Sinning with My Fiancé's Twin Brother novel · Chapter 8 of 32

Chapter 8: The Ribbon

I didn't stop walking.

I came up the gallery steps and stood in front of her.

My hands wanted to shake.

I put them in my jacket pockets, which were Laurent's pockets, because it was still his coat.

She saw that.

Her eyes went to the coat and back to my face.

"Wet with dew," she said. "Which means it lay out all night. Which means it fell off in the dark. Which means I didn't need to see anything at all." She wound the ribbon around two fingers. "I was up at one o'clock. I heard three horses come in, and only one man's boots."

"You must be very tired."

"I'm fifty-one, Varina. I don't sleep. I watch." She tucked the ribbon into her prayer book like a bookmark. "Sit down."

"I'll stand."

"Then stand." She sat herself, in the rocker by the door, and folded her hands. "Here is what will happen. You'll go to the courthouse this morning and withdraw that mare. You'll tell the clerk you've come to your senses. On New Year's Day you'll wear my dress and marry Armand."

"And if I don't?"

"Then at the harvest ball, a week from Saturday, I'll stand on my own gallery and tell the parish what you are." She said the next word as cleanly as a priest. "A whore. Who went from one brother to the other while the ring was still on her hand."

My face burned.

I didn't look away.

"Does Armand know?"

"Armand doesn't need to know anything. Armand needs a wife on New Year's Day." She opened the prayer book to the ribbon and looked at it. "Withdraw, marry him, and this goes in the kitchen stove. Nobody ever hears a word."

"And Laurent?"

"Laurent will do as he's told. He always has."

← Chapter 7 · All chapters · Chapter 9 →

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