Page 249 of The Enslaved Duet

But not Dante, not my beloved best friend.

“She’s going to get him out,” Sin promised. “Trust me, she’s a shark.”

I nodded but didn’t give voice to my lingering fears because I didn’t want them out there in the universe manifesting.

My eye snagged on Riddick lingering just outside of the door, forever my sentry.

“Rid, come in and meet my family,” I called out.

He scowled.

“Come,” I demanded.

He moved slightly into the door on leaden steps that screamed how reluctant he was to socialize, revealing Douglas behind him, carrying a large silver tray loaded with his gorgeous pastries.

“Enough of the heavy,” Douglas announced. “Time for treats and a good chinwag. Giselle, love, Cosima tells me you lived in Paris. We must talk about all the places where you ate.”

“Riddick? I hear you taught Cosima how to fence. Think you have time to teach me a thing or two? You see, I have this film coming up…” Sebastian launched into discussion with the large, stoic man as if they had been friends for life.

I laughed as Douglas swept into the room followed by two servants carrying tea and champagne, and I continued to laugh, as I hadn’t for years, while my two families co-mingled.

Cosima

The surprises didn’t end there.

Riddick unearthed a large white box from my closet tied with a note from Alexander requesting I wear its contents that night. Giselle ripped the wrapping apart with me, both of us giggling as we hadn’t done since we were girls. We stopped at the sight of the white silk dress cushioned by mountains of gold tissue paper. The fabric was cool and slippery as I held it up to my body, and it shone in the light like a saltwater pearl.

“Stunning,” Giselle murmured as she fingered the fabric. “I have to paint you in this one day.”

“Here,” Riddick had said, thrusting another smaller hat box at me.

Inside lay a golden crown of thorns intermingled with fresh, fragrant flowers.

And I knew without needing confirmation that Alexander wanted me to look like Persephone in her maiden white, plucking flowers from a meadow when the Dead God broke through the earth to abduct her.

“Look at her,” Mama whispered, her voice thick with tears. “She looks so much in love.”

“Si,” Salvatore murmured back. “Just as her mother once looked at me.”

I bit my lip, refusing to look over at them in an attempt to give them some privacy. I’d never harboured delusions about my parents getting together again, but I knew they still longed for each other.

I also knew longing wasn’t love.

“Let me do your hair,” Giselle ordered, pushing me into the chair before my vanity.

I liked seeing her in the reflection where I used to see Mrs. White. It made the memory of sitting there all the less painful. It made me realize this was exactly what Alexander had predicted when he invited my family to visit. They were the only ones who could perform an exorcism on the many poltergeists in the Hall without even whipping out the Bible and sage sticks.

God, but I loved that man.

“I’ll miss you so much,” Giselle said as she dragged the gold brush through my hair. “New York won’t be the same for me without you there.”

“I’ll visit,” I promised.

She bit her lip, her eyes finding Sinclair in the reflection. “Cosi, I have my own alpha male, so I speak with authority when I say, I don’t think that man is going to willingly let you out of his sight for a very,verylong time.”

She was undoubtedly right, but I still said, “He’ll let me visit my family,bambina. He knows how much you mean to me.”

“Um, would it be cowardly of me to request you don’t use me as an excuse. Honestly, the man kind of scares me.”