Chapter 10 - The Predator's Approach
Elena could no longer tolerate the silence or the distance. The courtyard had turned into a minefield, and she needed to control the detonation. She began walking toward David, her steps slow, measured, and stripped of all bridal grace. Her heavy lace gown dragged across the stone path with a soft, ominous whisper. Her teardrop earrings swung back and forth, reflecting the sunlight, but her eyes were cold, narrowed, and intensely focused on the note in his hand. She did not know the exact contents of the paper, but she recognized the expression on David’s face—it was the look of a man who had looked into the dark and realized the dark was looking back. She reached David and Lily, her shadow falling over them, blocking out the sun and casting David’s pale face in a cold, gray light. Without taking her eyes off David, she reached out a gloved hand and gently pulled Lily toward her side, her grip firm, almost possessive. "David," Elena said, her voice dropped low, stripped of its usual sweet, gentle cadence and replaced by a sharp, commanding edge that sounded utterly alien. "What is that? What are you holding?"
