[Blood Prince 01.0 - 03.0] Before Midnight by Jennifer Blackstream

Author:Jennifer Blackstream [Blackstream, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780692584477
Google: ygfjjwEACAAJ
Amazon: B00DPYZZXA
Barnesnoble: B00DPYZZXA
Publisher: Skeleton Key Publishing
Published: 2013-11-29T07:00:00+00:00

7

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since she’d left Etienne at the palace. Three weeks since he’d kissed her and she’d run away like a coward. No explanation, no goodbye, no nothing.

Loupe lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She’d done everything she could think of to take her mind off Etienne. She’d scrubbed every inch of the house, swept every inch of the stable, cleaned every article of clothing, and weeded every square inch of the garden. The only thing she hadn’t done was finish the skins waiting for her attention. And she couldn’t bring herself to do that. Not when all she could see when she touched them were the wolf pups. Those tiny balls of fluff that had brought so much joy into her life. Joy that she might never feel again.

A sudden sob escaped her throat and Loupe clapped a hand over her mouth. She missed the pups too. They’d been the closest she’d ever have to children and now they were gone, safe but far away from her. She knew Etienne would take care of them, but for some reason that thought only made her cry more. They could have taken care of them together.

Oh, yes, Loupe, you could have lived happily ever after, couldn’t you? Married the prince, moved into the palace, raised the pups. Right up until the first full moon when the beast would tear its way out of your flesh and eat your husband alive.

She sucked in a deep breath and held it. Crying wouldn’t change anything. It was what it was and there was no fairy godmother to make it any different.

The slam of the front door ripped Loupe out of her thoughts. She’d know that heavy hand anywhere. Wiping away her tears, she climbed off her bed and stumbled to the ladder. By the time she’d gone through the trapdoor and through the kitchen, her stepmother and stepsisters were already inside.

“Girls, go upstairs immediately and get dressed, there’s not a second to lose.”

Remaining unseen in the doorway to the sitting room, Loupe had a perfect view of her stepmother. She was holding a note in her hand and reading it intently. The envelope she held underneath it caught Loupe’s eye. She could barely make out the edge of the royal seal.

Loupe gaped at the envelope. She squashed the flare of hope that it was a letter to her. Etienne didn’t know where she lived. There was no way he could have known where to send such a letter. Still…

“Loupe!”

The harsh sound of her name on her stepmother’s tongue urged Loupe into motion. She stepped out of the doorway, her back ramrod straight. “Yes, Stepmother?”

“We are going out tonight and we must leave soon. Be sure to lock up behind us and don’t leave the house for any reason.”

Loupe bit her lip, confused. “But stepmother, you just arrived home. You’re going out so soon?”

She glanced down at the note still clutched in her stepmother’s iron grip. Madame Tessier looked down her nose at Loupe and narrowed her eyes.

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