Disappointment clouded her friends’ faces as they settled back into their seats. An awkward silence settled over the table once more, and for a moment, Ophelia worried that she had gone too far with her truth telling. Then she saw Amelia smirk and perk up.
“Well, I for one can not wait to see them during Dominic and I’s next visit,” she announced.
Ophelia’s brows rose with surprise.
“Certainly,” Theo mused with a wicked grin. “It has been too long since Alistair and I paid a visit to the club. Perhaps we should make one more appearance before I become too round.”
“And, I am definitely insisting on Everett escorting me to another gathering,” Rose spoke up, “I absolutely cannot wait to see what you have created.”
“Hugo and I have not yet attended one, but I am sure Alistair or Dominic or Everett would be happy to help him attain an invitation,” Seraphina mused with an impish smirk.
Ophelia let out an abrupt laugh.
“Are you serious?” She asked. “You…you all support this?”
“We are not hypocrites!” Theo exclaimed with a laugh.
“Certainly not,” Amelia agreed, leaning across the table to take Ophelia’s hand. “Though I do wish you would have told us. We would have sent our husbands with you to guard you. It is a deliciously wicked club but there are some dangers to it. Did you have any trouble?”
Other than falling in love with the mastermind?
“No,” Ophelia answered, unable to stop herself from blushing, “No trouble. I was perfectly protected.”
“And entertained, I hope,” Theo mused, wagging her brows.
All five of them erupted in giggled.
“Actually being there as an observer opened my mind quite a bit,” Ophelia confessed. “I do understand so much more of that world much better now. It can…well it really does provide a sense of freedom does it not? Being masked, being allowed to hide your face but not your desires? I would even go so far as to say that I am going to miss my visits there.”
“Well, you do not have to miss such a thing. We could escort you,” Rose offered.
“Why not?”Amelia asked. “One last hurrah or two before you are to be married.”
Ophelia felt her heart sink once more. She could not go back. Not after what happened with Tristan.
“I am afraid that would not be possible,” she replied, “Now that my contract with the Masquerade has concluded, I unfortunately need to double down on my effort of finding a husband. The money earned from my paintings will only take my father and I so far.”
The tone of their conversation turned somber once more.
“Take heart, darling,” Amelia said, patting Ophelia’s hand. “I know it seems grim now, but look at Alistair and I. We werepractically strangers when we wed and now we are positively obsessed with one another.”
Ophelia smiled sadly, though she appreciated Amelia’s attempt to consolation.
“You are right of course,” she agreed. “Though there is one small difference. You wanted at some point to be married. I never have. I think, even I were to grow some affection for my some-day husband, I would always feel a little resentful that it was not fully my choice to enter into a marriage.”
“Well, perhaps someone will come along that you will wholly want to marry,” Theo offered.
Ophelia offered her best smile as Tristan’s face, for some reason, flashed through her mind.
“Yes,” she murmured, “Perhaps.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“You will be coming to our Hallow’s Eve, party, will you not?” Amelia asked as Ophelia walked her friends to the front door. “No more trying to hide from us?”
“I would not miss it,” Ophelia promised.
“And no more secrets?” Theo asked, moving in to hug Ophelia goodbye. “We love you. There’s nothing you could do to change that.”
