Todos los capítulos de I Signed a Marriage Contract, Not a Love Triangle: Capítulo 11 - Capítulo 20

“Read everything before you sign it. You'd be surprised how often people don’t.”Irene looked up from the first page.The man across from her had introduced himself as Dorian Hale, legal counsel for Lord Ares Valcieri. He looked somewhere in his early forties, though Irene had learned enough in the last week not to trust appearances around vampires.She still wasn’t sure whether Dorian was one, and she hadn’t asked.He wore a charcoal suit and no tie and looked like someone who spent most of his life telling rich people where they could and could not put their signatures.Three copies of the contract sat on the conference table in front of her. Eighteen pages each.Celeste was seated near the end of the table with her tablet, while Dorian had a legal pad beside him and several colored tabs marking sections Irene had requested during negotiations.Ares had not arrived yet.Irene turned to page two.The opening sections were straightforward. Names, duration, legal status of the marriage,

Irene stared at Kael across the convenience-store counter.Five minutes ago, he had been judging her second job. Now he looked like the name printed on her folder had just caused him so many offensive things.“I can’t talk about that.”Kael glanced toward her bag again. “Valcieri isn’t some vampire you met at a bar. He heads one of the larger Covens in the region.”The title meant very little to Irene, which was becoming a recurring problem whenever supernatural people explained supernatural things.“He has influence,” Kael added. “Councils listen when he speaks. Other Covens pay attention to what he does.”Irene thought about the contract signing and Celeste mentioning Council representatives at the wedding. Apparently that part had not been exaggerated.“Okay.”Kael’s brow furrowed. “Okay?”“What do you want me to say?”He turned his head slightly, studying her as if humans had once again failed some basic standard.“You should be more concerned.”Irene felt her irritation rise.“Loo

“Her name was Mira.”Celeste stepped farther into the fitting room and closed the door behind her.Irene looked down at the photograph again.The woman didn’t look exactly like Irene. That would have been easier to dismiss as impossible.It was the smaller things that caught her—the shape of the face, the dark hair, and something around the eyes.Not a perfect match, but close enough that Irene understood why she had stopped walking the moment she saw her.“Was she his wife?”“No.”“Girlfriend?”Celeste hesitated, then said, “She was important to him.”Irene put the photograph back on the table and then looked at the picture one more time.“Did he pick me because I look like her?”Celeste’s expression changed immediately. “No.”“You’re sure?”“Irene, the screening process was based on your circumstances, background, availability, and risk profile. Nobody went looking for a woman who resembled someone from eighty years ago.”“But he noticed.”“I imagine he did.”Irene picked up her bag.

“So the five different Councils are in this house right now?”Dorian glanced up from the papers in front of him. “Representatives from five Councils, yes.”Irene stood near the long table in one of the estate’s smaller reception rooms, still wearing the robe Celeste had given her while her hair cooled in pins upstairs.Dorian had asked her to come downstairs for what he called a brief protocol review.Ares sat at the far end of the table, reading the printed documents. Celeste stood beside Dorian, while two members of the estate security team waited near the doors.Irene looked down at the handwritten list in front of her.Seraphine.Marcus.Petra.Cassius.Yolanda.She knew none of them.“The important thing is that you don’t need to understand every Council’s jurisdiction today,” Dorian said. “They are attending because Lord Valcieri’s marriage has political significance, and they will expect to meet you.”Irene glanced at Ares.“That still sounds strange when people say it out loud.

“Do we keep walking?” Irene asked it quietly enough that only Ares could hear.The ceremony doors were already opening, and somewhere behind them waited five Councils, a room full of people she did not know.Ares looked at her.“Yes.” There was no hesitation in his voice.Irene tightened her fingers around his hand. “Okay.”That was apparently what they were doing.Dorian moved ahead of them as the doors opened fully.The room beyond was larger than Irene expected, though by this point she should have stopped expecting anything in Ares’s house to be reasonably sized.Rows of chairs filled the space, almost all occupied. Tall windows ran along one wall, and the late afternoon light fell across polished wood and arrangements of white flowers that Irene had never been asked to choose.She was strangely grateful for that.If somebody had asked her what flowers she wanted for a marriage, she probably would have said whatever was cheapest and made Celeste sigh.Everyone stood.Irene had been