she's worse

7

The masquerade was close to an end, when Jasper came up to me.

"Spend the night with me," he said.

"Spend the night with me. I can't go anywhere tonight other than the motel." I told him. "Also, Aiden is supposedly staying at the hotel with me."

"I'll talk to Sorin. I rank higher than Aiden, he won't mind letting me switch with Aiden for the night. Plus, my shift will pay Aiden more, so I don't think he should mind much," Jasper said as he backed me up against the wall in the hall next to the ballroom where almost no one could see us.

His hands clutched my waist, yanking me forward and his lips came down to mine. He bit my bottom lip as his hands dragged up my body to my face, holding it.

"It's gonna be a while before you look not disgusting again," I couldn't tell whether it was just a plain statement or whether he was looking to insult or compliment me.

"On second thought, I think I'll hope Aiden keeps his shift tonight," I snarled at him. He should know better than to talk to me of all people like that.

"Incorrect, actually, Aiden will not be taking the shift. No one will, you will be given a bathroom after this ends and you then sent back into the dungeon tonight." Jasper and I looked over to see Sorin.  Jasper let go of me and took a few steps back, putting a few feet of space between us.

"Jasper, I promoted you because you're better than guarding a cell for your whore. You, behave," he warned me. "The guests are leaving and Mr. Irwine would love to see Thalia again. He can't seem to find her, so come up with an excuse and go. Shoo!" he ordered at me as if I was his dog, and I shot a dirty look at him.

I took a deep breath gathering any last bit of sanity I had left for the night as I made my way to Kavan.

"Hey there!" I waved at him with a bright smile.

"I just wanted to say bye," he said with a lopsided smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.

He was into so Thalia. Go her, I guess, he was cute.

"Well, goodbye!" I smiled back.

He was in love with a hallucination. Thalia wasn't here, but he talked to her, he danced with her, he smiled at her. Thalia Sage knew of Kavan Irwine, as everyone else in the nation did, but she had never spoken to him. I think.

Playing solely on stereotypes, Thalia was the kind of girl who dreamed who would dream of accidentally meeting Kavan and a happily ever after.

And as beautiful as it sounded, frankly speaking, there was no happily ever after one married into the Seven. The ever after became the horror one thought they would be without it.

The dreadful ever after of those married into the Seven was lying, scheming, and telling tales all for the build or maintenance of public reputation. Even the simplest things in life, like eating a meal together, became a draining event.

Cinderella married the prince, but the duties of being queen led to her demise.

Kavan's hand went to the bare skin on my cheek right below my mask, as he softly caressed it.

"Take care," he whispered and turned around and walked away. I turned around to see Aiden and Jasper looking at me with Sorin next to them with a bored look on his face.

I walked back to them and saw Jasper whisper something to Aiden.

"Kavan likes Thalia," I told Aiden.

"So what happens if Kavan decides to randomly visit my cousin," Aiden asked Sorin.

"He won't be." We gave Sorin a look. "Thalia Sage lives in Ellis, and the Irwine's don't go there. The one time they went for whatever reason, there was a fire in the building next to garden they were sitting in having a picnic. The people correlated the fire to their presence, and they never went back. If for some stupid reason Kavan goes to Ellis, Aiden will inform Thalia of everything that happened. You will let her know to keep her mouth shut." Sorin ran a hand through his neatly combed sun blond hair. It was nice to know I was a bother to him.