Chapter 102 - Brown Eyes In The Crowd

The silence that followed was defeaning and the voice that broke it was one that made Ivy still to the chair.

"You killed the Fur House leader, Master."

Was that... Chris?

Her Christopher?!

Oh no.

By the heavens, earth and everything that remained in between, that was her Christopher.

Ivy's hand went around the armrest of the chair she was seated on and held it in a tight grip, her heart was beating wildly in her chest, her eyes threatening to cloud over with tears. She didn't want to see him now, she was afraid that he wouldn't understand. What if he mistook her for an enemy that the King had planted into his House? A spy that had been in on the plan all along. A misunderstanding between them was something that she couldn't take.

It would be the death of her.

The words had now become a distant echo to her,  as she got further lost in h thoughts of how much she missed him and how she planned to resolve the situation between her and Chris as soon as possible before it would cause any further problems between them, when a cold voice that sliced through the tension in the room, snapped her right back to the present. 

"I don't have any need to report to you but I warn you, all of you, that whosoever crosses my House or my wife again, will cease to exist. I will personally make sure of that."

There were mumblings from beneath. She wondered what the problem could be? Was it the threat? Or the mention of a wife in it?

Maybe most of them didn't know who he claimed to be his wife, that was possible. After all, the crowd in this room right now seemed to be more than the one on her supposed wedding day. Besides even the groom didn't know his wife until some days ago.

The detachment towards her supposed marriage was so great that even in her thoughts, it felt so wrong to directly refer to herself as his wife.

She hoped that soon enough, this stupid charade would be over.

"Darling," the Master turned to her, the word rolling off his tongue smoothly like butter while it burnt her ears. She preferred it when he called her ma'am, the line the formality drew was something she lived for, and something told her that he preferred it that way too, but where they were right now, it was better to play along for her own protection. It was equally strange how easily he was making it look like they had a united front.

She wondered if this wasn't his first time at doing something like this.

"Shall we honour them with an introduction?"

What?!

As Ivy rose to her feet and pulled the jacket that hung on her shoulders, closer to her body, the Master's cologne found its way to her nostrils and her steps stilled for a moment as a realization hit her. It all seemed like a well thought out plan, her putting his jacket on, while being introduced to the people.

Acting wasn't a big deal to Ivy but Chris was down there and he would look at her, he would see her. Would he be stunned?  Would he be mad at her? Or would he be--

The feeling leather interlocking with her fingers brought her sharply out of her train of thoughts.

"Ivy, everyone." He gestured with his left hand, his right hand being occupied at the moment."Everyone, my wife."

Ivy blinked, taking in a sharp breath before she forced a smile.

That was it?

Phew! She was glad that was over. Maybe she would even be lucky enough for Chris not to have---

At that moment, her eyes met the brown ones that she had been thinking about and it would be an understatement to say her heart dropped.

It felt like it had been yanked away from its position and pulled straight to the bottom of the earth.

He stared at her with shock in his eyes. Christopher was always one to control his emotions right from the time she had met him, but tonight he looked shaken to the core, as he saw her by the side of their King. Being introduced as his wife too?!

There were question in those eyes, questions that scared Ivy with their existence.

She wanted to talk to him, she had so much to say to him. She missed him, hated that they were meeting like this after the time they had been apart, across a distance in a world he had been doing his best to protect her from.

"Ah, yes, Sire of the Fang House." The voice whispered next to her ears, his breath brushing lightly against the left side of her cheek. "Christopher, my brother."

Ivy's eyes were the next to fill with shock as the words of Chris talking about his evil brother crossed her mind, the memory of how his arrival had cut their time at small Paradise short, how he was declared to be an horror one should at all cost and how her hand was interlocked with the said "danger" at this very moment.

She gulped, looking at the Master and the calm grin on his lips.

He didn't say a word. He didn't have to. He knew what he was doing all along.

How dare he?! Use her as a pawn!

When she looked back to where Chris had been standing earlier, all she could see was a line of people heading towards the door, and Jett looking back at her with an extreme guided expression.

Jett was here too?!

Of course Jett was here.

Did that mean they all saw her? Even Elsa and Koel? What must they think of her?

Especially her Elsa.

"Will you like to meet the House Leader one by one."

Ivy shook her head.

"I need a drink."

"What kind. There is nothing you want that I won't give to you. You just tell me, and it's yours."

Ivy glared at him, killing him a thousand times in her mind.

Manipulative bastard!