Page 3 of The Night Runs Red

“In here!” I called over the music, enjoying my last moments of peace before the day began. I finished my shower quickly, rinsing the remaining products out of my hair before turning the water off and stepping out of the shower.

“I don’t know how you can hear yourself think with your music so loud,” my cousin, Brielle, mused. “Hell, I could hear it down the hall.”

I smirked. “And on a scale of one to ten, how pissed is my father?”

She tapped her chin. “Hm, I think he’s simmering around a seven right now, but I don’t know if you caused that. Or at least, not entirely.”

I shrugged my shoulders, staring at myself in the mirror as I toweled my hair. “I can never tell with him. You’d think he’d be more excited to get me out of the house and marry me off. Especially since he can’t stand looking at me most days.”

Brielle wrapped her arm around my shoulder, leaning her cheek on my head. “I wish we could have gotten you out of this mess, Cal. You know, my mom tried everything she could—“

I waved her off, stepping out of her embrace and turning away. She’d done more than enough for me in the years since my mom died. She’d stepped in without hesitation and involved me in everything she did with Brielle. I wondered if my cousin hated sharing her mom with me, but she never said anything.

The one time I’d brought it up, I was seventeen and drunk off my ass on a bottle of wine she’d snuck out of her mom’s liquor cabinet. We’d gone up to the roof, staring at the stars as we passed the bottle back and forth until I got the courage to ask. She’d sat up so fast that she nearly fell off the roof and told me if I ever asked her something that stupid again, she’d kick my ass.

We never brought it up again.

Brielle sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Alright, alright,” she said, throwing her hands up. “I won’t push, but I hope you know we’re here for you, Cal. Just because you’re marrying into the D’Arcy family doesn’t mean you don’t still belong to us. You’re still our princess, and you’re my cousin. My sister.” The last word hung in the air as she quickly wiped away a fallen tear.

I turned to face her, taking in her blue eyes that had become rimmed with silver. She was much older than me, but you couldn’t tell, given her fae heritage. Brielle was over two hundred and still just as beautiful and full of youth as any other twenty-something you’d see on the street. Her blonde hair had always been long, falling down her back in soft curls. It was the type that made you jealous, trying everything to replicate it when you knew some things could only be obtained by near-perfect genetics.

“Bri, c’mon,” I said, walking toward her and grabbing her hands. “You act like I’m going to attend my funeral. Nothing will change between us.”

Her eyes grew wide, turning her best pout on full force. “But what if they don’t let you see us?”

I laughed. “It’s not like I’m going to prison, either. Listen, they’ll deal with it. There’s nothing they can do to keep us apart. Besides, this whole agreement is supposed to unify our peoples, not further the divide.”

She worried her bottom lip. “This just feels wrong. I don’t know, I can’t explain it. I feel like I’m never going to see you again.”

“Never gonna happen, Bri.”

She laughed, though the sound seemed half-hearted. “I don’t know how you can be so calm. You’re about to walk into the viper’s den. Literally.”

I wanted to tell her I was the opposite of calm and that I was so terrified I’d barely eaten or slept in three days. Or that the heavy weight in the pit of my stomach seemed to grow with each hour that passed. But I couldn’t tell her any of that because if I did, she would run straight to my aunt.

So instead, I put on my best attempt at a smile and shrugged. “Because I know it’ll be fine. Plus, Rion D’Arcy is next-level hot. There isn’t a woman in Kallistos who hasn’t thought about fucking him, and now I get to marry him. It’s a win-win.”

“I know what you’re doing, you know,” she said, tapping her long nails against my doorframe. “You’re not near as clever as you think.”

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” I moved past her, walking into my closet and searching for the outfit that had arrived yesterday from the D’Arcy family. The gift had been packaged in an ornate box stamped with their family crest. It was obnoxiously done, a ‘fuck-you’ to my father that his only daughter would no longer belong to him.

Brielle whistled lowly. “At least they have good taste,” she mused, lifting the silk bridal set from the box where I’d left it.

“Thank the gods for small mercies, huh?” I said, walking over and changing quickly. The outfit comprised three pieces—an ivory embroidered lingerie set, a silk button-down shirt with matching shorts, and a floor-length robe.

There was a small notecard on top of the clothing that I tossed back in the box. Brielle, ever the nosey one, picked it up. “Welcome to the family,” she skimmed it, glancing at me over the edge. “He didn’t even sign his name—if he wrote this. The handwriting is better than my mom’s.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” I said, pulling my hair out of my face. Though wearing clothing that cost more than a vehicle, I felt plain as I looked at my reflection in the mirror. My skin was pale, with no sign of the soft smattering of freckles I loved. I’d gotten them from my mom, and their absence only made me miss her more. I’d spent more time inside since my father informed me of my impending nuptials, holing myself up in my room and blaring music to drown out the noise in my head. There were dark circles under my eyes—no surprise there—and their presence muted my green eyes.

Brielle came up behind me, wrapping her arms around my neck as she stared at me through the mirror. “You don’t look like a blushing bride on her wedding day, Cal. You look like you’re getting ready for a funeral. Well, minus the banging ensemble.”

I sighed, bringing my hand up to clasp her own. “That’s because I’m not. This is a business deal. Nothing more, nothing less. And it will get me out of my father’s house and away from his rage. That’s what we’ve been trying to do for years, and now it’s finally happening, even if it’s not how we wanted.”

There was a knock on the door, and Brielle stepped away to answer it. Kai, one of my father’s many security guards, stuck his head through before she had a chance. “Your car’s here, Miss Darrow. They’ll escort you and Miss Thorne to the venue.” He blushed as he looked at Brielle, who only batted her doe eyes at him.

“Can you tell them I’ll be down in five minutes?” I asked, knots beginning to form in my stomach. I couldn’t let it show, though. My father could sense fear like a shark could scent blood, and his wrath was the last thing I wanted to endure today.

Kai left with a dip of his head, closing the door behind him. “He is so hot,” Brielle whined.

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