Chapter One

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"Licorice! More licorice!" Alexander squealed in Thomas's arms as he lifted the boy up against his chest

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"Licorice! More licorice!" Alexander squealed in Thomas's arms as he lifted the boy up against his chest. Thomas sighed; Aunt Cecily practically threw Alexander at Thomas before running to go see her husband by the deserts. Aunt Tessa put on a lively engagement party for James and Cordelia, which made his heart sink knowing that she had put so much effort into a sham that would be over in a year. Beautiful gold ribbons adorned the chandeliers and walls along with festive witchlight candles. Lacey tablecloths were laid on top of the tables that held various sweets and treats in the theme of yellow and gold. Crystalized fruit and beautiful bonbons wrapped in gold sat atop cut-glass dishes. Thomas eyed the iced lemon tarts stuffed with cream next to the apricot and yellow plum tartlets and took note to grab one later. Flower arrangements were spilling out over various urns around the ballroom that contained peonies, camellias, gladioli and sprays of mimosa all colored yellow and gold.

Thomas was still trying to wrap his head around everything that happened in the last few days and was utterly struck by the announcement Cordelia made. Although it was a lie, he was grateful for what she had done; Thomas couldn't bear the thought of James being imprisoned over something that Grace had asked him to do. Thomas knew that Cordelia had some sort of feelings for James that reached farther than just friendship but would never comment on it to anyone. He had hoped that James would stop drooling over Grace once he realized what a catch Cordelia was but that never came. Thomas felt bad for her, a sham wedding was probably the least romantic gesture one could think of. And James was so clueless about it all, thinking that she only thought of him as a friend.

Thomas scanned the room for Lucie or Matthew so he could shove Alexander off to one of them and he caught sight of Lucie wandering about the tables. He rushed over to her while Alexander kept mumbling about licorice. As he was crossing the dance floor, he caught sight of Cordelia and Sona walking into the room. Then he noticed the dark-haired boy standing next to Sona, handing his hat to the maid. Alastair. Thomas froze. Alastair looked strikingly handsome with his new ebony hair, it stood out against his skin pleasantly. He was wearing black evening wear with a tie hanging around his neck and his suit fit his slender body perfectly. Tightening around his waist to show off his lean build and expanding over his narrow shoulders. Thomas absolutely loved dark hair, especially when paired with dark eyes; he could feel his face heating up as his stare lingered on Alastair. He looked better than ever before and Thomas swiftly turned away and kept heading to Lucie before Alastair could catch sight of him.

Thomas clearly cut off Lucie, standing in front of her while saying "Luce. I must go greet Cordelia and Alastair. Could you take this awful brat?" He did not want to talk to Alastair while holding the babbling toddler, how embarrassing that would be.

"Not a brat," Alexander whined while sucking on his licorice.

"I could," Lucie said as she crossed her arms. "I don't particularly want to, though."

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