Page 88 of Dark Gambit: The Play

"That too. Evidently Valstar, who is Sofia's pureblooded grandfather, is not just a cog in the machine. He's Igor's second-in-command. Sofia just conveniently failed to mention that. She's not the innocent victim she's been portraying herself to be, and now she knows that we are immortals and that our ancestors and hers are somehow connected."

"So what?" Eleanor crossed her arms over her chest. "She's not going back, so it doesn't matter what she knows, and if she tries to breathe a word of this to her grandfather the next time she communicates with him, we will stop her. If anyone has a reason to be mad, it's her. She was keeping one little secret from you. You were keeping a very big one from her. You both had good reasons for that, and you both should get past that. It's not worth getting upset over."

"Tell that to her." He pointed at the door. "She won't listen to me, and she doesn't want to see me ever again."

Chuckling, Eleanor shook her head. "She wouldn't be so mad if she didn't care about you. Let Auntie Eleanor broker a peace." She motioned for him to get up. "Wait for us in the living room."

"That's ridiculous. I just told Sofia that she's the one for me and that I want to induce her transition. Any reasonable female would have been overjoyed."

"Oh, boy." Eleanor pushed him on his back. "You have a lot to learn about women."

"Tell me something I don't know." Marcel rose to his feet. "It's the story of my life."

The bathroom door opened, and Sofia stormed out. "And that's one more thing that you haven't told me because you don't trust me. I told you everything about my life, but you just keep hinting about the horrible thing your ex-girlfriend did, but you don't trust your so-called perfect mate enough to tell me about something that happened who knows how many years ago, and that doesn't affect anyone in the present. You're full of shit, Marcel." She stormed out of the room.

"Did you close the door upstairs?" he asked Eleanor.

"Of course. It locks automatically." She rose to her feet. "You really have to work on your trust issues."

70

SOFIA

As Sofia paced the living room, she struggled to hold back the tears. The space was too small and too crowded with furniture to allow proper pacing, especially with her long legs, and the hallway would mean passing by the room Marcel was in, and she didn't want to look at him.

Was she overreacting?

No, she wasn't.

He was such a self-righteous prick.

What did he expect?

For her to fall on her knees and thank him for offering her a long life?

For what?

So she could spend an even longer time with a man who didn't trust her and caused her anguish?

No, thank you.

She'd rather live out her short human lifespan with someone who cherished her. Not that any such fantasy was going to materialize for her, but that didn't mean that she should compromise.

It was okay to be without. It was less painful than compromising on being with someone who made her miserable.

"Come on." Eleanor wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "Let's get out of here and breathe some fresh air."

That was a surprise. "Am I allowed out?"

Eleanor had promised to compel her into silence about everything that had gone down since that moment in Emmett's office, so she could rejoin the retreat, but she hadn't done so yet, probably because she'd known that Marcel was going to reveal more stuff, and she wanted to do it in one shot.

"I'm taking you with me, so you are under my supervision."

"What if anyone sees me?"

"Then we will tell them that you just came back, and if they ask where you have been, you can say that you're not allowed to talk about it."

Sofia sighed. "I like how simple you make everything sound. I wish Marcel was more like you."