I held my ground, refusing to be the one who stepped aside. “What are you doing back here?”
“Enjoying the evening,” he replied smoothly. “Same as you.”
I knew better than to argue. He was baiting me. If I accused him now, he would laugh it off and return to the ballroom with another story about Lydia Bennet being dramatic.
I stepped back instead, my palms damp. “I think you should go back out there.”
He tilted his head. “Concerned for me?”
“Concerned for everyone.”
For a moment, something colder crept into his expression. Then it vanished, replaced by charm again.
“You worry too much,” he said. “It never serves you.”
He brushed past me, close enough that his sleeve grazed my arm, and headed back toward the light without looking back.
I stood there for several seconds, frozen, my heart hammering.
I should stop. I should go back. I should find Jane or Lucy or literally anyone who could talk sense into me.
Instead, I followed again.
More cautiously this time, my nerves jangling with every sound, I crept along after him. I stayed farther back, letting the hallway empty before moving, hyperaware of how alone I was now.
I rounded a corner and nearly collided with someone.
A hand closed around my forearm, firm but not rough.
“Lydia." The voice was low. Controlled.
I sucked in a sharp breath and twisted, my heart leaping violently as I turned to face whoever had caught me.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Caught
Lydia
The hand on my forearm was warm through my sleeve. Firm enough to stop me, careful enough not to hurt.
“Lydia.”
I knew the voice before I fully saw the face. I turned, heart racing, and there Ephram stood in the dim hallway light. He was composed and steady, his brown eyes trained on me with the kind of focus that made me feel both caught and seen.
For a moment, I couldn’t decide whether to be relieved or furious. Relief won first, then fury snapped right behind it like a rubber band.
“You,” I whispered, then corrected myself because whispering felt ridiculous when my pulse was trying to climb out of my throat. “You scared me!”
His expression barely shifted. “Good. That means you understand you shouldn’t be back here.”
“I was following Gavin.”
“I know." Ephram loosened his grip but didn’t let go. “That’s why I stopped you.”
I pulled my arm back, immediately missing the contact from his hand and resenting myself for it. “He was in restricted areas.”
“And you were too,” he replied calmly. “This isn’t a game, Lydia.”
I folded my arms, partly to keep them from shaking, partly because I needed something physical to hold onto. “I’m notplaying. I am trying to make sure he can’t do what he did to us to someone else.”
