"It's a shame about your eyes, girl. They're such an ugly color, with no sparkle at all. Be sure to look down during the ceremony. We don't want him realizing any of your limits until that ring is around your finger."
Lili nodded, knowing better than to speak, yet even that slight movement drew hisses of displeasure from the three figures fitting her into yards of silk and lace.
Aunt Minerva, sharp and thin like a fireplace poker, stood behind her to lace up the bodice with tight, precise jerks. Aunt Hester crawled on the floor, arranging the embroidered train. Her face, already wrinkled as an apple doll's, puckered further in concentration while she checked for missing pearls.
Only Lili's mother showed a glimmer of satisfaction, carefully adjusting the necklace around Lili's throat. It was an early wedding present from her husband-to-be, tight as a collar and heavy as iron from the strands of diamonds set in white gold. Lili hated how it squeezed against her skin with each breath.
"Stop shivering," said her mother. "We've done it. You're minutes away from the altar. Minutes away from a husband with a bloodline older than the city and a fortune larger than any king's. The amount of thanks you should be giving me, girl... And here you are, acting as if you're facing the gallows instead."
"I'm sorry," whispered Lili, hardly moving her lips.
"Imogen is right." Aunt Hester's voice drifted up from the floor. "You're being very inconsiderate. Because of this, your poor mother and aunties will never need to worry about living in discomfort. I know you're very young, my dear, but we aren't, and you should be overjoyed over giving us the chance to spend our twilight years in such ease."
"Perhaps she'd rather see us wither away in some hovel," said Aunt Minerva, taking the veil from its stand and carrying it over with the same exquisite care used for holy relics. "Perhaps she hates us for trying to give her a good life, a better one than what we had in our youth."
"Is that it?" said her mother, hands steady against Lili's neck. "Did you want us encouraging you to marry for love? To look aside while you made the same terrible decision that ruined our family for generations? What a selfish, wicked way to think."
"No." The word burst out of Lili, thin and strained from her bone corset limiting each breath to a shallow gasp. "It's not that at all. I'm just frightened."
"Frightened? Over what?"
She couldn't say. She didn't know. Marriage had structured her future since she'd been a chubby-cheeked tot clinging to her doll, but not in the way of other girls. Not with daydreams of vows in a gilded cathedral or a towering cake tasting of champagne. Not with the greed of gaining power, wealth, and status with one slip of a ring upon her finger. Not even with a secret longing for meeting a man whose love would be so sweet and fierce that their very hearts would beat together.
No, for her, a wedding was a contractâheavy as coin, stiff as sealing wax. Unbreakable. The name of her husband-to-be inspired the same hollow sense of duty she felt toward her family, and perhaps that was what terrified her so. She had always expected this, but now the moment was nearly here. Her life was about to be placed in the hands of a stranger, and she didn't know how much he would change it.
Realizing she had never answered, she weakly said, "I don't know what he'll expect of me. What if I disappoint him?"
All three stared at her, disbelief filling their faces. Aunt Minerva finally said, "It doesn't matter. A husband can't be rid of his wife."
"Enough of this nonsense," added her mother, briskly taking the veil from her sister and settling it onto Lili's head.
Lili knew better than to argue as they coaxed the tulle into perfect folds around her face, but couldn't help asking, "Will... Will you visit very often?"
It wasn't the tightness of the corset that left her voice so desperate. Despite occasional visits to prove the photos weren't lying about her beauty, she had never been alone with Charles Halliday. She had never been alone with anyone.
Her mother's mouth pinched to the side. "What a silly question. You'll be far too busy with your new life to miss your old one."
"But Iâ"
Aunt Hester interrupted. "My dear, it's not as if you could ever forget where you came from."
Then she caught Lili's right hand, tapping the plain band on her first finger. There was a rare hesitation from Lili's mother before she also reached out. Aunt Minerva followed suit, and then there were four hands all lightly brushing each other, each wearing the exact same ring on the exact same finger. It was the only family tradition left to them now that all heirlooms and land had long since been sold off.
