Chapter 280: Facing the Truths
{TYLER}
We arrive back home with a new purpose.
Miles has managed to pull the mansion together enough for us to stay there, and although. I can’t help feeling an initial sense of dread as we walk into it again, but I shake it off.
The place has changed—and somehow hasn’t. It looks like it was always supposed to look, I think. The furniture, rugs, and paintings are all back in place, and there are huge vases of artistically-arranged flowers in almost every room, filling the air with their scent.
The mansion is old-fashioned in style, but not dated. Just...classic.
I like it a lot.
Sasha takes his time walking through, getting the tour from Miles, who mostly points out the new security features. I’m more interested in interior decoration.
"Well, baby bird?" Sasha asks me once we’re alone. He lifts me by the waist and spins me around in the empty ballroom in which we ended the tour. The floor is restored, shining parquet, and I’m already planning the kind of parties we could hold in here. A masquerade ball...
Of course, I remind myself, we’re only staying here for a short while.
"It looks amazing." I smile down at Sasha, still hoisted in his arms. "But be careful—"
"I’m perfectly well," he tells me, scowling. "—of my outfit," I finish, and grin at his face.