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“You know who the Carandini family is, don’t you?” I ask her.
“I’ve known those two guys since I was born. Our fathers were best friends, our grandfathers were too, and so on and so on. Unfortunately, our family’s legacy has been entwined with the Carandini family for centuries,” she states. “Dante was Magnolia’s first love then something happened, and she hasn’t spoken to him in years. He moved halfway across the world and tonight was the first time since that she’s seen him.”
That is a lot to unpack. “I don’t trust them,” I tell her.
“And you shouldn’t, we believe it was his father that burned down the tower. A ploy to pull us home so that it would ruin our chances with you. It would then force us to ask him for financial help to rebuild the castle and be in even more debt to him than ever before.”
“That didn’t work now did it?” I chuckle.
Rosalie smiles too. “Certainly not and I love that Valerius’s plan has backfired, but he’s like a cockroach, he’s going to keep coming back, again and again. That’s why I asked in the garden about helping me with our country’s laws and understanding how we can change them.”
“I’ll do anything I can to rid your family of the Carandini’s, I promise,” I tell her as I cup her cheeks and kiss her softly.
“Thank you.” She sighs and I can see the mountain of stress that she has been holding onto disappear off her shoulders.
“I know now is not the time and I understand if you want to say no, but part of the engagement is that you move into the palace as soon as possible to bring you up to date on everything Friendsburg,” I explain to her. I feel like a dick asking her to leave her family during this crisis, but she needs to know what is expected of her now that she’s said yes.
“Oh, I, yes, um …” she says, fumbling over her words as she looks over at her family sitting in the glasshouse.
“Bring them with you. We have enough space for them,” I tell her. Rosalie’s eyes light up and she smiles wide.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, but we will have to leave tonight. Not sure how much damage there is at the castle and where your rooms are in relation to the fire, but I know the smell of smoke gets into everything so even if your rooms are habitable, you won’t be able to stay in them till the smoke is cleaned out professionally,” I explain to her.
Her mouth forms an O as she takes in my words. “Are you really sure?” she asks again.
“Yes. Never surer,” I tell her.
She grins and pulls me into a quick kiss and then looks over at Greyson and nods her head. “I don’t know how I can thank you both for saving my life,” she says earnestly.
“We’re family now, Rosalie. I’ll do anything to keep my family safe and that includes your sisters.”
She gives me another blinding smile.
“Why don’t you go tell your sisters the good news and Auggie and I will organize the plane and rooms for you back at the palace,” Greyson suggests.
“Okay,” she agrees happily before taking off quickly across the driveway in her heels.
“You mean it when you said you’re going to help her?” Greyson asks.
“Yes. I will not leave these girls to the wolves.”
Greyson gives me a nod as he pulls out his phone and starts organizing our return home.
13
ROSALIE
Augustine and Greyson head back to the car to arrange things for our departure while I rush over to the glasshouse to tell my family the good news.
“You lucky bitch.” Skylar chuckles as she jumps out of the bushes scaring me nearly to death.
“What the hell, Sky?” I squeal, clutching my chest, trying to calm my manic heart rate.
“I saw you.” Her blue eyes narrow on me.
“Excuse me?” I say, trying to play dumb. We haven’t really spoken yet about who can know about them being a couple. I know Sky would never say anything, and I can trust Magnolia too, but still, I feel like that should be something we should discuss.