Even through the haze of her veil, the heavy silver winked at Lili as her mother said, "Hester is right. This won't let you."
"What if he wants me to take it off?" Her hand tightened into a fist at the very idea.
"That, my dear daughter, is something you must answer yourself."
Then all three women drew away, as clear an act of separation as cutting a cord. With a final sigh, her mother handed over a bouquet of exquisite white roses. "Now, then. No more fussing. It's time."
The fragrance was sweet enough to be sickening, but Lili clutched the flowers close throughout the ceremony, lifting her gaze from the perfect petals to the looming priest and then finally to the man speaking a vow of lasting love to her. He was just as handsome as the other times they'd met, tall in bearing and with the lean strength of a racehorse. His thick, fair hair and sea-colored eyes would have sent any other bride swooning, but Lili only searched his face, trying to find any sign of what he thought about this. About her.
His kiss was as formal as his words. Her fingers tightened against the bouquet until the thorns pricked her skin. And then there they were, two figures perfect and precise in their roles, locked into their smiles while rose petals fluttered all around.
It was a Bugatti Royale that came to take them away, tons' worth of steel thundering over grey cliffs that overlooked deep gorges of pine forest. As mist thickened the air, her new husband said, "This road leads to my ancestral estate, a castle that once inspired fairy tales. You'll live like a princess."
She nodded timidly, wondering whether she dared to reach out and rest a hand on his arm. But just then, he shifted away to light a cigar. The match revealed his remote expression while he straightened up and stared straight ahead, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. The moment was gone, and Lili instead looked out at a landscape that shifted and roiled as violently as her nerves.
Eventually, the road narrowed. Water appeared on either side, smooth like glass as the first hint of brine joined the harsh smoke from the cigar. After another mile, waves started to lap at the road, and then froth against it. Lili's stomach tightened as she realized the sea surrounded them in all its wrath.
Ahead waited the castle, white as the moon and weathered from centuries of storms. With its many pointed turrets, it appeared to be thrusting up from the very rock of its foundation, an eruption of stone and windows.
Lili stared, feeling her heart race. "Does the water rise very high?"
"When the tide comes in, the road is swallowed up completely."
"Then it's a trap." The words slipped out before she could help it.
"No more than our marriage." With a slight smile, he caught her hand, stroking over the cluster of diamonds that was her wedding ring.
Her new life as Mrs. Charles Halliday began with an introduction to the housekeeper, Mrs. Smith, who was as grim and weathered as the very bedrock of the castle. The woman trailed at a discreet distance to give Charles' next words to Lili the illusion of privacy.
"Our honeymoon will have to wait. I have business in the city that demands my attention for the rest of the week. There's nothing I can do about it, so let's not quarrel on our first day as man and wife, hmm?"
When she nodded, keeping quiet, he seemed satisfied. "Mrs. Smith is very capable. She's overseen this castle since before my father was born, and can show you everything there is to know about it. However, there's one thing I must give you before I leave."
It was a massive ring of brass, blackened with age and weighed down with keys of every shape and sizeâthe keys to every room in the castle. Lili shook her head, disliking how heavy and ostentatious it felt in her hand. "If Mrs. Smith has a set, then I'm sure I don't need this."
"No, my dear. You are the lady of the house. Every door is open to you. Every door but for this one." Then he showed her a little gold key that seemed out of place among the rusted iron and worn brass. As it glittered at her, he added, "It's far down beneath the castle, an area that you could never stumble upon by accident. You must never open it, do you understand? A man needs his privacy."
When she nodded again, he smiled in a sudden flash of teeth. It was the closest he'd come to losing his smooth composure, and she wondered at it while he gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek in farewell.
