"About what?"

"Well, they wanted to come back to find evidence against the council. Have they? If they have, no one has told me."

He poured the runny, honey-looking liquid into a short gla.s.s. "To be honest, I think they're just waiting for the application to pa.s.s."

I pouted. "Do you think the council is up to something?"

Hunter sipped at his drink. "Yes. We all saw Tay... he was real. It might not be the entire council, but Cesare is definitely up to something."

"What can we do about it?" I asked. "If they're not going to help us out of this mess, then we should do it ourselves."

"And what do you propose we do?"

"Snoop around Cesare's room tonight, after our engagement party."

His eyebrows arched, surprised by my suggestion. "That's a bold risk, even for you."

"I can't sit around and do nothing. If they're not going to help me, then I'll help myself." I pushed my chair back. "I can't pretend that I didn't see Tay, the dead guardian. If the council is using a necromancer to bring back the dead, then they need to be stopped."

Was I the only one not willing to let that go?

"If it'll make you feel better, I'll keep everyone busy at the party tonight and you can snoop around Cesare's office. You know where it is, right?"

I nodded. His room was on the top floor in the building behind the courthouse. I smiled. "You'd do that for me?"

"I find it extremely creepy that the only way I can make you smile is by telling you to break the rules."

I leaned forward on my elbow. "It's not breaking the rules if no one finds out about it."

"I'm pretty sure it still counts."

"If you say so-and hey, don't tell Eli or anyone about what we're going to do tonight. They won't be too happy about me risking everything."

Hunter placed his almost empty cup back on the bench and sauntered toward the bedroom. "I'd be the last person you'd have to worry about when it comes to telling De Luca anything." He glanced over his shoulder at me. "Anything," he emphasized, winking, and I rolled my eyes.

"Always inappropriate," I muttered.

"Don't be so stuck up." He chuckled. "You found that funny, I felt it."

He shut the door and I relaxed into my chair. I looked at the funny knife and fork clock above the kitchen sink and when I saw the time, my blood began to rush around my body. Two hours until our engagement. Two hours until I'm forced to gush over Hunter in front of Eli. People will expect love and kisses and dancing... I wanted to be confident in the fact that I could do it, but I wasn't so sure. Do it for Mila. Do it for your future. If I wanted a real future with Eli, I was going to have to invest in a fake future with Hunter first.

Chapter Fourteen.

As I stepped into the courthouse, I was blown away by the sheer extravagance of it all. It was perfect. It was everything I would have wished for if I planned my own engagement party. I took comfort in knowing that the two psycho planners actually listened to my likes and dislikes, and apart from the large swan ice sculptures on the tables, they did pretty well. I felt like a million dollars in my ombre plum dress. It had a low back that was sheer until the hips, leaving the rest to be embellished by beautiful plum colored stones. It was fitted, hugging me tightly everywhere except the feet, where it flowed off into a small train. Originally, I wanted to wear blue or red, but was told that I didn't have the figure for red or blue. Whatever the h.e.l.l that meant.

"You ready to put on the show of a lifetime?" Hunter mumbled, his hand dropping low to my hip.

I exhaled, gripping my clutch tighter and fidgeting with my guardian whistle that hung around my neck. "Let's have them eating out of the palm of our hands."

As the surprisingly large crowd turned to face us, Hunter pulled me in, pressing his firm lips to mine. My stomach fluttered and I felt him smile as my lids instinctively shut. He was going to enjoy this. Despite his insisting mouth, I pulled away, playing it off as shyness. The crowd loved it and I kept my stare at my feet, not wanting to lift it and see Eli's face. People I'd never met before stepped forward to congratulate us, forcing my attention from the floor. It didn't feel right accepting their congratulations, especially since we didn't know them. At my wedding, I expected to be surrounded by people I know and love... not strangers. When I looked past my never ending line of congratulators, I saw the bar, and by the bar, I saw Eli staring into a gla.s.s of wine. I excused myself and pushed through the people, making my way closer to the bar. As I walked, I thought of ways to apologize for the entrance and came up with none that I knew he'd accept. He'd take all of this on his shoulders, blaming himself for it. It was his only downfall.

"Hey," I said as I approached him.

I stood still as he lifted his gaze from his gla.s.s to me. I didn't budge as his gorgeous, green eyes drank me in inch by inch.

"You look stunning," he replied, smiling a little sadly. "Not that that is new information from me."

I chuckled. He was right. Eli told me that I was beautiful in one way or another every day. "Thank you."

