I slide the engagement ring on my finger and slip my phone into my clutch. Emmanuelle holds out a mask, which I allow him to tie around the back of my hair. When I face him again, he gives me a cursory glance, but there’s no heat. None of the fire Michail usually pins me with.
As usual, he’s immaculate. His hair is styled in a soft wave, his five o’clock shadow trimmed and rugged. Even the midnight blue of his velvet tuxedo brings out the gold flecks in his eyes.
“Ready?” There’s a little grin on his lips as if he knows I was checking him out.
“Yes. Let’s get this over with.”
He leads me to his car, and I clip my seatbelt while he climbs into the backseat beside me. As we wind through traffic, I shift to face him, the scratchy material of my dress screeching over the leather underneath us. “I would like to go over the plan one more time.”
He shrugs as if he doesn’t care one way or the other, his attention out the window and not on me. Taking him at his word and hoping he’s paying attention, I try to make sense of the thing in my brain. “We’ll go inside and get the lay of things. The council doesn’t usually meet until at least mid-way through any event. They hear petitions, etcetera, before the ending remarks.”
Emmanuelle flicks his eyes to my face. “I’m well aware of the protocol, holding a seat myself.”
I rush on. “I figure that will be the perfect time to strike. We’ll see who is sitting in my seat, and then I can take it from there. No one in that room is completely invulnerable, and I know everyone’s weakness.”
“Everyone’s?”
At first, I think he’s mocking me, but his face is deadly serious.
“Everyone on the council,” I elaborate.
He only narrows his eyes, studying me. “And do they know your weakness? Oh, wait, they wouldn’t since you’ve only just developed it recently.” There is a hint of mockery now, and more than a little edge.
“Excuse me?” Since the day we met, outside of our negotiations, he’s been nothing but kind, steadfast even. What’s changed now?
I scan his features. There’s no way he could have fallen in love with me, and I know damn well he never expected me to follow through with this marriage. He would have been happy to take me to his bed, but neither of us were planning to walk down that aisle.
When he doesn’t respond, I press. I need this to go off without a hitch. Otherwise, people will die, and I can’t have more dead bodies on my conscience. “Are you all right?”
He leans forward and braces his elbows on his knees to cradle his face. “My apologies. I’m just having a rough day. I almost canceled on you tonight, but I know what this means for you, and I didn’t want to let you down the one time you actually asked for my help.”
“What is this whole thing really about? Shoring up connections, fine, I get that, but why me? Especially when I’ve lost my seat?”
He rubs his hands over his head and somehow it doesn’t mess up his perfectly-styled hair one bit. “You’re going to think I’m a fucking lunatic.”
Now I’m just intrigued. I can’t help the smile spreading across my lips. “Now you have to tell me. What is it? A bet? Blackmail?”
“A woman.”
That’s not the answer I expect, considering I’m wearing his engagement ring. But things slide into place when I consider it. No wonder he agreed to my demands so easily. It was a sham on his part too. “Who? Anyone I know?”
It hits me from the tortured look on his face. “Andrea? Are you talking about Andrea? She seemed into you the other night. But I doubt taking her to propose to someone else is going to endear her to you.”
He settles into the seat again, turning his eyes out the window to the passing buildings. “I got caught in something stupid a while back. It’s made it impossible for me to…for us to…”
Now I’m really confused, but he goes silent, not elaborating any further. I lean into the seat, my dress scratching me and the leather further. How did he think proposing to me would win him her attention? Unless there’s something at play I haven’t realized yet.
There’s no time to question him further. We pull up outside the event space, and Emmanuelle helps me out of the car. A cadre of his oversized bodyguards follow us inside.
As usual, everything is stunning. Our society goes all out for charity events, and this year is no exception. The place is packed, and I spot more than a few faces I recognize. It’s kind of fun being here in disguise. If only my stomach didn’t take up residence in my throat since the moment we crossed the threshold.