Page 42 of Point of No Return

What’s done is done.

We both, better than most, know that. She snaps out of whatever daze she’d been in, and like a cat stretching out, she kicks out her legs, baring herself to the sun.

“I think your boat might need another looking at, Benenati.”

Chapter Twenty

Charlotte

Inever thought I’d say I enjoyed the quiet at Venine until Thursday comes. With it, all sense of quiet and serenity goes out the window. Aleks and a few friends spent the better part of the day swimming and lazily hanging off the dock.

Even from my room, I could hear their obnoxious laughing while I was getting ready… and I tried to remind myself that the only reason I’m annoyed is because I have to see my parents again.

And my mother will want to know about my progress.

Liv luckily arrives before my parents, and when I see her smiling face, something in me softens.

“Married life seems to be doing you good,” she teases as she joins me on the porch overlooking the river.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a horrible liar?” I grin at her, and she saddles up next to me, elbows on the porch railing next to mine.

“Once or twice.” Her smile gleams as bright as her golden hair. Her eyes find the spot I’ve been trying not to look at for fifteen minutes. The dock. “How are you now that the hard part is over?”

“You mean the wedding?” I laugh, but she’s probably right now that the planning mania is finally over.

I shrug, watching as Aleks hops out of the water and claps his brother’s back. Skar was in the boathouse most of the morning, but he emerged around lunchtime to get ready.

“I think that the wedding was the easy part.”

“I’m glad you invited me, by the way.” Liv blinks with a sudden shyness that has me watching her more intently. “I was afraid I’d have to actually ask whether or not I imagined that we might be becoming friends.”

Friends.The word is sharp in my chest. I can’t help but smile as I look over Liv’s golden hair and bright blue irises.

She’s funny, smart, determined. And she’s one of the only people I’ve ever met that has stood up to my mother. In another life, we’d be good friends. Maybe that’s why I invited her.

I knock my shoulder against hers, hoping she can read the grin in my eyes. “You’re not imagining anything.”

Liv smiles, eyes darting toward the doors that reveal the new arrivals behind us: My mother and father are dressed in the most modest attire a day on the river will allow. Unlike me, my mother’s tattoos are covered by the sweeping fabric of her dress, and my father’s usual black suit has been replaced by an organza top and trunks.

Only the dark inkling of the tattoo along his ribs is visible- the only tattoo every Prevyain male has. On the rare occasion I ever saw it, my father once explained the intricate script, in delicate Prevyain tongue:I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.

One of the few Prevyain traditions that doesn’t feel quite as beastly as it does beautiful. Loveless marriage or not.

“Ah, Charlotte” comes my mother’s saccharin voice, and with only a knowing look in Liv's direction, I let my mother kiss either of my cheeks. “How has your honeymoon been?”

Despite our last exchange, my mother gives the same tasteless pleasantries as always while we stroll down the boardwalk to the others. I don’t miss the sharp look she gives me as her eyes wander over the skin revealed by my swimsuit. Though it wouldn’t really matter if I wore a turban. Nothing will ever be enough to appease her.

“Skar!” my mother calls, and I’m surprised when I feel his hand at my back.

His voice is rough, terse. “Eva,” he dips his head in acknowledgement.

“I didn’t know you had a villa out here. The drive was beautiful.”

Skar’s fingers continue skimming above the waist of my swimsuit, the touch warm despite the water still dripping off him. “Been in the family a long time.”

It looks older than most of us combined. “And Aleksander.” I’m glad when Aleks steps forward and momentarily pulls the attention away from us. My mother’s smile is tart. “I assume you’ve been watching over the company while your brother is away.”

Aleks is no doubt saying something funny and pleasant in reply, but I can’t help but notice that Skar’s hand momentarily stills on my back. It irks me that his touch is so much of a distraction. The thought alone is enough for me to walk forward and browse the food while everyone talks.

---