Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

P aige heaved an irritated sigh as she glared at him. "Can you keep on task, please, for five minutes?"

Devon narrowed his eyes at her. "What?"

"We were talking about how to get the compass. Everyone was acting like it was going to be really hard for me to get it. And then suddenly, you propose again. We are not getting married."

"You're missing the point," Devon said.

"No, I don't think I am. This is what you do. You wait until I'm in this weakened state, and then you pounce." She balled her fingers into fists. "You're not going to slide one by me."

"No, darling," Drucinda said with a shake of her head that sent her perfect ponytail swinging, "you're misunderstanding the entire thing."

"No one has told me a thing about how to get the compass yet. Just as we were about to find out, Devon decided to be a joker and bring up marriage again."

"The thing is, Paige," Dewey began with a wrinkled nose, "he's not being a joker this time. "

"How do you figure that?" Paige asked, crossing her arms.

"Because the first step to getting the compass is accepting Devon's proposal," Dewey said with an awkward grin. "Isn't that fun?"

"What?!" Paige cried. "Are you joking? This is a joke, right?"

"Sorry, Paige, but Dominic has some serious clout and a ton of knowledge."

"Good, excellent, let's ask him for it," Paige said, her eyes wide and her jaw still unhinged.

"Thing is…he's pretty stingy about giving things outside of family," Dewey answered.

"Which is why you're about to become family," Devon said with a smile.

"Uhhhh, no. Wait. You're already his family. Ask him for it."

"No can do, Paige. He knows what we're using it for and he wants his payment."

"Payment?" Paige slid her eyes closed as she massaged her temples. "This can't be happening."

"I mean, it's not that bad, right?"

"The hell option sounded better," Paige answered.

Drucinda clicked her tongue. "You're being a bit dramatic. Besides, all you have to do is say you're going to marry him. Devon's already set this up. You'll have a big engagement party this weekend. Once that's over, he'll give us the clue, and on we'll go."

Paige frowned, drumming her fingers against her thigh. "Oh, well, that doesn't sound so bad. Just have to fake it through one weekend."

"Would it help if I called you kitten?" Devon asked with a grin.

Paige wrinkled her nose, unhappy with the reference to the nickname the other man who had proposed to her used. "No."

"Okay, pumpkin, we'll go with another one."

Paige raised her eyes skyward. "Are you sure we can't go through hell for this clue?"

"I'm sure. Relax, Paige, that'll be fun!" Dewey said with a pat on her head.

"Well, with that settled, we're going to need some clothing for the weekend. You have nothing suitable. Come along, darling, it's time to shop."

"Oh, can I come?" Dewey asked. "I'd like to grab a new tie and maybe even a sports coat."

"I suppose," Drucinda said. "Though I'm not stopping at more than one magical men's store, just so you know."

"Fine by me. As long as it's Deiman Marcus, I'm all good."

"Don't you mean Neiman Marcus?" Paige asked.

"Yeah, Paige," Dewey said with a scoff, "I meant Neiman Marcus where they will have sport coats with wing holes on the rack." He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Sometimes, Paige, sometimes."

Paige crinkled her nose as she wondered where the stores were with dragon items.

"Well, little man, we'll certainly stop there, but I'm not spending all my time in the magical shopping district. The clothes there are too…" Drucinda wrinkled her nose. "Odd."

"Odd?" Paige asked. "Like magical?"

"No, think Hunger Games," Dewey said. "Just bizarre and weird."

"Right. I'd rather shop high-end boutiques here in Paris. They'll have my style. Which means…" Drucinda grabbed the cat carrier from the floor. "You need to hop in, little man."

"Seriously?" Dewey complained.

"Well, I can't carry you about Paris."

Dewey buzzed over and climbed inside .

"Like the good old days, buddy. Remember that?"

"Yeah, I remember. At least I'm getting out."

Drucinda zipped the top shut and handed the carrier to Paige. "We'll tell them it's your emotional support cat. They'll buy that."

Paige tossed the strap over her shoulder with narrowed eyes at the remark.

"Oh, Paige, wait, before you go," Devon said, digging into his pocket. He produced a red velvet ring box before he snapped his gaze up to her. "You want me to get down on one knee?"

"No," Paige said with a shake of her head.

"Wait, wait," Dewey said from inside the carrier. "Is this what a daywalker would do? Get down on one knee?"

"Of course not," Devon said with a scoff. "I just thought Paige may prefer it."

"What would you do?" Paige asked reluctantly, almost afraid to hear the answer.

Devon offered her a confused glance. "Kidnap you and put you in a tower room until you give in. But we already tried that and it didn't work."

Paige slid her eyes closed, heaving a sigh as she shook her head. How had this become her life? "Okay, fine. Just lay it on me."

Devon popped open the ring box with a grin. "I hope you like it."

"Holy shi–" Dewey began when Paige's gasp cut him off.

