With a big hat on her head, Melrose followed Arianne closely and asked, "Are you sure I won't be recognized by people, Arianne?"Arianne, who was dressed up the same, answered, "With how big that hat of yours, your face could hardly be seen. Just keep your head low and don't act too stiff or people might get curious.""Are there even women who wear hats inside the club? And we are dressed so poorly that one will think we are lower than servants. Ladies in a gentlemen's club for sure, even those from the lower class, could have worn better clothes than this. I doubt this is your way of keeping low or getting us busted.""Silly girl," Arianne held her arm as they approached the entrance of Spade House. She grinned at Melrose. "Mellie, trust me, okay? I will have this Mr. Harris tamed today that he will forget about the duel he is supposed to have with my foolish brother. And about our clothes, I made this on purpose so that not a single gentleman will bother taking interest in you. I do
"I hate you, Arianne. I really do!" Stepping out of the carriage, Melrose continued her lament. She couldn't get over how embarrassed she was in front of Lord Knight.Arianne only laughed at her fuming friend. "I must say you are so courageous to force Lord Knight to keep your secret. I doubt if I could say a word if it was me! I am bold but the lord is obviously someone not easy to deal with.""And I was crazy for agreeing to your ridiculous plan. Now let's pray that he won't open his mouth or else I will be done.""Fret not, Mellie. If I have to beg the lord not to spread a word, I shall do it on bended knees."That day ended up a tragedy. Melrose could only hope for Lord Knight's vacation to end quickly so he would return to wherever he came from. She wanted to do nothing with him because for some reason she could feel that he hated her.She could understand why those ladies hated her, that was because of envy, but this one, she couldn't think of a sensible reason. Or maybe Lord Kn
Melrose wanted to return right that moment and kill her best friend. The last one who touched her belongings was Arianne and she must have replaced the book she brought with this filthy one. Her grip on the book tightened and all she wanted was to disappear from Lord Knight's sight. She couldn't believe she embarrassed herself in front of him again. What a mishap!"Look, my lord, you got the wrong idea. I don't read this kind of stuff—""But you were reading it before I interrupted you with my words, weren't you?""Yes—no, I wasn't!""What were you doing, then? Staring at a page without reading a word in it, yes Lady Lewis?"Her cheeks heated. How could she explain that she only pretended she was reading because couldn't bear the sight of him and she had nowhere to look?She sighed, reminding herself not to start an argument and spoil her mood further. They haven't even arrived in East Brownsville yet."If I'm reading this kind of stuff, then so what?"His look darkened. "Books like t
In the midst of the night storm, she stood there in front of him, his eyes fixated to hers. She could still hear the voices from her nightmare but when he held her an inch closer as he led her to the rhythm he wanted, the shouts haunting her turned to whispers.Her father never knew what she had been going through all these years. Not that she didn't want to tell him, but she just knew he wouldn't understand, nor would he care. Lord Lewis was the kind who paid little to no attention when it came to women's thoughts or feelings. He never even asked her if she liked the King enough to marry him. It was because even if she said she didn't, he would still push her into doing what he wanted.And in truth, even though the King was the best choice for her, a small part of her couldn't help but wonder how it would be if she found someone she truly wanted. Someone who would understand the deepest part of her soul."I thought you already left," she uttered silently and the thunder drowned her v
Although Melrose was sitting in a warm carriage as the rebels traveled through the woods, she didn't feel any comfort. She was nervous, angry, and frightened. Did they want to use her to blackmail the King? She couldn't think of another reason why they wanted to capture her.But they were just a group of rebels. Even if they had more than two dozen highly skilled men, they were still no match to the royal army. She couldn't understand where their confidence was coming from.She had studied the map of Arden even if she hadn't been to many places outside the town before, and she remembered that East Brownsville was near the border where some of Arden's military troops were deployed. But why didn't they come when the village was attacked?It was impossible for these rebels to have such courage to wipe out an entire village near a military camp and even abduct the King's bride if they didn't have a backer. The military troops must be aware of the chaos in the village but they didn't come
As they walked through the dark alley, Melrose spoke, "The rebels didn't start this chaos alone. They must be working for someone who is in the court.""Why do you think so?" Reed asked, curious how she came up with the same deduction as him."East Brownsville is near the border where the military troops are deployed, yet those rebels weren't a bit intimidated to make a mess in the village. At first, I thought the military troops at the border turned a blind eye on it because they must be restrained, but after observing those men, I figured that they weren't originally rebels. They were soldiers.""Soldiers?" Reed inquired."Yes. The way they moved, there was some sort of coordination that only military men are accustomed to, and have you noticed the weapons they used? Those bear a familiar emblem."Reed was surprised how Melrose's mind worked. Most people cared about nothing but their lives when at the brink of death, but she was different. She may look innocent but she was sharp and