Once he left, the housekeeper's stiff formality hardened into something frigid. Lili was very much reminded of Aunt Minerva, and wasn't sure whether to cling to the woman or remain terrified as they walked throughout the castle to introduce her to her new home. She couldn't say it was inviting. Each room held the chilled elegance of a mausoleum, and everything from the stuffed animal heads mounted on walls to the ancestral suits of armor positioned along corridors suggested an empty mimicry of life.
Mrs. Smith's clipped voice filled the silence. "For over fifty years, I've looked after the castle, and have looked after it well. The previous Mrs. Hallidays were generous enough to understand that, and kept my duties intact. I can only hope that you will as well, ma'am."
"What?" When the housekeeper turned toward her with a slight frown, Lili quickly added, "I didn't... You mean, he's been married before?"
"Four times. You seem surprised, ma'am." Mrs. Smith's tone harshened with each word, as if honest ignorance repelled her more than coy pretense.
Lili felt herself flush. "I didn't know. Who were they?"
"It's not my place to say, ma'am. Life has been very cruel to Mr. Halliday. Their deaths were such bitter disappointments."
The words lingered in Lili's mind for the rest of the day, and when she sank into bed that nightâa bed as wide as her old room, a bed of plush velvet and goose down and silkâshe found herself staring at the ornately carved ceiling and thinking of how alone she felt. Of how alone he must have felt with each loss. It was enough to make her swallow her fear. Perhaps they didn't know each other well enough for love, but she could try to please him. Devotion wasn't the most passionate bond, but it was something, and she grew determined to give it to him.
She started off with little acts. Sitting with him in the parlor throughout the long evening hours after dinner, trying to gauge whether he preferred silent company or distracting chatter. Having the cook and his many assistants concoct and deliver light refreshments when he worked late into the night. Keeping her hair styled in fashionable waves and dancing with herself in the massive, glass-covered ballroom to live up to her role at cocktail parties. She even read about the constant upheavals in politics, art, and science to be sure their conversations could hold enough variation and depth if he so wished.
It was like trying to coax a smile from a marble sculpture. All such attempts left Charles unchanged, and whenever Lili had the chance to see himâand such times were rare, for he always seemed to either be at work in the city or away on businessâshe wondered a little more at his complete indifference.
She would have far preferred him to brood by a window or rage over a glass of scotch. At least that would have been a glimpse of his feelings. As it was, he remained a mystery, and so did any expectations of her beyond being a beautiful wife that could flaunt his wealth and bear his heir.
She had yet to prove her worth in that second role, although each night he was home, she opened her legs to him willingly. There in the dark, he almost grew alive, panting quietly into her hair while she clung to him and waited for her desperation to build into something sweet and hot, for his mask of manners to crack and be cast aside.
But in the brightness of morning, he always resumed his detachment, and she would lie there among the rumpled sheets and watch him dress, the same question circling through her mind. Why had he chosen her as his new wife?
The previous Mrs. Hallidays began to haunt her like ghosts with their unknown faces. There wasn't the slightest hint of their former presence in the castle, and if it hadn't been for the housekeeper's slip, she never would have guessed Charles had been married before. Yet now she did know, and couldn't stop thinking about them. Who had they been? What had he seen in each of them? Was it the weight of those graves that crushed any chance at joy between them?
Three months into their marriage, Lili received those answers while visiting a hunting lodge owned by one of Charles' friends. It was the first time Charles had taken her out of the castle and into his social circle, and she spent the entire drive both excited and anxious.
Several other couples had been invited to stay at the lodge as well, and on that first morning Lili found herself with the other wives, standing at the edge of misty thickets while the men shot at pheasants. The thick smoke and constant firing turned the tranquil land into chaos, and at first Lili's heart fluttered like the panicked birds trying to escape.
Then she caught sight of her husband. Charles' face had lit up with excitement, the blue of his eyes darkening into the intense colors of a raging sea. Despite the noise, he laughed and joked with the other men without ever missing the pheasants he aimed at. He was even grinning, a smile that made her realize the very sharpness of his features.
