Chapter Three

After Rafael had pawned Elena off on her, it had taken Camilla all of 30 seconds to set the girl up on a task that would keep her busy for a while. Of course, that left Camilla bored as stone once again. No matter what she did, she felt like she was cursed to never shake this dull and listless existence.

She had thought that marrying the head of a rich, prominent family of dragons would have provided her with a bit more excitement than this. Yet, Rafael was so staunch and bland it was hard to believe he was truly a massive and frighteningly powerful dragon. Throughout their 12 years of marriage, she had only seen him transform four or five times and even those moments hadn’t been all that thrilling. All in all, she was rapidly growing tired of this lie of a life she was leading. She needed excitement. She needed adventure.

It was when Ignacio came around the corner into the salon that her gears began to turn and a fun little idea popped into her head. Ignacio had always been rather easy on the eyes… and now that he was back from his little tantrum-induced vacation, he looked even better. Apparently, life away from the family suited him amazingly well. She wondered…

“Oh, Ignacio!” She chirped as innocently as she could manage. “I am so happy to see you’ve come home!”

She gave him no time at all to react and instead crossed the room with those long, slender legs and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. She lingered just long enough to make sure her perfume filled his senses before she let him go, and took a step back. She flashed him that winning smile and drank him in with those green eyes.

“You look great! Wherever you went… it was a good choice!” She tried to play the friendly card with him, knowing full well Rafael had just pissed him off. All three of these DeLeon boys were far too easy to read.

“Yea… I’m thinking I should have stayed...” Ignacio said, distractedly. “Have you seen Maia? The woman I came here with?”

“Oh, no. I’m sorry, Hun. I haven’t seen her anywhere!” She lied. “But that is a lovely name, Maia. Your new girlfriend?”

She asked it with a playful smile and reached out to grip and squeeze his bicep. He’d put on some muscle while he was away. She tossed in a little laugh before taking her hand back and running it flirtatiously through her chestnut brown hair.

“Yea… if you see her will you tell her I’m looking for her?” He asked, trying to peel himself away from her. The way she touched him made him feel awkward.

“Of course, of course!” She answered, with a smile. “I assume Rafael told you she had to go?”

There it was. She asked it as though it was an innocent question, but she knew exactly what she was doing. When she saw that slight twitch pass across his face, she knew her strike had landed.

“Yea. Of course, he did. He’s Rafael.” Ignacio said, his tone making it obvious he was holding back a few choice words. “I doubt he realizes that if she goes, so do I.”

“Oh, I’m sure he realizes it, deep down,” she cooed in a comforting tone. “Rafael is just a stubborn old mule, you know that. If you like, I could try and talk to him a bit on your behalf? Maybe someone… other than you, of course… could talk some sense into him.”

“You would do that?” He asked, somewhat skeptical of her sudden urge to be helpful and kind. Camilla had always struck him as a selfish, somewhat evil woman. A perfect match for his brother.

“Anything for family,” she answered, adding just a hint of seduction to her words as she smiled.

“Thanks… um…” He hesitated.

“Do you want me to talk to Elena as well?” She read his mind. Mainly because she had written this script for him. “Try and explain things to her a bit? It might be easier coming from me…”

The way he seemed to relax with relief let her know she had him where she wanted him. She reached out and took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as she stepped just a bit closer. She let her eyes linger on his for a moment, surprised at how similar to Rafael’s they really were.

“Don’t worry yourself so much, Ignacio. I’ll help you.” She let her tone soften a bit and smiled at him, even going so far as to give the tiniest bite to her lower lip.

“Thanks… Camilla. I appreciate it…” He said, sounding unsure of himself. She could tell he was second guessing his first impression of her. Perfect.

“You don’t have to thank me, Hun. Like I said, anything for family.” She flashed him a wink, let his hand go and turned to saunter off and leave him to the rest of his search for Maia.

Of course, she wasn’t going to do any of the things she had promised him. She had zero intention of talking to Rafael about anything, let alone Ignacio’s little problem. No, the most entertaining option was to leave Rafael alone to stew in his anger for as long as possible. When he finally bubbled over, the chaos would be exhilarating.

She did, however, plan on keeping her word about Elena. She would track down the young woman and they would indeed have a chat, though she wouldn’t be explaining things the way Ignacio expected or hoped. Oh, no. She had far, far more interesting things in mind to explain to Elena. Hopefully, it would all just be more fuel for the fire that would keep her occupied for a while.

When she found Elena, it was exactly where she expected her to be found, sitting in her small suite of rooms with a box of Camilla’s jewelry nestled in her lap. Her head was down as she dug through the box, her long dark hair hiding most of her face from view. When Camilla walked in, the younger woman looked up and flashed her a bright smile. She seemed truly happy… and why not? Camilla had sent her up here with the hopeful idea of picking out some fancy jewelry for dinner tonight. Elena and Ignacio’s re-engagement dinner, she had lied.