I admired his charcoal suit-all of it was black-even the under shirt and tie. The whole 'dark and mysterious' get up really suited him.

I waved my hand at the bartender and pointed to Eli's drink. Within a couple of seconds, I had what he was having.

"Don't look at me like that," I laughed, grasping the stem and pulling it closer. Eli's infamous warning stare was fixated on me. "If I'm going to fake my way through tonight with you in the room, I'm going to need at least a dozen of these."

He groaned, looking away and taking a sip of his drink. "Me too."

I raked my teeth over my bottom lip a few times before blurting out: "I feel like I don't see you anymore."

"We saw each other at breakfast," he countered, avoiding my eyes.

Obviously. We all eat breakfast together every morning, but that wasn't what I was getting at. "You know what I mean, Eli."

The bartender stepped closer as Eli was about to open his mouth. Instead of talking, he drank his wine until the bartender returned to a safe distance.

"We can't be seen together, Ruby. In order for this to work-"

"What to work?" I snapped under my breath. "What exactly have you guys been doing the past few weeks? Have you got any new information? What about Tay?"

I jumped as Eli shot forward out his seat, bringing his lips closer to my ear. "Now is not the time."

Before he could walk off, I gripped his forearm, keeping him in place. "Now is the perfect time. I need to be kept in the loop or I'm going to go crazy. Please," I pleaded with him. "Please tell me you have something, anything, so I don't have to go through with this."

His features softened as he looked down at me. He allowed one of his fingers to stroke my thigh and someone could have looked over and seen his finger stroking me, but I didn't care. I needed it. I needed him. Eli pursed his lips before shrugging out of my grasp.

"I'm sorry,"

He stormed away, disappearing into the sea of strangers, leaving me feeling more alone than I had ever felt in my life. I grabbed my gla.s.s and began to slam back the wine until Hunter showed up and took my near empty gla.s.s away from me. A few drops rolled down my chin and onto my dress, thankfully the drops blended in to the plum.

"You shouldn't be drinking those if you're going to be invading someone's privacy later."

Right. I was going to break into Cesare's office.

"I wasn't going to get drunk," I told him, neglecting to mention the fact that I'd thought about it. "I was just taking the edge off."

"Stay away from De Luca, stick with me and you'll be fine."

"Doesn't this exhaust you?" I asked, flicking my hair over one of my shoulders. My head spun and I suddenly wished I'd eaten something before showing up. "All of this faking?"

His lips twitched. "I have a reply to that, but not one that'll make you feel any better."

"Tell me."

"I'm not pretending, Ruby. For the moment, this is real for me."

I frowned and glanced down at my hands, but his fingers caught my chin and he tilted my face back up.

"Don't ruin this. Have fun." He smiled. "We're getting married and I'm one h.e.l.l of a catch, so smile."

I felt so sorry for him. Here I was, moping about complaining about him and this whole situation when he was happy pretending it was real. I needed to be grateful. I wasn't the one who drew the short straw. Once this was over, I had nothing to lose.

"You must think so little of me... stringing you along like this."

Hunter extended his elbow to me. "It sucks, but I think any time spent with you is worth it."

I groaned, taking his elbow and slipping from the stool. "Stop being nice to me. You're making me feel even worse."

He escorted me in the direction of Mr. Aleksandrov. Out from behind him stepped Mila, who was positively glowing. Her sky blue chiffon gown swayed around her with every movement, but despite her angelic look, there was unease in her features.

"Mila," I gasped as we drew closer. "You look-"

"Pregnant? Oh G.o.d, I knew it-"

"Relax," Mr. Aleksandrov snapped under his breath. "You can't see a d.a.m.n thing in that dress."

A surge of calm energy rolled over me and Mr. Aleksandrov took a deep breath.

"I was going to say amazing,." I told Mila, biting a smile. Her pregnancy made her so testy.

"Oh." She relaxed. "Thank you."

"You two are doing well," Lyric commended us with a tilt of his wine gla.s.s. "But Ruby, would it kill you to smile a little more?"

Smile more? The nerve of him to ask such a thing from someone in my position. I took my arm back from Hunter and stepped closer to Lyric. I smiled politely as I took his gla.s.s of wine out of his hand and brought the cool gla.s.s to my own lips, finishing off its contents. As I swallowed the last drop, Hunter wrapped an arm around my waist, and pulled the gla.s.s from my lips. "Easy, drunky pants. You don't need wine."