"Is that real?"

"Yep. All five carats." Devon grinned as he pulled the diamond-trimmed blood-red ruby ring from the box.

"Five carats? I hope I can lift it," Paige answered.

"It was my grandma's."

Paige's heart sank as he slid it onto her finger. "I can't wear this. "

"Umm, you're kind of going to have to because my dad will expect it, so…"

"No, I mean, what if I lose it or break it?"

"Don't do that," Devon said with a wrinkled nose. "It wouldn't end well."

Paige sucked in a breath as worry clouded her mind over the ring. "Great. The way my luck runs, I'll melt it or something."

"Don't do that either."

"Yeah, I'll try my best. Okay, I guess I'm ready to shop." Paige grinned at Drucinda.

The woman rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh, this is going to be so not fun."

Paige hurried to keep up with her as she strode across the archive toward the stairs. "Don't you mean fun?"

"No. You dress like someone's grandmother at a knitting circle. You turn cozy into an entirely new fashion genre."

Dewey burst into laughter, slapping the sides of the carrier.

Paige froze for a step, her nose wrinkling before she hurried after the woman again. "I do not."

Drucinda glanced at Paige's current outfit. "You're joking, right? Look at that jumper. I didn't even have anything that cutesy when I was five."

Paige recalled meeting Drucinda at ten when they time-traveled. No, she couldn't imagine her wearing anything considered cute.

"I like cute stuff. My tunics are cute. And comfy."

"Comfy is hardly the look we'll be going for at a Durand party. The creme de la creme of society will be there. We don't want them all to question Devon's judgment."

"Someone should question Devon's judgment," Paige said as they climbed the stairs. "This is not normal behavior."

Drucinda scoffed as they passed by the paintings of the former Paris librarians. "No kidding. The fact that he let you slip away and didn't drag you back by your hair and lock you in that tower room is a real head-scratcher."

They pushed into the main portion of the library. Paige hurried to keep up with Drucinda's long strides, the carrier bouncing off her hip. "Are you being serious or are you joking? I never can tell."

"I'm being serious, darling. You should be locked up in a tower room whilst you slowly lose either your sanity, your will to withstand Devon, or both. He's really slipping. I'm certain his father is terribly embarrassed."

"Embarrassed? Because Devon didn't keep me in the tower?" Paige asked as they stepped into the streets of Paris.

Drucinda sighed. "You really aren't that bright, are you? Follow along. Devon should have bent you to his will. Instead, he allowed you to run amok. Now, he's convinced his father you are engaged. But this is not at all the way it should have happened."

"But I thought his dad didn't do the whole kidnapping thing?"

"And look how it turned out!" Drucinda shouted as she led Paige along the sidewalk toward the upscale shopping district. "They are divorced."

"Hey, ladies?" Dewey called. "Any chance we could stop for a croissant or something?"

"No," Drucinda said. "Not until I've got my wardrobe for the weekend."

"Hey, what about mine? I'm the bride-to-be."

"You ought to be concentrating on figuring out how to make this look legitimate. I'm fairly certain you'll find a creative way to ruin this and dash our chances to find Reed."

"I'm not going to ruin our chances to find my mother. I'll play nice. "

"You'd better. One slip up, and Dominic will never give us that clue."

"I won't slip up. I will be the perfect fiancée. I will act like Devon is the best thing since sliced bread. Like I've seen the error of my ways and fallen madly in love with him. Like–"

"You've been bitten and cannot resist him."

Paige crinkled her nose as she thundered along at a rapid pace to keep up with Drucinda. "Huh?"

"Act like he's bitten you and you simply cannot resist him."

"Uhhh…"

"Cling to him, act like you cannot live without him. Like he is your air."

"Okay, now I'm concerned that I won't be able to pull this off."

"Try, darling. It's our only hope." Drucinda pushed through the doors to a boutique and approached the desk. "Hello, I need several dresses for a posh weekend event. I want something extremely alluring but not slutty. I have quite a figure, so it shouldn't be difficult to pull off. I prefer reds, blacks, smoke gray, and deep purples. I can also wear dark blue. No pink, no green, no yellow, nothing sunny or bright." She flicked a gaze toward Paige. "And nothing that looks like she would wear it."

"Right away," the woman said as she scampered to pull options for her.

"What about me?" Paige asked.

"Oh, right." Drucinda caught another sales associate. "This one needs dresses, too. Something that says I'm the bride-to-be, I'm a bit dimwitted, but nice overall."

"Hey!" Paige said with scrunched features. "I'm not dimwitted."

"I didn't say you were. I just want your clothes to say that. You cannot go in there like a vamp. You must look…like you."

"Why can't Dominic give us this clue because I saved Devon's life? You'd think that would be enough."

The first sales associate readied a dressing room for Drucinda. "We're ready when you are. I think you'll love the options I've selected."

