Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
My mouth is so dry I can’t defend myself with confidence, but Corvus steps forward, stretching his arm to the side, as if he fears his mother might bite off my face if I say the wrong thing. “That is for me to worry about.”
She scoffs, releasing a puff of vapor, and stomps her high-heeled boot deeper into the snow. “Just typical! You never want any of my advice. Even when you were younger, only your father’s opinion mattered, but I’ve got years of experience, so why leave me in the dark? I’m your mother!”
“Because this is how you act when you disagree,” Corvus responds, calm as if he’d faced this blonde storm many times before.
“I will repay the debt, Mrs. Van der Horn,” I say quickly, but Corvus cuts in, his hand drifting to my shoulder.
“You are now free of debt. I will make sure you learn to manage your finances better from now on.”
I smile and nod, finding it hard to believe a million bucks can be wiped away just like that. I’m not worth that kind of money. Corvus would have never dated me if he wasn’t forced by the circumstances. After all, what he intended was to smuggle me out of the hunting grounds and then keep me as his dirty secret.
Knowing this, however, doesn’t make my chest flutter any less.
His mother looks between us, but I can’t read her blue eyes, which are so much like Corvus’s own. “So… just like that? After telling me nothing for years, you will marry a bouncer you met at a club—or where did you even meet?”
Oh, God. We’ve not talked about any of that or how we will handle his family. Hell, until yesterday, he kept me in a cage in the basement, so I’m desperate to show him I’m not completely useless.
“Oh, no. We met at… the florist’s.”
She cocks her head at Corvus. “At the florist’s? Since when are you interested in flowers?”
Fuck. Corvus is gonna kill me. Literally skin me or poison me, whichever he fancies at the moment. It sounded reasonable in my head. Like somewhere a classy guy could be, but apparently not.
I’m surprised when he doesn’t show any of the frustration he must surely feel and speaks. “I needed an ingredient.”
“An ingredient?” she asks, snorting.
“An ingredient,” my fiancé says, stressing the word more.
His mother flinches, her eyes wide open. “Oh... of course—”
“I was trying an old recipe from Father’s cookbook,” Corvus tells her before briefly glancing my way. The weight of his stare has me shrinking, but at least it’s gone a moment later. “So yes, a florist. A club isn’t the right place to meet one’s future spouse.”
I guess a cell isn’t either, but here we are. “And I was…” Quick. What would make me look good, but not be an easily verifiable lie? “I’ve got this elderly neighbor, and she was recovering from surgery, so I was getting her some flowers.” There. Dalton Cross. An upstanding citizen. “We just got talking from there…”
She steals a longer glance at me from shoes to hat. Is she still assessing if I’m trash? I hope my face and size work in my favor. Despite me swinging the other way, women do tend to like me.
“About shared hobbies? Like art, literature, and classical music?”
“I don’t remember lack of shared hobbies interfering when you and Father were married,” Corvus interjects somberly and places his hand on my back in a way that feels weirdly… protective?
What… of me?
No one’s ever been protective of me.
She scoffs again. “That’s no way to talk to one’s mother!”
“It’s true though,” Corvus tells her firmly. “I don’t need my spouse to enjoy all the same things, but to complement my life.”
I don’t want to seem smug, so I fight the smile trying to rip my face in half. My heart is beating faster, and I just want to kiss him so bad. And then tackle him into the snow and make out in a little basin tailored to our entwined bodies.
“Mrs. Van der Horn, I’m sorry the way you met me wasn’t ideal, but I promise you this thing between us is real, and I cherish your son more than life itself.” I swallow and my eyes drift to Corvus. So maybe my words are embellished with glitter posing as gold, but if I only said that to keep up the illusion of us being a real couple, why did I feel all that imagined love for the fraction of a second?
Her eyes soften, the way Corvus’s do sometimes. “Okay, let’s exchange numbers, so I can reach you when Corvus is ‘too busy’.” She adds making air quotes.
“Oh, okay,” I say, a bit stunned, but my man speaks up.
“That won’t be necessary, Mother. So… what is it you needed to tell me so urgently?” he asks.