He turned back to the documents, his eyes skimming over the top one. A crease grew on his forehead, illuminated in the light of his lantern. He turned to the next paper and skimmed it even more quickly before shoving the whole pile back in the satchel.
Natalie held her breath, relieved he hadn’t thrown the papers away. But his face showed his suspicion as he pulled out the tiny leather pouch with the seal. If he opened it and examined the contents closely…
He tipped the seal onto his palm and held it toward the light.
His growl of fury made Natalie swallow and back slowly away behind her screen of greenery. Her careful plan now looked foolish and thin. How could she have thought it would succeed?
What would the man do now? Had Natalie wrecked everything?
She should have talked to Rose. She should have found out what was at stake rather than blithely trusting in her own ability to handle the situation. What if she’d brought disaster to the princess or to Arcadia?
She had been so confident, so full of her success during the mountain kingdom rebellion. But she hadn’t stopped to think about the differences between then and now. At home, she had been operating in familiar territory, and she hadn’t been acting alone. She had overestimated her abilities, and she might not be the only one to pay the price.
She gulped and moved further back. One of her arms brushed against another bush, making an audible rustle. The man’s head shot up, swinging in her direction.
For a second she stayed frozen in place, not even breathing, hoping he would dismiss it as a breeze or a small nighttime animal. But he dropped the satchel and its contents and bounded toward her.
Natalie leaped to her feet, fleeing toward the closest path. But just as she reached it, her foot caught in a trailing loop of her dress—a tear left from her earlier fall. Crashing to the ground, the man was on her before she could rise again.
He seized her hands and hauled her roughly upward, twisting her so the lantern light fell on her face.
“You’re not Princess Rose!” he growled. “Where is she? What are you doing here?”
Faced with the moment of crisis, Natalie’s fear faded, her mind racing for a way out of the situation.
“I’m her lady-in-waiting.” Her dress was too expensive to claim she was only a maid. “The princess sent me in her place. She couldn’t possibly go sneaking around the gardens at night herself!” She tried to sound prim and foolish.
The man shook her, his eyes hardening. “And do you know your mistress sent you to play a trick? Of course she wouldn’tcome into harm’s way herself when she was planning such a thing. But apparently she didn’t care about your fate. How like a princess.”
“Princess Rose cares!” Natalie cried indignantly.
The man chuckled, and Natalie realized her mistake.
“Does she, indeed? How convenient. We will see just how much she cares when her lady fails to return to her. We’ll see if she cares about the price you must pay for her twice failure.”
He meant to kidnap her? Natalie didn’t have to fake the fear on her face. But beneath her anxiety, her mind was still working. If he took her to his base, she could still salvage the situation. Once she was there, she could?—
He pulled out a knife.
White hot terror lanced through her. He meant to murder her?
She thrashed, fighting with every ounce of desperation she possessed to escape his grip. Her sudden, frenzied movement took him by surprise, and she succeeded in breaking free. Staggering sideways, she yanked up her skirts to run.
But she was too slow. He pounced on her, seizing her hair and using it to drag her backward. She screamed—unleashing all her pain, fear, and outrage. She refused to be murdered so easily.
“Lila?” a voice shouted in response to her cry.
Running footsteps pounded against gravel somewhere nearby. Natalie went limp with relief. Once again, Luca had turned up where he wasn’t supposed to be, and she had never been so glad of anything.
Her assailant cursed and hesitated, apparently gripped by indecision. Natalie seized her hair in both hands and yanked it free of his grip, staggering away from him.
He moved to follow her, but Luca’s running footsteps were getting closer. The man’s eyes jumped to something over her shoulder, and he stopped.
She didn’t turn to look herself, however. Lunging forward, she seized the material around his head, pulling it free and exposing his face.
He cursed again, his arm jumping up to cover his exposed features as he turned to flee.
Luca’s running footsteps had nearly reached her, and Natalie collapsed to the ground, her knees wobbly with relief. Luca was already sprinting at full speed, and the blackmailer had almost no head start. The prince would easily run him down.
