“Edrei’s fucking us over, isn’t he?” Dino leans in to ask under his breath.
“We don’t need him,” I say dismissively. But the buzz under my skin tells a different story. I’m practically shaking.
Dino’s hand settles on my knee under the table. “It’s not the end of the world if we get married. We can still fuck shit up together.”
Trapped. Trapped. Trapped.
I give him a loose smile, trying not to fucking bolt out of my seat. It’s just a ceremony. It doesn’t mean anything. And yet, I know it means fucking everything. Why does everyone want to marry me all of a sudden? My father married Rebecca and then locked her away. Even though I know, it’s a formality. It’s also a declaration. I’ll be owned. Someone will own me.
This is why I need to disappear once this is over.
Being married is the final nail in the coffin.
“Viola,” Dino calls my name softly, like a warning. I glance down to see my hand on his leg, digging my nails in. I purposely didn’t wear my dagger because Adrien wouldn’t allow it, and instantly I’m regretting it. I feel naked without it. I wish I’d taken Jude’s knuckle duster when he offered me one earlier because at least that would be something to hold on to.
“Don’t let your fear control you,” Dino says, bringing me back to reality.
“I have no fear,” I say offhandedly.
“You’re such a fucking liar,” he says with a harsh chuckle. “You’re petrified.” His bright blue eyes, the color of a summer sky, look deeply into mine as he squeezes my hand under the table. “Divorce is an option. I’m never going to keep you or trap you. You can go where you like and do what you want. You’ll always be free with me, or be without me, if that’s what you want.”
I frown at him. “When did you turn into an adult?”
“When you didn’t give up on me,” he says, rubbing my thigh in a soothing way like one would with a feral cat.
My phone vibrates, making me jump. Fuck, I’m skittish tonight. Jumping at shadows all over the damn place. I reach to where it’s strapped to my thigh and slip it into my palm. I don’t have a purse or pockets, so the dagger holster has become helpful in other ways. It’s another message from Lorcan telling me to get my shit together. I scowl his way, knowing he’s right. I’m not composed enough.
I’m drawing attention.
But not as much as the two uninvited guests who have just walked in….
—Dante, in a striking blue suit that brings out the sky color eyes, hair razor shorter at the sides, and a girl with long honey blonde locks, pink lips, and striking cat-like eyes on his arm.
I can’t help but stare.
What the actual fuck.
Dante nods at Adrien, who is sitting at the head of the table, and then scans the room until his twinkling eyes settle on me. The ends of his mouth curl up with a smirk as he walks over with languid grace to where we’re seated.
“He loves to make an entrance, doesn’t he?” Dino snaps next to me as Dante approaches with his date, all eyes in the room fixed on the stunning couple.
The girl Dante has brought with him nothing to write home about, but it’s not lost on me that she’s blonde too, whereas I’m hard and angular, she’s soft and sweet.
Like a fattened calf.
“V,” Dante says, cold blue eyes not leaving mine, even when his date reaches forward to hug me in my seat as though she knows me and we’re old friends.
We’re not.
“This is Lana,” Dante adds.
“You must be V! I’ve heard so much about you,” Lana says, her voice shrill in my ear as she envelopes me in a cloud of heady perfume. I resist the urge to stab her with the eating utensil that I still have clutched in my hand, and when she finally releases me, I don’t give her another thought.
But I only have eyes for Dante.
And he only has eyes for me.
“Lana Langfield? You’re playing at our wedding tomorrow, right?” I hear Dino say, playing his role in this strange fucking game we all seem to be wrapped up in as she switches her attention to him, leaving the Devil for me to take on.