Dark Vow (Blackwoods College)

“Don’t give me that, Calvin. She looks like you picked her up on the side of the road.”

“Mother.”

“You’ve been with some shockingly low-quality women before. I shouldn’t be surprised. Do you remember Theresa?”

“Her father was a Nobel laureate. Her great-grandmother invented sugarless gum.”

“Trash. Garbage. And that girl, what as her name? Nancy?”

“Parents were both world-renowned doctors.”

“What a pill, that girl.” Diana rolled her eyes. “And now this one. So what’s its name again?”

“Robyn,” Calvin said, getting visibly angry. “And she’s my fiancée.”

That made his mother pause. She looked at him, frowned, looked at me, and frowned even more.

I wish I had gotten changed.

“You’re joking,” she said.

“I’m not. Robyn is my fiancée. That’s why we’re here, to tell father. I suppose you’d better get used to the idea of having a common street whore around more often.”

His mother burst out laughing. She shook her head and tried to stifle her mirth with another long drink, draining the glass, but she continued cracking up. Calvin’s face was red, but probably not redder than mine.

That asshole didn’t need to call me that.

He turned his back on his mother and went to my side. “We should go,” he said quietly as his mother sat back down and fished a bottle of wine from the floor. She refilled her glass to the brim.

“Are you sure?” I watched her drain half of it down as her laughter died away. “She’s your mother.”

“She’s an angry, bitter old drunk.” He looked over his shoulder, eyes flashing. “She wouldn’t know quality if it slapped her across the face.”

“Don’t give me that, darling,” his mother said. “You just paraded your previous girlfriends around, bandied about their accomplishments like they matter, and yet you’re marrying—this?”

“Her name is Robyn.”

“I don’t care if her name is Sparrow. She’s worthless. She’s beneath the Solar name. Really, darling, if you want a wife, I know plenty of eligible girls. Princesses, duchesses, women of caliber.”

Calvin gripped my hand. He held it so tight I thought he might break a bone. “That’s enough.”

“You’re going to reproduce with her, aren’t you? I suppose that’s all she’s good for, bearing children. A regular old bitch, isn’t she? Prepared to breed and breed your babies? Oh, your father will love this.”

“Enough,” Calvin said, storming over. His mother flinched back as he ripped the drink from her hand and smashed it against the wall. Glass and wine scattered all over, and she shrank back from him in shock, her mouth hanging open.

He stood over her, breathing hard, and I was afraid he’d strike her.

Instead, he bent over, picked up the wine bottle, and tucked it under his arm.

“You’ve had enough. From now on, your drinking will be monitored.”

“How dare you,” she snapped, leaning forward, face like a snake. “You ungrateful—”

“I am going to own this family soon,” Calvin snarled, matching her fury. “And when I do, I will bury you, Mother. There is a lot I can do that will make your life miserable. From now on, your drinking will be controlled and monitored, and if you don’t like it, I’ll make sure you live out the rest of your pathetic, lonely, worthless existence in some far-flung corner of the world, even more alone than you already are.”

He turned and stormed toward me. I gaped at him, then at his mother, as he brushed past me into the hall.

“Nice meeting you,” I said and hurried after him.

He didn’t stop until he was halfway across the house. When he finally did, he turned on me, eyes hot fire.

“She never should’ve said that to you,” he said.

I backed away, afraid. “I know.”

“She wasn’t always like this. There was some of that elitist bullshit, but it’s only gotten worse over the years as she drinks herself into oblivion. Did you know that my mother had a doctorate in English from Oxford? She’s written books, won awards. Then she married my father, and all that ended.”

“I had no clue.”

He backed me against the wall and crushed me there with his hands against my hips.

“She was smart. She had a life. Then she married into this hell and look at her. Surrounded by reminders of what she could’ve been while drowning herself and looking down on everyone else. It’s horrible. It’s what I’m afraid I’ll be.”

“You won’t.”

“Why?” It was half question, half plea.

“Because you’re not like her.”

He let that sink in. I thought he might hit me, or kiss me, or drop to his knees, rip off my clothes, and lick me until I screamed. Instead, he pulled back and took several deep, calming breaths.

“I shouldn’t have lost control back there,” he said, speaking to the floor as if he couldn’t meet my gaze. “I won’t let it happen again.”

“Calvin.”

He looked over. “I promise.”

I shook my head and sighed. “This is hard for you. I didn’t realize how hard.”