Sunset Rising (6 page)

Most
of the girls didn’t want to be there? Try
none
of the girls wanted to be there. I popped another piece of food into my mouth to keep from saying anything. I was afraid of how I might answer her question, so I just shook my head.

“Sunny, we’re friends.
I’ll never betray you. You can talk to me.”

Leisel picked up my glass and handed it back to me.
She clinked it again with her own glass, and we drank. I didn’t really want any more wine. It was making me sleepy. I set my glass back down and concentrated on the food.

“Jack didn’t behave inap
propriately with you, did he?” Her question sounded more curious than suspicious. Was she testing me?

“No, not at all!
In fact, he rescued me from an older man who was very drunk. Mr. Kenner is very kind.”

“And handsome!
Don’t you think he’s just gorgeous? That dirty blonde hair and those blue eyes! I mean there aren’t many men in the Dome who look like that! I’m so lucky he chose me to marry him.”

“
He
is
very handsome. And you’re very beautiful. You make a nice couple.”

“Do you have a handsome someone in your life?” Leisel asked.

I
thought of Reyes. He wasn’t handsome in the rich, clean-cut aristocratic way that Jack was. Reyes had the dark hair and black eyes of most people who lived in the Pit, but his chiselled features and six-foot-four frame set him apart. Lots of girls were attracted to Reyes, but I was the one he wanted.

“Yes
, I do.”

“Well, what
’s he like?”

I found the question odd
. She was the president’s daughter—why did she care who I was involved with? I thought I was there to talk about her.

“He’s tall and handsome and strong.
He works in the mines,” I bragged.

I picked up more food and realized the plate I had been eating from was half empty
. Leisel had only sampled a cake. I leaned back against the sofa and silently scolded myself for eating so much. I relished my last bite.

“Are you going to marry him?”
Leisel picked up my wine and handed it to me.

I took a sip. The warm feeling from the wine intensified.
“One day.”

“You don
’t sound sure.”

“It’s complicated.”

I didn’t want to meet her gaze. My world was so different from hers. I needed to support my father until he met his fate in the Cull next year. Did she really not understand life in the Pit?

“I’m a good listener
, and we have all night.”

S
he seemed to want me to be a true friend and share secrets with her. I wasn’t convinced that was a good idea, so I tried to tell her as little as I could. “My mother’s gone now, and my father just lost his job. I need to look after him, so marriage will have to wait for… well, until I’m available.”

“Then you
and I have something in common. I lost my mother, too.” She leaned forward to hug me, and I tried not to recoil. I stiffly hugged her back. “She died shortly after I was born. She had a heart defect. How did your mother die?”

I shifted uncomfortably.
How could she ask me that question? “She was thirty-five.”

“Oh, she was Culled,” Leisel said.
She took both my hands in hers and looked into my face, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “I promise you that things will be different under Jack and me. We’ll change things.” She hugged me again, tighter this time. “That is, if I manage to live long enough to get married.”

“You mean someone is real
ly trying to kill you?” I slapped a hand over my mouth, mortified by my outburst, but Leisel didn’t seem to notice.

“Yes.
My guards tell me they’ve stumbled upon an assassination plot. Someone wants me dead! Someone doesn’t want me to marry Jack.”

“It doesn’t
make any sense, though.” My voice sounded slurred. I tried to sort it all out, but my thoughts were getting confused. It must have been from the wine. I put my glass down.

“It makes perfect sense, Sunny.
Jack and I don’t want to live with things the way they are now. We want change. But there’s someone out there who doesn’t agree with us, so they’re trying to stop the marriage by murdering me.”

Q
uestions were trying to make their way into my muddled thoughts. Like why not kill Jack? He would be an easier target. She refilled my wine glass and handed it back to me. Dutifully, I took a sip.

“
It’s all so hopeless. My guards think the assassins will wait until my wedding day, when I’m in public. Daddy’s holding the wedding in the main reception hall of the Dome so that everyone can come and watch. I’ll have no protection.”

