His Family Wanted a Frightened Bride, He Fainted First novel · Chapter 2 of 24
Chapter 2: Red Is a Difficult Color
Red velvet troubles Lucan less than Roderick's deliberately ambiguous red dishes. Ordinary vampire food and optional blood amplification are explicit. Hettie demands ordinary tea and her own portrait copy; the image will accompany Friday's tribute.
Lucan sat on the red velvet sofa after ordering the red roses removed.
I looked at the sofa, then at him.
He rested his hand on the red armrest quite comfortably.
"The thorns," he said before I asked.
Roderick sat opposite and put his blood flask beside Lucan's cup.
Winnie moved it back to its owner before pouring tea.
"My cousin can be particular," he said.
Winnie brought tea and a strawberry tart for each of us.
My aunt put two fingers on my wrist.
"Not too much, Hettie."
"A frightened bride has no appetite."
"Then I'll faint from hunger," I told her.
"That won't look graceful."
"It will be a faint."
Winnie put a second tart on my plate.
Roderick pushed Lucan's closer to his hand.
"Try the special filling, cousin."
Lucan looked at the tart, then at the flask.
He left his fork on the table.
"Strawberry," Winnie said firmly.
"You saw me take them out of the freezer."
He ate a small piece.
I watched Roderick lose interest in the tart.
"Does he need anything else?" Agnes whispered to me.
"Vampires can live on ordinary food," I whispered back.
"Blood makes their magic stronger. It isn't lunch."
Roderick tapped his flask against the saucer and smiled at me.
"You know something of our ways."
"I can read the train posters," I said.
The railway advertised blood-free dining for travelling vampires.
My aunt had made me memorize the etiquette page and skip the menu.
Roderick lifted a covered bowl from the lower shelf of the tea trolley.
A thick red jelly wobbled inside.
"Something richer," he suggested, setting it before Lucan.
"What's in it?" I asked.
"A family recipe."
Lucan's fingers went flat against the sofa.
Winnie took the bowl, sniffed it, and looked at Roderick.
"Currants," she said.
"I made it."
She put it beside Elspeth, who took an enormous spoonful.
"A considerable relief," his sister said with her mouth full.
Lucan looked at his cousin's flask.
Roderick lifted it and shook the last drop against the silver neck.
"A waste to put it in food," he said.
He looked at Lucan while he said it.
I put down my fork.
"Has he actually put something in the food?"
"No," Winnie said.
"He enjoys people wondering."
She took Lucan's untouched cup away and poured him a fresh one from the pot.
Lucan got up before his cousin could offer anything else.
He took a green apple from the bowl and handed it to me.
I took the red one beneath it and offered that in return.
"Ordinary apple," I said.
He held it by the stem, a little farther from himself than necessary.
"I have disliked red for ten years," he announced.
I glanced at the sofa he'd just left.
"An unfortunate choice of furniture."
"We needn't discuss the furniture."
Elspeth stroked the velvet.
"It's winning," she observed.
His hand tightened around the apple stem.
The fruit was plainly innocent, and he was plainly lying.
I wanted to know why his cousin found that so entertaining.
Roderick reached toward the bell cord, looking pleased with himself.
I caught it first and rang once.
Winnie looked at me instead of the cord.
"Could we have the food served without a mystery?" I asked.
She took the flask off the table and set it in Roderick's hand.
"Keep your own things with you," she told him.
His smile disappeared while Elspeth finished the jelly.
Lucan led me through the garden door before my aunt could rearrange us.
He moved a wet branch out of my path.
"Thank you for the apple," I said.
"You haven't eaten it."
"I was waiting to see whether it came with a legend."
He laughed once and looked surprised by the sound.
Outside, without candles or silver flasks, his face was much easier to admire.
I touched the cuff he'd pulled clear of the wet branch.
He left his hand near mine.
"What have you quarrelled with for ten years?" I asked.
He looked toward the house.
"It isn't the sofa," I added.
His mouth moved, but no answer came.
Agnes hurried out before I could ask again.
Roderick followed, holding a photographer's appointment card.
"Tomorrow at nine," he said.
"The engagement portrait."
"There is no engagement yet," I told him.
"Then appear suitably undecided."
He demonstrated by widening his eyes and touching his throat.
Elspeth appeared behind him and copied it precisely.
He lowered his hand.
"I'll sit upright," I said.
"With my eyes open."
"The photograph goes by the back entrance on Friday," he told Lucan.
"Where the village brings the courtesy."
I took the appointment card from him.
"I'll have my own copy," I said.
He looked at my hand on Lucan's sleeve.
"Copies cost extra."
I put my untouched apple in his open palm.
"Take that out of my dowry."
← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend