AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My cheeks heat. I can’t believe he just said that out loud.
Aleks’s hand on my back reassures me. It shouldn’t — he’s not my ally and hasn’t been. But now that we’re married, now that I’m his wife, maybe things will change.
“Let’s go,” he says in a low voice. “Ignore them. If they speak to you again, I’ll deal with them personally.”
We walk past them. They hold their heads high, almost haughtily. My mother gives me the glimmer of a smile. I smile back, not to be friendly but because I want her to know that while this wasn’t my choice, I’m going to be justfine.
More than fine. I’m going to thrive.
The formal dining room’s large and spacious, filled with huge vases of blooming flowers. The waitstaff mills about in formal attire, holding large silver platters of appetizers. Aleks leads me to a table set for two.
I sit down, grateful for the glass of water and flute of champagne to calm my fraught nerves. We’ll have dinner, for now.
Then we’ll be alone. Just the two of us.
I think back to this morning.
I reach for the champagne and down it.
“I think we’re supposed to wait for the toast,” Aleks says, leaning closer to me.
“Oh, right. Rules and traditions and such.”
“Are you a rule breaker, Harper?” he asks, as he traces his finger down the stem of my glass. Something like lust flickers in his eyes. “Do you like to do things on your own terms?”
Why can’t I help but imagine those fingers trailing along my naked skin? Remember what he vowed to do to me if I defied him?
Notif, really —when.
“I think that you?—”
“Aleks.”Polina stands in front of the two of us, breathless, as if she’s just run here. Her voice is barely above a whisper, her eyes wide and panicked.
I place the flute down and set my hands in my lap to steady the trembling, but Aleks is as placid as can be.
“What is it?” he asks in a low voice.
“It’s Misty.”
Misty? Who’s Misty —oh.His cat. Misty’s his cat. Did something happen to her?
“She’s sick. I thought it was just a normal thing like she had a furball or something clogged in her throat, but it’s way morethan that. I think she’s been poisoned. But that’s not the worst of it.”
Aleks’s eyes are dark and dangerous. Lethal. “Tell me.”
“Do you remember?” Polina whispers. “She ate off the tray of food meant for Harper.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Harper
It takesa few seconds for the truth to register before an icy mask of decision falls over Aleks’s face.
“Lock this room down.Now.”
It all happens so quickly. Guests are vetted and escorted out, staff is questioned. I sit, flanked on either side by two of the bodyguards who were stationed outside my room this morning.
I suddenly remember. “Aleks, earlier today you said you had a tray of food for me, and I told you we already had one?”