“Y
ou’ll be defenseless!” I cried.

“I knew you would understand.”

“There must be something you can do
. Tell your father. He’ll change the wedding plans.” It was as if someone else was talking on my behalf. I could hear myself saying the words, but I wasn’t in control of them.

“
No he won’t. There’s been a lot of unrest in the Dome lately and our wedding is a political statement to show everyone things are still good. There’s no way he’ll change the plans.”

“I wish I could help.”
Somewhere inside my head a little voice told me that was the very opposite of what I wanted to do.

“Perhaps
you can help, Sunny,” Leisel said, her expression brightening. “Maybe you can take my place in the wedding.”

I d
on’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. Take her place? As in
be the bride
? I shook my head. It would never work.

“Just listen for a minute,” Leisel
said, her tone suddenly serious.

I couldn’t really get up and leave, so I stayed and listened.

“We’re the same height
, but I’m a little… well, healthier than you are,” she said of her figure. I had to stifle a smile. In the Pit, we called her plump. “My wedding dress is big enough for you to put a bulletproof vest on under it. We can cover up your hair with a wig, and I have a veil that will go over your face. No one will ever know it’s you and not me.”

“Your fiancé will know!”
And the entire Dome would be watching the wedding. Someone was bound to notice.

“Jack!” Leisel called. “Can you come in here for a minute?”

A tired-looking Jack came into the room. His tie was gone, his shirt unbuttoned and wrinkled. It looked like he had been sleeping.

“Sunny and I have an idea,” Leisel
said. I opened my mouth to correct her, but closed it when I remembered whom I was about to correct. “We were thinking that she could pose as me during the wedding. Now I know what you’re thinking—it’s a crazy idea. But she’s thin enough to get bulletproof clothing under the dress, and we’ll keep her face covered. No one will suspect a thing.”

“
Is this about the assassination plot again?” Jack asked. He seemed irritated.

I was surprised
that he would be so callous about his fiancée’s life being in danger. If my life were in danger, Reyes would do anything to protect me. I took another sip of wine.

“What else would it
be about?”

“I think the guards have been filling your head with nonsense.
I had some people check into the possibility of a plot and nothing’s been uncovered.”

“Are you accusing me of
lying
?”

“No. I’m sayin
g someone’s trying to scare you.” He was beginning to look worried.

“My guards wouldn’t lie to me
. And I can’t believe how easily you just dismiss it. Maybe you don’t love me, Jack. Maybe this whole wedding is a big mistake!” She burst into tears.

“Leisel!” Jack crossed the room and pulled her off the sofa and into his arms. “You know that’s not true. I want more than anything to be your husband.”

Not for the first time that night, I felt that I really shouldn’t be there witnessing their intimacy. Although I believed Leisel did have a point. Jack hadn’t exactly declared his love yet. I busied myself with my wine.

“If that’s true
, then you’ll want to protect me. Do this for me.”

“But if she’s the bride
, then I won’t be marrying you, will I?” Jack said gently. Leisel refused to look at him. He lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “Will I?”

“It will be me, j
ust by proxy, that’s all. She can walk down the aisle and exchange vows with you—that doesn’t legally make you married to each other. We have to scan in and register to make it legal. So I’ll just meet you in the Registry room and exchange places with her. It will work.”

“
It’s a crazy idea. Of course it won’t work. There will be other people in the Registry room with us during our scan-in.”

“Not if I tell my father I don’t want anyone else in the room.
He knows I’m not happy about how public he’s making everything. If I ask for just this one single private moment, he’ll give it to me.”

Jack dropped his arms from her waist and took a step back.
He raked a hand through his hair. He clearly didn’t like her plan.

“I don’t want to die
, Jack, and I’m really scared!” Leisel threw her arms around him. “We have such a bright future planned together. I don’t want anything to take that away.”

I stared back down at my wine
. They obviously had some issues to work out, and I wanted to be anywhere but there.

“I
honestly don’t see how it’s going to work.”

