Page 162 of Reign

Her mouth softens. Only for a second.

Then Elena returns, because Elena always comes back with a blade in her hand.

“Well,” she says, reaching for her clutch, “good. If I have to be traumatized at dinner, at least I’ll be hot.”

Elena always finds her way back to the last word.

Chapter 26

Elena

Ihate this estate.

It’s beautiful, which makes hating it inconvenient. Warm light spills over the house and the gardens my mother loved before everything here became a mausoleum with excellent landscaping.

My stomach twists.

I hate that I remember every inch of it.

The room she locked me in. The hallway outside it. The pattern in the rug I stared at until my eyes burned because if I looked at the door too long, I started crying again. The library where her journals are hidden, waiting for me like grief could be shelved and forgotten if no one opened the right drawer.

My heart pounds so hard I’m surprised the car windows don’t shake.

Luciano can probably hear it.

Actually, knowing him, he can not only hear it, but categorize it, and decide what I need before I manage to lie about being fine.

Angelo’s Ferrari is already parked near the front.

Great.

Wonderful.

He and Adriana are here already, which means I have to walk inside, smile like my insides aren’t trying to crawl out of my body, and pretend this is normal.

It’ll be normal.

That’s the stupid part.

No one’s going to do anything horrible. No one’s going to drag me into a room and lock the door. No one’s going to tell me my mother is dead again. No one’s going to pry my fingers off a journal or make me feel like a thief for wanting the only pieces of her I can still touch.

They’re going to have dinner.

They’re going to drink wine.

They’re going to act like this house doesn’t have teeth.

Normal.

Family.

Disaster with table settings.

Luciano leaves the engine running and turns toward me.

I glance at him. “Are we having a dramatic pause?”

His attention stays on me.