“Your first gala here?”
“My first anything here.”
He chuckled. “You’ll get used to the heat, I promise.”
“I’d rather not be here long enough to try.”
He blinked, surprised, then laughed again before heading off. No threat. Just talk. But it reminded me of what the woman earlier had noticed: my accent—or lack of one—made me stand out.
I adjusted my posture again, lowering my voice when I ordered another water from a passing server, mimicking thelanguid cadence of the room without mocking it. I didn’t need attention. I needed invisibility.
I drifted through the crowd, letting conversations drift over me—political gossip, business deals, effortless charm layered with the kind of power that had probably destroyed as many careers as it built.
Everywhere I turned, men with military posture glided through the room like they owned it. Their hands steady. Their eyes sharp. Their presence heavy.
Maybe that was why my skin tingled every time one passed. That old, stupid ache. That inconvenient craving. The reminder that I’d spent too many years surrounded by those men—and I still wasn’t immune.
Not by a long shot.
I took a slow sip of water, letting the coolness ground me.
I wasn’t here to get tangled up with anyone.
I wasn’t here to let my guard down.
I wasn’t even here socially.
I was here because someone had whispered the wordsDominion Halllike a warning.
Or a clue. And if half the tension in this room was connected to that name, then I needed to tread lightly.
A hand brushed my elbow and I jumped, instinct flaring.
A young server blanched. “S-sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean?—”
“No, it’s fine,” I said quickly, forcing a smile. “Jet lag.”
He nodded and scurried off, leaving me alone at the edge of the dance floor.
My pulse hadn’t quite settled.
God, I needed to get out of here before I lost my mind.
And yet … something in me stayed rooted.
Drawn.
Hooked by the edges of danger in the air.
Because beneath the laughter and the floral arrangements and the smooth jazz, I sensed it?—
An undercurrent.
A watchfulness.
A quiet, coiled power.
Something was happening here.
