The ghost of Liam's touch still burned on my back, a brand of betrayal beneath the crimson velvet. I moved through the glittering crowd, my placid smile firmly in place, but my mind was a whirlwind. Kaelen's sharp perception was a danger I hadn't fully anticipated. He saw cracks I couldn't afford to show anyone else. I needed to be more careful, my mask needed to be impenetrable.
I felt his gaze throughout the evening, a constant, low hum of awareness at the edge of my consciousness. It was neither protective nor predatory, but purely observational, as if I were a fascinating specimen under a microscope.
The huge bustling ballroom, with its cloying scent of roses and champagne, was beginning to feel overwhelming. Needing a moment to fortify my crumbling composure, I slipped through a set of French doors onto a secluded balcony overlooking the city's glittering skyline. The cool night air was a balm, a brief respite from the suffocating performance.
The silence lasted less than a minute.
"Elara? Are you alright?"
I didn't need to turn. Liam's voice was right behind me. He moved to stand beside me, his shoulder brushing against mine, reclaiming the intimacy Kaelen had shattered.
"I just needed some air," I said, my voice carefully neutral, my gaze fixed on the distant lights.
"We didn't get to finish our conversation," he murmured, his voice dropping back into that suggestive, intimate timbre. He turned, leaning his hip against the balustrade, effectively trapping me in the corner. "You seemed... flustered." His hand came up, not to touch me, but to rest on the stone railing beside my hip, caging me in. "I liked it. It's refreshing to see you dress up and not running around me for once. What game is this you are playing?"
My skin crawled. "Liam, I'm not... This isn't the place—"
"It's the perfect place," he interrupted, his face inches from mine, his breath a warm cloud in the cool air. "No prying eyes. Just us." His other hand lifted, his fingers tracing the line of the teardrop diamond on my throat, a mockery of a caress. "Our future, Elara. It's all I've been able to think about since I saw you tonight. You have no idea what you do to me. There's something I have been thinking a lot about tonight. Do you perhaps, want to bring up our engagement party?"
I tried to shrink back, but the cold stone of the balcony was at my back. Panic, cold and sharp, began to lace through my controlled rage. I would have loved his idea in my past life, thinking he was into me, that he loves me. I stared into his eyes, his passionate eyes. He was more persistent, more emboldened, away from the crowd.
It was then that a new voice, saccharine and sharp as a razor blade, sliced through the tension.
"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you two!"
Chloe stood framed in the doorway, a vision of faux-concern and simmering jealousy. Her eyes swept over our close proximity, Liam's possessive stance, and her smile tightened. She slinked forward, deliberately inserting herself between us, linking her arm through Liam's and pulling him back a step, breaking his hold on me.
"The music is starting, Liam," she cooed, looking up at him through her fluttering lashes. "You promised me a dance, remember? Unless..." She turned a sweet, venomous smile my way. "...you were boring my poor sister with business talk again. You know how she hates that. Why is it that you can only talk business but nothing else with her?"
The dismissal was blatant. She was reasserting her claim, pulling him back into her orbit with a combination of a false promise and a subtle put-down. Liam, momentarily agitated by the interruption, looked from my tense face to Chloe's pleading, sparkling one.
The spell was broken. The moment was lost.
"I.. There's something we're discussing, Chloe. I'll join you later."
Chloe was immediately taken aback by Liam's rejection. For a fraction of a second, raw fury flashed in her eyes before it was smothered by a look of smoldering promise. She didn't retreat. Instead, she stepped forward, closing the small space between them and placing a hand high on his chest, her fingers splaying possessively.
"But... The music is starting, Liam," she murmured, her voice a low, intimate purr that excluded me entirely. She rose onto her toes, her lips brushing his ear as she whispered something meant only for him. I saw her other hand trail down his arm, a slow, deliberate caress. Then, she leaned back just enough to look up at him, her eyes heavy-lidded and full of blatant invitation. "You promised me a dance, remember? And I promised you something else?"
The effect was instantaneous. Liam's focus shattered. The intellectual pursuit of "our future" was no match for the raw, physical temptation presented to him here and now. The frustration in his eyes was replaced by a dazed, hungry look. Chloe wasn't making a social request; she was issuing a carnal challenge, and reminding him of a prior, private understanding.
"Right. Of course," Liam said, his voice suddenly thick. He barely glanced at me, his attention completely captured by the siren on his arm. "We'll talk later, Elara."
"Sister, you wouldn't mind if I ask Liam to teach me how to dance, right?" Chloe looked at me, her eyes wide with feigned innocence.
"Of course not, sister. Liam, teach her well for me would you?" I smiled at the slightly confused Chloe.
Liam nodded and allowed Chloe to lead him away, her body pressed flush against his side, a triumphant smirk thrown over her shoulder at me.
As they disappeared through the doors, I finally let out a shaky breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. To think I almost felt for it again. How could I? I leaned against the cold balustrade, my legs trembling not from fear, but from the sheer effort of restraint.
A soft footfall sounded behind me. I turned, expecting Kaelen, my heart in my throat.
It was Elizabeth Reed, Sienna's mother. Her eyes, the same warm brown as her daughter's, were filled with a knowing concern that had been absent from my life for too long. She guided me towards a quiet alcove shielded by a potted fern.
"Elara," she began, her voice low and gentle, "forgive an old friend of your mother's for speaking plainly." She glanced meaningfully towards where Chloe was now giggling, her hand still on Liam's arm. "That one… she is trying far too hard. And Diana… she moves through your home with a sense of ownership that I find… unsettling." She placed a comforting hand over mine. "Your father is a good man, but a lonely one. He sees what he wants to see. But I remember your mother. Eleanor was a woman of immense strength and discernment. She would have seen through this performance in an instant. I suppose I just… I wonder if you are alright, my dear. Truly alright."
My throat tightened with a sudden, unexpected wave of emotion. This was not the calculated business alliance talk that I was used to. This was genuine care, a lifeline thrown from the world I had almost lost. I saw the ghost of my mother in her eyes, the memory of a friendship that had been a cornerstone of our family.
I met her gaze, allowing a sliver of the weight I carried to show—not the rage, not the vengeance, but the weary burden. "It's… an adjustment, Mrs. Reed," I said softly, my voice barely a whisper as I looked down on the polished marble floor. "Some days are easier than others. But your concern… and Sienna's… it means more to me than I can say."
Mrs. Reed patted my shoulder gently, "Don't worry dear. You know you always have a room at our home. Come whenever you need a break. I'm sure Sienna would be elated."