Page 40 of Violent Delights

I follow her in, but the echo of Guillermo’s voice stays with me.

I have a choice now.

And I’m not going to waste it.

I stop at the entrance to the fitting rooms and she looks at me like I’m her hero. “I needed to see you before I get back in that car.”

“This is dangerous.” Too risky. Too many eyes.

I shouldn’t be here now, but at night, when the halls go quiet, she finds me.

In linen closets.

In storage rooms.

Once in the crypt beneath the east wing, where no one ever goes.

She steps toward me, her hands holding mine. It’s as if I’m the only thing keeping her sane.

And I am.

“I’m scared,” she admits softly when we’re alone as she looks up at me. She doesn’t come closer, and I want to drag her out of here, but I know I can’t.

“I know.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“It will.”

“You don’t know that.” Her words are a plea, drenched in fear.

“No,” I say, touching her cheek. “But I know I’d burn the world down before I let them take you.”

She looks up at me with a promise in her stare.

And then I step back and breathe because I need to forget her fragrance.

I turn away. “Get dressed, we need to leave.” And then I wait outside where it’s safe.

Chapter 19

Lelia

Iwore white for the fitting. Ivory lace stitched by a woman with trembling hands and a mouth that murmuredbellissimaunder her breath while she pinned the bodice tighter. She definitely knows who the groom is.

She doesn’t speak.

She just does her job, like everyone else in this house.

Like me.

The seamstress folds and tucks the fabric as my reflection stares back from the mirror, glassy-eyed and still. I look like someone else.

Regal.

Cold.

A woman built for duty.

---