Reborn Deceit

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Rose

"Mira, this is too much."

Rose ran her hands down the expensive material and glanced at herself in the mirror apprehensively. The dress was absolutely gorgeous. But it seemed too beautiful.

The dress was a royal blue number, with a strapless sweetheart neckline. It ran down the length of her body, clinging to her chest, waist, and hips, before flaring out slightly mid-thigh. From there, folds of fabric fell to the ground. It was the most beautiful, and most expensive, dress Rose had ever laid eyes on. Her body looked killer, that she had to admit. The gown had a way of accenting all the right parts of her, and Rose had a feeling that if Damian wasn't staring at her chest, he'd be watching her ass. No shame there.

"Rose, don't start this again." Rose could hear Mira's annoyed voice from where she stood in the on suite bathroom, finishing her hair and makeup. "You don't understand how extreme my mother's parties can get."

Rose still couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that twenty four hours ago, she was expressing her love to Damian and undressing him on the couch of Miras penthouse in London, and now she was dressed to the nines in a castle in some mountain village in Greece.

When Mira had come pounding on the door of the penthouse it was to tell the two lovebirds that the council had decided—quite last minute if you asked Rose—that Rose was to be presented at the yearly December Guardian High Council Ball. It just so happened that the ball was right now.

Just as quickly as Rose had found herself on a plane to London, Rose found herself flying to Greece where she was ushered through an enormous stone castle. Rose wasn't sure what she was expecting the Guardian Council Castle to look like, but this place seemed to fit the picture.

The rooms were huge, the ceilings were tall, the walls were either intricately carved stone or darkly colored wood, and there more rooms than Rose would ever be able to count. A large stone wall surrounded the entire property, and Guards stood alert at the top of the massive building.

At every turn there was a new stranger facing, gawking in her presence and watching her every move. The first person she encountered has gasped when he saw her, and immediately stopped in her presence and bowed. Confused, Rose had turned Mira, who simply shook her head as if telling her not to ask. After that, Damian had snuck off to speak with a guard, and since then no one has bowed again.

All around the large facility, workers were sprinting in a directions, carrying decorations, cutlery, trays of food, and more. It was a whirlwind of a storm and Rose had to work hard to not vomit from the stress of the whole situation.

Rose didn't even get the grand tour. Instead, she was ushered into the west wing and dragged down so many hallways that she was dizzy by the time she reached what would serve as her room.

Rose shook herself back to the present. Staring at the dress in the reflection, the dress that had way too many zeros in the price tag for her to be comfortable with, Rose shuddered at the thought of just how fancy this evening was going to be.

Rose heard the clicking of heels behind her and turned to see Mira enter the room, perfectly manicured hands on her hips as she gave Rose a hard look. "Rose, you look beautiful. So, stop trying to get out of this."

Any witty comeback Rose might have had abandoned her train of thought as she looked over her best friend. If Mira thought Rose was beautiful, then Mira was off the scales. Her light blue gown hugged her chest before falling down to land softly on the floor around her feet. The top of the sweetheart neckline was beaded, and one piece of fabric wrapped around her shoulder in an off-shoulder strap while another wrapped overtop her other shoulder. Her short hair was curled and artfully laid on top her shoulders, just as Roses was, but Mira looked exactly like a Greek goddess.