I slumped back in the chair, bemused at his attitude with me. On one hand, I was infuriated with him for treating me like a child and shouting at me. On the other hand, I could finally understand his concern and anger and I rested in the fact that he was finally honest and up front with me. I pulled my knees to my chest and thought over his words, his claim of protection from day one. But then I remembered Avalon being ripped away from me, my grandfather dead at my feet and the feeling of betrayal when he left me standing alone at the farmhouse in February. We had different ideas of what it meant to protect somebody.

The door opened again, slowly this time, and Kiran walked back in the room, his magic spreading across the expanse between us carefully, tentatively. He held his head like a naughty puppy and his blonde hair fell in his eye endearingly.

“Why must you always argue with me?” he asked, amusement playing in his sparkling eyes.

“I don't know....” I admitted, soothed by the few minutes of peace his absence had given me. “If it makes you feel any better, I argue with everybody.”

“I suppose that is true.... And to think, I was going to take you away from here tomorrow night....” Kiran let his words drift off in pensive thoughtfulness, but by the way his lips turned up in the corners I knew he did it on purpose.

“Take me where?” I brightened. The possibility of not just leaving the castle but the Citadel entirely was extremely enticing.

“Well, I don't know now.... I mean, the scene in front of my father…. dragging Sebastian into your shenanigans.... arguing with me! I'm not sure you deserve it anymore.” Kiran tilted his head down to study his shoes intently, trying to hide the slight smile playing at his lips.

I stood up and walked over to him, determined to win this without arguing. I stopped a foot away from him and waited for him to lift his head and look me in the eyes before I spoke.

“I am truly sorry that I caused you such dismay,” I confessed, over-dramatically. I reached out for his hands, clasping them in mine and continued, “It will never happen again, as long as I live, I swear it!”

“We both know you're full of it,” Kiran laughed. He smirked at me then, his old smile reminding me of the first moments I started to fall in love with him. A small tingle of alarm pricked at the back of my neck, but then he artfully removed his hands from mine as if respectfully not wanting to be touched and I erased the feeling that he was still in love with me from my mind. “But all right, I will not cancel our plans, under one condition,” he demanded and I nodded my head furiously. “Tomorrow we are to have lunch with my parents and my aunt and uncle. If you can pull it off without causing any trouble or making a scene and while convincing everyone that you are mildly in love with me,” when I started to protest, he held up his finger to silence me, “just mildly, not madly. We'll save madly for the festival. If you can pull it all off, I will still take you away from here tomorrow night.”

“You're asking an awful lot,” I sighed glumly. I sunk down on the corner of the bed, but decided I could do it. I just had to get through lunch. And I could get through lunch. It wasn't really so much to ask. “Ok, I'll do it! You might not even be able to tell the difference between mildly and madly!” I promised, smiling my most charming smile at him.

“I think I'll be able to tell,” he mumbled. He turned around and put his hand on the doorknob.

“Wait, where are you taking me after I dazzle your relatives and make even you think I have actually fallen in love with you?” I quipped, hoping to get the truth out of him.

“Someplace you'd never expect,” he turned to grin at me, and I could already see the self-satisfaction lighting his eyes with confidence.

“Kiran,” I spoke up before he could get through the door and disappear for the night, “I won't disappoint you tomorrow. I mean, whether you take me any place or not, I do understand my responsibility.”

He stood staring at me for a pensive moment, deciding whether or not to trust me. He nodded his reply and then left the room, closing the door behind him and locking it. I lay back on his bed and considered the stone ceiling above my head. Lunch would not be easy tomorrow, especially when the last time I was face to face with Sebastian's parents, his mother not only begged me for the life of her son, but made it perfectly clear she preferred me dead.

However, her son was not dead. Maybe because of that she would overlook the months of captivity and misery I forced Sebastian into. Maybe she would remember that I gave Sebastian back his magic.

Or more likely, she wouldn't.

Chapter Nine

I clutched Kiran's arm, holding desperately to him as if he were the one thing that could keep me from Bianca's wrath. He walked slowly, deliberately by my side glancing down occasionally as if the afternoon sun picked up my beauty in a way he'd never noticed before. My fingers dug deeply into his muscular bicep and I smoothed my strapless, pale pink eyelet sun dress of its nonexistent wrinkles.

Lucan, Analisa, Bianca and Jean Cartier waited for us patiently at an elegant outdoor patio table set up for lunch in the middle of Analisa's garden. This particular area of the garden, tucked behind the castle and in the middle of a maze of dirt pathways and overgrown flowers, was more delicately manicured. The round rosewood table sat in the center of the hedged maze with several dirt paths opening into the clearing. The twenty-foot hedged bushes encircled the space, with wild, vibrant roses and delicate pastel hydrangea and chrysanthemums alternating in the thick greenery, providing welcoming splashes of color. The flowers, like the rest of the garden, were clustered and chaotic, spreading frantically throughout the garden with no direction or discipline, the symbol of utter freedom inside walls that choked on the very idea.

