Page 120 of You’re So Vein

I sit in the chair on stage reserved for me, and watch as my friends hop to and arrange the chairs. Celeste points Preeti at a stack and tells her sternly not to come back until they’re all set out.

The hall begins to fill with villagers. People hug and chat and share out the platters of sausage rolls and club sandwiches. Irene and Dante sit among the vampires, but I don’t see Kael, thank the gods. I look everywhere for Augustin. I want to tell him about my breakthrough with my friends and family, that I’m finally starting to realise what he’s been trying to tell me about my insatiable need to be useful. He’s not here yet.

Colonel Whitby wears his dress uniform, medals polished to such a shine that they could blind anyone looking directly at them. He explains in his booming voice to everyone within hearing distance how his cannons could help stop climate change. He twirls a tiny rapier in his fingers. Maisie runs over to ensure all villagers stay a good ten feet away from him.

Reggie Brown earnestly extolls his campaign to rebuild the village based on permaculture principles. He has his pet hedgehog, Winston Churchquill, sitting on his shoulder. Winston is surprisingly popular. I think he’ll win Reggie a few votes.

I search the crowd again for Augustin. It’s not like him to be late, especially since he has that huge, bedazzled watch. I smooth down the front of my dress, suddenly nervous. I cast a glance over at the Nevermore Coven, willing them to understand that something’s wrong.

Has Kael got to him?

Just as Maisie steps up to the podium and clears her throat to start the event, Augustin rushes in. His dark grey suit is immaculate, his hair is perfectly coiffed, that mischievous curl over his eye slicked back, his features as handsome as ever. Relief floods me, but it’s quickly replaced by confusion. He doesn’t make eye contact as he takes his seat beside me.

“Where have you been?” I hiss.

He stares straight ahead, his lips pressed together. He doesn’t answer.

What’s going on?

I wring my hands, desperate to talk to him. But we’re already underway.

“Welcome to the election day fete,” Maisie says. “We’ve had quite a bit of rain overnight, but we’re not going to let a little water stop the wheels of democracy from turning. All our candidates will give a final speech outlining their vision for the village, and then you can all head to the ballot boxes. Now, let’s hear from our candidates. First up is Augustin Durant!”

Augustin bolts to his feet and walks to the podium like a robot on death row. He looms over the podium. He doesn’t look at me as he unfolds a single piece of paper.

“I come today bearing grave information about one of my esteemed colleagues,” he reads stiffly from the paper, as if he’s auditioning for a community theatre production of a John Grisham novel. “The office of mayor is one of utmost trust and responsibility, and I take that seriously. Which is why I must report a serious breach of conduct by my opponent, Miss Komal Ahuja.”

It takes a moment for his words to sink in.

Oh.

Oh no.

You absolute motherf—

Everyone in the crowd whips their gaze towards me.

Augustin drops a stack of paperwork on the table in front of him. It lands with the weighty THUD of betrayal. “It has come to my attention, and these records confirm it, that Komal stole the information of private citizens living in the Sanctus Estate. She used this—”

He doesn’t even finish speaking before the vampires in the back surge forward like someone had yelled, “Free blood cocktails.” Gideon and Alaric shoulder-check their way into a defensive wall. Alaric draws a sword that he’d concealed… who knows where.

My mother’s face is a ball of incandescent fury. Papa drops his gaze, his shoulders curling inward. Shame rolls off him.

That’s what breaks me. Not Augustin’s betrayal.

Not the crowd of vampires baying for my blood.

It’s the look on Papa’s face. The idea that in a single moment, everything I’d done for him, everything I sacrificed, has been wiped clean by one reckless Nevermore Coven idea.

“In conclusion,” Augustin’s voice cuts through my horror like one of Alaric’s blades, “Komal Ahuja has shown that she’s happy to invade your privacy and abuse her position on the council when it suits her. I don’t think that makes her a suitable mayor for this fine village. That is all.”

He whirls on his foot and storms from the room.

Of course.

Of course, this would happen.

I trusted Augustin. Last night in the forest, he said all those beautiful things. He touched me in ways I haven’t been touched in so long. He showed me his magic.