“Will you agree if I promise to tell my father?
He’s worried about the assassination plot too, but he doesn’t want to call off the wedding. After all, he’s using it to show everyone that life is still good in the Dome, so he can’t very well cancel it because someone is trying to kill me.”

“If your father a
pproves, then I’ll agree to your plan.”

“Then I’ll tell him.
I know he’ll approve.” Leisel looked victorious. Jack smiled, pulled her close, and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Oh, Jack, I knew you’d understand. I knew you’d want to protect me.”

I cleared my throat.

“Oh, Sunny! Sorry, we got a little carried away,” Leisel said. She let go of Jack and came back to sit on the sofa beside me. Her tears were gone, replaced with a smile. I hoped the lovebirds wanted to be alone now and would send me home. “It looks like we’ll go through with our little plan.”

I didn’t
recall agreeing, although I had the impression I didn’t have a choice in the matter. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this plan,” I said. I knew she could order me to do it. “I mean, there will be a lot of people watching.”

“I thought you agreed with this.
You understand how important our marriage is, don’t you? You want to support us?”

“I do!
I just think if it doesn’t work… if I’m caught…”

“I know it’s a big favo
r I’m asking of you. It’s a risk for me too, even with my father’s approval. But if the risks are worth it in the end…” Her voice trailed off and her expression became serious. “You know, when I saw your friend Summer stealing food, I was obligated to report her to the authorities. But I didn’t.” Leisel’s hand came up to caress my hair. “You know, I’m still obligated to tell the truth about her. If anyone asks me if I saw anything, I’d have to say yes. I could get into a lot of trouble for lying. But sometimes friends do things for each other.”

Although my head was swimming from the wine,
I understood her implication. Do this for her or Summer was doomed.

“
I’ll do it,” I whispered. “It’s very late. Can I go home now? I have to work in the morning.”

“No
, silly, you can’t go home! You’ll have to stay here. We have a lot of work to do before the wedding.” A smile lit up her face, and she hugged me.

I just wanted to go home.
I wanted to be with my father. I wanted to make sure Summer was home safe and sound. I wanted to tell Reyes everything was fine. I missed them. It felt like it had been forever since I saw them.

“You can stay here in Jack’s room. He can take th
e sofa and you can have the bed.”

“What?” Jack
said.

“Well, you requested her from the party.
No one will question it if she spends the night here.”

“I requested her for you, not me
.”

“Jack, be reasonable. She can’t go home.
I need to fit her with the wedding dress, teach her how to walk down the aisle, how to act, and, well, everything! There’s so much to do and not much time left before the wedding.”

“But I need to go to work in the morning. I’ll lose my job if I don’t show up
,” I said. Was it the wine that was making me so brazen? I had never even spoken to a guard like that before.

“
Don’t worry about your job. When this is all over, I’m going to hire you to be my personal maid. We’re always going to be good friends.” She stood then and went to Jack. “I’m going to go get some sleep, and I suggest you two do the same. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”

She kissed her fiancé and then skipped out the door.

The apartment suddenly became very quiet except for the soft music playing in the background. Jack stood in the middle of the room looking at me. I remained on the sofa, looking at him. My head was starting to pound, and the food I’d eaten sat heavy in my stomach. I really didn’t feel good. I just wanted to go home.

“You can have the bed,” Jack
said.

“
If I could just go home…”

“You heard her, you can’t
!” he snapped. He dragged a hand through his hair. He was obviously angry, and I didn’t want to upset him any more. He could do whatever he wanted to me and no one would ever question it. “You take the bed.”

“Yes
, sir.” I set my half-empty wine glass on the table and stood up. Suddenly the room was spinning around and I tried to grab something to steady myself, but there was nothing to grab.

“Whoa! How much
wine did you have?” He was standing next to me, holding my arm in case I fell. I didn’t remember him even moving.

“I didn’t think…” I put my hand to my head.

“You’ve never had w
ine before, have you?”

“No.”
My stomach roiled. “I don’t feel good.”

In an instant Jack picked me up and carried me into his bathroom
, where I promptly vomited.