Page 61 of Potion of Deception (Potion of Deception #1)

Violette landed right in the strong male hands, looking almost surprised or even scared when she met his dark eyes – she couldn't sort out her feelings yet. The adrenaline rushed to her blood as she kept staring with her eyes wide open, holding onto him.

And then his serious face lightened up with a delightful smug smile.

“So what did you say about my ass up there?”

“I don't trust your hands either,” she murmured and jumped out of his hands, “but for other reasons.” Her eyes struck him with a disgruntled look.

A chuckle fell from his lips and then he looked to the side again. “Let's go.”

“So how do we get out?” Violette asked, catching her breath.

He stopped by the window on the first floor and opened it. “We'll just get back.”

Violette's brows raised. “How will it help us to escape the mansion?”

“Leaving earlier will be a suspicious sign. And we can't leave the carriage here without leaving any footprints. Quicker!”

Violette lingered.

“Fine,” she muttered through her teeth. “Today is the day of window climbing, I see.”

Picking up her skirts, she hopped up and as Dante lifted her, she ended up inside, falling off the windowsill into the dark room.

Finding herself on her feet again, she crossed the room to the only source of light – the door crack with the pouring warm glow of candlelight. She pressed on both door handles – locked. Dante's boots hit the floor .

Violette turned back and delved into her pocket for the wand. One swing and the lock clicked. The door easily opened and Dante peeked out of the room, checking the situation outside. Fortunately, the hallway happened to be empty.

“The way is clear,” he let out, stepping out.

Violette was about to follow him when she recalled that her dress was too short for such a formal evening. With another spell her skirt hit the floor again and she hastened to pursue Dante who was already a few feet ahead.

“And no one will suspect why we're wandering around?” Her fingers picked up the layers of the skirt.

“Guests always get lost at parties, especially when looking for a restroom. I don't think this is something that will make others suspect us of something bad,” Dante's words came out unobtrusively. He didn't look strenuous at all but his steps were hasty like he wanted to leave immediately.

“So we'll be at the estate until the end of the evening?”

“No,” he said, and finally they came out to an archway guarded by two males in uniform. Their eyes followed Violette and Dante, hardly interested in them.

“We'll leave now. But I need you to cause a little chaos.” A furtive smile crossed his face.

“Chaos?” She shuddered .

“Yes, distract the guests with something, but don't draw attention to yourself,” with these words he patted her on the shoulder and rushed to the stairs into the courtyard.

“Wait! How will I do this? Dante!” Violette hit her heel on the marble floor, groaning under her breath.

Her skirt swayed towards the ballroom, eyes wandered around the hall between the guests, trying to find at least something that she could cling to.

Create chaos…How did Dante even imagine this? And on top of that, to remain unnoticed!

No matter how angry and confused she was, she had to focus on her new mission now. So she breathed and tried to gather her mind together.

There were many ways to ruin the party but it wasn't in her plans: she wanted to do something harmless and something that would engage the guests only for a moment, not more. Anything that wouldn't invoke much noise or cause a scene.

Her eyes slid to the windows, then scanned the guests, a champagne pyramid, tables…

champagne pyramid! That could be something.

But it wasn't enough. Her gaze retreated to the other side of the room, tracing around the butlers, the chocolate fountain and the snacks.

The idea came to her mind almost immediately.

“Okay, let's try,” Violette hummed under her breath and reached into the pocket of her dress.

Sticking out her wand just a little, she pointed it straight at the champagne pyramid and whispered a spell.

One blink and a rumbling noise scattered through the ballroom, drawing all the guests' attention to the corner where the glass shattered and the champagne spread over the floor.

The squeals, followed by surprised sighs, blew into the air.

Violette used this moment to cast a spell at the other corner of the room.

She shook her wand lightly and in a moment a woman who was walking away from the table of regale dragged the tablecloth sticking to her corset.

The noise of fallen trays and gold plates evoked one more situation to everyone's discussion.

Great. Played like clockwork.

Lastly, she needed to slip away while everyone was distracted, even the guards' observation was brought to the mess in the ballroom.

Violette scooted out the hall, rushing to the main gates as her gaze locked with one of the guards.

“Did you see something suspicious? One woman said she can't find her diamond ring, it better not be stolen,” the words naturally came out from her mouth as she was making up the story just to get his attention to something else.

The man's eyes went round. An unfeigned concern flew across his face instead of the usual serious grimace. The last thing she saw was his back, quickly disappearing in the crowd.

Violette raised the hem of her dress, bolting through the arch to the entrance. A few more steps led her to the marble staircase, down where the familiar dark carriage came in sight just in time.

Dante pulled the door.

“Jump in!” he exclaimed, peering at her from inside.

She immediately shot to the carriage, and reaching the ground, she almost flew into the carriage into the vampire’s arms.

“I see you're indeed pretty good at evoking chaos,” he said with a proud smile.

Her eyes met his. She wouldn't want to admit to him that it was kind of fun and she might enjoy this night more than she showed.

Something sparkled inside her after such a gamble, not because of the robbery but for the feeling of adventure filling her body.

It was nice to feel so lively, to feel a glimpse of merriment.