"We'll see," Drucinda said as she stalked toward the room. "The simple answer, Paige, is that you getting out of his castle alive was his repayment for saving Devon's life. Now you owe him again."

Paige heaved a sigh as she sank into a seat momentarily before the second sales associate called her to another dressing room. She hurried to the space with Dewey bouncing off her hip.

"I pulled several things for you. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding."

Paige chuckled nervously as she grinned at the woman. "Thanks. It was so unexpected. One second, I was single, and the next…I had a ring on my finger."

"That's the way it happens! How exciting. May I see your ring?"

Paige held her hand out.

"Oh, wow. That's huge . It's beautiful. Is it a ruby?"

"Yes," Paige said. "His grandmother's."

"Lucky girl. Well, I'll let you take a look and get started. If you need any help, let me know."

Paige nodded as she slipped into the room. With a heavy sigh, she collapsed into the chair and set Dewey's carrier on the floor.

"Let me out of here."

"I can't. If she comes back in here and sees a dragon flying around, we're sunk."

"Stupid Drucinda and her stupid sense of fashion," Dewey said as he pressed his face against the mesh.

"Yeah, totally. Would Hunger Games clothes be so bad? This is a party with vampires."

"And probably a lot of other creatures, too. Just hurry up and pick some of those dresses so we can get out of here. I want to get to the castle."

"Why?" Paige asked as she perused the selection.

"Why? Why ?" Dewey clicked his tongue. "Paige, the food alone is worth it. Let alone the hobnobbing with the who's who of the supernatural community."

Paige tugged an ivory dress from the hangar and held it up in front of her. "I just want this soul compass thingy."

"Just want the…Paige, let me try to talk some sense into you now that we're alone and you're not blubbering. You have got a vampire prince's engagement ring on your finger. Now is the time to take full advantage of the situation."

"I am…we're going to get that soul compass and save my mom."

"No, that's not what I mean. I mean, yes, we should get it and save your mom. But also, if you can manage to marry Devon at the same time, well, that's win-win."

Paige draped a dress over his carrier before she tugged off her clothes and slipped into the dress. "It's not win-win. Don't start with the marry Devon bit again."

"Why not?" his muffled voice called.

"Because it's ridiculous."

"Paige, it's way more ridiculous than not marrying him. Trust me. Listen, you'd have the entirety of the Durand name and fortune behind you to find your mom, first of all."

"And after I find her? What then? Do I get a divorce?" Paige twisted to eye the dress in the mirror before she opted for another.

A loud laugh came from under the dress.

"Shh, someone's going to hear us. "

"Someone's going to hear you talking to yourself already. Anyway, no, you wouldn't get a divorce. Get a divorce. Ha! From a daywalker? Are you insane?"

"No, I'm not. But if I marry Devon, after I've found my mom, I'm stuck with him."

"And that's a bad thing? Think about this. You're set for life. You'd be a princess, eventually, a queen. Do you know the kind of life you could lead? Flitting from one party to the next…eating anything you want because eventually he'll turn you, you know that, right?"

"Into a vampire?" she cried, her voice shrill as she froze mid-zip on another dress.

"No, Paige, he's going to turn you into a Harpy. Yes, a vampire. But that means you live practically forever and you can eat whatever you want without losing your figure. Calories don't count for vampires or valkyries."

"I don't need that."

"You're pushing forty, Paige. You will."

She glared at the glittery dress covering his carrier. "I'm not that close to forty."

"It'll be here before you know it. Anyway, just think about it. It wouldn't be a terrible thing to be Mrs. Devon."

"Please stop saying that. I'm not going to marry Devon no matter how much food I can eat."

"Think of all the Cheesy Does It pizza parties we could have."

"Then you'll get fat," she said as she tried on the last dress.

"No, because I'll spend all day playing racquetball and exercising like rich people."

"Why would you spend it like a rich person? I'd be the rich person."

"Who would take her best friend along with her. You could adopt me. I'd be happy to be your and Devon's first child. "

Paige shimmied out of her last option and slid her clothes back on before she lifted the dress from his carrier. "I'm not marrying Devon, and I'm not adopting you."

A curse escaped his lips as she set aside the dresses she'd picked.

"Let's go."

"Which ones did you pick?"

"The white, the pinkish white, and the ivory white. Why are they all so white?"

"You're the bride, duh."

"Not if I can help it," a new voice said as she exited the dressing room.

Paige twisted toward it a second too late as a blur barreled into her and knocked her to the floor. The carrier rolled away from her as the gowns fluttered down into a heap.

"Ow, get off me!" she shouted as she fought with her unknown assailant.

"I don't think so," the woman growled as she straddled her and shoved her hands to the floor.

Paige's eyes went wide as she stared up at Ivy Delacroix. The woman had always been against her, but now it was even worse. This time, there would be no escape. Ivy had her cornered and was going in for the kill.