𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋

𝟑𝟑

CHAPTER 33
- SHE IS ONLY A WOMAN AFTER ALL

"Mother, father, are you there?" Aurora's voice echoed in the hallway entry.

As soon as her voice resonates, Maria jumps out of a room, clearly panicked.
"Oh Cara Mia! You're here! We were so worried."

The worry and sweet name seemed so real that Aurora almost thanked her. She shook that thought away almost immediately. Her mother, out of all people, would never truly mean to call her Cara Mia. But she didn't question it, she had other things to do.
"Is dad here?" She asks.

"Here." Daniel comes out of the same room as Maria, who didn't seem to have a reaction at her daughter finally appearing after missing for hours.

"Great. I have an announcement to make."

It was only at that moment that Daniel and Maria's gaze averted from her to the tall boy standing beside her.

Maria didn't allow Daniel to have a reaction. She was quicker. She immediately pulled out a pocket knife from her sleeve and throws it at him like a dart. All of that was so fast, Aurora didn't get to process everything.

The object was flying towards him, Aurora was frozen in spot, her eyes wide, her hands open, the black nail polish carefully painted on her nails glistening, she watched the weapon point towards her only hope, her only chance.
Daniel was watching the knife in shock, he didn't expect his wife to be that fast, she was only a woman after all, only a man like him should be able to do such a thing.
Maria had pure terror and craziness in her eyes, which were wide with pleasure, and the need to get over her enemy since many centuries. Relief started to appear on her beautiful, young looking face as she was more and more certain of the fate of the boy.

The knife scrapes Romeo's shoulder and falls to the ground, leaving a petrified silence in the hallway.

The young man looked at his shoulder slowly turning into a red colour, some liquid flowing from his wound as he had a careless look plastered on his soft face.
"Shall I thank you for intentionally not killing me?" He asks Maria.

"I want to know what you're doing here first. I would never kill you this quick, I already planned your slow and painful death." She snapped back powerfully with gritted teeth, showing her hatred for him.
Romeo's mask fell for a split second. He furrowed his eyebrows as his globes were slightly widened with terror. Everybody knew how merciless Maria Duclaire was with her victims, even her enemies feared her, even her allies bowed to her.

But he gained his careless look immediately, only Aurora noticed how he truly felt deep inside.

"Aurora, should I tell them? Or will you do the honours?" He asks her with a stone face, slowly becoming impatient.

The princess sighs deeply with uncertainty. There was no going back.
"I cannot accept a marriage with Mateo."

"And why is that?" Daniel suddenly snapped loudly, which shook Aurora. Her father always taught her to be a strong, independent woman. His sudden change of attitude almost made Aurora want to accept the arranged engagement.

"Because I'm already dating Romeo."

"Bullshit!" Maria shouts loudly with terror, her eyes widened. But she knew, with the look of her daughter and the satisfactory smirk of her enemy that what Aurora was saying was true.