Page 204 of A University of Betrayal

I forced myself to smile. I didn’t want him to see that I hated dates like this, and I hated even more being downtown, where members of the Quatura Circle could be lurking around every corner. They would probably jump eagerly at the news that my father was about to make a deal with another pack. It was enough that the Bexley press had already seen me. I’d barely escaped from my jeep, and an attentive restaurant employee hadn’t let the press in.

“I’m sorry I’m a bit late, I...”I’d had trouble picking out the right clothes and ended up having to beg your aunt for help, I thought silently, embarrassed to be so inexperienced indating.

“Don’t worry about it. Tania texted me that you might be a little late, and the table is booked for the whole evening.”

I swallowed.

Then I remembered that he was a Rolanow, who had definitely never heard of financial problems. Neither had I, but our father had never spoiled Nash and me. Nash would inherit his property at some point, that had always been certain. But until then, he had to work himself, whichof coursemy brother didn’t do because he preferred to hide away in the house with his cell phone and the only person who seemed to notice was me.

“So, the most expensive restaurant downtown?” I asked teasingly, and Mica smiled.

“Only the best for my future wife.”

An unpleasant tug went through my stomach, and I clutched Tania’s golden jewelry ring.

His future wife.

Mica gave me a smile and pulled my chair back so I could sit down.

Pull yourself together, Emely.You should get used to it, because it’s part of your job, dammit.

The feeling still lingered in my stomach, but somehow I managed to suppress it a little.

Mica sat down and smirked. I couldn’t help but notice the way he eyed me before letting his gaze wander around the restaurant, which was located on the top floor of one of the higher buildings in Blairville.

“A very nice place indeed.”

I nodded, because it was. LaLune was a classy restaurant that had opened here 40 years ago and had since expanded into the States. Not everyone in Blairville could afford to eat here, unless you were well-heeled or belonged to one of the founding families. How ironic that it was located in the territory of the Quatura…

I was surprised that no waiter came, because it would have been super comforting to be busy with the menu.

“God,I don’t remember waiting this long here.”

“I’ve already ordered,” Mica said, nodding to a waiter who was walking around with a bottle of red wine.

“Oh...”

Disappointment spread through me. I would have liked to order myself. But should I be angry with him for that? He didn’t know me yet. How could he? I hadn’t given him a chance yet...

“I figured you wouldn’t have to waste your time with trivial decisions,” he said with a friendly wink and had the waiter pour the wine.

I hated red wine, but I wouldn’t say that.I was an idiot. Mica invited me in, was super friendly to me, and all my head could do was complain.

And then there was the matter with the roses that wouldn’t leave my head. I had thrown them away on campus because I hadn’t been able to stand the smell. I still had one of those annoying thorny splinters stuck somewhere in my wrist. And now I found out that he’d had them flown in fromScotland?I wanted to sink into the ground in shame.

“You seem worried? Has something happened?”

I pulled my head up from the glass of red liquid and looked Mica straight in the icy blue eyes. He must have already received many compliments on this fascinating detail, certainly from many pretty women.

“It’s all right, I just... Tania told me what my uncle did back then,” I confessed honestly, even though it wasn’t the topic I was worried about.

Mica smiled and it was reassuring.

“I’ll do my best not to upset your father.”

There it was again. That sharp twinge. But where was it coming from? It definitely wasn’t Bayla Adams, to whom Julian and I were strangely connected for a few months now. But where exactly it came from, I couldn’t say...

“I don’t doubt it,” I sighed and smiled a sad smile. Internally, I would have liked to slap myself for this behavior. What was wrong with the self-confident Emely, who always had everything under control?