Page 57 of Partnering with the Artist

Zakery:We’ll talk more tomorrow. Goodnight, princess. Sleep well.

Blushing, I smile while Morana says, “Beforethat, you little twerp.”

Maelin:Night, prince. Until the morning.

I lock my phone and look at my sister, grinning stupidly.

She sighs. “Was that him?”

“Maaaybeeee,” I drawl.

Her eyes roll as she changes lanes and turns into our manicured neighborhood. “So you really like the guy, huh?”

I bobblehead. “Yeah. I really do.”

“Well,” she murmurs as she pulls into our driveway and cuts the engine, “if he hurts you, you know I’ll be your handler.”

“You were a sucky handler.”

Her face twists. “I had an emergency excuse. Our entire livelihood was on the line.”

Yep.

It was.

And Zakery was the one who fixed everything, gave us back our peace and financial security, and granted Morana a job where she doesn’t have to deal with pretentious rich people, all while spoiling me rotten and feeding self-esteem back into my soul…

Looking down at the black screen of my phone, I smile.

This time, things will be different.

Feelingsor not, this time I will be treated with love.

And, like the saying goes, actions speak louder than emotions.

Chapter 20

?

Coercion—off the table. Got it.

Zakery

Barging into Viktor’s room, I lean against his desk while he references a monitor with an exorbitantly-detailed outline and types into a document on his other monitor. Words zip across the screen with the urgency of an approaching deadline. “Yes?” he mumbles, backspaces, types, backspaces, leaves a row of underscores, and presses on.

“Maelin and I are dating now,” I say. “With the intention to seriously consider marriage.”

His racing fingers pause, and he turns his attention to me.

I continue, “We talked about it last night. I wanted to give her today before I said anything in case she changed her mind. She didn’t.”

Viktor’s heavy brow furrows, and he lifts a hand to rub the scar our father gave him over his right eye. “What an…interesting development. In a matter of weeks.”

“I told her I couldn’t promise to feel anything for her, but I would be consistent in my actions.”

Leaning back in his chair, Viktor folds his arms. “That’s a logical compromise. Maelin’s okay with that?”

“If I had to guess, I’d say she’s done with the instability that emotions bring, because her ex seems to be an emotion junkie whose emotions quite literally saidI don’t love you anymore, because I was a wolf in another life or feel a connection to wolves, or something like that. I tried to look it up. I still don’t completely understand, which is fine, because members of theOtherkin community don’t expect understanding, just respect.” My lip curls in a sneer. “I donotrespect Harry.”

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