Page 120 of Halfblood Deceived

What if Kamilla rejected her?

And what if Kamilla accepted her, but all the other people working at Hecate didn’t?

What if they thought she was despicable and gave her disgusted looks?

It wouldn’t be the end of the world, Aella tried to convince herself.

But it felt like it would be.

Diana placed her hands on Aella’s shoulders. “Hey, everything’s going to be okay. Trust me, yeah?”

Aella took a deep breath. “I do trust you.”

Diana smiled. “Good. Now let’s go, Kam is waiting for you.”

Aella chewed the inside of her mouth as Diana led the way inside the staff door and into a long hall with gray walls. Knowing she’d start bleeding soon, she stopped biting her cheek, and tangled her forefinger around the edge of her hoodie instead.

At the end of the hall, Rod waited, leaning casually against the wall. “Is everything alright?” he asked by way of greeting, brow slightly furrowed.

Aella tried to relax her posture and force her face into a non-startled, friendly expression.

Given the way Rod blinked, she must have failed.

Diana shared a fist bump with Rod, leading Aella further inside toward the stairs that lead to the upper floors. “Aella has an interview with Lady Kamilla,” she explained. “To apply for the hostess job.”

Rod, who had trailed after them, smiled at Aella. “Awesome. We’d love to have you around. Everyone has been wanting to meet you for weeks now.”

Aella blinked at him. “Really?”

He nodded. “Really. Like I said before, this one hasn’t shut up about you. We are all curious as fuck.”

Diana gave Aella a sheepish look.

Aella found it both odd and endearing that Diana mentioned her so often. She was terrified of being unlikeable to the people Diana spent many hours a week with. Some were her friends, too. But she was also as curious as Rod said they were.

Diana nudged Aella toward the stairs. “Go. You’ll do great.”

Aella nodded and gave Rod a small smile that he answered with a wink.

Taking a deep breath, she climbed the first set of stairs. The VIP area had several sets of elegant white leather sofas and chairs, spaced far enough apart to give the groups of elite party-goers a semblance of privacy. There were three halls. One led to the bathrooms, and the other had ten doors, each marked with a number. Diana had explained that some people rented those to have some more privacy. The last one inclined up to Kamilla’s office.

Stomach cartwheeling, Aella headed up the final hall and knocked on the metallic door at the end.

It opened almost at once, revealing a spacious office with a private bathroom, a wall of windows overlooking the dance floor, and a flatscreen mounted on the right side of the wall. The screen showed the footage of many cameras both inside and outside the club. Kamilla could easily see it from the mahogany desk she sat at, with an open laptop, and two neat stacks of papers at her sides.

She wasn’t alone.

Dyson sat on the black leather couch located on the left, against the wall.

“Um, hi,” Aella greeted both, just barely resisting face-palming. That was not a professional greeting.

Kamilla warmly smiled at Aella. “Hello.”

Dyson stood, buttoning his suit jacket. “Miss Aella.” He gave a nod to Kamilla. “I’ll go take care of that errand, Lady Davashkov.”

Kam nodded. “Be careful.”

The giant of a man smiled at Kam. “Always, my lady.”

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