She was so focused on him that hearing one of the other wives startled her.
"You're a quiet little thing, aren't you?"
When Lili realized the question was directed at her, she smiled and murmured something appropriately humble. The other women all drifted closer, their jewels winking like stars against their fur coats. A certain glitter appeared in their eyes as they took in the quality of hersâred diamonds in her ears, crown sable covering her from collar to calf. Then the tone of their voices turned sweet, and she learned more about the previous Mrs. Hallidays than she'd ever thought possible.
"You're not at all like the girl before you. She was very striking, very modern. Wore slacks and smoked cigars like a man. I believe they even met by sharing the same fencing instructor."
"He must have had enough of delicate beauty after his third wife. It was such a frustration to have her at a party. She always grabbed all attention and kept it. But then, I suppose that's what actresses are taught to do."
"What about the one that asked him to build her a laboratory? They say she was brilliant. So close to discovering how to turn lead into gold before that tragic boating accident."
"His first wife was the most spectacular, really. She had such regal bearing, even compared to the rest of her bloodline. So perfect a creature that I couldn't bring myself to hate her."
When all gazes returned to Lili, as if to ask what she had that could possibly compete with her predecessors, she remained silent, bewildered more than anything. What did she have?
This remaining question scratched at her worst of all, so unrelenting that during their first night home she found herself hovering outside the door to Charles' study. When she finally knocked on the polished wood, he answered as if he'd been expecting her all along.
She stepped inside, finding him rimmed by the firelight as he smoked near the hearth. It was the end of the day and yet his suit and tie still looked as crisp and perfect as from that morning, and she suddenly wondered if there was any part of him that was genuine. If anything would ever chip his facade and reveal what truly lived beneath.
When he looked over, she said, "There's something I'd like to ask you."
"Very well."
Despite his pleasant indifference, she hesitated, searching for a delicate form of her question. There weren't any, and before the silence could stretch out too long, she gave in and let the words come out pure and raw and honest. "I don't understand why you wished to marry me. What you saw in me above any other woman."
He gave her a slight smile before flicking ash into the fireplace. "It's true. There are women out there who are prettier, smarter, and better bred."
Harsh facts, things she already knew, but it cut deep to hear them in his voice. Her gaze dropped to her folded hands. She stared at the two rings she wore, at the biting beauty of diamonds and the grave gleam of silver. "Then why?"
"I was curious about what it would be like to have a wife so submissive. When we met, you were clearly a puppet for your family's desperation. None of your actions, thoughts, or words were from your own will. It was intriguing. You really did seem to do everything you were told."
Lili suddenly found it hard to breathe. "You mean... You were only interested in my obedience?"
"Of course. You have nothing else."
It was the very evenness to his tone that hurt the most, and she found herself sinking into the nearest chair, staring at him. "That's a terrible thing to say."
"Even if it is, a husband and his wife should be honest with each other, wouldn't you say?" Then he smiled again, as if the words were a private joke.
Her fingers bit into the dark leather of the chair. For a long, painful moment, they only watched each other. The flames added a strange light to his eyes, intensifying the clear anticipation in them. He wished this to hurt her, she realized. He wished to test her deference and see if it held. His curiosity demanded it.
She took in one breath, and then another, trying to make sure her voice would come out steady. "I think it's always best to be honest, yes. Will you be coming to bed soon, or shall I have the cook send up some light refreshments?"
He looked pleased, as if she were a dog that had performed the right trick at his silent cue. "I'll join you within the hour."
She wasn't nearly as calm as she appeared, not that night and not in the days afterward. Food became something to be picked at. When alone, she took to pacing throughout the castle, always stopping at the balcony with a perfect view of the road being swallowed by the tides. Countless letters were written to her family, begging for advice on finding peace and contentment in her new life. All her mother's spidery handwriting offered in return was the admonishment that Lili had been raised to expect a loveless marriage.
