LI

the chandeliers. It looked li

hand in mine felt like ice, trembling against my palm.

e shrank back as if I were a sha

er against her ear as I forced a perfect, charming sm

clenched. She looked up at me, her eyes

, the same dread that made her blood go cold when I f

She stiffened instantly, trying to create distance. I didn't let he

in our own world. In reality, I was steering

rom the suffocating anxiety radiating off her. Her fingers dug i

g Eleanor's movements without moving my head. My mother stood near the

ne she used when she thought she had already won. She was waiting f

ing on her waist until she gasped softly. "You're da

she snapped softly, her breat

need you to be," I retorted. "S

twenty feet away. I had to give her credit; most girls in her position wo

If Scarlet fell, or if she fled the room, the rumors

the scandal to que

ckless, and snatch my remaining share

hing her feet follow my lead without stumbling again.

r is dying, Julian. I am here to save his life. D

gh the sweet music like a blade. "That makes you a

from my very touch. But she didn't stop moving. Her feet kept to

e of the trophy wife my mother had picked out for me, but something sharper

er voice trembling under the weight of her f

aning down to press my lips against her forehead for the flash

ak a small rumor to the press about a 'strain' in our sudden

d t

re she can touch my company," I said,

company Cameron finalized this morning. Eleanor thinks she's targeting

e terrifying reality of what she had gotten he

d you think I brought you here for your company? You're the shiny object that keeps her eyes distr

ith a dramatic fl

s to give the photographers the perfect shot. Her hear

her gown. She was utterly paralyzed by fear, completely o

nd as the applause

waist to support her weight as we turned to face the crowd. I raised my fr

ng Eleanor's icy glare burning into us from the edge