Page 83 of When Night Falls

perception

Rivian

Lucynda's dress flows effortlessly in the wind as we walk silently in the night. We're no less than a few minutes away from The Gilded Hollow, and I allowed her the peace of silence because I wanted her to soak in her last night as a human. Come tomorrow night, she will be turned, and she will be my wife.

Kacian is to be with Cyn at all times, but since I have accompanied her on this walk, I asked him to wait for us at the door.

"Tickets," he says as he nods his head at the both of us.

Lucynda looks up at me with a curiosity painting her face.

"It's protocol, little one. It allows us to be able to tell who comes in and who comes out, so you must scan your ticket." I explain to her and she simply nods her head and searches her clutch.

I can tell she's not confident she still has it, but I knew this night was coming so I made sure she had it tucked in there.

She pulls out her ticket and looks up at me, a small smile curling on her lips.

"I've got you," I say to her with my hand on the small of her back, feeling the goosebumps flood her there. I make her nervous. She makes me nervous too.

She scans her ticket under the scanner and the door opens for us. I nod my head at Kacian before we disappear inside.

Once we get to the main room, we drop our belongings off on the conveyor belt with the other guard and proceed to the bar.

"Why do we have to leave our phones?" She asks as we weave through the crowd of dancing Outsiders and Nocturnes in coexistence.

"No pictures, no proof. It's hard enough to compel a room full of Outsiders to forget what they saw when they enjoyed the likes of our parties, so having to erase evidence of such in the form of videos or pictures isn't something we want to be responsible for." The answer I give her seems to satisfy her enough to continue forward.

Lucynda looks like black magic in her dress as she lets her eyes roam over the venue. The atmosphere is different from the first time she was let in. This time, it's more upbeat and fast paced as techno music fills the air with flashing lights and strobes bouncing off the glittered chandeliers above us.

I can feel a few curious eyes peg my sweet sin, keeping their eye contact on her a little too long as I'm sure they see how absolutely devastating she looks in her gown. The moment I saw it, I knew it needed to be on her body. But more so, I imagine what it would look like torn on the fucking floor after I rip it from her.

I glare in the direction of a pair of eyes that I can feel wander over my queen for far too long, and he flinches away as I watch him pretend to be doing anything other than ogling over what's mine. You'd think that people would have more fucking respectfor me, but I can't truly blame the Outsiders for their fuck ups, seeing as they don't really know who I am.

As we navigate the crowd, I can hear Cyn’s heartbeat over the music, the laughter, and the moans. All I can think about is her and I'm realizing that my obsession with her, my need for this one girl, is slowly taking over everything else in my life. Despite the news I'd just learned yesterday and my wish to still act out my plans, I can't stop thinking about my future wife. If she wasn't who she was, this might actually work. If my agenda for revenge never existed, then I might actually let myself love her.

The two contradicting thoughts aren’t lost on me . . . I am utterly fucked.

Love is for the weak. Love destroys you. And though I have decided that I am going to give Lucynda more of my attention, more of my time, I still have to keep my heart at a distance. She can have everything else. But she can't have that.

We reach the bar top and one of my bartenders widens his eyes when he sees Lucynda.

"Hello, Miss Claire. Sir." He looks between the both of us before bowing his head and then readies himself for our order.

"She'll have the same thing she had last time, Raxon, and I'll take a Bloody Mary." Lucynda snaps her head in my direction, and I can see the confusion swarm her eyes.

I chuckle because I know what she's thinking.

Raxon nods his head and turns to make her drink. He slides the glittery blue liquid her way and then whistles over and calls out for Mary and on cue, a tall girl with red hair wanders out from the backroom on ditzy feet, completely naked, and seeming completely out of it, because she is, and staggers up to the bar.

Raxon places a tumbler down on the bar, the girl holds her wrist over the opening of it, and then he takes a blade to her flesh, slicing it open.

Lucynda makes a gasping sound as she flinches and watches the blood drip from this woman's wrist and into the glass.

"Hi, I'm Mary," the woman says too enthusiastically to Cyn while her eyes are hollow.

"Rivian," Cyn whispers and I know she won't say much else. She's shocked, I'm sure. But this is my life. Soon, this will be hers too.

I see her look up at me from the corner of her eye. Does she wonder if I'm eyeing the naked woman in front of me? Does she feel disgust that I'm allowing liquid to drip from her wound and into the cup I'll soon be drinking out of?