She felt a bit sad that she could not be there to support him at a time like this, but she knew he might be right.  Her being there could take the attention off of his father and she had no desire to do that.  If sitting out the funeral meant that he had a chance to say goodbye to his father peacefully, she would gladly remain home.<br/><br/>Eve held his hand, lightly gripping it as he asked about her mother.  She had wanted to wait longer to tell him the truth.  She had no realistic idea on how he might react to the news of her Mother’s punishment<br/><br/>“Before you arrived my mother came into the dressing room...”  Would he want an annulment?  Would this news break him away from her?  Would he feel like she had lied to him?<br/><br/>“She said if I went through with the ceremony today, if I didn’t ask you to postpone, she would name a new successor for her council seat.”  Eve sighed.  “I wasn’t willing to give into her on this, probably for the first time in my life.  I know that’s more or less a huge part of why we both agreed to this, saving our families places in the council...but this marriage could end a century of grudges and hatred and I....”<br/><br/>Her words trailed off as she tried to think of the right thing to say.  “I wasn’t willing to give up on us and the commitment we had already made.  Her hope in stalling the wedding was that she could convince me to break things off eventually, that much I’m sure of.”