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“Don’t let that stop you.” He nods down at my feet. “And wear the shoes. A little nod to the game we’re playing, and a little nod to yourself.”
I stare at him for a long moment, conflicting feelings warring inside of me. His taste is still fresh on my tongue. “You really want me to wear my sneakers?”
“I do, asteraki mu.”
“I thought you hated them.”
“Ireallydo.” His smile is tight, like he’s trying to hide it. “But you love them and that’s important to me.”
“That… might actually be the nicest thing you’ve ever said.” My eyebrows shoot up. “Are you getting soft, Evander?”
He smiles acidly. “If you want hard, I’ll strip you down and choose what you’ll be wearing myself. But first, I will make you come on my cock, shivering and moaning the whole time.”
“Oh,” I say, blinking rapidly, and have to clear my throat. “We can’t have that.”
“Wear white,” he says thickly.
I reach out and pluck a short dress from the row. It’s relatively conservative, with a tight, high bust and a flared skirt. Lacework curls around the shoulders and neckline. “This one,” I say as I hold it up against me. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re beautiful,” he says and that intense stare makes me want to tumble into his gaze. “I think you’ll make a perfect wife.”
“A perfectfakewife,” I whisper.
He says nothing for a long moment before turning away. “Come, asteraki mu. We don’t want to keep them waiting.”
I get changed, do my hair and makeup, then meet Evander in the sitting room. He gives me one look, nods approvingly, and offers me his arm. I accept it as we step out into the hall—but pause in front of his office door.
He leans down and his lips brush against my neck and ear. “Real or fake, I will be proud to call you mine, Camille.”
I tremble as he opens the door. We step into his office together.
A man stands behind his desk. He’s tall, handsome, with blue eyes and dirty-blond hair. He’s smiling at us kindly as he gestures at the papers open before him. Sitting in the chairs are Lycus, Helen, and Dimitra. Everyone stands as we enter and they stare at me like they expect me to run.
But there’s no running from this.
Not with Evander by my side, his taste still on my lips.
My heart’s racing as Evander leads me to the desk. “This is Gareth, my friend and lawyer,” he says, gesturing at the man behind the desk.
Gareth smiles kindly. “No special words today, I’m afraid, but congratulations all the same.”
“Thank you.” I clear my throat and hesitate, looking around. Helen’s nodding encouragingly, Lycus looks almost grim, and Dimitra’s watching me with hawk-like intensity. “And thank you all for coming. I know… I know this wedding isn’t exactly what we all imagined, but it’s exactly what we needed.”
“Well said,” Gareth says. “Now, if you want to sign—?”
But before Evander can pull me to the pens, Dimitra steps forward. She’s wearing a simple black sheath dress down to her knees with beads around the neck and her hair in a loose bun. She looks so much like Evander, with that same inscrutable intensity, but her gaze softens as she reaches out to take my hands.
“I don’t know you very well,” she says softly. I’m intensely aware of everyone straining to hear. “But I’m going to be honest with you. I never thought my son would take a wife.”
I clear my throat and try to smile. “I didn’t either.”
Lycus lets out a sharp laugh, but he stops himself quickly under the look Evander gives him.
“I have suffered a lot of loss in my life,” Dimitra continues. “From Evander’s older brother, gone when I was three months pregnant with him, to my brother-in-law and nephew, to my husband, to dozens of other captains and soldiers within the family’s organization. I wear black because I can’t bring myself to stop mourning them, all of them, everyone we’ve lost. But seeing you here, marrying my son—I have hope for the future of the family for the first time in a very long time. I know you are not Greek, but what has that gotten us? Nothing but fighting and violence. I am happy you are joining our family, and I hope that we can put the loss behind us in time.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, fighting back tears. I want to tell her how much I’ve lost too and how much her words mean to me, but instead I kiss her cheek and squeeze her hands.
It kills me. This whole moment kills me. Dimitra looks at me with hope in her eyes—but it’s a false hope built on a lie. I’m not going to stay with Evander forever, and whatever peace we might build by getting married will evaporate the second I walk way.
