The Beauty Trials (Volume 3) by Dhonielle Clayton

Author:Dhonielle Clayton [Clayton, Dhonielle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2023-02-14T00:00:00+00:00

I sit in the tearoom at the Gravier Palace, watching embers crackle in the small fire and reading theOrléansian Times. Post-balloons drift above my shoulder like angry red wasps. I think of Minette and Lana. Every time I close my eyes, I see their bodies turn to ash. Hair burned like ribbons set aflame, flesh and bones incinerated into a dust as fine as bei powder.

“You going to open those?” a voice asks.

I glance over my shoulder to find Quentin and his insufferable grin.

“They’ll be fine for a few more minutes.” I turn back to the fire.

He drops down into the adjacent chair.

“Did I say I wanted company?” I glare at him in hopes he won’t get too comfortable.

“The room is big, and the fire is warm. You can ignore me like you usually do,” he spits back.

“Why are you like this?”

“Why are you like this?” He smiles, and it makes me scowl because I almost laugh and I don’t want him to make me laugh. “After so much death, you shouldn’t be left alone,” he adds.

I sigh with frustration.

“You don’t like me?” he asks.

“Don’t take it personally—I don’t like anyone,” I tell him. “At least not at first. And especially not strangers.”

“I’m not a stranger,” he replies, putting his hand to his chest in mock upset.

“I don’t know you.”

“The definition of a stranger is someone you’ve never met. We met in the Grottos.”

I look up, my annoyance growing. “And we had tea and dinner and a nice walk and talked about our favorite colors and dreams, right?”

“Point taken.”

To end our conversation, I snatch the tails of one of the crimson post-balloons, pulling it down into my lap. It’s from Camille.

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