Dale nods, her gaze sharp, knowing. "A perfect match, according to them. Seriously, Martine,” She stops, looking at me with a scrunched up face, “Your family created in the Brotherhood, for God sake.”
I just shake my head, feeling weighed down by the number of secrets the men around me kept.
“Anyways,” she continues, “power paired with power. We were supposed to rise together or something prophetic like that." She lifts one shoulder in a careless shrug. "But you know Hayden. He doesn’t bend for any choice he doesn’t make himself."
My throat feels tight. "So you were…together?"
Dale laughs, but the sound is hollow, bitter. "No, actually, he wanted nothing to do with me."
She picks up her cigarette again, flicking it with her fingers before tapping it against the desk ashtray, as if choosing her following words carefully.
"Hayden doesn’t do what he’s told."
I swallow hard, my mind racing.
"Truthfully, it worked out for me," she continues, her voice quieter now, more thoughtful. "Avoiding each other for a year was hard, but…we did it somehow.”
I don’t know why that admission sends something sharp through me. A twisting sensation I don’t fully understand, nor don’t want to. I’m not entirely sure I believe her.
Who wouldn’t want Hayden?
Dale smirks slightly as if reading my reaction, but there’s something almost tired in her expression. "Don’t look so surprised. Hayden is ruthless, so we both know he’s unpredictable."
Her gaze flickers over me, a smile passing through her eyes.
"And yet…here you are,” she continues, “Anyways, I see him at events, we put on our show.”
I’m not sure if it’s a statement or an accusation. Maybe both. I look around as the library starts cleaning out, students heading to their courses.
She tilts her head, studying me. "You, though…he’s different with you, isn’t he?"
I exhale slowly. How does Dale know so much about me?
“I don’t understand how you just got away with not committing to each other.” I press. Frustrated at how she maintains a vague air, like she knows she’s the one with the upper hand.
That’s how it is. Unless you know the right questions to ask, you’ll chase your tail forever with the people who attend Eulogia.
She watches me carefully, then shakes her head, lips still curved in that smirk. "I’m surprised you’re so in the dark about all of this, considering I thought you were a Chosen, too."
A cold chill runs down my spine, and I cock a brow. "Excuse me?"
She tilts her head, eyes flickering with amusement. “Weren’t you Archibald Franklin’s Chosen? I mean, I’m only assuming."
My breath catches, and for a moment, I can’t think, I can’t speak—my pulse pounds in my ears.
Archie was always around, but only because he was part of the Society with my brothers, and they attended boarding school together. He grew up with us, so he was always near me.
But he’s a playboy. Plain and simple. A spoiled, cocky rake who acts as if life is a game and people are mere pieces to be moved around. He isn’t some romantic figure; I see him like a sibling someone else picked out for me. He once tried to drown me at our château in Cheverny when I was eight, just because he thought it was funny. That’s the kind of person he is.
Everyone loves Archie. He can charm anyone, parents, teachers, and staff. He knows exactly how to talk to people, how to look at them. But he doesn’t take anything seriously. He is reckless, arrogant, and always chasing attention. I thought he annoyed my father, but when I found out he was supposed to be my husband, it seemed quite naive of me to think we would end up as anything else.
Now, with the knowledge of how a Chosen works, I suddenly feel so silly. I grew up in this world, but what stopped me from asking the right questions? What stopped my mother from preparing me?
I swallow hard. "I—" I shake my head, almost laughing at how absurd this sounds. "I feel like I just chose not to see what was right in front of me."
Dale raises a brow, clearly entertained by my reaction. "Would you have? the Brotherhood doesn’t exactly hand out orientation pamphlets. Plus, you never completed the initiation anyway. I was just assuming you were bound to him?"
I press my hands against my thighs, trying to steady the strange feeling creeping over me. "This is ridiculous. If I were his Chosen, then why didn’t we complete the ceremony?"
