The Belladonna Invitation by Rose Biggin

Author:Rose Biggin [Biggin, Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ghost Orchid Press
Published: 2023-07-17T23:00:00+00:00

*

F. leaves the gambling-house (nodding, half dazed, at the porter guarding the door). She ought to be with the Belladonna, but she cannot ignore what just happened. She steps around to the narrow street behind the building. A low moan is coming from the gutters, which are pooled with pale light from the gas lamps, but they’d be better off left in the dark. The bunched-up shape of Lucian sits, head in his hands and feet ankle-deep in the dirty water.

F. stops beside him, noticing how her shadow looms across him—she could be those men, returning for some more. She waits. She can see marks on his face, the smear of blood about his mouth.

But he doesn’t move away or flinch. He peers up at her, moving his head slowly. His eye is red, welted, swelling, and his voice is plaintive: ‘I wanted to show her. How it felt. I know you understand.’

F. can feel how sharp her silhouette must be, standing over him: the harsh corset-line, her hands on her hips. She makes her voice to match. ‘One final act of closure, was it? Meant to break her heart? It’s over when she says it is, and she’s not to be condemned for it. It’s her position, Lucian.’

‘Oh god,’ he loses his face back in his hands. His voice comes through muffled. ‘Why can’t I make her as upset as she makes me?’

She bends, the edges of her skirts soaking in the cold water, and for a moment her hand butterflies to touch his head—but she pulls it in.

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