Two little dolls that looked like her and Brayden stared up at Scarlett, their painted faces smiling and happy. The dolls wore macramé wedding clothes, and the background of the box had been painted to look like a heart that was half the Soleil flag and half the Clair de Lune flag.“Love Transcends Borders” was written on the outside of the box, along with Scarlett and Brayden’s wedding date.
Scarlett’s eyes teared up. She handed Brayden the box and turned back to the girl, who looked at her expectantly. She wrapped the teenager in her arms. “Thank you. I needed this today,” she said into her ear.
“You’re welcome,” said the girl in a shaky voice.
Several security guards formed a perimeter around them as the crowd grew louder. More well-wishers shoved teddy bears and bouquets into Brayden’s and Scarlett’s arms until security forced everyone back.
With a wave, Scarlett blew a kiss to the crowd and walked through the metal detector, with Brayden right behind her carrying several bouquets. They shared a glance as they walked into the much quieter marble entrance hall.
“That article worked better than I’d hoped,” she said with a soft smile. She was still holding the box of dolls.
Brayden wrapped his arm around her shoulders as he peered into the box. “That gift is very sweet, but those little dolls arekinda creepy.”
Scarlett laughed and clutched the box tighter. “I love them, and I’ll keep them forever.”
Scarlett’s first week as a peer flew by as she immersed herself in her new world. Diplomatic talks between Sigur Viður and Soleil began. When the bureau failed to present further hard evidence, enough doubt was shed on their claims that they escaped further escalation, although not for lack of effort from the Goldenrods.
As Scarlett had requested on her first day, several of the lords and ladies approached her for help with the legislation her dad had been cosponsoring, including a bill for free lunch for schoolchildren, one for government-funded preschool, and a third for an environmental law regarding the water quality of the canals.
Less than one week in and the workload was already enormous. Brayden had been near her almost constantly, supporting her after their awful encounter with Alastair. Although, to Scarlett’s growing disappointment, he continued to sleep on her couch rather than in her bed. Brayden was happy to hold her or go down on her before she went to sleep, as he’d done so every night, but he wasn’t letting himself come undone with her the way he had when they’d slept together in Clair. She prayed he’d be able to relax more once Cass started work. He was right to put her safety first, but they might only have days together. And she wanted all of him. Badly.
Because of her long hours, they also hadn’t made any progress digging up evidence against Laylani.
Scarlett had several flashbacks to her father answering emails on the weekends and late-night as she tried her best to keep up. She’d always looked down on him for doing that, thinking it was a flaw in his personal organization, but to her chagrin, she wasat risk of living with no boundaries too. She’d already offered up several prayers of regret for her harsh treatment of Jules at various moments during her teenage years.
The worst part by far was how easy it was to spend the whole day orbiting Brayden without having any time to reallybewith him.
As the week drew to a close, Scarlett sat in her office sending out a few emails she’d been neglecting. Her muscles ached, and her left eye kept twitching, probably due to overwork. She paused and glanced over at Brayden, who was sitting in a nearby chair reading one of her father’s books—something extremely dry by a long-dead philosopher. He was focused enough that he didn’t notice her looking.
He’ll probably never move here if I’m always working this much.
She quickly shoved the thought aside. This crisis wouldn’t last forever. She promised herself things would be different soon. Scarlett would move heaven and earth for Brayden, and she’d love him better than anyone else.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
That weekend, Cass and Tyler moved into House Heroux. Laylani had disappeared, with a flippant mention of a garden party across town, twenty minutes before they arrived. It was the first time she’d been out of the house while Scarlett and Brayden were home, and Scarlett was itching to use the opportunity to search her space. With Cass and Tyler around, she hoped to have many more opportunities to look for evidence.
“Do you play the gameAllbright?” Cass asked after they were introduced to Beni.
“Oh yeah,” Beni said enthusiastically. “All the time.”
Tyler, who was tall, skinny, and pale, with bright eyes and blue hair, grinned. “That’s a relief. Do you have a hard LAN line?”
“Yeah, and fiber internet. My parents put it in a couple years ago. Wait—do you streamAllbright?”
“Yep. I’m Katana,” said Tyler.
“Youarehim!” Beni looked up at the streamer with wide eyes.
Scarlett grinned, amused by her brother’s awe.
“You’ll need to set up your computers right away, and I can move a second desk in so you have more space for your screens. Scarlett, what room are they in?”
“The room with the harp at the end of the hall upstairs,” saidScarlett. “It’s the closest to our bedrooms,” she said to Cass.
“There’s an Ethernet port there. I’ll help you move your stuff,” said Beni. He took a suitcase from the small cluster of bags and boxes they’d brought with them and ran upstairs.
