E & Sophia

    E

    “Alexander. E.” Sophia stopped a respectful distance away and bowed her head. “I know this is awkward, but I wanted to exin why I’m here.”

    Alexander’s arm stayed firmly around my waist. The tension in his body took mepletely by surprise; I knew he’d had a falling out with her and her family after what had happened, but he looked positively thunderous.

    “I told you he cares more than you think,” my wolf hummed, which I quickly silenced with a very crude mental gesture.

    “My distant cousin is running in the election,” Sophia said quickly “I’m here to see him.” She looked directly at me, and the remorse in her eyes surprised me even more than Alexander’s fury “I’m not here to cause trouble. I promise.”

    I studied her face, searching for any sign of deception. She certainly looked sincere enough, but that meant nothing when it came to Sophia.

    “E,” Sophia continued, “I owe you an apology. bFor /beverything. Whatever my parents did to you, I know you didn’t deserve it.”

    Right. ce the me on her parents.

    Sophia might be standing here ying the innocent little girl who had nothing to do with her parents‘ crimes, but I knew better. She and her family had intentionally orchestrated my kidnapping. They’d tried to kill me. And now she wanted me to believe she was sorry?

    Bullshit.

    But I wasn’t about to let her see that I knew the truth. Not here, not tonight, with all these people watching and cameras

    recording our every move.

    “Thank you,” I simply said. I wouldn’t ept the apology.

    Sophia’s shoulders sagged, although I wasn’t sure if it was relief or disappointment. Her gaze slid over to Alexander’s, but his eyes remained hard as two emeralds.

    He said nothing.

    It was clearly a silent dismissal, and to her credit, Sophia took the int. She nodded to both of us and melted back into the crowd, leaving us alone again.

    Alexander’s voice slid through the bond. “She and her family have been punished, I assure you.”

    “I knowi./ii” /iI looked away, trying to hide the disappointment I felt that the punishment hadn’t been more severe than it apparently was. “I trust your judgment.”

    He tilted his head. “Do you?”

    Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, I wasn’t going to let Sophia or anyone else spoil this evening. This was my first night out as an expecting mother, my first chance to y the role of Luna at a major political event. I was going to bask in every damn minute of it.

    The rest of the night passed without incident. Alexander introduce me to candidate atter candidate, their wives and advisors and campaign managers. Everyone wanted to congratte us one pregnancy, toment on our “beautiful love story,” to ask when the baby was due.

    I yed my part perfectly, smiling and chatting and letting people touch my t tummy. I told the romantic stories I’d crafted earlier about Alexander’s devotion and I smiled up at him adoring

    But as the hours wore on, the exhaustion of it all started catching to me. ying the part of a doting wife was starting to drag

    me down, and constantly seeing Sophia in the background everywhere I looked wasn’t helping any, either.

    Finally, while Alexander rubbed elbows with a group of Alphas from the northern territory coalition, I slipped away for a moment to myself and found a quiet table to sit at. He didn’t seem to notice my absence.

    As I sat down, it seemed thebination of pregnancy hormones and thete hour was hitting me harder than I expected. 1 tried to fight it, but thefortable chair and the dim lighting in this corner of the room were working against me

    Before I knew it, I was nodding off.

    7 drifted in that pleasant space between sleep and waking, dimly aware of the sounds of the party continuing around me. Voices andughter, the clink of sses, the soft music from the string quartet in the corner.