Ella
The moment Paige opened her lips, I knew she has a trick up her sleeves.
Her voice was sugar-sweet and soft enough to fool the room.
But I could hear what no one else could. The faint tremor in her breath. The subtle hitch in her heartbeat.
She wanted me to snap.
She wanted a war.
“Paige,” I said, keeping my voice light and calm, almost bored, “isn’t it a little rushed to accept an engagement… when Jack and I are still bound by an arranged promise?”
A quiet intake of breath swept the hall.
Jack’s temperature shifted.
I felt it before I saw it….the cold unnatural stillness. Like a lake freezing instantly over.
“I only allow you here out of respect for Paige,” he said. His arm draped over her shoulders like armor. “Think carefully before you embarrass yourself.”
His hand t