“What do you think?” Elena asked, holding up a necklace in each hand. “I’m leaning more towards the sapphires, but the pearls are just so classically beautiful.”

“Now that is a difficult decision if I have ever had one!” Camilla said with all the friendliness in the world. “The pearls are lovely and go so well against your dark hair. But those sapphires bring out your eyes like nothing else.”

Camilla settled down beside Elena on the ornate little couch and smiled at the younger woman. Gently, she took the sapphire necklace from Elena’s hands and gestured for her to turn a bit. She did, putting the pearls back into the jewelry box as she shifted on the couch.

“Do you think Ignacio will like them?” The younger woman asked with such hope and desperation in her voice, Camilla was almost sorry for what she was up to. Almost.

“He would be a fool, otherwise! You are the definition of beauty, Elena.” Camilla said as she slipped the sapphires around Elena’s neck and fastened the clasp for her. “You don’t need to worry one bit about that other woman.”

Camilla could tell she had once again hit her mark. Her words were such weapons, and she loved it. Elena’s shoulders tensed a bit and immediately that spark of hope and joy was snuffed right out of her. She turned, glancing over her shoulder towards Camilla.

“Who is she, Camilla?” Elena asked in nearly a whisper. Pain in her voice. “Why on earth would he have brought another woman back home with him? Do you think…”

“No. Not at all,” Camilla answered quickly, brushing a bit of nothing off of her lap. “A fling, perhaps. But nothing more.”

“But why did he bring her here? He wouldn’t have brought her here if he…” Elena couldn’t get the rest of her words out, her eyes dropping to the floor as her hands clasped together in her lap.

“Oh, Hunny, it’s alright,” Camilla said, hiding her dark smile as she inched close and put an arm around the younger woman. “Chances are good she convinced him of it, somehow. After all, if you were her and you found out about this family…”

Camilla trailed off intentionally, hoping that Elena would take the bait without her having to say it outright. It seemed to work, because Elena brought her head up a bit and turned to look at Camilla. A certain look passed across the younger woman’s face as she worked out the thought that Camilla had planted for her.

“Do… do you think she just wants money from him?” Elena asked, her brow furrowing together a bit as if she was having trouble believing it.

“Well now, I don’t know such a thing for sure, Elena. But it’s a possibility,” Camilla said with a bit of a shrug. “The DeLeon family is a rather prominent family. These are things we need to be wary of with strangers like her.”

Elena only nodded softly along with what Camilla was saying. Part of her wasn’t totally convinced of it for some reason, Camilla could tell, but she took Camilla’s word as gold. Why wouldn’t she? A little over five years ago, shortly after Elena had first arrived at the estate and Ignacio had run off, Camilla had taken the young woman under her wing and helped her navigate the strange life she had just been thrown into. What with her new fiancé having run off, the reason for which she didn’t come to learn for some time, not to mention the whole dragon thing.

From the very beginning, Elena had seen Camilla as the perfect DeLeon wife and had stove to emulate her, every chance she got. Of course, Elena had no idea that she was actually being groomed into a handmaiden all of this time. But so long as the girl was happy, complacent and still eager to please… Camilla was fine to let her have her delusions.

“Regardless…” Camilla continued, her tone a bit sharper now as if giving warning. “Ignacio needs to be reminded of who, exactly, he is engaged to. Shall we make him remember?”

Elena brightened right up at that suggestion and nodded her head, a bright smile blossoming across her face. The girl was gorgeous, really. So much so that Camilla had immediately considered her a threat. That was, of course, until she spoke to the girl the first time. Elena was sweet, innocent and naive in ways Camilla thought only existed in fairy tales. The girl just seemed to automatically assume the best in people right off the bat.

Camilla gestured, and Elena popped right up off of the couch. Camilla stood with her, but made a point to do so with grace knowing that Elena would notice. She did, and she seemed a smidge humbled and embarrassed for hopping about like a child.

“Come along, then. We have a bit of work to do.” Camilla knew the words would cut, even as she said them with a smile. But Elena nodded, her smile a bit faded, and followed along as Camilla lead her out of the room and across the house to her and Rafael’s personal wing of the house. If she was going to craft Elena into a show-stealer for the night, Camilla wanted to pull from her own stock, and no one else’s. Besides, most of what Elena had in her closet was far too subdued for what Camilla had in mind.

By the time she was done, Ignacio wouldn’t know what had hit him… and Camilla was counting on that. She had decided that Ignacio was going to be her plaything, but before she took him for her own, she planned on throwing him to the wolves to soften him up. Basically, she would get the other two women squabbling over him and then, when he didn’t know where to turn, Camilla would be there with open arms… and an open bed.