Page 76 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

She’d been perfectly happy before he’d come into her life. She would find a way to be happy again.

Even without Alexander.

She just had to keep telling herself that she would be fine until her heart accepted it.

When she got inside, she found Evan peeling a potato so viciously, she was surprised there was anything left of it.

“Let me do that.” Hurrying over, she took the peeler and the mangled potato from her sister and peeked in the pan on the stove. Carrots, onions and sausage sizzled in a bit of oil with fragrant spices. “Let me guess, Nadine?”

“So, I went to pick Ava up after school today, and she wasn’t there.” Evan began washing the dishes from that morning. “I’m freaking out, right? I check in with her teacher, and she says her mother signed her out shortly after she was dropped off this morning.”

“She didn’t.” Now Dani was peeling the potato too hard. “I thought we talked to the school about that.”

“We did, and they understand the issue, but Nadine is still her mother. As far as the court system is concerned, she’s her legal guardian, so they can’t stop her from taking her own child out of school.”

“I hate this as much as you do.” Dani dumped the chopped potato in the pan and started on another one. “She’s a bad influence on Ava. But you know she never sticks around for long. In a few days, she’ll be gone. We just have to wait this out.”

“Except, I don’t like how easily she’s been able to manipulate her.” Reaching for a dishtowel to dry the pans, Evan lowered her voice. “They got home an hour ago, loaded down with bags of clothes from several of those expensive shops up on High Street.”

Dani threw an anxious look at the cupboard where the canister of coins was hidden. “Did you give her next month’s rent?”

“Of course not. She even got her ice skates. You know how much those cost?”

“I remember. We were looking for a secondhand pair for her birthday.” They’d quickly dismissed the idea as beyond their reach.

“So where is she coming up with that kind of money? Do you know what designer outfits from those posh stores run?”

Dani pulled out her phone and quickly checked her account, fearing the worst. But all the money Alexander had deposited from the night he’d purchased her as a sanguine at the auction house was there, and then some.

“I don’t know what to make of this,” she said at last. “But I also believe in Ava. The past four years have been devastating for her, losing Dad, then seeing Nadine struggling. We just have to keep reminding her that we aren’t going anywhere, because I think that’s what this is about, too, her being angry at her mother every time she shows up for a few days, then leaves.”

“Is there a reason I’m the one being screamed at?” Evan asked tiredly. “While Nadine gets all the smiles and shopping trips?”

“Because you’re the one she trusts would fight an entire city block of vampires to get to her.” Dani hugged her sister, then moved around her to put the teakettle on. “You’re the one she trusts would never leave. Ava feels safe being angry at you. Her relationship with Nadine is a fragile, broken thing that hurts her every time, and yet she’s still her mother. It’s our job as her sisters to help her grow strong enough that one day, she’ll be able to understand everything that’s happened to her and recognize that none of it was her fault. Tonight, I think that calls for some sister time.”

When their dinner was ready to be pulled from the oven, Dani dished it into bowls. They ate in their pajamas in front of the fire while the snow fell softly outside. Evan sketched in one of her notepads. Cinder curled up in her basket, gray bottlebrush tail twitching. Ava watched the latest videos of her favorite skaters performing at the sector competition on her phone and they listened to the commentators make snarky remarks about blade edges and costumes they thought had an alarming number of feathers.

Squished between her sisters, her latest chapter open in front of her, Dani tried to focus. But try as she might, the words just wouldn’t come.

She was about to put her phone away in favor of zoning out on figure skating when a news alert she’d set for her name popped up. Her hand began to tremble the moment she read the headline, a sick shaky feeling slithering through her insides.

Heroine or whore? Who is Prince Alexander’s latest fling?

Knowing she shouldn’t look, she clicked on the link anyway.

The moment the pictures loaded, she wished she hadn’t looked. There were images of Alex sneaking in and out of her apartment. Others were of kisses stolen in the palace hallways. Then there was the picture the article writer claimed was Dani rolling her eyes while Lara was suffering the effects of an attempted poisoning.

The comments that followed were even worse.

How much do we really know about Daniela Girard?

Rolling her eyes instead of getting Lara medical attention?

Savage. And please, she’s totally faking it.

I guess that’s one way to win yourself a crown.

“What are you reading?” Evan demanded, snatching her phone. When she saw the comments, she swore. “I can’t believe people are actually stupid enough to fall for her act.”