Page 56 of Dark Souls

“You said you’d always be on my side, Mum.”

‘Pure manipulation. I am so proud of you.’Rue smirked.

The heavy sigh she released was my answer. A wide smile appeared on my face as she hit the table with her hands in defeat and said, “Fine. You can go. But…”

“Ruby, what the hell? You cannot be serious!” Raiden had jumped up from his chair.

“Sit your ass down, Raiden!” Mum snapped. “She is my daughter and I have faith that she knows what she is doing. She can handle herself. Have you forgotten what I achieved at the age of twenty-one? This crown was earned.”

That had him silenced. He sulked back down in his chair and Sienna placed her hand on his arm to calm him. Mum glanced back at me as I waited for her to continue.

“But… Raiden and Sienna will be on stake out nearby the location. You will have a hidden camera on you. You will stay for a maximum of three hours and then leave. If, at any point, you feel unsafe, you will transport yourself out of there. Don’t try to be a hero, Ilaria, and whatever you do, do not draw unwanted attention to yourself. You go in, get the information you need and leave. Is that understood?”

I nodded, unable to stop the beaming smile on my face as I practically bounced in my seat with excitement. Depression had consumed me for days. This is exactly what I needed. And to have her approval and faith in me was the best feeling in the world.

“I promise. Thank you so much, Mum.” I zoomed round and wrapped my arms around her neck from behind, giving her a rare hug.

“I wouldn’t get too excited. Wait until Ezra hears about this. He’ll chain her up in the palace dungeons to stop her from going.” My uncle chuckled.

“I’ll deal with Ezra,” Mum said, shooting him a warning glare. “In fact, you will keep your lips shut about all of this. That includes not telling dad. I will deal with the men in this family. I think it’s best that they hear about this after the event.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Sienna added, which caused Raiden to growl at her. “What? You Romano and Black men are ridiculously protective over us women. Yet, it’s so pointless! You give yourselves heart attacks over our safety for no reason. If you haven’t noticed, we kick ass.”

“So, does this mean I am officially an SIA agent now?” I spun around to look at Archer, who stumbled over his words in panic.

“Um, well… uh… let’s just see how this goes.”

I rolled my eyes. Whatever. I’d report back my findings at the club to the SIA, but my main agenda was to find more out about Heath, anyway. I didn’t need any other distractions.

“Will you leave that goddamn wig alone? You keep knocking the camera off centre,” Raiden grumbled from the passenger seat of the car, which was parked a few streets down from the London address Heathen had given me.

I scratched the short black wig aggressively, moving it up and down my forehead one more time. “Why are wigs so damn itchy? Maybe I’m allergic to it.”

“Well, this is a great start. Best call it quits now, then. Clearly, you’re not cut out for the undercover life.” Raiden shot me a wicked smirk in the car mirror as I gave him my best resting bitch face.

“You’ll get used to the itch,” Sienna stated, ignoring Raiden and turning in the driver’s seat to peer at me in the back. “Have you got any weapons hidden on you?”

I tapped the side of my knee-high lace-up boot that always hid my favourite dagger. “Yep.”

She nodded, passing me the yellow contacts in the small container, and I groaned. Perhaps the undercover life wasn’t for me. I hated contacts with passion, but unfortunately, being born with pink eyes meant I was pretty recognisable.

I threw my head back, dropping the contacts in and blinking them in place. “How do I look? Convincingly not me?”

They both glanced back at me. Raiden huffed and Sienna smiled. “You look great. Hot as fuck.”

“Nope. Don’t want to hear that,” Raiden groaned, going back to fiddling with his little screen in his lap that connected to the miniscule SIA camera disguised as a diamond in my black velvet choker.

I brushed down the little silver and black mini dress I had finally settled on. I had no idea what to wear but figured you could never go wrong with a little black number. I was sure I’d blend into the background just fine.

“Okay. One more time,” Raiden demanded.

“If anyone asks me questions, I make my answers vague, but I give just enough information to satisfy them.” It’s my first event and I’m playing the ‘ooo fill me in on all the goss’ girl. I’ll hold my tongue, restrain my bite and fake a smile on my face when I want to punch someone, so I don’t get on anyone’s bad side. I won’t cause a scene. I’ll blend in and observe.”

“How do you think you can fake a smile when you can’t even fake a hello to people you don’t like?”

“Easy. I do it all the time. You forget, I can read people’s twisted minds, Raid.”

“I guess.”

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