Page 95 of Violet

I swallow. “With you, I’m doing all the right things, everything, from here on out. From not sleeping with you before the mating ceremony, to obeying all the fucking rules. I’m doing it so history doesn’t repeat. I’m doing it for the approval Cecilia and I never had.”

She’s silent a long time. “What happened?”

I down the drink.

“Cecilia died.”

Long time, Hivemind, or maybe it feels that way.

Our latest glamorous party seems to be the party of the Season. The event of the year.

And to quote some of my little honey-gathering brood who were there, it was “divine.”

A dinner party that “sparkled with wealth and the glitterati.”

A dinner party that “dripped with charm and class.”

What?

YouKNOWthis?

Of course you do. The claiming was announced here and

Everywhere.

Emporian heart-crusher Asher St. James

and the Luxe of the Season Miss Violet Gardener

Can we talk about that dress she had on?

Hot. Classy. Perfect.

She’s ready for the Emporian red carpet.

But now it’s over, and…

chirp chirp chirp

crickets

ForFIVEdays.

What is going on?

Told you the tale would get a little twisty.

Stay tuned.

- Queen Bee

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

Violet

“O.M.G., Vi, you don’t look different,” Rue says, circling me the moment I come out of my room and make my way downstairs. Stephan left last night to freshen up at his place, since he’d refused to leave while I was in heat. “Do you feel different? You’ve been gone six days.” She shimmies like some stripper on a TV show. “Do you feel like a woman?”

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