Angelique was pacing back and forth, flipping through one-of-a-kind designs that had been sent to her for her upcoming wedding. In fact, that was all she had been doing for a few weeks now. Truthfully, it wasn’t something she was looking forward to, having been married twice before, the most recent marriage had been to Brandon Decacious, and even that had ended some time ago, and she’d been chosen over her first husband to receive the gift of the embrace, and that caused a problem between them. He was left to mostly raise their children, while she was taught the ways of the family. Now she was expected to marry a Milliner. Even if he was a genius financier, she didn’t look forward to what felt like the inevitable chaos and downfall that would happen. But then, maybe third time was the charm? She sighed.
“What about this one, Mother?” came a sweet voice.
Angelique snapped her head up and looked at the source of the voice, a sweet sounding, pretty young woman with dark hair and olive skin, who had not yet been seen fit to receive the embrace, but family nonetheless. “Adriana, let me see.” she said, and the young woman handed it over.
The dress Adriana had found was beautiful, classic Venetian style, and would suit Angelique beautifully. “Thank you, daughter. You may go for now.”
Angelique watched as Adriana nodded, a small smile playing at her lips, though she scurried out of the room. She sighed…the girl was far too skittish for her liking, and as much as she wanted her daughter to be more than a ghoul, she wasn’t sure she was fit for the ranks of the clan, or had the stomach for necromancy. Her son, on the other hand, was quite gifted at it. She smiled and sighed happily as she thought of Arturo for a moment, then headed for her desk to go back to attending to wedding details for her marriage to Shiloh Milliner, an arrangement that had come down from higher up in the family. She’d never met the man, and knew him only by reputation. It was different from her previous marriages.
Alessandro had been her cousin, and she had known him since they were small. They had married young and had their twins, and after several years she had been embraced, while he had been looked over, though she still did not quite understand why. The marriage had devolved into arguments and a distinct lack of cooperation, and not long after he’d disappeared. She never questioned why, but her heart had broken after he could not be found, and it was the catalyst for why she had thrown herself into her necromantic studies.
Brandon had been well-known by reputation when s he happened to meet him at a gathering. They’d gotten along well enough, and soon after she learned that there was an arrangement for the two of them to be married, something she didn’t mind at the time. Post honeymoon-phase, they had grown weary of one another, and petty squabbled and blown into outright hatred for one another and so, despite protests from her family, she divorced him, and never looked back. Or so she liked to think. In reality, she was bitter about it, so took a chance to take a swipe at him whenever he crossed her path. Seems like he had gotten the victory finally, with this last stunt in Phoenix, and it angered her, but there was no point in going after him any longer.
This time she had to make this marriage work. She knew her family was disappointed that she hadn’t been able to make things work. Two very promising arrangements had broken, and if this one failed…well… all she had worked for may fall apart. She knew she would suffer, but she hoped if things failed, that her children would not. Just in case, however, she was going to make provisions. Arturo was a made man, and wouldn’t need much help. Adriana, on the other hand, would need much more.
These thoughts on her mind, she began to prepare for the future, for the sake of her children, should something happen, before returning to wedding planning.