Raven (Assassin #1) | On Hold

The Assassin's Ball

Millicent Deryn tapped her foot against the stone paving, staring in irritation at the two girls cowering in the backseat of the car they'd driven to the fancy-looking mansion. Large expansive windows revealed the ball was already in full swing, the seven of them having arrived fashionably late.

"And here I thought you lot weren't coming..." The blonde woman standing outside the large set of doors grinned toothily at them.

"Attendance is mandatory, isn't it?"

"Yup, but you two have never been sticklers for the rules." Brown eyes surveyed the group curiously. "You even brought your kiddies along... better hope none of the trainee brats start something..."

Millicent grinned toothily, hauling her other two daughters out by their ears after a lot of scuffling. "For their own sakes..." She muttered, knowing full well what each of her daughters were capable of.

"What was that, Mil?"

"Nothing." The black-haired woman smiled, walking straight towards the doors, grabbing her husband by the arm. "Let's go dear."

"Come on." Jason turned to the five siblings, smiling even as he was dragged away. "Might as well get this horror show over and done with."

"Right you are, dad." Rogue said, grabbing her youngest sisters by the hands, pulling them inside, leaving the last two Deryn sisters simply staring at each other.

"Come on Blaise." Lillian grinned.

The second eldest simply looked away. "I suppose." She mumbled, striding forwards, not even bothering to wait for her sister.

The hall was long, decorated in a deep red carpet leading the way to two other sets of smaller doors, one of which Reyna and Ruby were pushed towards.

"That's the kids section."

"Kids?" Reyna scowled. "Seriously?"

"You two qualify, so that's where you'll be going, kiddies." Their father smiled, ruffling their hair once before shoving them inside with a final warning. "Cause any trouble, and you'll have me and your mother to deal with."

Ruby snorted. "Like the dragon by herself isn't enough to deal with."

Said dragon stood directly behind her second youngest child. "And who might you be talking about, dear?"

"No one in particular."

"Good, now get your backsides into gear and be ordinary civilians for once." Millicent sighed, pushing two of her children into the smaller version of the ballroom she and her husband were about to enter. "Rogue, do me a favour and check up on them once in a while."

"Don't worry mum." The most level-headed sibling smiled. "I'll make sure they don't get up to too much mischief." She said, following her parents through the other door, accompanied by her other two sisters.

After all, none of them assumed the two youngest Deryns would find themselves knee-deep in trouble less than five minutes since they walked through the doors.

Reyna had always been able to carry herself with poise and grace, so it didn't come as too much of a surprise to Ruby when another fifteen-year-old came and started talking to her younger sibling. The only problem was it was a boy, and he was already flirting with her.

"Men..." The temporary brunette shook her head, rolling her eyes underneath the curtain of hair covering her face. Ruby wasn't about to complain.

Reyna was in charge of keeping an eye on her that night.

It was an unspoken rule in their house: whoever happened to be with Ruby needed to make sure she didn't decide to go around injuring anyone.

If she was distracted, Ruby could slip away...

"And where do you think you're going, sis?" Reyna grinned, latching onto her like a leech, ignoring the boy who was staring after her. "We need to stay together for the whole night."

Brows rose. "The whole night?"

She scowled. "Don't make those kinds of jokes! I'm your sister, dammit!" She hissed, grey eyes locking on the red ones concealed behind murky brown contacts.

"It's called in-"

"Shut it." She said, keeping her voice low. "Otherwise I won't elbow you in the ribs."

"You're a lovely sister, you know that, right?" Ruby grinned, talking animatedly as her mood took a whole one-eighty turn.

"Glad you see things my way." She smiled, seemingly accidently slamming her elbow into her sister's ribs.

Eyes sparkled in delight, her hands rubbing at the sore spot. "You're the best." Ruby sighed, meandering over to the buffet stand, picking up a few snacks, earning herself a raised eyebrow from her sibling.

"Sure... Eat snacks at an Assassin's ball." Reyna nodded. "It's not like they could easily poison everything here."

"Ha." A hand ruffled her hair, but this time it didn't belong to the eldest Deryn daughter. "How cute... You already think like an assassin." Shiny white teeth almost blinded her when she turned around, glinting green eyes meeting her sterling grey ones as she stared past the hand still ruffling her fair and at the strange blonde. "And yet you're a civvie."

Reyna blinked, staring at the guy, or, more accurately the pointed ears branching from the sides of his head.

"What did I tell you about keeping a low profile around the civvies, idiot?" A hand clonked him on the back of his head as he continued to pet the girl's hair. "And stop touching other people's hair. It's weird."

"Most of my kind do it." The blonde shrugged, staring back at the black-haired man. "What?" He grumbled, looking away. "It's part of our way of life."

"Sure."

"Can you-?" Reyna spoke up, freezing as she found herself hauled out of the blonde's reach, another far more familiar hand finding its way into her soft black locks. Her shoulders slumped. "For crying out loud..."

Rogue stood there, having pulled her youngest sister safely out from under the offending hand, her grey eyes harsh as she glared into the spring green ones. Her eyes narrowed, her hand carefully petting her sibling's hair. "Mine."

One black eyebrow twitched, a gloved fist rising. "The next person who touches my hair gets three broken fingers." Reyna hissed, prying herself free, swiftly grabbing the hand that reached for her hair. "Except you." She said, turning to face the temporary brunette, smirking slightly when she saw the disappointed expression on her sister's face.

Ruby shrugged. "It was worth a shot."