Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
A loud snort comes from the back of the room. I glance up and see the aforementioned twin cousins sitting in the small crowd with their market-bought wife between them. Six months of marriage has only brought the three of them closer together. Cian, the more sarcastic of the two, watches the screen raptly. It doesn’t stop him from making his opinion plain.
“I think you’re all crazy,” Cian says, his musical Fae accent filled with humor. “Do any of you know Dante? Seriously? I bet you all a thousand gold that he dumps them both.”
“Shut up, you bastard,” Beckett Finn says, slapping at his brother playfully. “You don’t have a thousand gold.”
“He won’t need it. Let him make the bet,” Meg Finn pronounces, her eyes narrowing on Dante. “He dumps them both.”
On the screen, a second helicopter is setting down on the top floor of one of the most luxurious high-rises in Manhattan. I was happy the producers of the DL chose to film the end in New York rather than my own hometown of Dallas. Romantic music plays. Sheila, a consort from the Faery plane with an amazing backstory to go along with her sweet good looks, gets out of the helicopter. Her face beams as she looks up at me.
I have to give it to her, she’s an excellent actress.
“I’ll take that bet, Cian,” my father replies, his voice thick with pride. “There’s no way my son lets a consort that beautiful get away. She saved twenty children from the civil war. She’s a healer and a philanthropist. She’s everything a vampire could want in a consort. Sheila reminds me of my wife. She’s quiet and elegant. She’s a true lady.”
“Now, you see editing can really change a person’s perception. They leave out all the bitchy parts.” I tug at my collar. Is it hot in here? It feels really hot.
Sheila read far too much of her own press material. She’s stuck-up. When the cameras weren’t rolling, she barely talked to me except to ask about my cousins. She was interested in the true kings of the Seelie Fae. Not so much in me.
It doesn’t matter. I know what’s coming. At the time, it seemed like a funny adventure. I didn’t expect everyone to get caught up in it. I certainly didn’t expect my parents to get invested in a made-for-DL relationship.
My sister stands, glaring my way. Her mouth thins as she studies me, and I feel five years old again. When Susan wants to get judgey, she does it with everything she has. “You asshole! Ci’s right. You dumped both women. How could you?”
I point to the screen where the quiet, demure consort is slapping me silly, completely forgetting that oath she took to do no harm. She pushes me back until I fall ass-first into the romantic koi pond that would make an awesome place to propose had I actually fallen in love with someone. “Does that look quiet and elegant? They don’t show you the fact that she tried to throw one of the cameras in that pond with me. She tried to electrocute me. And they totally made her look like she wouldn’t put out in the fantasy suite, but she did.”
Susan gasps. “You slept with her?”
I shrug. It should be obvious. I spent six weeks shooting a reality DL. What the hell else did I have to do? “I slept with all of them, sis. Haven’t you read the tabloids? My point is she’s nothing like mother. Mother would never try to electrocute a man.”
My mom stands, her gray eyes stormy as she stares my way. “Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think. You wouldn’t like what’s going through my head right now. I have to make sure my clothes are ready for tomorrow’s luncheon. I will have many questions to answer. The Malones are coming over. Their JT recently married a consort, a lovely woman from the Earth plane named Dana. I thought I would be able to announce your engagement, too.”
The Malones run a rival corporation. My mother and Ava Malone are friendly but deeply competitive. It will bother Mom to have to listen to Ava rave over her son’s new consort. She brings herself up to her full regal height and saunters out of the room with dignity.
The room is buzzing all around me as many of the corporate attendees follow my mother out. Some stop to shake my father’s hand, their sympathy utterly apparent. Damn, I am truly fucked. I’m going to have to charm the hell out of my parents.
Susan follows our mother, giving me a look that makes me take a step back.
“Man-whore,” she accuses as she stalks past me. Like I said. Judgey. And a little hurtful.
Colin hurries to catch up, but not before throwing me a slightly sympathetic look.