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chapter fourteen / dirty rotten scoundrels ❛ every bait and switch was a work of art ❜
( another fun tip! highly recommend listening to the swan lake waltz or the sleeping beauty waltz while reading. )
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Beneath the wide swish of soft lavender skirts, Eulalie flexed her feet, glad the glittery shoes had flat, padded soles. She and her family had been standing in the receiving line for what felt like hours. If Eulalie had been in heels, she'd be limping to dinner. Cecily, standing next to her, blew out a heavy sigh, glancing hopelessly around the hall. Eulalie narrowed her eyes and needled her sister in the ribs with her sharp elbow.
"Pay attention," she mouthed when she had Cecily's attention.
"This is my wife, Meara, and my three eldest daughters, Eulalie, Cecily and Saoirse," Michael said, greeting another couple. He shook the gentleman's hand and kissed the tips of the woman's fingers. "And my dear friend's son, Killian Lynch."
The Downing daughters mustered another round of smiles, murmuring a hello and thanking them for coming.
Adora flashed open her pink fan with an impatient flutter, sneaking a look at the receiving line behind her father. "We'll never get to the dancing," she hissed.
Eulalie glanced around the ballroom. A wave of relief washed over her. The hall, which could easily hold three hundred people, felt suffocatingly full. Her father would be thrilled with the attendance. A string orchestra played over the chattering of the crowd as people filed through to find their seats at the giant dining table.
The ballroom did not disappoint, like life had been restored to it after years of it being sorely neglected. Velvet drapes, navy with silvery tracings, were artfully adorned throughout the room, creating private nooks perfect for romantic assignations. Lush purple twinberry honeysuckle dripped from fluted columns. The chandelier gleamed and sparkled, its crystal drops twisting and hanging down to form the arms of the Downing kraken. The center of the chandelier made up the body, refracting the light of a thousand burning candles. The massive beast covered half the ceiling.
