Chapter 4 #2
She looked up, and stress turned to exasperation as she narrowed her eyes at me. Her head quirked to the side before she asked, “Why are you smiling?”
I shrugged. There was no point in fretting when we were facing the inevitable. We’d faced much worse and made it out alive. “You’re really adorable when you’re freaking out.”
Perhaps I could’ve done a better job at calming Emilie’s nerves. She sat across from me at the dining table, clenching a fork like it was about to run away. She’d hardly touched her salmon, though she’d been pushing it around her plate for the past twenty minutes.
Under the table, I stretched my leg until I felt her foot. I tapped twice, and she looked at me.
Relax, I tried to tell her without words.
Her response silently screamed, I can’t.
I wanted so badly to reach across the table and pull her into my lap, but that would hardly help the situation.
“Thank you so much for inviting me to dinner, Ms. Castelli,” Adrien said. “The food is fabulous. I haven’t had a meal this delicious in months.”
“Please call me Sophia.” My mother took a sip of her bubbling wine. She was already on her third glass, though that was standard for her.
“It’s too bad your parents couldn’t make it,” I chimed in.
But I wasn’t sorry at all. In the time I’d gotten to know Emilie, I had started to loathe her parents.
They sold her off to the highest bidder, and after she was taken captive and held hostage for months, living through the worst atrocities, they couldn’t be bothered to make an appearance for her. They could rot in hell for all I cared.
Adrien nodded. “Yes, well, Father is busy running things and Mother couldn’t handle the trip to Renoa on her own.”
“Yes, the travel must be very difficult. Far worse than spending months locked in captivity, enduring abuse and things you couldn’t imagine in your worst nightmares.”
My mother coughed, and Emilie sucked in a breath. Immediately, I regretted my outburst. I rarely lost my temper, but it enraged me to see Emilie treated like an inconvenience rather than the goddess that she was.
“Apologies,” I said. “I’m sure they’ll visit another time when it’s less troublesome.”
Emilie’s fork scraped across her plate, and Adrien watched her movements with concern.
“You’re right—they should be here. There really isn’t a good excuse for their absence. I told them as much in my last correspondence.” He turned to Emilie and added, “I really am sorry.”
Emilie forced a smile that disappeared as quickly as it came. “It’s all right.”
Adrien sighed. “It’s not. But maybe they’ll visit again soon when the wedding preparations continue. You know how much Mother loves that kind of stuff. She won’t miss a chance to give you her opinion,” he said with a soft chuckle.
An unsettling stillness fell over the table.
Emilie neatly placed her fork next to her plate while my mother’s glass froze halfway to her lips.
I held my breath while I waited for someone to speak. This was Emilie’s brother, and she should be the one to decide how and when he learned about us. I was ready to support her if she decided now was the right time.
But as the pink hue drained from her cheeks, I questioned whether I should step in to save her. I tried tapping her foot again underneath the table, but she didn’t acknowledge me. It seemed she was tangled in her own thoughts.
I leaned down, hoping to catch her eye, but my movement only invited Adrien’s attention. He followed my gaze, and his expression turned inquisitive. “What’s wrong?”
My mother cleared her throat and drank from her glass again. There was hardly anything left, but she continued to sip slowly.
“Emilie,” I said in a low voice.
She didn’t look at me. Her eyes remained fixed on the plate in front of her while her chest rose and fell with strained breaths.
Afraid that she was about to have a panic attack, I rose from my chair, but that was the moment she finally looked up at me. She licked her lips and blinked away her unfocused expression. When she nodded at me, I took it as my cue to sit back down.
“What’s happening?” Adrien asked, eyes flitting between the three of us.
Emilie took a few breaths, and I swore I saw her shoulders tremble, but she opened her mouth and calmly said, “The engagement is off.”
“What do you mean? Why? Is Cyrus—”
“Cyrus will be fine,” I said, coming off more defensive than I meant to.
Emilie covered her mouth with both hands, clearly stunned by her own confession.
Adrien leaned over to put his arm around her shoulders. “Hey, what’s happened? Whatever it is, it’ll be okay, Emilie. Tell me and I’ll do whatever I can to fix it.”
I couldn’t help myself. The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. “This doesn’t need fixing.”
Adrien looked at me, shaking his head in confusion. “What doesn’t need fixing? Someone tell me what I’m missing here.” He lowered his voice and turned back to Emilie. “You can tell me. Do you need me to help you out of Renoa? Did they do something?”
I scowled. He was only being a protective older brother, but I didn’t like where his imagination had led him. I would never do anything to harm Emilie, nor would my mother.
Emilie shook her head. Then, with some hesitation, she turned to face her brother. Her voice was unwavering when she said, “I’m not marrying Cyrus because I’m in love with Ladon.”