I'd never slept at a strange house before. It was difficult to settle knowing I hadn't actually been introduced to the homeowner. Magnus on the other hand was perfectly comfortable, but then again he'd done this before and had been expecting this to happen from the get-go.

"Darling, stop squirming." Magnus said softly as I struggled to get comfortable on the plush bedding of the Scott household.

"I'm in a stranger's bed in my underwear and the Angels know where my sister is." I muttered. "I cannot 'get comfortable', Magnus."

"You know the Scotts," Magnus groaned tiredly. "And Izzy is in a room down the hall with Simon and your other friends."

I folded my arms. It was Magnus' idea to let the group of them split off from us. Half the rooms in the house already had people sleeping or passed-out or doing other things in them by the time we'd turned in. My friends had ended up a whole hall away.

"I don't see why we can't stay in that room too." I complained. I wanted to be closer to people I actually knew, and be there with Izzy in this strange new setting. I was her brother, I was responsible for her.

"Because I don't share beds with five other people anymore." Magnus was smirking. I could hear it in his voice. I didn't find it as funny as he did.

"Five other people? Gross." I said with a shudder. "Now I'm really uncomfortable."

Magnus shushed me when I spoke, I pulled a confused face at me and he pointed to the wall by the headboard. That was when I noticed the voices murmuring in the other room. Holding a finger to his lips, Magnus got up on his knees and put an ear to the wall.

"Magnus!" I scolded him. All he did was shush me again.

"Listen." He said. "They're arguing."

"Who is?" I asked.

"Woolsey and Ralf." Magnus told me.

For some reason I actually got up and joined my boyfriend in his attempt to listen in. Maybe all the drinks I'd had were clouding my better judgement. I'd been getting pretty good at catching glasses from trays by the end of the night, even if I did say so myself.

"I don't recall inviting any woman in particular, Brother." The familiar voice belonging to Woolsey drawled, sounding coy and amused from his side of the wall.

"Men are your interest, Woolsey. I get it. We all get it." The person who must have been Ralf replied with years of compiled irritation in his voice. "Sorry to rain on your personal Pride Parade but you know perfectly well which woman we're talking about."

Magnus winced and mouthed the word 'harsh'. I found myself agreeing, even if Woolsey was the type to take out-and-proud to new, incredibly obvious and occasionally irritating levels. It was going to be hard to invite Jace anywhere he would be in future. I almost laughed.

I stopped smiling because something in Woolsey's tone dropped. He sounded darker and more serious than I'd ever heard him sound.

"Camille Belcourt is always invited." He said, leaving no room for argument. "She is one of my very closest friends."

I blinked. What on earth did Ralf Scott have against Camille? When he spoke he sounded as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

"Woolsey, I'm engaged." He said. "My Fiancée is beautiful, and good and charitable-"

"And you wish she was Camille." Woolsey interrupted, quite matter-of-factly.

My eyes widened and I looked right at Magnus. Even in the dark I could see that he wasn't even the tiniest bit surprised.

"Remember I told you there was a story?" Magnus whispered very close to my ear. "Well, Ralf Scott is hopelessly in love with Cammie."

"How is that a 'funny story'?" I hissed at him. Where on earth was the humour in that? I was expecting some embarrassing tale of something he did when he was younger. This was just mean. "You laugh at him for that?"

"You're telling me Isabelle never once laughed at you when you had a crush on Jace?" Magnus asked knowingly. Suddenly I felt like he spoke to my sister too much if he had that kind of inside knowledge.

I was pretty sure Vampires could get tipsy from my bloodstream at that moment, yet I was nowhere near drunk enough for that topic. Every hormonal teenage boy is entitled to at least one totally ridiculous infatuation, okay? So, I tried to look at Ralf Scott the way Magnus seemed to; as his friend's brother with a silly fancy.

Seemed a little different when there were fiancés involved, though.

"She wanted Magnus Bane." We heard Ralf growl. His brother was really getting to him, it seemed.

"That didn't stop the others." Woolsey sighed, reminding Ralf of Camille's previous relationship arrangement. It was common knowledge in their circles; which always amazed me. It's crazy what leaks and what doesn't sometimes.

"I'm not like the others." Ralf replied, sounding complete wounded.

I had to stop listening, then. It was too close to home. This guy I hadn't even met reminded me so much of myself. He'd fallen for somebody who was married. He didn't want to be just another affair... Only there was one big difference; Camille didn't leave Magnus for him.

"Does she know?" I asked Magnus quietly.

"Camille assumes all men are in love with her." Magnus murmured at first; almost as though he was talking to himself. "But yes, she's aware. That's why she was avoiding him tonight."

I remembered her slipping inside at the end of the fireworks. The way Ralf had been watching her with longing. The unreadable gaze she'd cast back to him for only a second.

"She doesn't feel the same way." I thought aloud in an attempt to fill in the gaps.

Magnus surprised me by shaking his head.

"No, Sweetheart." Magnus explained. "If she told him how she felt, he wouldn't be getting married."

I stared up at the ceiling and willed my mouth to close before I ended up catching flies. Honestly, if I heard one more sad love story I felt sure I'd become a cynic about the whole thing. Somewhere in my mind a lot of questions were forming. Mainly things which just made me feel like I needed to get to know Camille better. These people were so complicated sometimes.

For a second or two I wondered if maybe, when she first considered leaving Magnus, Camille didn't know that Ralf was already engaged. However, while I was too sober to think about some subjects; I wasn't in any frame of mind to think about serious things like that.

Feebly I tried to pull Magnus to lay back down and stop being so nosey. It wouldn't have made him move by force but he got the message and did it anyway. I could see why he'd want to hear what was going on; these were people he cared about, but he was tired as I was and Woolsey would be sure to catch him up later, I had no doubt.

I found it was more comfortable if I lied against Magnus; the one familiar thing in the room. I didn't know why I hadn't thought of that in the first place. As I tried to doze off I tried to keep my mind off the sad stories and onto other, more pleasant things; like how that night Isabelle had been smiling, my friends laughing, and fireworks lighting the sky.

Update time, I hope that it was okay. As always thank you for reading and reviewing I should be posting the next chapter "Mornings are Merciless" pretty soon.