“I’m so glad you’re safe,” she squeaks. “That foul lord kept telling us that he’d let us see you, but then he always made excuses. We were so scared something had happened. We?—”
“We? Who else is here?” I pull back to search her gaze, but when I catch sight of movement over her shoulder I scream again.
“Eden!” I launch myself at her. The two of us tumble to the carpeted floor, a mess of white and yellow gowns. I can barely see through my tears. “I can’t believe you’re here!”
“You too! Stars, we were so worried, Dahlia. Don’t ever run away from us again!”
“Run away from you?” I pull out of her hug.
Blossom places a hand on my shoulder. “I think there’s a lot we need to talk about.”
“Yes, I think there is,” I say.
Helping Eden up, I take both the girls over to the huge bed, and we all sit down. Hugging my knees to my chest, I lean against the headboard. “What did Father tell you, then?”
Eden fidgets with the buttercup embroidery on her gown. “Not a lot,” she sighs. “He said that you fell in love with the man who…”
“The man who forced himself upon you,” Blossom finishes for her.
I roll my eyes. “He didn’t force himself upon me. But yes, anyway, I suppose he said I ran off with him?”
They both nod.
“But we knew that was a lie!” Eden throws her hands down. “You’d never leave us without saying goodbye, and Father was being so strange. He wouldn’t let us talk about you and he wouldn’t even give us an address so we could write to you.”
“He wouldn’t give you an address because I’d tell you it was all nonsense.” With a huff, I explain what really happened. Everything from the party, to Father having me thrown into an old carriage, to being captured by the stranger at the party who turned out to be a demon lord.
“Demon lord?” Eden pales. “Demons are real?”
“Very real.” I nod. “But they’re not as bad as our books make them out to be. Tauren is… well… Tauren can be sweet.”
Blossom scoffs. “So you did fall in love with him.”
“Love is a strong word,” I snort. “We’re just…” I pause. This isn’t going to go down well.
“What?” Blossom urges. “You’re lovers?”
“Hah! He wishes. We’re married.”
“Married?” Eden looks close to fainting. “Y-you married a demon?”
“Yes. Happened about a week ago.” I shrug. “My husband and I weren’t really on the best terms then so I couldn’t grab you a wedding invite. Sorry,” I giggle.
Blossom’s eyes narrow. “If it happened a week ago, why are you still wearing a wedding gown?”
I glance down at my dirty dress, chuckling. “This isn’t my wedding gown. My real gown still smells like a river,” I laugh, but the girls aren’t laughing with me. Sucking in a breath, I gather myself enough to say, “I wore this to make it look like I ran away from Tauren. But I didn’t, of course. He even helped me get dressed up this morning.” It took us a while because my gown kept coming off, but I decide not to share that detail.
“Why, though?” Blossom frowns. “None of this makes sense. If you married a demon, why are you here now?”
“I could ask you both the same thing! How did you decide I was here and get away from Father?”
Eden glances nervously at Blossom.
“We… we ran away.” Blossom brings her knees to her chest. “Once I figured out Father was lying, I spoke with all the girls and told them I’d come and find you to make sure you were safe. Eden wouldn’t let me go alone.”
My heart swells. “You came after me?”
“Of course we did,” Eden cries. “You’re our sister. We’d never let you be stolen from us.”
