“It’s an honor,” Frederick says, reaching for my hand with a smile that shows he already knew this was happening. Only I have been blindsided.
Numb, I let him take my hand and kiss the top of my knuckles while my parents continue to talk about how I expected this, how wonderful it will be for both families, how I’m doing something honorable and that will ensure the longevity of two already powerful families.
Through it all, my attention lingers on Falco.
In an instant, I wish he would steal me away from here.
Then Falco’s lips twitch down, and my horror as suddenly being engaged to a stranger morphs into something else.
I can use this.
I can turn this around and use it to force Falco to tell me how he really feels.
Once I know for sure, once I confirm what I know to be in my heart, then maybe running away won’t be such a fantasy.
“Aerin?” Mom once again drags me back to reality and I force a bright smile, then I take Frederick’s hand and step so close to him that his cheeks flush pink.
“Walk with me,” I say. “In the garden. It’s probably best for us to get to know each other, right?”
“Oh, of course.” Flustered, Frederick offers me his elbow rather than his hand, and I loop my arm through it.
With a gentle tug, I guide him away from the party and toward the bay doors leading to the garden.
And, predictably, Falco follows.
12
FALCO
Is she toying with me?
I follow like a shadow, keeping a respectable distance as Aerin and Frederick walk arm in arm through the garden.
I know little about the Irish other than the bloody discontent between our two families has been going on for years and only recently increased in severity.
Guido’s answer is to marry Aerin off to this guy?
I shouldn’t have an opinion. It’s none of my business and Aerin is not mine to lay claim to, but how can I resist when she looks so beautiful in that black dress?
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she came out here alone with Frederick just to get at me.
Why hasn’t she told her father what I did in the shower? It’s like standing on the gallows waiting for the trapdoor to open the moment he finds out the truth and takes my life, but Aerin hasn’t said a word about it to him.
Her display in the tailor shop earlier today was like a display of power, as if she was trying to make a point I didn’t quite grasp because I was too distracted by how the soft fabric clung to her breasts when she breathed and how her body made the subtle glitter within the dress shimmer like she’d carved out a piece of the night sky for herself.
My teeth sink into my tongue while Aerin’s light laughter carries toward me through the air and she leans closer to Frederick.
Tension bleeds into the back of my neck. As I swallow, the collar of my shirt suddenly tightens and makes itself known with every pulse of my heart.
I’m powerless, and I hate it.
Aerin and Frederick walk down the paving stone path, under wooden arches covered in winding flowers, past lovingly tended flower beds and stone sculptures, and arrive at the gigantic ornamental stone fountain that sits in the middle of the garden.
Water pours through the beaks of perfectly carved birds at such a slow rate that it’s difficult to tell the water is even moving until Aerin holds out her hand and breaks one of the water streams.
“From Italy,” she says with a beautiful smile. “My father had it shipped here and it took over a month because of how carefully they had treat it. Even the slightest knock could ruin the delicate balance inside that makes the water flow like this.”
“How beautiful,” Frederick remarks, his attention on Aerin. “We don’t have stonework like this back in Ireland.”
