Valentine's Day: Part Three

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Roux

Roux carefully examined her reflection in the mirror that hung on the wall in the room she shared with Ludovic, and smiled. The dress she'd chosen for tonight was a soft, muted gold, plunging low in the front, to the rope of twisted gold satin around her waist, before rippling down to her feet. She wore no jewellery – the dress was enough of a statement.

A shiver of excitement ran through her.

This was the first Valentine's Day that she and Ludovic were actually celebrating together, as well as the first major event that Belle Morte had hosted since picking up the pieces after Etienne and Jemima's betrayal last year.

Usually Christmas was a time for balls and events and functions, but Ysanne had surprised everyone by sending the donors home in December. Aside from security, Jason had been the only human in the house. The vampires of Belle Morte had celebrated Christmas as a family, away from the media circus, and maybe that would be the last time they'd get to do that, or maybe it would become a permanent thing. Roux didn't know yet. She wasn't sure even Ysanne knew yet.

Tonight's event was the prize in a charity auction – winning couples were invited to be wined and dined inside the mansion – with all proceeds going to charities that benefitted war widows. Ysanne had lost two husbands to war, back when she was human, so Roux guessed this was a subject close to her heart.

Roux smoothed her dress one final time, then snapped a quick picture of it in the mirror. Most vampires still had little interest in social media, but Roux had been determined to use her own accounts to show Belle Morte in a more informal light, away from the staged sets and professional camera crews. Ysanne had been cautious at first, but even she'd had to admit that it had helped renew interest in the vampire houses after all the blood that had been spilled inside them.

"And send," Roux murmured, uploading the photo. 

Almost immediately comments started pouring in – her followers gushing over her dress, her makeup, her relationship with Ludovic – but Roux put her phone down before she could read too many. The overwhelming majority of them were positive, but there were always a handful of people who seemed to enjoy leaving nasty comments under every post she made – telling her she wasn't good enough for Ludovic, or that she should have died instead of coming back as a vampire, or criticising her appearance.

Roux knew she was beautiful.

She also knew that even the most beautiful woman in the world would be considered ugly by some people. Everyone had different tastes, and that was okay. She just didn't understand why anyone thought it was acceptable to tell strangers that they were ugly or flat-chested or too skinny, or all the other things that people said to her.

She left her phone behind as she walked out of the room.



Ludovic was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs, and Roux had to pause at the top, drinking in the sight of him. Wearing a dark grey suit, with his blond hair tied at the nape of his neck, he was the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. She'd fancied the pants off him from the second she arrived at Belle Morte – before then, really, because she'd known who he was since vampires revealed themselves – but that attraction had deepened into something so raw and beautiful that it sometimes made Roux's chest hurt, like that emotion was too big to contain.

Ludovic looked up and saw her, and his eyes widened. "Roux," he breathed.

She would never get tired of seeing that awed look in his eyes.

Roux swept gracefully down the stairs and offered her hand to Ludovic. He kissed her knuckles, and a camera flashed on her left.

"Don't mind me," Isabeau said, grinning as she snapped another photo.

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