful disarray. My fingers itched to run through it.
Cáel had taken the dress code and made it his own. While he wore black dress pants and a gray button-down, he’d thrown his signature leather jacket over it instead of a suit jacket. The tattoos decorating his hands, neck, and sides of his head seemed to pop all the more.
They were all beautiful. And they were mine.
“Hayden?” Cillian prodded, concern lacing his tone.
I gave myself a little shake. “Sorry. What?”
“You went somewhere else,” Knox said, brow furrowing.
I flushed. “I, uh, was just admiring the three of you. You look very handsome tonight.”
Cáel grinned at me, the same smile that looked slightly deranged from lack of use. “Handsome, huh?”
“Shut up,” I grumbled. “I’m allowed to look.”
“Our Little Flame does love to watch. It’s something we need to remember,” Cillian all but purred.
Knox muttered a curse. “Do we have to go to this thing? I can think of a hundred better ways to spend our time.”
His eyes went hooded, the gold in them sparking.
Cillian squared his shoulders. “We need to get it over with, or the council will just stay on our backs.”