Despite the tall hedges, the wall of bushes did not block out the sun shining above and so the table was covered with a white satin umbrella providing just enough shade for the guests around the table. The table itself was decorated with an ivory lace tablecloth and an elaborate display of flowers picked from this same garden where we sat. Place settings of fine china and expensive silver made the table come alive like a living piece of art, and pretty pink, champagne cocktails helped the guests quench their thirst.

I leaned into Kiran, pressing my face against his arm. I tried to breathe steadily, but the memories of Bianca begging me to save her only son in the upstairs office of an underground French nightclub had haunted me for months now. Even though Sebastian was healthy and alive today, I still couldn't forget her determined pleading and ice-cold gaze with which, if she could have simply wished me dead, I would have been. Her long, golden hair had thrashed about her like ocean waves in the middle of a storm and her icy blue eyes, identical to Lucan's, bore through my soul.

Her inexpressive, nonverbal and aloof husband, Duke Jean Cartier, was no better. His cool, indifferent silence was disconcerting at first, but any feeling of dread or anxiety quickly turned to outright fear as soon as he opened his mouth and leveled his threats.

At the club, with the help of adrenaline, I never felt fear or panic. There was no need. At that time, the only thing I had to lose was Avalon and part of me had already grieved his loss while the other part fought like a madman to save him. Now, with innocent people locked away in a filthy, horrifying prison, only kept alive by Lucan's good grace and my ability not to screw up, I faced a lot more to fear. I prayed I would be able to bite my tongue, to resist from arguing and portray the kind of Oscar-winning performance I knew it would take to convince anyone near that Kiran and I were in love. Even mildly.

Kiran, noticing my staggered breathing and reluctant steps, took a detour into a small alcove just off the path. The whole table had been watching our approach and I wondered what they would think of his action. I dropped my arm from his the second we were hidden from view and put my hands on my hips firmly, letting out a slow, measured breath to steady my nerves.

“Oh, God,” I sighed. I looked up at Kiran, hoping to borrow some of his unshakable confidence.

“What is wrong with you?” he asked. He smiled gently at me, amused with my nerves.

“Ugh.... I don't know!” I groaned. “It's your aunt, she just.... I don't know what it is about her, but she unnerves me.” I wiped at my forehead with the back of my hand, removing the small droplets of perspiration that had been drawn out by the exhaustive heat of the late June afternoon.

“Eden, magic....” Kiran reminded me sweetly, rubbing his thumb across my temple, catching a bead of sweat. I relaxed a little, thankful for his reminder and sent the boiling magic through my blood working the electricity in my magical Immortal way that cooled my inner body temperature and forced my body to relax. The same gesture, in extreme cold, would heat my body just as quickly. “What is it about my Aunt Bianca that is so disturbing to you?”

Kiran worked undauntedly at pretending to be in love with me all morning. Ever since he knocked on his own bedroom door and offered the pink sundress as a gift, I could see the concerted effort he put forth to make being in “pretend” love with him easy. I knew he was as protective and worried for the prisoner's as I was and that made today feel more like a truce than anything else. We were working together today, with the same goal in mind. When I thought about it like that, and appreciated his sensitive discretion in the moment, I could breathe easier, relax a little more, turn my eyes at him with faux adoration and slip my hand into his as if it eternally belonged there.

“I don't know,” I admitted, thinking it over thoroughly. “I think it actually all has to do with Sebastian.... She begged me, Kiran, literally begged me, to give Sebastian back his magic and I looked her in the eyes and coldly told her I planned on killing him instead.” A shiver ran down my back at the memory of it and I involuntarily shuttered. Kiran put his hands soothingly on my forearms and pulled me forward until I was only inches from him. “Obviously, I didn't follow through with my threat, but still I promised a mother that I planned on killing her only son in cold blood. That's why she bothers me.”

“I don't think she so much bothers you as the memory of your intended actions do. In that moment, you remember yourself as a cold-blooded killer, even if you didn't follow through. And not only that, you were cruel to her. I'm not saying you didn't have a right, because you obviously had just been through hell, but generally threats and murderous intentions are not in your nature.” He smiled down at me, lifting my chin with his finger.

“This is quite the performance!” Sebastian popped his head into our alcove utterly amused with our private pep talk. “Too bad, none of them can see you, so it's all utterly pointless!” Sebastian jerked his thumb toward the still waiting group of adults and gave us a disapproving glare.

“Are you sure murderous intentions are not in my nature?” I turned back to Kiran. I couldn't hold back any longer and broke out into a smile.

He gave a barking laugh and then pulled me into his arms, surprising me with a familiar kiss on the top of the head. I stood there stunned in the moment, my face pressed against his chest and his arms around my shoulder. Abruptly, he pushed me away as if he had just come back to himself and stared awkwardly at my white, strappy stilettos that were sinking into the dirt ground.