Corinne
I sat in the kitchen, unable to stop my knee from bouncing up and down uncontrollably.
Emily Rand was about to descend on this household - a household filled with Witches and the Bratva.
Nothing good could come from this. Not one damn thing.
I felt his presence behind me, his scent easing the tension in my muscles - as if my very body recognised his and gave itself permission to relax in his presence.
A few nights ago, Maxinne had orchestrated my bachelorette, and while I had been mortified at the idea of dancing on a stage in nothing but my negligee, I wanted to learn more - wanted the skills to please Dimitri. It was an odd thing - wanting to please someone else.
I knew Dimitri didn't expect it - would never demand such things from me, but when I had returned home and swivelled my hips as I allowed my negligee to fall to the ground, Dimitri had sat back, widening his thighs in that masculine way of his, and enjoyed the show. It was a heady, powerful feeling, having the Pakhan of the Bratva watch me with heated eyes and a hardening crotch. And when I finally allowed him to take me, to fill and stretch me in that way that made me breathless, it was a joining of equals.
"It's going to be fine." Dimitri’s breath against my ear had me arching back into him, my body demanding things from him that neither of us could deliver right this moment because we were stationed in the kitchen awaiting her arrival.
She was nothing if not precise, arriving exactly at the time she had promised. That alone had me suppressing a groan.
The bell at the pedestrian gate chimed through the house, and while Maxine seemed absurdly excited, I felt only dread.
It was Brenna who beat everyone else to the front door, opening it wide, a graceful smile on her lips. I let Brenna open the door - let her greet my mother in place of me because Emily Rand could no longer dictate who could be in my home and who couldn't - who could attend my wedding and who couldn't. I wasn't certain if Dimitri knew that in so many ways he had offered me a form of freedom that I had resigned myself to never being able to have.
I was already standing a beat behind Brenna, Dimitri to my right hand side, by the time my mother's face came into view
"I see everyone is already here." My mother's gaze found mine, her tone filled with accusation.
"Come now, Emily." Dimitri swung an arm across Emily's shoulders as if it were the most natural reaction in the world - as if they truly were family, and he had been doing this his whole life. "We had to give the girls a chance to have their fun before the wedding, wouldn't you agree?"
Emily stiffened beneath him, and I watched Dimitri gleam, all calculated maneuvering. And even despite her posture, Emily plastered a smile on her face. "Of course." Her answer was demure in front of an audience, and for a moment, I wondered if that was how we would handle her - in front of people in continuation.
Dimitri guided her towards the formal sitting room, my fellow Witches each positioning themselves around us in what seemed like a casual gesture of greeting, and not the threatening stances of protection that they were.
Dimitri navigated the conversation with Emily with ease, guiding her towards the pool house in a way that made it seem as if it were entirely her idea.
By the time Emily was settled in, Brenna had handed her the itinerary and had run through Emily's guest list for the brunch that was the kitchen-tea-version of my bachelorette - a far cry from gyrating against a pole in my lingerie.
Emily and Brenna were a force to be reckoned with, and although there appeared to be no love lost between the two of them, they seemed to be united in their goal to execute the perfect brunch.
It was annoyingly frightening, and I hoped that this would be the only thing the two ever collaborated on.
In the end, they settled on Café Du Monde for the brunch - much to my mother's chagrin. The compromise had been that because we had the entire place to ourselves, we were able to add to their menu, expanding their beignets and coffee only options. Naturally, Dimitri swept in, easing my mother into the idea with the very notion that the place was a historic landmark that no one else would have the pleasure of utilising.
And so, when the morning of the actual brunch approached, Emily Rand postured as if it had been her doing all along.
I wore an elegant white summer dress that dipped only slightly, showing a hint of cleavage. It swished down to my calves and made me want to kick off my sandals, pressing the blades of the green grass against my bare feet.
Instead, I was seated at a large round table positioned in the center of Café Du Monde, under that dark green roof that had housed so many before me. A Queen hosting court. Brenna stood at the entrance, clipboard in hand, and for once, it was her donning a chignon. I had opted to keep my hair down, and was seriously considering sliding my shoes off beneath the table, when the guests began arriving.
My mother's people were not my people, and it showed. The Witches and the Society women seemed to merge as well as oil and water. I watched as Brenna, Zoey, Marie, Jesse, and Maxine kept to themselves - a pocket of Magick amongst the falsities of the crowd. And even still, the high Society women still noticed them - were still curious about who they were to me.
The guest list seemed endless, Joshua Penn's mother arrived, halting at my table to inform me that she thought it was such a pity that Josh and I never pursued our interest in one another, and that she thought I would have made a wonderful addition to the family.
I deserved an oscar for not rolling my eyes at that woman. While Josh and I had rotated in similar social circles, there had been zero interest from either party, and I prayed that Dinitri didn't catch wind of her delusions because the last thing I needed was a dead Society party boy on my hands.
The well wishers and revellers each took a turn at the table, all the while the Witches circled the room as if they were scouting an opportunity to pounce on one of these vapid souls.
My cheeks ached from smiling, and I watched in fascination as the crowd seemed to turn within itself, content to lobby sharp barbs at one another in the guise of gossip and 'catching up.' The smiles were strained and vicious, and I was suddenly floored by the fact that I no longer had to compete within that world - would never be truly expected to.
Of course there were rumours about Dimitri - about the kind of work that he did, but these Society folk were willing to overlook a lot of darkness when it came to money. All that meant was that I had somehow snagged the seemingly unattainable bad boy of New Orleans - if only they knew exactly what we had survived to get to this point.