"Or could it be that you like watching me suffer, my lord?" she asked accusingly. She could feel the hard pounding of her heart on her ears like a drum.She was almost sure that it was because of the blood gushing out of her wound and the pain that came with it. But when Reed squatted in front of her, held the sides of the bed where she sat, and stared at her closely with those brooding turquoise eyes, she doubted if the pain solely caused her heart to go frantic."And what do I get from watching you suffer?" He spoke with heaviness in his voice, yet with frigidness at the same time as if he wanted to freeze her to death for testing his patience. But wasn't he also testing hers?"Trust me, I will be in any place but here. I don't like your stubborn temperament, and your entire presence burdens me, Lady Lewis. Do you understand that?"It was like a slap. A hard one for that matter. He had always made her feel that she was only a burden to him, and it had always hurt her pride, but it f
"Hello, Mr. Leighton," Melrose's polite response, her gaze lingering at Raphael's face.Sure, she had seen him several times in balls and soirees, so it was right that she was familiar with him. But it was the first time she had seen him up close and noticed his brown eyes. Those were different from most brown eyes she had seen. His was way brighter, and the outer lining of his pupil had a different color, like gold. And for some reason, she felt that she had seen it before.Raphael smiled at her. She offered back a small smile, before tearing her gaze from him."I thought you ladies went for a walk, so I brought Raphael here to discuss our business," Benedict said."Actually, we are going to the town's library, so you can have our place and talk all you want," Arianne said with a little hint of sarcasm because it was obvious his brother wanted them to leave the front yard."If the ladies want to have tea a little longer, then we can just go inside, Benedict," Raphael proposed.Though
He must be stronger and wiser than I thought. I figured that I'm not very unfortunate. I met a strong and influential vampire like him and he is the perfect person who can help me achieve my goals."What else can you do?" I really wonder."Hmm…"In in instant, he was in front of me, pinning me at the back of the old piano.I gasped when his finger grazed my arm in a slow provocative manner. It ran up to my shoulder, then to my neck."What are you doing?""What do you think, my wife?"My wife.I don't know but it sounds strangely… good. What the hell is happening to me? I don't know what change but I could feel that something did change. Is it because of what happened between us that night?All my thoughts were wiped out my mind when I felt Landon's tender lips. His kiss was shallow at first but soon it became deep and urgent.I don't know what I should do anymore. I felt like a wild flower lost in the middle of the forest. I can't seem to justify all my actions, nor stop my emotions f
"Because there is no point hiding the truth now that what I was scared of already happened.""And you are out of the picture now. You can't change the fact that Eve has a new life. So even if you had presented yourself as her mate and wants to take the responsibility to keep her, do you think you still have the right to do that? You don't, so better back off and let me do the job since I'm his husband," Landon said."You don't love her. You just want to use her against Alec because you know very well that Eve has the face of Elizabeth, Alec's mate."Alec's mate? Did he mean that my grandma Elizabeth was Alec's mate? But how did it happen that she married another man? What happened between them?"How intelligent you are, Carter," Alec butt in with a smirk on his face as if he is enjoying this so much.Carter just clenched his jaw on Alec's remark. His look can almost kill and I could feel that he is only stopping himself because maybe like me, he also knew that if this would escalate i
I don't know why it feels weird. I felt a little bad for turning my back on Carter and leaving, but I also feel a little pleasant for walking back to Landon. So complex, isn't it? I don't even know how feeling two different emotions at the same time is possible.I know Carter doesn't want me to go to Landon because he's afraid I would end yo getting hurt, alright. But he doesn't know what I feel. I trust my instincts and it's saying that I can trust that Landon won't hurt me. And also, I didn't feel right leaving him like that. He is all alone while Carter has his family so I don't think it would be a big deal if I leave Carter for the moment so I can talk with Landon. I really need to have a lot sorting out to do, especially about this feelings I have for Carter and Landon.The moment I was close to Landon, I heard a sound of nearing chopper. I thought it was the one Carter's family used, but it wasn't.The chopper landed near us. Henry went out from it."I apologize if it took a whi