I let him pull me back a few steps. "Thanks." I smiled sweetly at Lyric, who seemed less than amused.

"Make sure she doesn't have anymore," Lyric ordered Hunter, before turning and heading back to the bar.

"Go mingle. Be in love. I want people to see excitement and happiness, nothing less."

To be honest, after our initial arrival, people seemed to forget who we were, which I expected. Even Cesare and the rest of the council who chatted in the back corner, drinking alcohol, seemed to forget where they were and what we were doing here. I preferred it that way. As everyone began to slip into wine-induced craziness, Hunter and I slipped out of a side door. Outside, the air was surprisingly warm, and I slumped against the courthouse's brick wall.

"I don't think I'm going to make it through the night." I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair. "I'm suffocating in there."

Hunter stood in front of me, watching me, before reaching into his suit jacket and pulling out a small, silver flask. "You can have one sip. I want you to be alert when you go into Cesare's room."

Truth be told, my head was already spinning-not too much-but enough to make me hesitate before taking the flask from him. One sip quickly turned into two sips. Three sips. Four. Our positions progressed from standing to sitting lazily against the wall.

"Seriously, I was scared." He laughed, taking the final mouthful of whiskey.

"But you were a vampire, she was just a little old lady." I chuckled, resting my head against my arms.

Hunter was telling me the story of when he ran into an old lady in a parking lot and he scared her by accident. She proceeded to yell at him and hit him with her bag.

"She was insane and her bag was heavy. I feared for my life."

More chuckles shook my chest before fading away. "I should probably get up and invade some privacy, right?"

"Yeah, the night isn't getting any younger and the longer we leave it, the higher the risk of getting caught."

I pushed off of the ground, resting my back against the wall and using that to support my weight. Before the whiskey, I would have cared if my dress tore, but now, being my half-drunk self, I couldn't have cared less.

When I straightened myself, I took a step and stumbled forward. Hunter s.n.a.t.c.hed my arm quite roughly and I winced at the pressure. He pulled me into him, until his body was flush against mine. My heart raced at the thought of falling and when I looked at Hunter and he was staring at my lips, I knew his heart was racing too, but for an entirely different reason.

"Don't kiss me," I muttered, feeing his breath blow across my cheek.

"I won't kiss you... I want to, but I won't."

He held me in his arms for a few more minutes and I didn't do anything to free myself. If he wanted to hold me, he could, there was nothing wrong with that.

"You'll be careful?" he asked, loosening his grip.

"I will."

He let me go and I managed to take a step back, this time, without stumbling.

"You have fifteen minutes from now, and whatever you do, don't get caught."

With a swift nod, I paced away from him and towards the building behind the courthouse. My nerves began to erupt, filling every inch of my body with electrified currents. I was anxious, but at the same time, I was exhilarated. The hair on the back of my neck p.r.i.c.kled, standing higher and higher with every step I took. This was going to work, or this was going to fail. I'd prefer it to work, but the reality of it failing was just as high. As I stepped into the courtyard of Cesare's building, I expected to run into a line of elites, or any kind of security, really, but I got nothing. There was no one there to stop me from waltzing right through the door. So that's exactly what I did.

There were a lot of rooms in here, a lot of rooms, and I had no idea what they were for. Elite bedrooms, perhaps? I marched up flights of stairs, not wanting to stick around to find out. I moved quickly, until my calves burned and my chest heaved. Remind me to catch the elevator on the way down, I thought to myself. I would have caught it up, but I figured the wait time for the doors to close would slow me down... obviously I was an idiot.

I sighed in relief when I reached the top and practically threw myself through the door and into the hallway. At the end was a single door. Room 345 Head Councilmen, Cesare Ramone. I stepped toward it, but a single ding from the elevator signalling someone stopping on this floor, froze me in my spot. Uh oh. I stood as still as stone, waiting for the doors to open and when they did, I had no idea what to expect. Okay, so that was a lie. I expected someone like Cesare or someone of equal authority to punish me for trespa.s.sing, what I did not expect was a pair of bright green eyes glaring at me from inside the lift. Eli marched from the steel case, his entire body tense and mad.

"Are you out of your mind?" he snapped, raking his fingers through his hair. "What are you doing up here?"

"I'm looking for clues," I countered, folding my arms. "What are you doing up here?"

"I followed you. I had no problems watching Hunter feed you alcohol and trying to charm you, but when he sent you off toward Cesare's building, I had to step in."

"He didn't send me anywhere. This is my idea,"