1
Now
Present day…
Grand Valentia Theatre & Ballroom
Valentia, Valleria
What the fuck was she doing here?
Prince Ethan Santoro glared at the woman standing on stage.
He rolled his shoulders and adjusted the tie of his impeccable suit, before slowly making his way towards her as discreetly as possible. Hard to do as a prince, even an insignificant one like him—the ninth and youngest child of the King and Queen.
He wished he were wearing his Navy uniform. As a Captain and doctor in the Vallerian Royal Navy, he always felt confident, assured, and ready for action in his uniform or doctor’s scrubs.
In this suit, with that woman on the stage, he felt completely unprepared.
He glanced casually around for his siblings or parents, but they were busy on the other side of the ballroom. It was a charity auction, and the money this event would bring in for the local children’s hospital was astronomical, so they were no doubt schmoozing everyone in the room. Ethan had been ‘lounging’—aka hiding—in a corner since he’d never been as comfortable as the rest of his family with that sort of thing.
He wove through tables, smiling and nodding at this Royal Council member or that member of Vallerian high society. He spent months on a ship, assigned to his tiny medical bay, yet he felt confined in a large ballroom.
He turned his attention back to the stage. She was smiling, her eyes focused on the room, assessing, analyzing. Those eyes had done that to him quite a lot once upon a time. She hadn’t noticed him yet, but he would never be able to keep from noticing her. She was like a magnet pulling him towards her, no matter the room or situation. Even now, even after everything and the distance of the last few months, his body still recognized her pull. And, oh, what a body it was.
She was elegant in a long, thin-strapped dress made of shimmering silver with streaks of Vallerian purple, her olive-hued skin flawless, her inky black hair set in swirls and curls in the style of a movie starlet from years past.
She was stunning.
She was also definitely not a movie star—or notonlya movie star. He knew exactly what she was, who she really was, and he knew, with absolute certainty, that her presence meant something bad, horrible, terrible was likely to happen.
Shit.
He weaved closer, deciding the least conspicuous way to approach her was from the backstage area. All of Valleria’s power players were gathered near the front of the ballroom, watching, waiting, leering at the last celebrity up for auction. She was alone on the stage while the evening’s master of ceremonies walked through the crowd encouraging higher bids.
When the stage had been full at the start of the evening, she’d blended in with the best of them. It was her job, after all, to do so—herotherjob, not her job as an actress—but she’d still shone like a beacon to him.
What the hell was she doing here? And were they all safe?
Suddenly, the ground shuddered beneath him, beneath all of them.
The tables shook, the glassware tumbled and shattered.
The men stumbled like drunkards. The women tottered on heels and started screaming.
But not her.
No, not her. On stage, she’d dropped to one knee, her hands flat on the stage, like a runner about to race. Her keen eyes assessed the room, then widened as they locked on him.
Moments, minutes they stared, a thousand thoughts left unsaid between them, and fear that both their secrets would be revealed tonight.
Another scream, this one he knew.
Catharine!
His head whipped around to the sound of his sister, to the cluster of royals being ushered out by Royal Protection agents, Cat’s fiancé, Eddie, at the lead. His family, on their way to safety.
He counted, miscounted, cursed, and counted again. They were all there, everyone who’d come tonight. They were safe.
