"Well, the guys aren't the only ones who get Firstborn privileges," Tianna shrugs. "If you ask me, you're fucking lucky. Luckier than me, at any rate."
"What would you do in my place?" I demand. "What would you do if you had to marry one of them?"
"Have some fun." She gives me an evil smirk, sucking on the candy. "You read up on the rules, I'm assuming? Did you go through the entire manual?"
I guiltily think back to the thick notebook that's still somewhere in my bedside table. I leafed through the pages when I arrived at Oakes Estate, but I haven't bothered to pick it up since.
"Not yet," I admit, and she rolls her eyes.
"Well, here it is a nutshell," she says, linking her arm through mine and giving me a conspiratorial smile. "You have to stay a virgin until your wedding night."
"I know that," I mutter.
"Just let me finish, you brat," she says. "But
there's a special clause in the manual that says you can do whatever the hell you want - and whoever the hell you want - as long as your virginity is intact on your wedding night. In fact, the rulebook encourages you to play around with other people."
"What?" I narrow my eyes at her. "But Dexter and I... I mean, we're engaged."
"So?" she shrugs. "You aren't married yet, are you?"
I can't argue with that, and I stay quiet as I ponder this new information.
"You can't escape them," Tianna tells me. "So you might as well have some fun with it. Don't you agree?"
I lock eyes with her and find myself nodding to her words.
I can work with this.
I can definitely work with this.
Fourteen
Pandora
I walk to my last class of the day, clutching an armful of textbooks. I've had a pretty uneventful week. Dexter seems to be busy picking on the other descendants, and the other Firstborns have mercifully left me alone. But now, if I don't count Minnie, I'm pretty much left to my own devices. I'm lonely. I hate that I still don't have a single proper friend in this stupid town. I long to talk to Andromeda, Estella or Milo, but there's no way to get in touch with them, not under my father's eagle eye. I don’t even know if they still have the same phone numbers.
I’m a little surprised to find the hallway empty, I wait around for the professor, but nobody shows up. I try the door handle next and am surprised to find the door open. I walk into the classroom. There are only two people in there. Dexter, sitting at my etiquette teacher's desk, and a gorgeous blonde standing beside him, watching him with hungry eyes.
"Well, hello, toy," he says with a bright smile. "We've been waiting for you. Do come in."
"Where's Professor Durant?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at him. "I'm supposed to have class here."
"Class is cancelled." He grins at me. "We have something more important to do today."
"You can't just do that," I argue.
"Watch me."
I don't even know what to say in response. He's so obsessed with controlling me he's started toying with my entire life. Nothing is sacred anymore.
“So this is her?”
The blonde is laughing at me. She’s got some serious balls if she thinks she can get away with that.
“You didn’t tell me she was so plain,” she purrs, touching her hand to Dex’s shoulder. “Really, with all that money… they couldn’t even pay for a nose job?”
“You fucking…” I’m about to throw myself at her, but I stop myself, taking a deep breath.