Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“My cousin,” she said anyway, wanting to feel him out some more.
“Which one? You appear to have more of them than most.”
That was fair.
“Bellatrix.”
“The, and I use this term loosely, opera singer?”
“Yeah, that one.”
“Why would I be working with her?”
“You’re being just as suspicious as she is,” Pandora said, shrugging.
“And to what end?” Elias pressed.
She couldn’t exactly say “to prove my relationship with Victor is fake”, so she went with, “To break up my engagement.”
“I understand why I could be accused of that. But why would your cousin Bellatrix?”
“She’s just never liked me,” Pandora said.
“I get the feeling she’s accustomed to being the person getting the most attention in any room she is in. An expectation not helped, it seems, by her doting parents.”
“She definitely likes attention.”
“And now you have all of it,” Elias said. “How inconvenient for her.”
“She followed me and Victor tonight,” Pandora said, without really knowing why she would loop Elias in on such a thing.
“For what purpose?”
“I have no idea. Knowing her, though, nothing good.”
“Do you think she wants to take Victor from you?” he asked.
She frowned. “That hadn’t even occurred to me. I mean, I don’t think she’d want Victor. My whole family is just barely tolerating the fact that he’s human. I doubt she’s into him that way.”
“Not necessarily to have him,” Elias said. “Just to take him.”
“That’s …” Pandora paused. Ridiculous? Insane? Something only a monster would do. “Not outside the realm of possibilities.”
Their interactions all through their lives had been riddled with competition. Mostly coming from Bellatrix.
Who was prettier? Who was faster? Who had the nicer fangs? Who could get more attention from fellow male vampires?
History had always shown Bellatrix coming out on top. Or, at least, that was how it had felt to Pandora, since she’d never wanted to play those games in the first place, let alone had cared about who’d won.
“I guess the question here is,” Elias said, taking a step away from the counter, “if your fiancé is as in love with you as you are with him?”
With that, he made his way out.
Leaving Pandora with her mind reeling.
Because Victor wasn’t in love with her.
Not at all.
No matter how much she suspected she was starting to fall for him.
16
“Rise and shine, my dear!” Aunt Ravenna’s voice rang out. Too peppy. Too loud. And, most importantly, too close.
Pandora shot up in her bed as Ravenna threw on the lights and came bustling into the room, a flurry of deep-purple velvet, bouncing silver curls – and bouncing other … assets – and thick, cloying perfume.
“Oh, a bed!” Ravenna said, stopping short, surprised, but recovering quickly. “When I had a bed last, they were stuffed with hay, wool, and hair.” She scrunched up her face. “Lumpy, those beds were. This looks right comfortable.” She hauled herself up with a bounce that nearly had her coming out of her bodice as she let out a laugh. “How very modern of you, dear. Oh, you have a pet,” she said, reaching for Pandora’s stuffed capybara. “Is this a pillow?”
“Sort of,” Pandora said, brushing her hair out of her face. “Aunt Ravenna, what are you doing in here?” She didn’t want to sound surly. But, well, she’d had a good, long sleep-in planned, since she had the night off. Partly to avoid her family. But also, admittedly, to do some moping over the fact that she hadn’t heard from Victor since the night of the kiss, save for a single text for him to approve the invitations. She’d wanted to reach out, but each time, she was reminded of how he’d rushed away from her as quickly as possible and hadn’t reached out since. So, while she’d been obsessing over him and longing for him, she didn’t want to come off as desperate by bugging him all the time.
“There’s much to do, my dear!” Ravenna hopped back off the bed. “Weddings are quite the ordeal. Especially for us ladies,” she added. “Your uncle Reginald, all he had to do was show up! I had to fuss for weeks with my mother and sisters. Invitations, menus, fittings, the work is never done. By the time it comes, you will have well-earned your honeymoon.”
“Invitations are … mostly sorted,” Pandora said, hearing a hint of sadness in her voice and trying to shake it off before someone started asking why a recently engaged woman was having the blues.
She couldn’t exactly tell them that she hadn’t seen her fiancé in days. That she’d picked out the invitations all on her own, trying to figure out which designs Victor would object to the least. And what wording he would prefer.
“And that is important, but what’s most important of all, my dear, is the dress.” Ravenna went to Pandora’s wardrobe, clicking her tongue at the options before selecting a black velvet dress her mother had bought her years before. For a dress from Ophelia, it was relatively casual, with a square neck, empire waist, and a hem that only fell just below the knee. But it felt far too dressy for going shopping.