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WHEN THE GREETER at the ballrooave an arrogant “you knoho I am”

She bit it back Her sister was never acerbic Not with strangers, and definitely not with underlings Her tas perfectly capable of terse words and ht even hurl soht now, but Angelique’s personality was one of sensitivity and empathy Gentleness and kindness

Trella? Not so much

“Angelique Sauveterre,” Trella lied, wearing her sister’s polite yet reserved sht to feel like an overused cliché from a children’s movie, but she didn’t

She felt alive

And apprehensive Terror could overcoh This was like swi toward the ine Who knehat dangers lurked in those dark watery depths? Monsters They existed She had met them Had nearly been consumed by them

But she wouldn’t think about that

Nothing in her outward appearance revealed the way her heart bounced and jostled in her chest, fighting internal battles She h herto run

Because, along with the trickles of fear, a tuh her It was all she could do to keep tears fro her throat

I’ it! she wanted to call her family and cry Look I’ like a vampire in the sun

But they didn’t knohere she was and it was best to keep it that way This was the sort of sneaking out ashe should have done years ago, when she’d been an adolescent Instead, she’d been a grieving survivor with an eating disorder and er jet

Still was, if these people only knew

She quashed the negative self-talk and ered, noting Angelique Sauveterre had arrived Her bodyguard kept anyone froh Maybe that wasn’t normal for everyone, but it was for the Sauveterre twins, even the eldest set of brothers

With her sister’s aloof nod, she returned a few greetings to people she iined she was supposed to know