Chapter 153

A week after the attack, I had been out of the hospital for a couple days and was fully recovered from the silver poisoning. Andrew had wanted to cancel all our commitments for a few more days—even the coronation—but I insisted that I could handle anything that he threw at me. Unfortunately, I forgot that that meant an appearance on the popular late-night show Wake Up, Night Dwellers!

Regardless, I insisted that we keep our commitments, and I soon found myself sitting next to Andrew on a couch in front of an overly enthusiastic studio audience. On the other side of Andrew, behind an oak desk, sat the flamboyant host of Wake Up, Night Dwellers!, Caesar Flare.

With slicked back, dark red hair, an immaculate spray tan, and a crimson three-piece suit to match, Caesar was intimidating force to face. Even his sparkling, pure white smile gave me chills. Yet I made myself look at him straight on as he introduced us to his audience.

“Everyone, let’s give a warm Night Dweller welcome to my next guests,” he began. “You know them, you love them—most of you do, anyway—the one, the only, Alpha King Andrew Dubois and his future Luna, Crystal Blanchard!”

I blushed at the “future Luna” comment. We hadn’t actually discussed yet if I was going to become Andrew’s next Luna. I didn’t even know if I wanted to be.

Nevertheless, I waved to the crowd. Most of them applauded us, though I could hear a few “boos” mingled in. With the Ever After Weddings vandalism and the seamstress attack, I wasn’t too surprised to hear them.

Caesar, however, couldn’t let them go.

“Now, now, folks, let’s keep things civil.”

He turned to Andrew and me.

“Andrew, Crystal, I must say, congratulations on the hard-won Alpha King election. It seemed like a tight race for a while there.”

“Thank you, Caesar,” Andrew replied, settling in for his usual post-election spiel. “Yes, it was certainly a hard-fought battle by everyone involved. In the end, though, there can only be one Alpha King.”

“That is true, Your Highness, that is true,” Caesar replied with his characteristic forced smile. “I have to say, though, I think the real triumph here is the continuation of your relationship. With all the ups and downs that you’ve gone through, it’s quite the miracle that you’re still together.”

Andrew grabbed my hand and held it tightly. I mirrored his smile, even though deep down, I was hoping that Caesar would not choose to relieve the downs of those “ups and downs” for this interview.

“Yes, Caesar, I’m a very lucky man,” Andrew said as he put my hand in his lap.

I leaned my head on his shoulder and placed my other hand on top of our interlaced ones.

“I’m the lucky one,” I said, making myself a little sick saying it, even if it was true. “After everything that I’ve been through, I can’t get imagine a happier ending for me than to end up with Andrew.”

A few “awws” rose throughout the crowd.

“Well, if this is your happy ending, why don’t you tell the viewers how it all began?” Caesar asked. “How did you two meet?”

I smiled broadly.

“Well, it’s not that fantastic a story,” I began. “I’m the planner for his daughter’s wedding. He came in to check on the budget and the overall progress of the wedding, and the rest is history.”

“Yes, Andrew’s daughter, Lisa.” Caesar leaned forward and steepled his fingers. “I must imagine that you spend a lot of time with her, being her wedding planner.”

“Initially, yes, but once I got the image of what Lisa wanted in my head, I started to deal more with Andrew than with Lisa.”

Caesar tilted his head like a curious puppy.

“Oh? Why is that? Do you two not get along?”

I stiffened. My grip on Andrew’s hand tightened into a vice. He squeezed my hand back, trying to reassure me, but it did nothing to ease my tension.

“Like anyone, we have our problems—”

“Like Bob?”

I swallowed against the knot in my throat.

“What do you mean?”

“It must cause a lot of tension between the two of you, you planning Lisa’s wedding to Bob when Bob used to be your boyfriend.”

A gasp rippled through the audience.

“No,” I said through gritted teeth. “I am completely over Bob now. There is nothing to cause tension between us.”

“So, Lisa has no problems with you dating her father?”

I didn’t answer for a moment, and that moment of silence was too long for Caesar.

“I see.” He reclined back in his chair. “I suppose that there would be some problems, given your history.”

“My history?”

“Your prison record, that is.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Crystal has already explained that situation to the public,” Andrew interjected, his tone warning Caesar against commenting any further.

Caesar raised his hands defensively.

“Of course, of course, and we have every reason to believe her.”

The muscles in Andrew’s arms tensed.

“And what does that mean?” he almost growled.

“It just seems convenient, especially considering the kidnapping and vampire attack.”

At this, I leaned forward and faced Caesar fully.

“What are you talking about?”

A smirk flickered across Caesar’s face.

“Well, there was never any evidence that you were really kidnapped and taken to vampiric territory, let alone attacked…”

I leapt to my feet, ripping my hand out of Andrew’s grasp. Without another word, I turned around and charged backstage. I could hear Andrew calling after me, but I did not stop.

Hot tears streamed down my cheeks as I made a beeline for the exit, dodging all the crew members and equipment that I encountered. Soon the tears overwhelmed me and blurred my sight, forcing me to stop my trek. I leaned against the nearest wall and slid down until my butt hit the cold cement.

“Crystal!” Andrew’s voice called after me again. When I looked up, he was standing only a few feet from me. “Crystal, please talk to me.”

I sniffled.

“About what?” I asked. “About how this scumbag is trying to discredit me in front of everyone? Or about how he’s trying to belittle my trauma for the sake of stirring up drama?”

Andrew approached me, and I waved him off.

“Just go back. We don’t want your constituents to think worse of you because you disappeared during the middle of a talk show.”

“I don’t care about that.” He took a seat beside me and wrapped me up in his arms. “I care about you.”

I smiled slightly before I buried my face in his chest.

“I took the bait, didn’t I?” I murmured.

“A little bit,” Andrew admitted, “but it’s to be expected. He took cheap shots, went places that he shouldn’t have gone.”

“I shouldn’t have responded, but I…”

I couldn’t even finish that sentence. I just felt so weak for reacting to Caesar’s baiting.

“We all have these moments, sweetheart. Believe it or not, it took me a long time to learn not to react, too. I still have a hard time, especially when people hurt someone I love.”

I looked up at him with glossy eyes. His jaw was set, his dark eyes flaring furiously—and it was all for me.

“I love you, Andrew,” I whispered.

“I love you, too, Crystal,” he replied, stroking my hair.

A chorus of “awws” startled us out of our peaceful moment. Nearby, we saw a cameraman recording our private moment, and a TV showed the audience and Caesar reacting to the live feed in the moment.

“There you go, folks,” Caesar said with a grand gesture. “The rawest emotions, the truest content, only on Wake Up, Night Dwellers!”