Cinderella Is Dead(22)

“I don’t care.” A few people glance in my direction. I lean in toward Erin. “We have to get out of here.”

“I can’t leave,” she says through gritted teeth and a fake smile. “My parents have invested so much, and so have yours.”

“They can’t keep us safe. Look around you, Erin. Who are our parents to do anything? They won’t defy the king. And I don’t care what they’ve invested.”

Without warning a hand grasps my shoulder, and I turn, expecting to see some bumbling idiot ready to make a claim on me.

“Sorry,” says Luke with his hands up. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

I exhale slowly, relieved, but then I remember his words from the other day. “Were you lying to me? You said you didn’t plan on coming here.”

“No, I knew you’d be here, and I wanted to see you.”

“Sophia?” Erin watches Luke with the eyes of a hawk.

“Miss Erin.” Luke gives a little bow.

“Do we know each other?” Erin asks, an edge of anger in her voice.

“Yes. Well, no. What I mean to say is that you know my sister. Mila.”

“Your sister? I wasn’t aware the Langleys even had a son.”

“Uh, surprise?” Luke spreads out his fingers and shakes his hands awkwardly. He turns to me. “I knew you’d be here, and I was worried.”

“You’re worried about me?” I ask, a little surprised. We’d only just met, and while our conversation had been intense, I didn’t expect him to feel any obligation to me. “What did you plan to do once you found me?”

“I was going to choose you. If that’s all right, I mean.”

“What?” Erin asks, taking the word right out of my mouth. Her entire demeanor changes. Her body goes rigid as she looks back and forth between Luke and me.

“You want us to be … together?” I ask, utterly confused.

“I thought if you and I could be matched, you’d be spared from having to be with one of these dolts. It would be a ruse, of course, but it could buy us some time.”

He is willing to pretend in a way that might benefit us both, and a glimmer of hope springs to life inside me. “This could work.”

“Nothing has changed. I meant every word I said to you in the other day.” He lowers his voice. “We could get out of here, and then we could make a plan to leave Lille for good.”

Erin makes a noise like she’s choked on a bit of food. Her jaw is set, her eyes narrow. “You’ll never make it past the towers.”

“We can try,” I say, echoing what I’d told her in the carriage. We have to try. We have to do something. “Come with us. She can come with us, right?” I look at Luke.

“I don’t know how, but I’m sure we can think of something.” I can see he isn’t at all convinced of that.

“I don’t want to go with you,” Erin says angrily. “Go get yourself killed if that’s what you want, but I’m staying here and doing what my parents and the king expect me to do.”

“Erin, please, I—”

Out of the crowd appears a young man, about the same age as Luke, who wedges himself between us.

“You look absolutely ravishing,” he says to me, taking my hand and kissing it roughly. He winks at Erin. “And you’re quite pretty, too. I think this may be my lucky night.”





10





The man moves his lips down onto the inside of my forearm. I snatch my arm away and move to Luke’s side.

“Excuse you,” I say sharply. “But I’m spoken for.” Saying no isn’t good enough, but he might respect another man’s claim on me.

The young man looks at me and then at Luke. I peer around him and catch sight of the back of Erin’s head as she disappears into the crowd.

“Luke Langley,” the man says.

“édouard.” Luke says the man’s name as if it leaves a foul taste in his mouth.

“I hear you’ve had a run-in with my brother,” édouard says. From behind him steps a bruised and gap-toothed Morris.

“Shit,” Luke says.

Morris frowns.

“I bet he thinks his name is Shit,” I say to Luke. “It’s the first thing you say whenever you see him.”

Luke bites back a smile.

“What did you say?” Morris asks. He seems dumbstruck that I can form actual words.

“Oh, don’t worry,” I say. “The name suits you. Just embrace it.”

Morris is furious, but édouard seems amused. “Settle down, Morris.” He looks to Luke. “I must admit I’m surprised you’re here. After all, none of the prospects are boys.”

“And I’m not surprised to see you here,” Luke says. “And seeking more than one girl? That seems about right.” Luke squares his shoulders and leans toward édouard.

“Seems like you’ve come into your own, Luke. Where is that scared, pathetic little outcast I used to know?” édouard lurches at Luke, forcing him back a step. “Ah. There he is.”

édouard laughs and then reaches out, slipping his hand under my chin. I move to bat him away, but Luke beats me to it. He catches édouard by the wrist, wrenching his arm down. I grab a small cup from the table to my left, dip it into the punch bowl, and toss the drink at édouard.