I stared at her. "The heir's wife wants me to what? Transfer my dowry into Augusta's name?"
The audacity of this woman.
Augusta trailed behind Lenora, her voice small and trembling. "Sister, I may only be an adopted daughter, but I'm still a daughter of the Falcone family. I'm about to become the Valente heir's wife. I simply don't want to bring shame upon our family's name."
Aldric tenderly wiped her tears, then turned to me with a mocking look. "I'll have my consigliere deliver my personal orders to the Falcone compound. They are to treat the future bride of the Valente heir with the respect she deserves and prepare a proper tribute for her."
By the time Augusta returned to the Falcone compound, Aldric's consigliere had already arrived and delivered the message.
The moment Augusta stepped through the door, she dropped to her knees before my mother, the picture of pitiful innocence. "Mother, the heir took pity on me for my humble birth and suggested the family prepare a proper alliance tribute. He said Camilla could lend me her dowry first, so I'd have something respectable when I enter the Valente compound."
"Camilla will only be a contractual mistress. No one will care how large her dowry is. Once we're both in the heir's household, what's mine and what's hers will be one and the same."
"After all, I may be adopted, but I'm still Father's daughter. Surely he wouldn't want the other families mocking the Falcone name for treating his daughters unequally?"
Her eyes glittered with calculation. My mother regarded her with quiet disappointment, then finally spoke. "Enough. Go and rest. Focus on your wedding preparations."
Augusta rose, a satisfied smile playing on her lips as she swept out of the room.
My mother took my hand. "Camilla, do you truly intend to become the heir's contractual mistress?"
I shook my head. "Don't worry, Mother. I will never marry Aldric Valente. I wouldn't even want to be his principal wife, let alone his mistress."
"I've already refused Lenora's offer, but I doubt she'll give up so easily."
My father's expression turned grave. He clasped his hands behind his back and stood at the window, looking out over the compound's courtyard where two of his soldiers stood smoking by the gate. "The Falcone family cannot be dragged into the Valente succession struggle. The only way to extricate ourselves is to marry you to someone else before the Commission can issue an edict."
"If Augusta wants to marry into the Valente household, let her. When the time comes, our family will have its own answer."
On the day of the union ceremony, black cars lined the street outside the Falcone compound and the front of the estate had been dressed in white flowers and silver ribbon. When Aldric arrived and spotted me standing off to the side, he smiled. "Camilla, three days from now, I'll petition Don Hadrian for an edict naming you my secondary wife. Behave yourself, and I'll give you a ceremony too."
Then his gaze drifted toward Augusta's wing, where forty-eight cases of alliance tribute stood in neat rows. His expression darkened. "Is the Falcone family trying to humiliate me?"
"My bride, and she brings only forty-eight cases? This is an insult."
My father stepped forward. The courtyard went quiet. Even the catering staff stopped moving. When a Don speaks at a gathering witnessed by all Five Families, the words carry the weight of a Commission declaration.
"Forgive the offense, Your Highness, but Augusta is not my biological daughter. Forty-eight cases for a girl I raised out of kindness is more than generous."
