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5
By the time Sebastian drives me back to our circular prison, the temperature is twenty degrees chillier than it was at the start of the weekend. It’s so cold, in fact, that my skin is still cool to the touch thirty minutes later.
“Are you looking forward to the trip?”
Tatum’s voice jolts me to awareness, and I look around the dinner table, realizing I’ve been lost in my head since the first course was served. But God, it’s surreal to be back here, seated among all twelve members of the Brotherhood.
The last time we all shared a meal in this room, I was under the command of Miles, grudgingly accepting the key to his chastity—the key that has since disappeared from my jewelry box.
“Novalee?” Tatum prompts upon my contemplative silence.
“Sorry,” I say, shaking the fog from my brain and trying to recall what he asked me just seconds ago. “Can you repeat the question?”
Tatum gives me a sympathetic smile. “Are you looking forward to the trip?”
“The trip?”
He arches a brow. “The fashion show in Los Angeles?”
“Oh!” A sheepish flush spreads over my cheeks. “Right, the trip. Yes, very much so.”
“I can’t wait to see you in your element. I’ve heard nothing but high praise for your designs.”
“She’s got a gift,” Landon cuts into the conversation, brotherly pride shining in his emerald eyes. He and Elise are sitting across from me, with the chancellor two paces to their right. Liam’s coming ever closer as I move among the houses…and Sebastian is moving further away, each month passing like somber notches on a clock.
The lion draws my gaze with a magnetism I can’t resist, and we communicate so much in the tangle of our stares.
Affection.
Longing.
Questions that can’t be answered right now.
Does he feel as disoriented as I do, sitting in this room for the first time since he returned from exile? More importantly, is he still upset about the secret I’m keeping from him?
His expression refuses to give me answers. A moment later, he breaks the connection and turns his focus on Liam, his eyes narrowing, lips forming a scowl. Liam notices, but instead of reacting, the chancellor lifts his chin in an air of superiority.
He’s downright smug.
Vance breaks through the tension by saying something to Sebastian, but I can’t hear a word above the roar in my ears. I’d give anything to return to the cottage, where we spent the day wrapped in each other as if the world didn’t exist.
But reality is a wrecker of dreams, and so is this messed up situation, trapping us in a loop that feels so…wrong.
So unreal.
I take a bite of whatever is on my plate, hoping to get one bite closer to the end of this unbearable meal.
“When are the two of you leaving?” Landon directs the question at the brown-haired man sitting next to me.
“We fly out on Thursday,” Tatum says.
“You’re flying her, personally?”
“Absolutely. I’ve arranged for a driver to pick us up at the airstrip. We’ll have time to do some sightseeing, maybe take a helicopter over the city. And, of course, the fashion show on Saturday.”
A nervous flutter takes root in my stomach, and I drop my fork with a clang. “I didn’t realize you’d made so many plans.”
“Is it too much?”
