Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
The speed in which she switched tops left me so stunned, all I could do was pick up a box, which was a nine and a half. How she or they knew, I wasn’t sure, but I pulled out the stilts they called heels. “Am I supposed to walk in these our use them as a weapon?”
“I’ve seen you walk in heels before.”
“Nothing over three and half inches or else I feel like an amazon.” I laughed but took off my shoes and tired them on, following her conversation. “Was it Taelon that saved you?”
“No, it was actually my boss.” She lifted her foot to twist it from side to side. “I also joked that he could be a model. He was just too handsome to be a restaurant owner. I even told him to go back to China to make it. However, he loved California. He still loves California and lives there working at that same damn Chinese restaurant. He’s the real Mr. Ming.”
“So, he changed you? Without asking?” I whispered.
“He knew me,” she replied, looking to me. “He knew I didn’t want to die. Not like that. Not some sad woman no one would remember, who thought she could be more and ended up like the rest.”
“But now as a Lesser blood.”
“It is no worse than being a Korean immigrant in California, during the beginning of the Great Depression.” She nodded to the clerks for the shoes on our feet.
“At least I understand why Lesser bloods are treated as we are. It took a lot of time and effort between my father and me. He’s a Lesser blood, too. I think it’s because he cared about me, plus the years of control he battled with that I didn’t give into drinking from me. He taught me how to ration myself, to fight the thirst, and how to be around humans—how to exist. I stayed there, working in that restaurant. Then one day, ten years after my rebirth, Taelon Swan came in to do a census. My father called me out of the back kitchen to meet the president’s son.” She smirked to herself, clearly enjoying the memory.
“And?” I leaned in when she stopped talking.
She shrugged, looking really happy for the first time. “I just said hi, and he said hi…then he just kept coming to the restaurant to work.”
“He just sat there and worked?”
“It was so damn annoying. The fourth day he came in, I walked over with my coffee pot in hand and said, ‘You are being strange. If it is on my account, stop it, and merely say you like me.’”
Of course, she would. “And let me guess he just said, “I like you.”
“Yep.”
“Just like that?”
“I liked him. He liked me. I’m not like you. I do not like to play with my men before—”
“Hey!” I gasped. “I’m not playing with anyone.”
She rolled her eyes so hard I was surprised they didn’t fall out of her head. “Yeah, so you just let him kiss your hand and hang all over you for no reason?”
I picked up another box of shoes.
“I thought so. You like him, obviously, so let us go find a pretty silk dress for him to take off of you.”
“Lucy!”
Chapter 13
The president’s mansion was not a mansion; it was a shard-shaped skyscraper in the heart of downtown Montréal. The glass was tinted black, and the flags of Canada, the United States, and Mexico flew outside, along with the Swan flag and the Montréal city flag. Charline a Bonsaint—who had yet to speak a word to either of us, making me still feel as if she were annoyed—led us straight to the front of the building. She parked the car without going through the extra security. Lucy assured me it was simply the way those who worked for the Swan family operated. They were meant to be seen and not heard, anticipating needs before they were asked. We walked without all the bags from our shopping trip because Lucy said someone would bring them to us.
I didn’t know who they were, but there were a lot of eyes on us as we stepped outside. The Swan skyscraper, as I now called it, felt more like a cross between the United Nation’s building and a fancy hotel. Everything was marble, shiny and rich.
The floors were a pure cream-colored marble, and the reception desk was a mixture of more black marble and glass. The building was filled with one type of creature. Vampires. Which made sense, but everyone’s gaze was fixed on me…on us. They were curious, but some did their best not to stare. And no one spoke because we could all hear each other.
“Did anyone order dry cleaning?” A woman laughed, standing at the top of the stairs to our right. She wore a bright red jumpsuit and black Gucci heels, over her shoulder was a raccoon-fur scarf, and her black hair was so long and straight it hit the back of her knees. She was Asian with a round-shaped face and smokey makeup around her black eyes. Her smile was cruel as she stared down at Lucy.