Chapter 73: Faking Love

I watched his back as he was leaving, and pondered what he just said.

'I was just passing by.'

That was a lie.

Tallis was hiding something, I knew he was. There was a familiarity about him that I just couldn't shake. It was this air of calm and cold that he carried. I had felt it once before and only with one other person.

But could it be?

I had asked him numerous times and each time he refuted my claims. He was not the somber prince I knew.

So why did they both carry the same aura?

I shook my head thinking I had lost my damn mind. First the fake Ciana and now this. My problems and questions kept piling up with each passing day.

It didn't matter now though. I had more important matters to attend to.

My mind was turning fast. Fake Ciana had professed her undying love to Warren. This was what I had been hoping for. Phase one of the plan was complete and now it was time to move onto phase two.

Whoever Tallis was, he could wait.

I turned on my heel ready to walk back to where fake Ciana and Warren had been, but I slammed into a warm wall.

I stumbled a few steps back before a pair of strong arms came out and caught me.

"You okay there, Ciana?"

Warren helped me to steady myself.

"Yeah," I looked up at him. "Where is the other Ciana? What happened? I had to leave because..."

My voice trailed off as the words got stuck in my throat. I didn' t want to worry Warren. He had a tendency to somehow shift blame of every bad thing that happens onto himself, especially when it regarded me.

I often thought that he had too much honor at times. I wished he would be a little less chivalrous.

"Because?" He pressed.

"It's nothing. Now tell me what's going on with her?"

Warren stepped closer, crossing into that imaginary bubble l had around me.

"What happened, Ciana?" His eyes held mine.

"I told you nothing."

"It doesn't sound like nothing. Your heart's racing, you have that little nervous nose twitch you do when you're hiding something. So spill it."

I stood still for a moment in complete shock. "How do you know about the twitch?"

He rolled his eyes. "I notice everything about you, Black. Now spill it."

I let out a sigh and bit down on my lip. "Hawke came by."

saw his body visibly tense. By now, he probably has heard about Hawke a few times, both from me catching him up on the important players in the pack, and from the girl he just spent a good amount of time

voice was tight and tense.

have tried to harass me, a little bit," I blurted out. "But he was drunk and he had two broken arms so he wasn't really that much of a threat."

eyes darkened. "I need to

but compare Warren and Theo in my mind. In a situation like this, if it was Theo,

out and grabbed his arm. "No need to. And besides, Tallis took

"Tallis?"

"But we aren't talking about Hawke. We are talking about you and fake me.

heart immediately dropped and I felt all the hope drain from my body.

elope with

and I bounced on the balls of my feet. "This is great news! You are the best! But... I could tell you're upset. Sorry again for putting you

progress. But it's

my face. "I know..."

real and I just lied to her. I told her I loved her too and told her I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. What kind of man

my hand on his chest right above his heart. I could feel the strong thumping on my palm. It was racing and I didn't know whether it was from guilt or nerves. But whatever it was, I

anything, all of this was my

Warren. A great man in fact. I told you this many times before and now I will tell you again. What you are doing for me is a service that

gaze on me, waiting for me to continue.

of all, this girl is not fully innocent. She has taken my identity and is trying to take

want that for

most important thing is that she didn't want this life. I could tell. No one would want to be someone else for the rest of their lives. So you're helping her. You're helping her to get out of here and get away from people that she is afraid of, like Raymond, like Hawke."

could tell Warren's expression

out you don't really love her, but by then, at least she would have the freedom to carry on her own life, and that's way

against mine and let out one long breath that fanned my face. His

he offered me a small

"Do what?"

tucked away a stray piece of hair that had

cleared my throat trying to make light of the situation. "I'm just stating

stepped away from him. "Shall we?"

we walked

two days. That was when we would have the elopement

If Ciana suddenly went missing due to her recent nuptials, then

plan. The other

to steal the sacred artifact. Well, was it really stealing if it belonged to my

past two hours. We made sure there were no cracks in

her tonight?" I

"I need to keep up

table. "We can convene again

it to come out a little light hearted but he didn't take it lightly.

know that right? I can

have joked about it,"

he

in love, though. Unfortunately, for the sake of

He sighed, "Okay."

goodbyes and went

the pressure off my back. He made this serious situation more bearable.

decided to take a

my world had flipped upside down when I was sent to the royal palace, and now returning home my world had flipped yet again. But like my father had always taught me, I would brave the storm. Because that was exactly

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