I frowned at him. "Don't say that.""Say what?""Don't say 'I love you more' because I feel like my love for you is smaller than what you have for me. Just say 'I love you' or 'I love you too'. I think it's better."His eyebrow shot up. "I don't see the difference.""Whatever. I'm eager to see my parents now so we should get going.""Glad you reminded me that," he said as if he had dark thoughts earlier that made him forget our main business.It was already late when we set a foot in Seattle, so we went to a hotel and decided to go meet my Mom early in the morning tomorrow."Anyway, you'd show up too? I mean, how am I gonna explain that you are with me? The alibi you've rooted in my parents' mind was that I went on a vacation alone because I got heartbroken with Carter. Wouldn't they be weirded out that I brought a man after my short vacation?" I asked while we were on the car he rented, with Henry driving us to Lynnwood."Why don't you just say the truth, then?""What truth?""That y
Isabella's POVLife has always been unfair to me or maybe I want something against my fate.When I was three my mother died in a car accident. Later my father turned his back on me. He re-married Julia when I was seven. She came with her own baggage; her twin daughter Nicole and Natasha.After this I never felt I had a family .My father's life revolved around his wife, twin daughter and his new born son Jaxon.I was out of the frame of this happy family.My dad had a textile company but with the expansion program, he was rarely home which benefited Julia and her daughter. I was treated like trash and was forced to eat trash i.e. remainings and slept at trash i.e. store.My life was a modern Cinderella story minus the fairy godmother and prince charming.But who needs all this when I was a one-woman army. I learned to fight my own battle and ticket to freedom.I graduated from high school at the age of sixteen and did my bachelors on finance at nineteen.I had enough credit points to pa
His lips parted on the last part of what I said as though he didn't understand any of it."Your… boyfriend," he uttered the words slowly as if he is trying to understand it. "What do you mean, I thought…" he trailed off and just dropped his gaze on me, obviously asking for an explanation."Carter and I broke up couple of months ago, remember? I was heartbroken that's why I went to Arizona for a vacation because I wanted to forget and take a break. It was a coincidence that Landon was also there. We developed something while we were spending time with each other. He helped me coped up, so…" I shrugged and just smiled because I don't know what more I can say."Hello, sir. Landon Arthurs," Landon introduced himself politely."Arthurs? Are you connected to the owner of Arthurs Group in England, perhaps?""I'm the one running it," Landon said with pride as if he wanted to impress Dad."Oh!" Amazement was evident on Dad's eyes. Landon smiled, satisfied."Come, come. I will ask the maids to
"But something is bothering you, am I correct?"I didn't answer because he will just ask me what is it."Is it that Rellis?" he went on in a low and gentle voice."You are thinking twice of marrying me again because you don't want to hurt him. You care for him… you love him.""But I love you more."My eyes widened a fraction, surprised at my own words. Even Landon was taken aback by that."You love me more? Did I hear It right, Eve?"I was at loss for words."Love, please… say it again. Who is it you love more?"I shut my eyes tight. He chuckled and planted a soft kiss on my lips that made me look at him again."Say it again, Eve," he encouraged as he started kissing me on my neck. Now I don't think I can still think straight."Eve," he pleaded and from my waist, his hands crawled and wander around my curves and the parts that he had only touched. I felt low electric bolts when he touched my bare skin under the thin fabric I was wearing."Say it—""Yes, Landon, damn it! I love you mor
Back then, I didn't want Zach to visit there. But when I slowly learned to accept everything, little by little, I accepted Klyde was part of Zach's life. He is, after all, his father. Just like how my mom is still Mommy. I visit her at times, and even if I want to bring Zach, he doesn't want to.Mommy still haven't accepted it all, despite what happened. Even then, not once, he could not visit Ate. I thought he would also accept eventually, the mistake of Ate and her grandson, but to this day I am still waiting for that day to come. I don't know if she regretted the things she had done in her most private moments. All I know is, whatever she did before, I genuinely forgave her.But forgiveness doesn't mean I've forgotten everything he's done. It was still painful to look back until now. But I know holding grudges won't bring any good. You need to move on in order to see the brighter side of life, to taste the light in spite of how you got drowned in darkness in the past."Ma'am, I've
I dropped the book in panic and almost jumped. I turned to him. Why does he tend to appear suddenly?Lucian's eyes were far more intense than last night. I had a nightmare after that short interaction. Won't it make me have a nightmare again tonight?Holding the book and photo, I stood up and faced him, face formal. His cold and suspicious look remained. It was like he just caught me doing something illegal and he's ready to punish me for it."I heard you said Emiliano Bosque. Tell me. How did you know him?" His voice was as cold as ice.I did not say a word. How would I answer, anyway?"Why can't you answer?" he demanded.My grip on the book tightened as he slowly stepped closer. I stepped back until I felt the shelf. I was swallowed. I think I've said everything cheaply in my mind. He's damn scaring the shit out of me!"Answer. Me."And he stopped half a foot away. He looked at me, wondering if he was still standing and as if his patience was about to be tightened."Who really are y