As much as she loved her life and her potion shop, for the last couple of months she rarely felt joy or any other emotion except of determination and sadness, even if hope still lived inside her heart.

The pleasant feeling of boldness and intrepidness sowed confidence in her and it felt like waking up after a long dream. A breath of fresh air after drowning.

Dante fixated his gaze on her, an impish smile danced on his face. For the first time, curiosity burnt in his eyes.

“And how are you feeling about this evening now ?”

“It was,” she tried to measure her words, “it was interesting. ”

“Oh, come on, you can tell the truth. I'd say you enjoyed the mess you did in the ballroom.” He relaxed into the back of the seat. His fingers traced to his collar and he let out groans of relief, pulling the fabric of the coat and unbuttoning its first buttons.

“Well, it was fun,” she admitted and lifted her chin. “But it doesn't mean I approve of any of this action.”

“Did everything with the Lord go according to the plan?” His eyes turned back to her, his facial expression no longer as playful as it was, drowning in his seriousness, though he still looked quite relaxed.

“It turned out better than I expected,” she admitted.

“Don't tell me you enjoyed Lord Adrogans’ company.” One of his brows raised in confusion, nearly rebuke.

“I was indeed pretty comfortable in his presence. We had quite a delightful conversation,” she proudly stated.

She liked when Dante was proved wrong and this was exactly a moment like this.

Especially since she was completely sincere – she wouldn't say the company of Lord Adrogans was bothering her or caused her any negativity at all.

His desire for knowledge of magic was inspiring and deserved respect.

He was polite and genial, however it might be just his upbringing.

She wasn't sure if he would talk with her if she wasn't a duchess or a guest from far away magic lands, but she wasn't really thinking about it much.

He was confident and had pride for sure, but she saw only a young man who wanted her recognition and deference.

In truth, it felt exciting and heartwarming to know he wanted her attention.

It brought her decent elation, even if it was counterfeit.

Dante prudently eyed her from head to toe.

“Really?” The only word that left his lips as he peered at Violette. His fingers touched his temple as he adjusted his jaw between his forefinger and his thumb.

She nodded affirmatively. “I enjoyed his company actually. He is not as selfish and bad as you described.”

“That rich snob?”

“He is not a snob,” she chided.

“You talked with him for a few hours and think you know him already?”

“No, but for this short time he made himself more likable in my eyes than you for more than a week.”

“It's because I didn't try to,” he smirked. “If I wanted to charm you – I'd do it without much effort.”

She chuckled, rolling her eyes.

“Think I couldn't enchant you?” The confidence beamed in his voice, even if his smile loosened.

“That’s exactly what I'm thinking.” The corners of her mouth lifted in a vicious smirk. “ You might have a pretty face but it's not enough to charm. Not with your character.”

“Oh. You're saying I have a pretty face, it's enough for me to make an assumption I'm already half the way.”

“I said might . I didn't see all of your face,” she drawled slyly.

“We both know you still find me attractive.”

“I do not,” she carelessly said with a winsome smile.

“We both know that's a lie,” Dante stretched, “To be precise, a second lie for one evening. You are gaining boldness, Little Witch.”

“Did someone ever tell you how unbearable you are?” she snickered.

“Yes, there was one witch. What was her name? It started with a V letter – Va…Vi…Something related to the color.” Spreading his palms to the sides, his mouth twitched upwards.

The joyful laughter left Violette's throat. She might have wanted to say something else but before the words escaped past her lips the carriage stopped and made her nearly fall down.

The question quickly fled off her mouth, “Why did we stop?”

Dante's face turned dismayed in a snap. “I'll check. Don't leave the carriage.”

A few moments in silence and he was back. Violette’s chest clenched, she had a presentiment of something bad coming and Dante's look only confirmed it.

His eyes were cold, voice sounded uptight, “The coachman is lured. We should get out immediately.”

Violette's lashes batted as Dante opened the door of the carriage and reached his hand to her.

She wondered at how bizarre it was. Why would vampires stop them and what did they want?

As they were moving away from the carriage in the forest she blurted out, “Who do you think it is?”

“Mmm,” he let out, “one assumption is worse than another.”

Dante had quite a lot of enemies, as Violette had already guessed after their lovely visit to the Vampire Kingdom.

For whatever reason other vampires didn't like him, some even – according to her assumption – hated him.

Even Caidas seemed very cold and hostile towards Dante, despite how honorably he endured their conversation and didn't interfere with direct actions.

But still he asked Violette to kill him…

Could it be him? Did he decide to check if she had changed her mind about the dagger yet? Or if she was already done with it?

They were jogging through the woods. The hem of her dress had been getting in the way of her legs and she hadn't had time to change into more comfortable clothes.

Drifts of snow on the ground only made it harder to get through.

Of course, it wasn't difficult for Dante, but Violette was out of breath and almost caught herself over something covered with a layer of snow.

The air was heavy and cold, pervasive through the sheer fabric of her gloves.

She's been assuming they tried to confuse their pursuers running deeper in the forest, instead of taking a ride by the carriage. But it was pointless anyway – the hound dogs had been already waiting for their prey between the trees.