It was true. She had. But Charles' words still burned at her heart, marking it like a brand, and each day it grew harder to convince herself that she was very fortunate to be Mrs. Halliday.
And then one night, she couldn't.
It had started out normally enough, with the sleek bulk of Charles' car plunging through sea fog and marshland to carry them to a cocktail party thrown by one of his many business associates. Yet Lili soon noticed that the driver took a different road than usual, and then how the forest rose and fell in unusual shapes. The glittering lights in the distance looked nothing like the flat sprawl of New Obsidian.
Her heart stuttered as she realized it could only mean they had left their familiar metropolis for its eldritch neighbor. "Is... Isn't that Crescent City?"
"Yes."
"We're going there?"
"Yes." Her husband seemed faintly amused by her horror.
Lili swallowed hard, feeling her pearl choker constrict against her neck. "Are you sure we'll be safe? I've heard so many terrible things about it."
"Such as?"
She fumbled for words even as the car reached the first lit bridge. The very air seemed to glow. "The wolf packs. Everyone knows how savage they are. The alpha-kings are said to eat raw flesh and perform blood sacrifices."
"Nonsense. I negotiate with wolves on occasion. It's a necessary part of any business done in Crescent City. Let me assure you, they look like men and speak just as well. The rumors that surround them are ridiculous."
She found herself twisting her ringânot the opulent wedding band, but the humble one of her family. She stared at the dulled metal while murmuring, "I don't think it's ridiculous."
"And what hard-earned experiences have cemented your view?" It was the first hint of disdain she'd ever heard from him, the first sign that he viewed her sheltered upbringing as something other than quaint.
Anger sparked from somewhere deep inside, driving her to look up. "My mother knew that facing a wolf is as good as looking into a murderer's eyes. I'm very happy to say she protected me from ever meeting one."
"Well, now you're about to."
"No." It was the first time she'd said that to him, and her skin prickled over hearing it slice the air between them. The rest of her words came out in a rush. "No, I couldn't pretend everything was all right if I had to see one. They're monsters. They kill."
"Lilliana." Her husband's voice was as heavy and irrefutable as iron. "We are going to a cocktail party hosted by a very old friend. It will be just like every other outing we've shared, except that one guest will have yellow eyes. You will meet him, and you will pretend he's nothing more than a man, because he's part of an important business maneuver. Don't ruin this with hysterics."
"But I..." Her voice thinned to nothing even as panic clawed at her.
At that, he turned toward her, a sudden glitter in his eyes. "Is this to be our first quarrel?"
The words, so calm and measured, deflated her own, and she looked down again. "No."
"Then smile, and keep it in place even when you meet him."
The party was at a house modeled after the latest Art Deco trends, a sleek geometric monster painted in black and gold. The light from its many windows dazzled anyone who stepped close, and Lili found herself almost blinded as she and Charles reached the front door.
Inside, she had to admit he was right about it all appearing the same. The crisp black and white of tuxedos, the glitter of beaded dresses. Small smiles that meant nothing, discreet glances that revealed more than a thousand words. The live band kept their instruments a subtle backdrop to the murmurs of conversation, and smoke from cigars and cigarettes thickened the air as Lili let Charles lead her around the grand rooms.
She tried to look unflustered as they greeted his friends and associates, aware of how tight his grip felt on her arm. The men smiled at her indulgently. Their wives jabbed with compliments that were also insults. Normal discomfort, safe interactions, and she dismissed them all without a second thought, instead seeking out the eyes of every person nearby.
As her husband spoke, she shivered slightly, skin prickling against the beaded chiffon of her dress. She had more champagne than usual to try warming up, hoping for liquid courage since her own had failed. Just as she took a new glass from a waiter's offered tray, Charles flexed his fingers against her arm. "Remember. Smile and make it seem genuine. This creature might bring me a lot of money."
