"You didn’t mention anything about us getting married. Why?"
Selene liked that it wasn’t mentioned by herself or Xavier. "I didn’t want Gabriel to have time to do something to get in the way of it. He must think you are only using me for a short time and that I will come back to him. I want the divorce to happen before he knows."
Xavier was impressed by her thinking. She wasn’t a fool. "Again, I question why you settled for him. You could have found someone better. Even a pureblood."
"Then you have missed how much my family name was tarnished and how my relatives have been so greedy that they have tried to strip everything my father left for me from me. I wasn’t able to keep my hands on the family home. Who would want to bring such drama into their lives?" Selene asked.
Gabriel had not been her first choice. The obvious thing to do was to find another pureblood so her children would be purebloods as well, but Gabriel became the man who accepted the offer.
"I had been away from this town for some years so it took time to decide who I could trust. Just because we are purebloods never meant we would always have each other’s backs. We can all be vicious when we want to be so marrying below my status seemed worth it at the time. He was kind then," Selene said, not having an answer to what changed.
"You did not marry for love the first time and now, you are doing it again. Wouldn’t you wish for love the second time around?" Xavier asked.
"That would have been wonderful but it is not possible now. I don’t have time to go searching for love. I am a woman who knows what must be done to survive. Love does not matter to me now as I am almost certain it will not matter to you. Do you plan to love me?" Selene asked, guessing his answer.
"Isn’t love one of those things that are unpredictable? I do not love you now but I can’t speak for the future. If you continue to entertain me then I just might fall in love with you," Xavier replied.
Selene smiled. His answer surprised her but it didn’t make her look forward to the future. "That will not be love. It will be you no longer are bored. I do not need you to love me, I just need some respect as your wife. I have been ridiculed enough for this one life."
Selene faced Xavier. "What shall be our arrangement?"
Xavier glanced at Agnes which Selene noticed.
"Agnes is loyal to me. She will not speak of this," Selene promised. "We have known each other before I married Gabriel so I have taken her with me wherever I go. I did the same with Elsie."
"I will trust your word that she will not speak of this or anything else she witnesses. I have not taken someone’s tongue or hands in a long time. You would not want to be the first since I might be too sloppy. You were saying?"Xavier switched back to Selene.
"Must you be like this?" Selene asked, knowing he had just terrified Agnes.
It was obvious that she hadn’t done much or anything at all with Gabriel. Xavier liked knowing this, not for his pleasure but so Gabriel couldn’t speak about it. freeweɓnovel.cøm
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