Page 34 of Point of No Return

“There… Beautiful again,” she finishes, stuffing her goods back in her clutch. “They will never accept us, Charlotte. Onlywecan save us.” I nod, not really believing anything. She smiles, pinching my cheek gently as she grabs her gloves, turning toward the door. “Death won’t always be currency, Lottie. Remember that.”

The shock wears off a few minutes after she’s left.They’ll come looking for me soon enough.

I gather my wits, dabbing my lips until they stop bleeding and then flattening any flyaway hairs before I open the door and return downstairs.

Liv beams when she sees me, and like nothing happened at all, the show begins again. Skar looks like he stopped listening awhile ago, but he keeps casting sidelong glances my way. Which I ignore. I have to.

I have to convince everyone.

Do what’s required of us. Nothing more. Nothing less.

“Liv,” Skar interrupts after a few minutes, startling her. “A minute.”

She nods. “Of course. I’ll go refill on wine.”

When she’s gone, I turn toward him. “What are you-”

“What the fuck is this?” His hand brushes the side of my face, and my first instinct is to swat him away. “Who did this?” A muscle in his jaw ticks, and I try to laugh it off as I shove him back a step.

“Stop it, Skar. It’s just a bit of lipstick.” I dab the corner of my mouth for blood just in case, but aside from the pain, there’s nothing.

His fingers tilt my chin toward him again, and something like anger flashes in his eyes. “Don’t lie to me.”

Me lie?Me?

“Then stop asking questions I can’t answer,” I hiss quietly, silently cursing myself for the slip. All but confirming my lie.Shit.“This,” I motion between us but stop myself.

Where the hell am I going with this?

“This,” he repeats, and it just makes me angrier.

I shove him away again. “This stops now. There’s no one watching. There’s no need to pretend.”

With that, I storm back across the hall where the others have gathered.

Chapter Seventeen

Charlotte

It doesn’t quite feel real.I’m getting married today. I can hear the noise of everyone outside my room. And as I stare up at the ceiling of the bridal suite and silently wish to be back in bed sleeping, I hear my mother’s voice:

“You know what you have to do.”

“Death won’t always be currency, Lottie.”

Josie knocks before stepping inside, throwing back the curtains of the room.

“Today’s the big day,” she says, and for some reason, hearing it feels like a warning bell. “Everyone’s downstairs getting ready and eating breakfast. So we’re bringing a tray up for you.”

“Will there be coffee?” I mumble, desperate for caffeine, and she shrugs as the door opens and another servant carries in a tray… followed by Liv and her entire glamor team.

Josie winks before making a break toward the door. “Good luck.”

Liv gives a pearl-white smile as everyone begins filing in and setting up enough supplies to support a small army- or more. She must see the look on my face, a cross between terror and exasperation, to which she gives a sheepish shrug. “No expense was spared.”

“Apparently,” I sigh as the swarm closes in on me, swallowing me with questions between bites of bagel and tweezers picking at my every imperfection.

“The good news is that I’ve kept your mother out for as long as possible.” I could kiss the ground Liv walks on. Somehow, she knows exactly what I need before I even ask for it. But it still doesn’t fix the tightness in my chest. I force a smile as the team begins tugging at my hair. “Don’t forget to breathe!” Liv laughs before I’m swallowed up completely. There’s no saving me now.

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