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“You cut like an inch off it. That’s not enough to consider it a change.”
Daphne realized it a second too late. Not until a grin broke on my lips. She’d noticed, which meant she was paying attention.
She sputtered a little, fighting to recover. She came up with something to say, it was clear in the flash of pride in her eyes, but whatever it was got cut off by a squeal to my right.
“Daphne Athena, as I live and breathe!”
It happened for just a second, unnoticeable to anyone who wasn’t staring directly at Daphne. Or maybe even to people who didn’t know her as well as I did. But I saw it.
I saw the flash of dread, the fall of the muscles in her face before she contorted them into a perfect, blinding smile. One that mostly reached her eyes.
She turned away from me, keeping that smile plastered as she said, “Piper! How great to see you.”
Piper was who my brother was supposed to marry before he absconded off in search of the comforts of land. She was a member of an old, seafaring family who claimed to have distant connections to the first Poseidon’s wife, Amphrite.
Which made her claim on my brother fucking weird if you asked me.
My mother told me that I needed to keep the peace with her family, so I dealt with her. Even though it wasn’t something I liked doing. Especially not since Piper clearly was unhappy that she was no longer going to rule.
I kept my face passive, keeping my hand at my side so I didn’t reach for Daphne.
“It’s been too long,” Piper said through a smile. “We’ve missed you around here!”
Daphne was taking a second longer to respond than she normally did. “Well, I’ve certainly missed it. I’m glad to be back.”
Piper turned to me, lingering, then back to Daphne. “I forgot what a handsome couple you two make. Almost forgot about the engagement itself, you were gone so long!”
Piper’s tone was sweet as she said it, but Daphne’s back tensed. Daphne laughed easily, even though I could still see the tension rolling under her skin. “I often do, too. It’s been so long that I have to remind myself that we are actually getting married.”
“Speaking of,” Piper said, her smile gone. “When did you reschedule for?”
“Two months. Third Saturday in October,” I said, which did nothing but draw Piper’s attention to me.
Piper pouted, laying a hand on my arm. “That’s such a quick turnaround. I wouldn’t want it to be a cause of stress.”
I restrained the urge to shake her hand off forcefully, settling on moving my arm to settle on Daphne’s back in a blatantly possessive hold. “I’d have it tomorrow if it was up to me.”
I could feel Daphne’s eyes on me, burning into the skin of my jaw, so I turned to meet them. The second I did, she looked away. “Our mothers have been kindly helping with all the details.”
Piper did a weird thing with her mouth. I didn’t care to figure out what it was. “That’s so nice of them. I know I’d want a bit more of a say. But if you’re okay with letting someone else handle something so important, then that’s great.”
The judgment in that statement was crystal clear. I opened my mouth to jump in, but Daphne beat me to it. “Oh, I’m so grateful. It’s so important I need four sets of eyes on everything.”
“Four?” Piper asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Our mothers, Lukas, and I,” Daphne explained, the smile never wavering an inch.
“Oh.”
“Well,” Daphne said, when it became clear that Piper wasn’t going to offer anything else. “I’m going to step outside for a second, but please, you two stay and catch up. I’m still taking every chance to be close to the water as I can.”
I had zero fucking plans to stay in a conversation with Piper. I stepped to follow Daphne, but she looked at me with what could only be described as a snarl, rooting me to my spot.
Oh, fuck no.
I let Daphne walk away, out to the patio, only because that was a more private place to have this conversation.
On her way out, she looked over at someone. Eleni, I realized, had been watching us, and was presently sharing a loaded glance with Daphne as she made her way out the door.
