EMBER's POV

Jean didn't say anything for a long time, and I didn't push him, when he did finally speak up, he sounded a bit awkward,


"You still want William to help you with the divorce?" he asked and I think I understood what the problem was. Paris was a different kind of problem than William was to Jean. Paris, I kept a distance from William, I did not.

But he really did not have anything to be worried about. William and I were just friends. Good friends.

But then again, there had been a possible relationship in there before Jean appeared.


"Yeah, I suppose so. He is a really good lawyer and a really good friend. I don't think I can think of anyone else who would be a better fit for any of this at the moment." I said honestly,

"I guess I understand." he said after a little bit of silence, "I'll speak to Paris, and let you know what he says," he told me,


"Alright then ."

"Is there anything else?" he asked patiently,

"Nothing pressing. Do you have work ?"

"Vincent's dumped a whole load of work on my table." Jean said, sounding frustrated and I fought the urge to laugh, "no matter how often I ask him not to. He always seems to dump all of the work on my table." he said, and this time sounded so pained that I couldn't hold the laughter that escaped my lips,

"you're laughing at my situation."

"no no. I mean... Well, yeah. But not at you though." I said quietly and he sighed,

"I've got it though. I'll just stop whenever I've had enough."

"you do that, champ," I said and heaved out a breath, making me laugh again.

KATE'S POV

She met me in my room the morning after her banquet. I had hoped to meet with her in my own time, on my own terms. But well, Christina beat me to it, I suppose.

"Did you party that hard? " Christina asked after she had managed to wake me up. I looked at her through one opened my eyes and genuinely wanted to groan.

Instead, I shut my eyes, and sighed,

"Hello, Christina," I said with a groggy morning voice,

"you haven't said a word to me since I got out of my prison. Such behavior has left me wondering if perhaps you actually enjoyed the fact that I was inside of that prison," she said, and I turned from my side to lay on my back, and opened up my eyes to find her looking at me with a lot of questions in her eyes,

"I'm sorry I've made you feel that way, it's not quite like that. I've just been so overwhelmed with getting Paris to let me stay here. It's been one thing after another, to be honest. That alone has left me feeling very low lows. I attended your party last night, but Ember was there, and after seeing her, I wasn't feeling like myself. " it was the truth, all of that was the truth, even though it wasn't the entire truth.

"Hmm." she sat on one of the soft cushions, keeping her eyes on me, before nodding slowly, "I'm sorry you haven't been feeling too well. I've been too caught up with my new freedom to have realized. About Ember… it was actually my mother who had invited her. I didn't see her reasoning, she said it was to spite her though. I did my best to avoid the sight of the tramp. No point soiling my high spirits."

"I saw her." I said sneering, "She didn't look like someone who was facing spite. I can bet anything that she came over to charm Paris back to her. I gave her a piece of my mind. Although I doubt she's gotten the bigger picture."

"she never really does." Christina said and thought for a moment, "I'd help you get through to that, but I can't focus on Ember right now, it's too soon, and Paris would be on my neck about it. Speaking of Paris..” she said and thought for a moment, "did you ever find my brooch?" she asked and I froze before I slowly shook my head,

"I can't say I checked every nook and cranny, but I did check the jewelry box on your vanity table. There wasn't anything there."

"Really?" she asked thoughtfully, "Paris isn't going to leave me alone now. Do you have yours?"

"I do. A surprise I still have it, since it's been so long since I used it." lying, I was absolutely lying, but I was thankful that she believed every word.

"I'm going to have to ask my mother to get another one. The thing is, I don't think they make those same kinds of brooches anymore," she said and actually sounded worried, and I felt a bit of guilt.

"can't one be custom-made just for you?" I asked, sitting up, and she shrugged, "I could check with Mother. But I'm not sure. " she rose, and pointed at me, "Be sure to keep yours safe. Paris is losing his mind over this one. I can obviously bypass him, but I doubt anyone else can. So be careful."

I nodded, knowing I was a very terrible person. The very worst of the worst. But I had done what I had done. And I couldn't undo it even if I wanted to, because as she said, I needed to be careful.

I went about the day, avoiding the forest, but found that my eyes kept wandering toward it, because of how often I thought about my uncle.

He had threatened me with the one thing that left me feeling vulnerable, and this time around, I simply could not ignore him. I had managed to beat down the amount he requested of me to 15 million dollars. But it was still a bit too much and out of my reach, and I was lost on how I was supposed to gather such a huge amount of funds.

I was capable of many mischievous things, but I was not very good at stealing money of such a quantity. Hell, I didn't even know where to look. But my uncle was giving me two weeks.

And if I didn't deliver I was in much more trouble than I could even begin to speak of,

"Damned son of a gun," I said, still looking out into the forest, and jumped when I heard Paris's voice from behind me,

"Who?" he asked and I jumped, pressing my hand over my heart before slowly turning to look at him,

"Are you sneaking up on me now?" I asked, trying to make light of the situation, but there was something in his eyes that didn't budge,

"you've been standing in that position for so long, looking out into the forest. Is there something there?" he asked

"in the forest?" I asked, turning, then looking back at him and I shook my head, "Not exactly. I just got lost in my thoughts. That's why I was looking in that direction. In fact, I was too lost in my head to realize what I had been looking for there. Did I worry you?"

"why would you worry? I just wondered what caught your attention and I watched for a while, as you did. Then you cursed someone, and I became more interested. Who is a damned son of a gun?" he asked calmly and his calm behavior set me on guard, but I shrugged like it was nothing.

"my cousin. Peter."

"Peter?" he questioned and I nodded,

"I was thinking about him as well. He is the reason I almost lost you, and I'm still not over that." I said and he nodded slowly,

"I see. Because for some reason, I was under the impression that there was someone there you usually meet up with, and was thinking of that someone." he said and I froze. "but since you've just been thinking. I have work to tend to." he said and turned away, and I was left watching him as he did, suddenly feeling like I had been dropped in turbulence.

Was it me, or was Paris on to me?