“What’s wrong with it?” I turned my attention back to the mirror. The deep royal-blue color complemented my golden-hued brown skin. Twisting around so I could see it from the side and back, I peered over my shoulder at him. “Everything is covered up, and it’s notthatformfitting. Not a hint of cleavage to be seen,” I teased.
My husband of three years rolled his eyes. “I think you look perfect, but you know how things are around here.”
Boring.That’s how things were at House Laurent.Fucking boring.
I plastered a pleasant smile onto my face and sauntered over to the bed. Demetri’s eyes lit up as he watched me approach, but he didn’t bother getting up.
“I’ll see what else I can find in the closet,” I told him. “I’m meeting with your mother and her council today, so it’s probably for the best that I don’toffendanyone by reminding them that I have curves.”
He snorted a laugh as I placed my hand on my chest dramatically. Demetri wasn’t nearly as conservative as the others of House Laurent, but he also wasn’t the type to push for change.
But it was easy for him to follow the unspoken fashion rules of this place, unlike myself. Unless I donned a shapeless sack, anything I wore would be obscene by their standards. Even then, I’m pretty sure my large chest, wide hips, and luscious ass would still make whatever I wore too scandalous for my husband’s House.
“I’m sure you’ll find something.” Demetri’s gaze went a little distant, his mind clearly already moved on from our conversation.
I held in a sigh as he rolled out of bed and gave me a chaste kiss on the lips.
He murmured, “A friend of mine is visiting from one of the other Houses today. I’m going to catch up with them and probably plan a trip to go to their House and a few others this month.”
“You’re going to leave again?” My hand froze on the dress I’d been about to shove aside. “But you just got back.”
“You know how the life of an Heir is,” he reminded me, already walking away. A moment later, I heard the door to our suite open and shut.
I knewexactlywhat the life of an Heir was like. I’d grown up as the Heir of House Harker and had only given up that title to marry into House Laurent… where I was supposed to be an Heir alongside Demetri.
Every time I suggested that I should travel with Demetri to other Houses, I was shot down for one reason or another.
For a long time, I’d been determined that I could make this work, that eventually Demetri and, more importantly, his mother, would realize they were wasting my potential.
But now I was starting to wonder if I’d made a serious mistake coming here.
“Are you happy?”
Those three damn words had been bouncing around in my mind since Rynn, one of my best friends, had asked the question during our weekly check-in.
I was the daughter and former Heir of House Harker, and now I was the wife of the Heir of House Laurent. Both Houses were made up of some of the strongest Moroi bloodlines, and I now represented them both.
This marriage arrangement might have been my aunt’s suggestion, but I’d not only agreed with her idea, I’d beenexcitedabout it. The marriage between our two Houses was an important alliance for House Harker. I was happy to serve my House in such a way and had worked hard my entire life to be the perfect wife and partner.
But in the decade I’d spent studying and training for my fated role in life, I never thought to question if it would be something I’d actually enjoy.
In the three years that I’d been married to Demetri and living in House Laurent, I’d never really thought about whether I was happy or not. This was my life, and it was important for me to be successful. My happiness shouldn’t matter. It was as simple as that.
Yet that moon-damned question was all I could think about. Fucking Rynn and her pointed questions. She knew I wasn’t exactly happy, but had she said that, I would have denied it. By phrasing it as a question, she was forcing me to answer. It was one of her more aggravating tactics of getting me to face the truth.
Cali would never have asked such a thing. No, she justnoted every time my eyes were red-rimmed from crying over my loneliness at House Laurent or from the constant slights and barely disguised insults that greeted me almost every day. I’d gotten the distinct feeling over the years that she was very much considering killing Demetri for not protecting me in his own House. I’d had to make her swear to me that she wouldn’t harm a hair on his head.
It wasn’t out of love for my husband, as we didn’t have that kind of relationship. But as Heir of House Laurent, Demetri’s death wouldn’t exactly go unnoticed. Besides, I could fight my own battles and didn’t need Cali sweeping in to save me.
My two best friends were the opposites of each other in so many ways, but they loved me as much as I loved them. Even when they asked questions that sent me down an emotional spiral.
I chucked the dress I’d chosen off and put the new one on, frowning as I looked at myself in the mirror. Demetri’s mother would likely hate this one too, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.
Hopefully, I’d be able to impress her enough with my trade proposition that she’d overlook my appearance.
Thoughts about the conversation with Rynn and Cali and my time at House Laurent clouded my mind as I absently made my way down the long hallway outside our suite. Servants scurried by with their eyes firmly on the floor.
When I had first come to this place, the opulent decor and meek servants had thrown me off. It was so different from the understated elegance of my own family home and the humble furnishings of Drudonia where I’d studied in my teenage years.
