Page 377

Bayla was sitting on the couch, next to her Larissa, who had put her black leather boots on the table, opposite her, Julie.

As always, I glanced at her belly, checking if the bump was still there. And it was.

I didn't sit down, but propped myself up diagonally behind Julie on the couch's backrest.

“Why are you staring at me as if there's something wrong with me?” I laughed, purposely not looking at the huge covered window in front of which Miles was still standing as if my words had frozen him in place.

He was the person who could throw me off my controlled composure with a single facial expression.

“It's just weird that you're getting married... so young,” Bayla said, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Larissa's gaze darted to Julie.

“When you're born here, you have a fate. And I accept mine, just as Julie accepts hers,” I replied calmly, and Bayla and Larissa stared at us as if we were pitiful lambs being led to the slaughter.

“Why does that sound like a terrible joke that even you can't laugh at?”

I was tired of Miles' comments, so I showed him by giving him a look that was normally reserved for snotty-nosed kids.

“Some people have the privilege of being able to shirk their duties,” I remarked sharply. “But not everyone.”

Miles just laughed dryly, without taking his eyes off me, and I looked back at the girls.

“So, what was so important?”

“We've only just begun,” Bayla said quickly, getting up from the couch.

“What are you up to?” I laughed nervously.

If these girls had something planned, I had to be extremely careful that my uncle didn't find out.

“Relax, little wolf.”

My eyes widened and I looked at Miles. He had called me that again. In front of everyone.

Larissa raised an eyebrow and first glanced at Miles, then at me, and finally back at him.

I pierced him with a warning look, but he didn't seem to care.

“The girls want to start a new secret society, and you're warmly invited to turn against your fucked-up family without them ever finding out.”

Confused, I watched as Larissa's head spun around in horror.

“Miles!”

“Miles, that's not how it's supposed to sound,” Bayla sighed.

“What?” I finally managed to get out, as countless questions flooded my mind in a wave of confusion.

“What's wrong with you?” Larissa blurted out, and Miles raised his hands defensively.

“I just wanted her to know right away that this is a size bigger.” A smile played around his lips. “Maybe even a size too big for her.”

Then, slowly, his words seeped into my head.

“You've gone mad.”

That was all I could say. What they were planning to do was the ultimate betrayal of our families.

“Let me explain,” Bayla began, gesturing with her hands, while Larissa continued to glare at Miles. “Julie and I were here and looked around. There is so much knowledge in all these books, so many things the Dragonfly Society researched, planned to research. And so many things they never found out because they didn't continue their mission.”