Page 7 of Shadow Witch

“I’m being serious, darling. You should be locked up in a tower room whilst you slowly lose either your sanity, your will to withstand Devon, or both. He’s really slipping. I’m certain his father is terribly embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed? Because Devon didn’t keep me in the tower?” Paige asked as they stepped into the streets of Paris.

Drucinda sighed. “You really aren’t that bright, are you? Follow along. Devon should have bent you to his will. Instead, he allowed you to run amok. Now, he’s convinced his father you are engaged. But this is not at all the way it should have happened.”

“But I thought his dad didn’t do the whole kidnapping thing?”

“And look how it turned out!” Drucinda shouted as she led Paige along the sidewalk toward the upscale shopping district. “They are divorced.”

“Hey, ladies?” Dewey called. “Any chance we could stop for a croissant or something?”

“No,” Drucinda said. “Not until I’ve got my wardrobe for the weekend.”

“Hey, what about mine? I’m the bride-to-be.”

“You ought to be concentrating on figuring out how to make this look legitimate. I’m fairly certain you’ll find a creative way to ruin this and dash our chances to find Reed.”

“I’m not going to ruin our chances to find my mother. I’ll play nice.”

“You’d better. One slip up, and Dominic will never give us that clue.”

“I won’t slip up. I will be the perfect fiancée. I will act like Devon is the best thing since sliced bread. Like I’ve seen the error of my ways and fallen madly in love with him. Like–”

“You’ve been bitten and cannot resist him.”

Paige crinkled her nose as she thundered along at a rapid pace to keep up with Drucinda. “Huh?”

“Act like he’s bitten you and you simply cannot resist him.”

“Uhhh…”

“Cling to him, act like you cannot live without him. Like he is your air.”

“Okay, now I’m concerned that I won’t be able to pull this off.”

“Try, darling. It’s our only hope.” Drucinda pushed through the doors to a boutique and approached the desk. “Hello, I need several dresses for a posh weekend event. I want something extremely alluring but not slutty. I have quite a figure, so it shouldn’t be difficult to pull off. I prefer reds, blacks, smoke gray, and deep purples. I can also wear dark blue. No pink, no green, no yellow, nothing sunny or bright.” She flicked a gaze toward Paige. “And nothing that looks like she would wear it.”

“Right away,” the woman said as she scampered to pull options for her.

“What about me?” Paige asked.

“Oh, right.” Drucinda caught another sales associate. “This one needs dresses, too. Something that says I’m the bride-to-be, I’m a bit dimwitted, but nice overall.”

“Hey!” Paige said with scrunched features. “I’m not dimwitted.”

“I didn’t say you were. I just want your clothes to say that. You cannot go in there like a vamp. You must look…like you.”

“Why can’t Dominic give us this clue because I saved Devon’s life? You’d think that would be enough.”

The first sales associate readied a dressing room for Drucinda. “We’re ready when you are. I think you’ll love the options I’ve selected.”

“We’ll see,” Drucinda said as she stalked toward the room. “The simple answer, Paige, is that you getting out of his castle alive was his repayment for saving Devon’s life. Now you owe him again.”

Paige heaved a sigh as she sank into a seat momentarily before the second sales associate called her to another dressing room. She hurried to the space with Dewey bouncing off her hip.

“I pulled several things for you. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.”

Paige chuckled nervously as she grinned at the woman. “Thanks. It was so unexpected. One second, I was single, and the next…I had a ring on my finger.”

---