Page 67 of Sweeter than Honey

“Xia…”

“Onbothhands…” Her eyes widen when she looks over at Lily. “And it’s an unseasonable time of year for a turtleneck, isn’t it, Lily?”

I clear my throat. “Xia! What are you here for?”

She cocks her head. “I think you’re going to want to come down to the first floor pool. Right now.”

“I’m going tostake her!” I shout furiously, looking out over the scene unfolding at the hotel’s water park. Our water park is three storeys high, taking up the entire west wing of the hotel. It includes a full splash pad, a wave pool, a lazy river, two hot tubs for adults, and three water slides at the very back.

Presently, it is filled with an assortment of badly behaved influencers, documenting their various shenanigans on smart phones and buzzing drones. There are at least a dozen of them trying to see how many people they can fit on one water slide, which is clearly a violation of pool rules and basic physics. A gaggle of outrageously-dressed models are attempting to have a fashion show in the wave pool, displacing the families who are trying to enjoy it with their children. There’s a dolphin frolicking joyfully in the largest diving pool at the center of the waterpark.

“Whydoes she always have to involve live animals?” Lily sighs.

“We can’t have dolphins here,” I add. “They’re a protected species!”

“Don’t worry,” Xia says, waving her hand. “That’s just Arun.”

“Oh!” Lily says, looking over at the happily-chortling dolphin. Asmall child leans over the pool to pet him on the nose. “Yep, I see it.”

A prism of sparkling light reflects across the water park as the rainbow fin of a mermaid catches the light. Mel from Human Resources is lounging with her fin half-immersed in the water by a soaking pool. She’s reading a worn paperback entitled “Bitten by Desire.”

“That book’s really making the rounds,” Xia comments.

“Mel’s amermaid!” Lily says, delighted. “Ooh, I didn’t know mermaids were a real thing!”

Hallie emerges from the pool’s entrance with a distracted expression on her face. “Ok, Xia, I think I’ve got the mattress surfing under control…”

“Mattresssurfing?” I snap.

Her eyes widen when she spots me. “Oh! Um, hi Ren!”

“Where is the mattress surfing?”

“The ballroom staircase.” She winces. “But I told them to only use the old mattresses, not the new king-sized ones we just got in!” I gape at her in horror. “It’s actually going really well, Renata! The hotel is getting tons of exposure, and Lexi worked really hard on this…”

“Where is she!?” I demand, scanning the chaos.

Then I spot her, posing with a small gaggle of brightly-attired influencers in one of the cabanas. She’s standing beside an exorbitantly expensive statue of a flamingo, which is certainly not justifying its price tag. She’s addressing the camera on her phone charismatically, wearing a mauve bikini and…

I gasp sharply.

Andmyfavourite Manolo Blahnik heels.

“Alexandra Price!” I scream, my voice supernaturally loud. It reverberates through the enormous water park. Everyone - magical, normal, families, influencers - stops and looks over. From the cabana, my sister lowers her overpriced designer sunglasses (it is past sundown and we’reindoors) and peers over at me.

“Oh, hi Renata!” she says, with a little wave. Then she hurries (wearingmyshoes) over to where we stand.

“I’m so glad you made it!” she chirps, gesturing at the disaster she’s inflicting upon my hotel.

“Don’t bullshit me, Lexi,” I snap. Lily, Xia and Hallie all take acareful step backward. “You knew I would never approve of this nonsense…”

“Thisisn’tnonsense,” she retorts, taking off her sunglasses. “This is fun, Ren! And we need some more fun. Everyone’s been so uptight and freaked out since Tudor was imprisoned, and the whole thing with the evil witches or whatever. Sometimes it’s important to let loose, you know?”

“I absolutelydo notknow. Do you know why? Because all I have time to do is work. All I do is work becauseyouand your ridiculously stupid schemes mean that I have to do my entire job ofrunning a multi-billion-dollar hotel chainwhile also cleaning up your messes…”

“This isn’t a mess!” she says, gesturing to the enormous mess behind her. “This is a party! A party that’s going to draw a lot of attention to our hotels, and make us more money!”

“This is what youdo,” I yell at her. “This is exactly what you do, Lexi, you take, and you take, because you’re just a spoiled little newborn vampire and you don’t understand what it means to work hard, or to sacrifice…”