She knew she had seen him.
Roman.
The soldier she had loved when she was only a girl—and the first thing Dominik had ever taken from her.
CHAPTER
9
Sleep was a futile endeavor. Vaasa tossed and turned on the couch, the fire raging in front of her. It thawed her frozen limbs. Still, her body twitched with restlessness.
She swore she had seen Roman. Had it just been some figment of her lonely imagination? Some cruel twist of Ozik’s control over her?
“This is useless,” she hissed to herself, sitting up and throwing the blankets off the side of the couch. All the attendants had retired for the evening. Why should she sleep? These were the only hours she was truly alone. For a moment, she thought about entering her mother’s room, but the idea immediately summoned a wave of panic.
And then she wondered… who guarded her door at night? During the day, there was a rotation of guards she had already memorized, but she hadn’t yet gotten the nerve to explore the fortress under the cover of darkness. To look for the necklace her mother had left for her in other parts of the castle.
Perhaps now she would have the freedom to.
Vaasa pulled herself to her feet and quickly changed into a warm wool dress and boots that wouldn’t make noise on the blue runners situated throughout every major hallway in the fortress. She tucked a dagger into her belt and threw her cloak over her shoulders. Silent as she had ever been, she slipped out her door and gazed down the dark hallway of the emperor’s wing.
A body stood up straight. “Heiress,” the guard said.
So shewasbeing watched. The insignia he wore identified him as a higher-ranking guard, though not quite the lead sentinel she had yet to meet. “I can’t sleep. I’m going to the kitchens,” she told him, sauntering past him.
“What do you need? I’ll have it brought to—”
“Please,” she said, tilting her head innocently. “There’s no need to wake anyone up. I’ll fetch it myself. I just need a walk.”
“Heiress—”
“Is the fortress unsafe?” she asked. “Have the rest of our guards left their posts?”
The man immediately shifted his tone from concern to defensiveness, just as she assumed he would. “They are right where they should be.”
“Then I’m safe, unless you doubt the competence of the men you work with?”
The sentinel bristled at her insinuation. “Of course not.”
She smiled sweetly. “Good.”
Vaasa turned on her heel and strode to the end of the hallway. She exited the emperor’s wing of the fortress and plunged into the main rotunda, taking the stairs to the secondfloor. Everything was exactly as it had been before she left. She knew each inch of this fortress like the back of her hands. Yet it was an assurance she couldn’t rest upon; predictability was not a guarantee. Faintly, she heard the footsteps of the sentinel behind her. Others were placed throughout, though none of them stopped her. The one who had been posted outside her door kept a healthy distance, but dutifully followed her down each corridor.
Vaasa approached one of the older wings of the fortress, the one her grandfather had lived in before her father had demanded a new, larger wing be built. She placed her hand on the knob, turning to face the sentinel and leaning back against the door. “This wing was my grandfather’s,” she reminded him. “It’s private. Please wait out here.”
He pursed his lips, but then said, “I thought you were going to the kitchens.”
Vaasa sharpened her tone. “I’ve changed my mind.”
The sentinel nodded, taking a step back. “I’ll wait out here.”
Frustration grew within her. He was too suspicious; she lowered her eyes and swallowed. “I’m going to read some of his old books. It… makes it easier to be here without the rest of my family. I may fall asleep. Please don’t disturb me.”
The sentinel’s expression turned sympathetic at the mention of her late parents and brother. He handed her his oil lamp. “Of course, Heiress. I’ll move my post here for the time being. Would you like me to send an attendant in the morning?”
Vaasa tightened her grip around the handle of the lamp and shook her head. “I’ll return to my rooms when I’m ready. Thank you, though. Your compassion is appreciated.”
The man nodded.
