Chapter 50
FIFTY
THE DUCHESS
I straightened my back and summoned a smile to my face before I stepped into the Gardenside Pavillion.
It was lunchtime, and the Crimson Palace’s most popular restaurant was packed.
I made it about ten steps inside before the whispering started.
People tugged on their companions, phones made an appearance, and wide eyes followed me as the Crimson Duchess made a public appearance.
The bolder ones approached me before I was halfway across the floor. I simpered and signed napkins, slowly edging myself toward the balcony where my father waited.
It took me a few minutes to extract myself and step outside.
This restaurant had multiple balconies, and I faltered for a second when I saw Finch seated at the next one over, half hidden by the decorative plants.
He didn’t look at me as he set his coffee down and typed something on his laptop, though I felt a flicker of irritation through the bond.
My father was already seated at a private table in the sunshine.
My heart sank as I saw who he was sitting with; Prince, Dax, and Madison leered at me.
Next to them were all four of Prince’s pack parents and both of Prince’s older brothers, Romeo and Felix.
My aunt Ophelia and her two harpy daughters, Vivienne and Elizabeth, rounded out our happy family meal.
The empty seat was between my father and Prince, and I sank into it gracefully as I greeted them. Finch wasn’t visible from this angle, though he was close enough to hear us. My blood still boiled as I heard Kaos’s scathing words when I’d offered to bug their phones.
“Laurel,” my father said, his eyes flicking to the restaurant. “I keep telling you, you should have a bodyguard. It’d let you get around much more easily.”
“I don’t mind, Father,” I replied, smoothing my napkin on my lap.
Large glass windows and doors were between us and the public, and people were trying to be subtle as they stopped and took pictures of our lunch through the window.
My food was placed in front of me, chosen for me before my arrival. It was a light seafood pasta, and I took a bite, hiding my grimace. The only seafood I liked—barely—was fish, and these slimy scallops were hard to choke down.
“We have some exciting news,” Prince said, resting his hand on mine.
I tilted my head in interest.
Oh, I highly doubted that.
Still, it was a good opportunity, and I used the change in attention to slide his phone off the table. I smiled up at Prince as I plugged in Kaos’s burner phone.
Ha.
Eat that, Kaos.
Madison was sawing at his steak, but his eyes flicked up to mine for a second. Dax had a small smile playing on his face.
“Well, your father has given his blessing,” Prince continued, moving out his chair to face me.
The whole table had quieted, looking over at us. I slipped the phones into my purse, suddenly extremely aware that the way the table was angled meant everyone inside had a full view of Prince as he sank down to one knee on the floor.
Shit, was all I could think as he smiled up at me.
His eyes danced with victory. “Laurel, my pack will be honoured to court, mate, and marry you,” he said, flipping open a small box with a glittering ring inside.
My hands flew to my mouth in horror.
For a moment, I couldn’t think.
Just feel.
The sunlight, a little too hot on my shoulders, caused sweat to bead on my back.
The unpleasant lingering taste of shellfish and the prickling on my skin as I looked into Prince’s beautiful, soulless eyes.
The pinch of my heels on my toes and the movement in the background as the window behind us erupted into a flurry of movement, people pressing close to capture this moment.
And above it all, the surge of emotions from Finch—anger, resentment, outrage.
“Oh,” I said, because he hadn’t even asked me anything. “What wonderful news!”
Did my voice seem too strained? It was hard to tell through the ringing in my ears. Prince slipped the ring onto my finger; it was pale silver with pearls and a dark red ruby. It looked like a bead of blood glittering on my hand. He stood and then Dax took his place, looking up at me.
I was struck for a moment by the irony of it; this would likely be the first and last time they knelt for me.
My heart was racing and my hands trembling as fear welled up in me.
Father was handing me over to them.
How long did I have?
“Duchess,” Dax said, tangling his fingers in mine. His gaze was heated and possessive, and his voice was raw with pride. To my horror, I found tears welling in my eyes as he pressed a kiss to the ring. “Such an honour to have you.”
“The honour is mine,” I said, blinking back the wetness as my nose stung. Finch’s anger pulsed, making my trembling worse.
Dax pushed back the chair to make room for Madison’s hulking form. I felt the urge to laugh at the absurdity of Madison actually kneeling in front of me, but then his eyes caught mine, and I had to suppress a whimper instead.
It was the second time I’d been subjected to his full attention, and it was no less disturbing than the first. Madison reached up to me and pulled me onto his knee, his arms wrapping around my back. To the onlookers, perhaps, it looked sweet. Intimate.
“I can see your fear, little omega,” Madison purred in my ear. I did whimper then, and the arms around me tightened, Madison’s scent spiking. “You still smell so sweet and lovely, though.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and bared his teeth at me in a mockery of a smile.
He placed me back on the chair, wiping a tear from my cheek.
Forcing my face to bear a trembling smile for him might have been the hardest thing I’d ever done.
At least I was out of his arms now, back at my place at the table.
My head was spinning, and I was close to breaking. The smell of the disgusting pasta, the frantic crowding in the restaurant, the smug expressions of the Lucas pack, the heels, and Finch’s rage.
What would happen to me when they discovered they couldn’t bond me?
My father might actually kill me.
Perhaps they’d keep me alive long enough to bear an heir for him before they ended me for good.
The world was shrinking, my head pounding, and my expression flickered.
I could only blink as Angela pulled me into a hug and pressed a kiss to both my cheeks.
“I’ve always thought of myself as your surrogate mother, after we lost Laura, but now we’ll make that official,” she said, wiping fake tears from her eyes.
I had no doubt it was all for the cameras people were wielding behind us; she never looked twice at me in private.
But in the bond, there was something else.
A smooth, calming sea that rose higher and higher, washing through me and cleansing the terror and panic.
It came with a pulse of reassurance, the same feeling that came when Jule would squeeze my hand.
I took a breath, stilling and stopping my tears.
My thoughts had settled, and I was able to focus on what I had to do next.
Ocean.
He must have sensed me from his prison cell, the omega who had trapped him there, and he’d still reached out and offered his aid.
It didn’t mean anything, though. They needed me to function in order for him to escape, and it would be absurd to assume that he was offering me help out of kindness and affection.
I took a breath. Control. I could do this.
I unplugged Prince’s phone from Kaos’s tech and slid it back on the table.
“I have to say, this comes as a surprise,” I said, my hand slipping into Prince’s as Madison sat back in his chair. I turned to my father, and he shrugged.
“It’s about time you got mated off and continued our legacy. Hopefully you’ll give us an heir that isn’t defective, this time.”
Prince laughed, and my anger flared inside. Jule wasn’t fucking defective. My father was just too much of an idiot to see it.
“Of course,” I said, taking a sip of my drink. “Do we have a date for the ceremony?”
“So eager,” Prince said with a smile.
“Liz has everything sorted, starting with an engagement celebration next week,” my father said. “We’ll hold the ceremony just before your next heat.”
My second cousin Elizabeth gave me a smile dripping with venomous envy.
Five weeks.
“How perfect,” I said, peering under my eyelashes at Prince and then Dax. Madison was fully focused on his food, and I wasn’t sure I’d have been able to look at him again.
The conversation was all about planning as I sat and forced myself to choke down as much of the seafood pasta as I could. Prince never let go of me, and the ring weighed heavily on my hand, like a tiny, glittering manacle.
The only comfort I had was that the bastard would never know that I’d just stolen all his little secrets.