Page 78 of House of Lilith

Well, it’shisland, I snap back. It’sFather’sland you’re trying to sell.

And it’s the last fucking thing I want to do right now, I think as I stand straighter, determination flooding my body.

But I’m going to go get dressed for the Ball, I’m going to find my fiance and I’m going to tell him the deal is off.

*

I fasten the little silver clasps and tighten the little black-leather ribbons. Once I’m finished, I come to stand in front of my bedroom mirror, seeing my lips pressed tight and my eyebrows pulled down. It’s an elaborate, beautiful dress, the sleeveless bodice tailored to look like soft, chic armor and from it, a waterfall of black satin flowing onto the floor, almost entirely covering my black, block-heel boots. Deserving of a future princess. I just don’t feel like one.

And I’m not supposed to feel like one, not now that I’m on a mission, I remind myself.

But just as I turn on my heel to grab the metal-studded clutch off my bed, I hear a knock at the door, my muscles immediately tensing up.

I smell him even before he opens the door, softly, slowly.

Max, a bouquet of black roses in his hands.

My gut twists and my muscles stiffen as I watch him approach with a tentative smile on his lips, his eyebrows raised in apology.

“I’ll be frank, cupcake,” he says as he comes to stand an arm-length away, watching my reaction. “I’m here to grovel. Whatever you need to forgive me for the way I behaved today, you’ll get.”

And he takes a step closer, holding the bouquet out for me, but it only makes me take one back, leaving him frozen where he found himself.

Why, I think as I look at him.Whydid he have to do it?

I swallow around a lump in my throat, deciding to stop hesitating. “I hear you’re trying to sell my family’s land.”

There’s a flash of surprise in his eyes. He stands straighter. At first, he just squints at me, but then the look in his eyes grows softer. “This isnotthe way I imagined breaking the news to you,” he says as he takes a step closer.

I take one back. “You know what interests me?” I demand. “How is it that you didn’t need theownerof the land to come to those secret meetings with you?”

“Come on, Anastasya,” he says with a wave of his hand. “You always talk about how much you hate those kinds of things — the sales meetings, the dry conversations, the forced smiles.”

“I don’t care for courtrooms either,” I reply flatly, “but if I had to come defend myself, I think I’d somehow manage to put that aside.”

“These people,” he insists, “they’re not as open-minded as I am. It’s men they want to do business with.”

I look deeper into his eyes, trying to gauge whether he’s being honest. It does seem like it, and I guess that’ssomething, at least, I think to myself. But I just can’t shake it off. “Well,” I say, “I don’t see a reason forusto do any kind of business withthem.”

He shakes his head, throwing me an incredulous look. “Anastasya, you’re a smart girl. Youknowthat, soon, there’ll simply be no money to run it all.”

Balling my hands into fists, I take a step closer. “I only have two years until I graduate,” I snap through gritted teeth, “and the land was left to me by my father, not to sell, but to cherish and improve on.”

“You don’t think I took all of that into account?” he asks, making a bit of my anger die down. “It’s why I’m negotiating a clause to keep you Head of Council,” he says as he takes a step closer and takes my wrist in his hand. “The sale will only bring a cash injection, the rest will stay the same.”

I don’t pull my hand away, but I have to force myself to talk. “Look, Max,” I start, albeit hesitantly, “I care about the land and what happens to it,deeply. But you’re missing the point.”

He tilts his head at me, squinting a little.

I stay silent for a moment. Before the Game, I’d decided to talk to him about what’s going on with Howe. But all of a sudden,thatseems the least of our problems. “I thought we’d be in this together,” I finally squeeze out, feeling myself getting choked up.

“Of course we will,” he rushes to say, dropping the bouquet to the floor to take me in his arms. “Weare,” he insists when I just keep standing there like I got turned to stone. “And I thought I was doing a good thing with the land, but I promise, no more secrets like that.”

I throw him a squint, but I can’t relax, my mind flashing with images of him coming to tell me off before the Game. “Alright, I believe you,” I tell him as I tentatively put my arms around his shoulders.

And there’s this resistance in me, but I push through it and keep going. “But I thought you’d be giving me the respect I deserve as your future wife. I thought I told you you can’t just snap your fingers and expect me to jump through whatever fucking hoop you motion at.”

I watch his eyebrows pull down. “You talking about you being late for the Game today?”

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