Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 107756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
When her beautiful brown eyes met mine, I smiled, knowing how different her outward expressions were from her inner thoughts and desired behavior.
On the outside, Aphrodite was innocent, docile, and soft-spoken, but on the inside, she was persistent, curious to a fault, and sometimes unforgiving, unless she was forced to forgive. She was a wonder of things, but the world saw only a fraction of it.
And the greediest part of me wished to keep it as such, so only I could see the real her. However, I suspected once she gained the wisdom she desired there would be a new dawn of her. I desired to be in that twilight. So, before her family had even fully settled, I found myself walking toward her, and I was not the only one. Tristian. However, I was before her first, and her eyes were on me alone.
“May I have your first dance, my lady?” I asked, offering my hand.
“Yes,” she replied, placing her hand in mine. As I led her to the floor, the looks from all in attendance were far more intense than even I would have imagined.
“The talk will be severe,” I stated.
“Just as Mama planned.” She moved before me as we waited for the music to begin and others took their places.
“How so?”
“She believes the talk will push Papa to…” She did not finish her statement. The music began, and so did our dance.
“Push your papa to do what?” I inquired as I walked around her back.
“Agree to whatever it is that brought you to our door this morning,” she muttered as she moved in the other direction.
“And had you been sitting at the window?”
“I always sit at the window,” she answered, her face before mine, lifting her hand.
I lifted my hand as well. “So finely dressed?”
“Yes.”
“How fortunate are those who receive such a sight.”
“Yes, I believe so, which is why I stay at the window.”
I could not contain my grin, which only caused talk around us to continue further. “I shall be cognizant of that fact when we are married, and order thicker draperies.”
She nearly missed her footing. “I have not yet been proposed to, but if I was, I think I might reject an offer from any man who would drape windows during the day to trap me in darkness.”
“Draperies? Did I say draperies?” I stared in horror. “Never. Heaven forbid, for I would build you the largest window to be admired from.”
“If I was married to you,” she corrected. “But I am not.”
“When you are, you may demand anything of me,” I pressed, turning behind her again.
“That would require a proposal.”
“One seeks to offer,” I whispered when she stood in front of me. “But I have been given a condition.”
“A condition?”
I nodded. “Your father is not pleased with my situation and will not approve until Fitzwilliam has been found.”
“What?” she asked a little too loudly, as the music faded and our dance ended. She noticed quickly and adjusted her forlorn expression.
I offered my hand to lead her from the floor. “It is my full intention to propose to you,” I whispered, taking her farther away from the eager ears. “For nothing in this world would make me happier than to have you as my wife.”
“But all that stands between us is my father?” She frowned.
“Not your father.” I did not wish her to blame him. “It is Fitzwilliam. Your father worries that with such a vicious person threatening me, you may be injured in some way.”
“Have you not been seeking to apprehend him all these years?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then it is a possibility that it could take you even more years?”
“I hope it will not—”
“But it could. What if after his attack on you he flees the country?” she pressed.
“I doubt he would.” The only way he’d managed to hide this successfully was thanks to Datura, I was sure. The woman still had spies around Everely. In fact, I was of the mind that he had confessed to his attack on me, so she had come to see herself.
“ ‘I hope.’ ‘I doubt,’ ” Aphrodite repeated sadly, holding her hands and hanging her head. “How does one cast their future on such things?”
Fear crept into me at her words. “Aphrodite, I swear to you, I will accomplish this and then—”
“And then propose?” She glanced up. “Do you not think I have waited long enough?”
“Of course, but—”
“I am tired of being forced to wait for the life I want, Evander. I will talk to my father.”
Eyes wide, I stepped in her path, stopping her. “You cannot.”
“Why not?”
“Because he has already spoken on the matter, so all you will do is anger him. He has given me a task, and I will complete it and gain your hand.”
“My hand is already yours, Evander. It has always been yours. Why must my father—”
“He is your guardian.”