Raven pulled Tempest into her arms and hugged her tight, they walked a few steps away from us while I downed the rest of the whiskey in my glass and set it on the nearby tray. Whispers and murmurs began around us, and then Ace spoke up. “You’ve been married a day and you’re already ready to let her leave the room without a kiss?”
Bastard.
8
TEMPEST
When you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.— Frederich Nietzsche
You could hear a pin drop.
Embarrassment washed over me. We should have rehearsed this. We weren’t used to being with each other, which meant we weren’t used to touching. I’d forgotten all about that when Raven walked in with Ace, when they both stared at me with what felt like pity when really I knew it was concern. I could almost hear Raven say ‘I hope you know what you’re doing’.
And by the look in Ace’s eyes, he too, was wondering if I had my head screwed on straight and if this was the best course of action. Shotgun wedding rather than an arranged one between the families.
The wild one settling down.
The wild one picking the boy her sister used to love.
God, it was so twisted, wasn’t it?
I grabbed a glass of wine when Louis turned on his heel and started walking back toward me. The crowd parted like the red sea, everyone wondering what he was going to do, and in frontof my dad. How brave was this new man who shot his brother in cold blood and swore to protect me and the five families until his last breath?
How good of an actor was this pawn I took for myself?
For the first time since marrying him, I was nervous, I was afraid people would see through it all and I’d see more of it—the pity. I hated it so much. I just wanted to be seen as someone worth protecting, someone strong enough to protect herself at the same time. Why was it impossible to have both?
False smiles and cautious steps, Louis looked lethal, calm and collected all at once. When his eyes briefly went to Raven he almost looked regretful, but as soon as it appeared he shielded them and then he only had eyes for one person in that entryway.
His wife.
Me.
I gulped.
He’d never looked at me like that before.
Not once.
And I’d never known a day in my life when someone had so intensely stared straight through my soul. Studying him, you’d think that every answer to all life’s questions were found if you drowned in one thing—my eyes.
I’d been jealous of Raven for a brief second, and now I barely remembered my own name, because Louis wanted me, he was walking toward me, he commanded the room.
For me.
He drank what I gave him.
For me.
A pawn.
A lover.
A gamble.
I straightened my spine and stared right back. If Louis De Lange wanted to pretend this marriage was a performance, thenI’d give the world the best damn show they’d ever seen and have them eating out of the palm of my hand.
Louis moved like he owned the floor—like every stare in the room belonged to him.