Page 170 of House of Lilith

“Come on, Nyx,” my brother drawls as he turns to frown at me. “You expect us to believe you’re good with a knife and you can’t even hold onto a bottle?”

I just shrug and proceed to pouring myself a drink, letting the conversation at the table happen without me.

And with every passing minute, my anxiousness dies down a little, birthing a possibility I haven’t even entertained yet.

That I won’t have to try to avoid seeing people I don’t want to see, because people I don’t want to see won’t even be coming to the party.

But almost as soon as I think that, I spot that fucking Howe enter the Main Hall with his pack and all the anxiousness comes flooding back into my body.

*

I sense Max looking and I force myself to tear my eyes away from Howe, who didn’t seem to notice me, him and his pack already merging with the crowd. But when I turn them to my fiance, I see him glance in the same direction I did.

Then he locks eyes with me, staying silent while throwing me this funny little squint that makes a pang of guilt shoot through me.

I don’t hesitate. “What would you say,” I ask as I lean in, determination in my voice, “if we left this place,right now, and went up to my room to order some food from the kitchens and just relax, like we used to?”

For a second, he just looks deeper into my eyes. Then he shakes his head, gives me a funny little smile and starts getting up. “No no, the party’s only getting started.”

It makes me frown, when I see him move for the center of the room with determination in his step.

To my surprise, he jumps onto one of the tables, his eyes sweeping the room. “Excuse me,” his voice booms, “may I have everyone’s attention, please.”

Blood rushes to my cheeks when the music dies down and all the eyes in the room snap to my fiance standing on the table with a mysterious smile on his lips.

No…

“Now, as you all know,” he starts, “at the start of this year, I got engaged only to have that engagement broken off not four months later.”

There’s a murmur of sympathy from the crowd, but I’m focusing all my attention on not jumping out of my skin.

“We won’t be getting into detail about how it all went down,” my fiance continues with a laugh and a wave of his hand, “but I did go from a happy man to a wretched one in the blink of an eye.”

There’s a split second of silence during which it finally hits me, that he’s actually going to do this.

“But I’m pleased to say,” he says in a voice that seems to match the sentiment, “that as of two weeks ago, I’ve gone back to being the luckiest man alive.”

He turns to me, holding his hand out in my direction. “And this is the woman I have to thank for that. Why don’t you come on up, Anastasya?”

For a second, I find myself struggling to catch my breath.

But there are so many eyes on me now, and I just get up and I walk up to the table on which he’s standing, my mind buzzing and blank all at once.

Max jumps down and takes my hand in his.

“No,” I mutter to him, but before I can do anything, he lifts my limp hand in the air to show the ring on my finger.

And the crowd cheers, but all I can do is say one weak, “Thank you,” trying my hardest not to actually look at anyone, so I don’t see who’s watching and who’s not.

“Let’s just say,” I hear my fiance continue as he lowers my hand but keeps it in his, “sometimes, the bumpier the start, the smoother the ride. Isn’t that right, cupcake?”

I hear laughter and I turn to look at him and he’s throwing me a smile, but all I can do is give him one stiff nod, my ears ringing.

“And because we’re so thrilled about this,” he says as he turns away from me again, motioning to someone in the crowd, “we felt the need to share the happiness with all of you tonight.”

The next thing I know, the crowd is parting to let through a whole procession of staff members pushing carts stacked with fondue, cakes, drinks, the works.

“This is all courtesy of the Aalders and Romanov families. Enjoy,” Max says, making the crowd break out into cheerful clapping and whistling.

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