Crystal and marble covered the Hawkes family mansion.
I walked through the entrance in Gavin's blood-red dress, and a hundred pairs of eyes turned toward me. Whispers broke through the polite chatter immediately.
Elijah stood near the champagne fountain with one arm around Mia. At her throat was the Hawkes sapphire pendant, the family heirloom given to the betrothed bride before her official welcome. My hand went to the bare place above my collarbone.
Mia caught me looking and adjusted the pendant with a smile. Then she turned to greet a senator with the ease of a hostess. Elijah's guests already treated her as one.
“Unstable,” someone whispered behind me. Another voice answered, “Elijah is a saint for putting up with it for so long.”
The announcement had not started, and they had alr
