Anaïs shook her head. “Everything is fine, Cel.”
Good. That was good. Celine took a deep breath.
“However, running away together is still on the list of options,” she offered, slipping her fingers through Celine’s and giving her hand a tiny squeeze. She must have seen Celine’s attention had veered to the courtyard. “Bas never finished his driving lessons, but I’m pretty sure I can get us halfway across Paris without crashing into anyone. Well…without crashing into anyonetwice.”
Grateful for the moment of reprieve, Celine squeezed her hand back. “I wouldn’t mind a dramatic exit.”
Despite the jokes, Anaïs was hovering about awkwardly, shifting on her feet. Celine’s throat tightened.
“About what we talked…” Anaïs broke off. Did she regret her words? Had she realised over the week what Celine had actually done? That what she had confessed to her was bigger than a gossip that would fizzle out in a couple of days?
“It’s not too late,” she said, “to change your mind. No one else but your parents know Jacques will propose tonight, I asked. You can talk to him right now. He might even thank you for it—he’s been hyperventilating since we left the mansion. There is a high chance he might pass out any time now.”
That made two of them.
Celine craned her neck to check on Jacques. He looked more nervous than she felt, glancing at his watch every few seconds. He deserved to know everything. He deservedsomuch more than what she had been giving him.
Her chest started to itch.
All hearts are the same, Anaïs had said. You cannot force them to feel something they don’t, just as you cannot force them to change. Wasn’t Celine the living proof of that? She had tried bending and twisting her heart to follow the trajectory she wanted and Love had obstinately redirected its route, like an arrow with a mind of its own.
She brought a hand up to her chest as if to rub the choking sensation away. Maybe she was overreacting. This had been the plan all along. She had known to expect it—all morning leading up to now she had sat at her vanity, staring at herself in the mirror, acknowledging this—she had known she would have to say yes.
Well, shehadknown, until Bastien had meddled with her mind and stolen her ability to judge.
He might have stolen even more than that.
“You really think I should?” Celine asked, her breath coming up short. What was it with her tonight?
Anaïs shrugged. “Ménard for Ménard. What’s the difference?”
An entire world, Celine thought. But now that Anaïs had mentioned him, she achingly noticed his absence. Bastien hadn’t come.
Celine did not try to hide her disappointment—not to herself, at least. Her cheeks were still frozen in that mannequin expression of false delight they had held all night. She doubted Anaïs had detected any physical signs of that pang deep in her heart.
Smile. Her mother’s voice rang in her mind.
Celine obeyed.
Perhaps it was for the best that Bastien hadn’t come. Perhaps it meant something: that he really wanted to open the studioonlyas partners. That the second kisshadbeen just an accident. That maybeshehad wanted it more than he had. And that maybe it had meantnothingto Bastien, but for Celine it had been paramount.
She swallowed uncomfortably. Was the room becoming hotter?
“Unless,” Anaïs was saying. Had she been talking all this time? “You have changed your mind about Bastien. I can’t really tell with my brother, he rarely confides…”
Unintentionally, Celine tuned her out. Other thoughts were crowding her mind, slowly pushing a headache against her temples. Her breath trembled as she exhaled deeply. She clenched her hands into fists at her sides.
All the anxiety and the lies she had stuffed herself with were smothering her, and if she were to spend one more second inside that room, smiling,pretending, Celine would crack.
Her thoughts turned sharply on the first door that led outside.
“I need some fresh air,” she breathed, and before Anaïs could speak, Celine snatched her shawl from the back of her chair and slipped nimbly through a set of double doors.
Chapter 27
The Vampire and Lover Boy
Celine dipped her chin in a swift thank you to the porter who opened the door for her, and stepped out into the courtyard. The evening chill seeped into her dress, causing a shiver to run through her. It was peaceful out here.
