Page 48 of Vengeful Princess

Me: All very Bridgerton.

Eden: Find yourself an Anthony Bridgerton and smash that zaddy.

I laughed to myself.

Me: Everyone’s wearing a mask. I might end up kissing a frog.

Eden: Who cares if he’s rich and packing? Lol

Me: *roll eyes emoji*

Honestly, the girl was obsessed with my sex life. No matter how many times I’d told her Landon and I were not a thing, she refused to believe me.

Eden: Seen the guys yet?

Me: No sign of them.

Eden: Listen out for the braying donkey. That’ll be Camilla.

Ouch. From what I’d seen in the engagement photos, Camilla wasn’t that bad. Not quite on Cassian’s level of attractiveness, but not awful. Maybe her personality was lacking?

Me: Meow. Jealous you’re not the future Mrs Forsyth?

Eden: Damn right. *crying emoji*

I drained the last of my champagne and stood. The air had cooled, and I was breaking out in goosebumps. I was also hungry, so it was time to go in search of food.

My dress swished around my thighs as I picked my way across the lawn, avoiding cavorting couples and threesomes. A few sets of eyes lingered on me, but I ignored all of them.

With a pretty mask hiding my face, and a long red wig concealing my black hair, there was no way anyone would know who I was unless I told them.

The lack of actual food at this fucking party was disappointing. It shouldn’t have been a surprise. Upper-class ladies were well known for subsisting on lettuce and lemon water. Although with weight loss injections the new normal, starvation diets were less of a thing now.

I picked at a few appetizers and shoved as many in my mouth as I could swallow. Caviar was not my favorite snack, but I wasdesperate. It wasn’t until the last small pastry went down that I sensed someone watching me.

The skin on the back of my neck prickled. I’d always trusted my gut, and right now, my gut told me whoever had their eyes on me was not a friend.

Not wanting to alert my new stalker, I turned away from the table and headed toward the open doors that led back out onto the terrace. I stumbled slightly, in an approximation of being drunk, mostly to see if the guy was a predator or someone who liked to ogle women from a distance.

The terrace was empty. During the day, I imagined the views from here were amazing, but it was fully dark now, so there wasn’t much to see other than fire pits and drunk people dancing on the lawn.

Light footsteps alerted me to a man’s presence.

“I don’t believe we’ve met.” A voice as smooth as silk and a cut-glass accent proclaimed him as a member of the British upper-class set.

“Hi!” I chirruped brightly. “My name’s Dora!”

Lucian Forsyth. It seemed that luck was on my side tonight.

Cassian’s father was handsome with his dirty blond hair, blue eyes, and a broad frame. I could see where Cassian had got his looks from. To my surprise, he wasn’t wearing a mask, which was odd. So far, everyone I’d seen apart from the really drunk people were all still wearing their jeweled masks.

“I’m Lucien, your host, my dear.”

I hid my nerves with an inane giggle. While I knew I’d have to find Lucian at some point, I hadn’t expected to actually meet him yet. I figured he’d be schmoozing with his friends and colleagues, not stalking vulnerable guests like a fucking serial killer. And besides, I had planned to do a sweep of his study before I offed him.

Considering how important this man was, he didn’t seem at all concerned about being discovered talking to a young woman, alone, with his wife nowhere in sight. I guessed he felt untouchable, given this was his home.

It made me wonder what else he got away with in plain sight.

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