There was no time for a response, no time for a final whispered plea to let her slip away, for he already guided her toward a small group of men. Two looked like every other associate of her husband'sâwell-fed, stolid, and ready to argue over cardsâand she kept her gaze on them while they greeted Charles, all too aware of the third figure studying her in silence.
Then one of the men introduced him. "Nicholas Thorne, alpha-king of the Thorne Pack."
Even a fool would have recognized him as something more than human. It wasn't just his eyes, although their gold glittered with a feral nature that left the most hardened man faltering beneath his direct stare. It was his very quietness, the way he could stand so still and yet seem more commanding than the men around him. Their gold-wrapped cigars and polished monocles suddenly seemed buffoonish, a pitiful attempt at swagger in the face of a creature that knew how to kill in one bite. When his gaze met Lili's, it was only sheer instinct that left her smiling like a perfect socialite despite a fresh wave of dizziness.
This would be worse than she'd thought. He wasn't just a wolf, but one in the prime of his life and staggeringly virile. There was a scar by his eyebrow, as if a blow had just missed his temple, and the cut of his suit left no doubt that he powerfully built beneath it. If he hadn't been a wolf, every wife in the room would have been eyeing him. As it was, a few still were.
When Charles suggested a round of billiards, she nearly gasped in relief, sure that the alpha-king would retire with the other men into one of the private game rooms.
Instead, he shook his head. "Perhaps later."
His tone had been easy-going, but Lili's skin prickled at how deep and rough his voice sounded. It didn't take much to imagine him snarling, vicious.
If her husband was disappointed by the missed opportunity, he knew better than to show it, instead turning toward her with a smile. "Enjoy yourself, darling. I know you'd hoped for a waltz, but I've had one too many sidecars already to avoid stepping on your feet. Unless... How are you on the dance floor, Thorne?"
Gold eyes watched her face flood red. "I can do well enough to avoid embarrassing her."
"Well, darling?" said Charles, his fingers pressing against the chilled flesh of her bare arm.
His words were gentle; his expression wasn't. It was all part of his business schemes, this dance. What better way to treat the alpha-king like a respected equal than to let her remain in his company, alone and unprotected?
Lili found herself staring at her husband, realizing he was really about to do this. Suddenly, a laugh tried to bubble out of her throat. Darling. As if she were that special to him. It would certainly be a novel evening, spending her time with someone who didn't hide his nature.
Feeling light-headed, she nodded and murmured something appropriate at the alpha-king. The touch of his fingers on her wrist was a shock she felt to the bone while they approached the other couples dancing near the band, and she drew in a shuddering breath. Her husband was already out of sight.
But then the alpha-king stopped her, silent until she faced him in surprise. He was studying every inch of her face, those feral eyes sharp and unflinching and shockingly sympathetic. "Are you terrified of your husband or of me?"
"I..." There were many quick little lies to offer in response, but she found herself swallowing them and offering the pitiful truth instead. "It's more that I'm terrified of everything."
He nodded, gaze flickering down to the pearl choker around her neck as if he could see how her pulse hammered against it. "Tell you what. Tonight, you don't have to be afraid of anything. Tonight, I'm the biggest monster in the room, and I promise not to hurt you."
There was no reason for her to believe that. Indeed, her mother's voice echoed throughout her mind, shrill and insistent about the dangers of a wolf. But then he offered her his hand, offered her an unspoken choice, and tears burned in her eyes, burned away all dark hints, old threats, and planted thoughts until there was only herself, small and raw and exposed. She couldn't remember the last time someone had let her decide what to do. She couldn't remember the last time a choice had seemed like anything besides a trap.
Her fingers brushed his softly, hesitantly, but she gave him a real smile as they moved onto the dance floor, and something sparked in his eyes in response. As their bodies settled together, his voice lowered into a murmur against her ear. "Still scared?"
"Not right now," she said, and realized she meant it.