Before she could draw a breath deep enough to scream, a bag dropped over her head, surrounding her in darkness.
“No—no!” she barked, but this wasn’t an ordinary bag. She smelled the harsh chemicals that lined the heavy burlap, and immediately grew lightheaded. Wrenching her hands to her ears, she clawed off her earrings, her hairpins—anything she could drop, that might be found. She kicked and screamed as best she could, and she thought she connected with something hard and solid-sounding. Then her limbs grew heavy and her body went slack with alarming speed, and the men carrying her started moving faster.
Doors slammed, and she could tell by the coolness of the breeze on her stockinged feet that they’d reached the outside, but though panic battered against her fading awareness, her greatest fear wasn’t realized—yet. She wasn’t immediately thrown into a vehicle. If that happened, she knew that far worse would follow.
“No,” she moaned again, her voice dying in her throat. Panic surged through her but she was tired—so tired.
The coolness continued, but there was still no vehicle.No car! No trunk!They weren’t going far. Instead, after a short walk, a second door opened and she returned to air-conditioned comfort. Within another dozen steps, she was dumped heavily onto the floor, her fall broken by her heavy skirts but only scarcely, as her elbows and knees connected with the hard floor. Then the bag was whisked off her head.
The flashlight pointed into her face almost blinded her. She slapped her hands to her face to block the glare, her heart raging so loudly she could barely hear the man’s next words.
“No sound or I will tape your mouth shut,” he said gruffly. He backed up from her, then slammed the door behind him.
The room plunged into darkness.
“Why,Prince Aristotle, I’m sure I’ve never seen you dance for so well and so long. What has gotten into you?”
Ari smiled down into his mother’s happy face, his heart lightening to see her deep contentment. “You’re enjoying tonight, aren’t you?”
“I can’t imagine why,” she said, not trying to dim her grin. “All the men I love most in the world are under one roof, safe, and for the most part as happy as I have ever seen them. We’ve had great success winning over the council to the idea of a National Holiday to celebrate your homecoming, and there is good discussion on expanding the homecoming theme to imply a greater inclusivity of any returning national. The idea is already gaining momentum.”
“Good,” Ari said. “Because a national holiday marking my return after dumping my own plane in the ocean isn’t all that impressive of an accolade, I have to tell you.”
His mother laughed and he turned her again, scanning the crowd absently as they danced. He hadn’t seen Francesca in over an hour—not that he would have been able to break away, but still. He liked knowing she was in the room.
The queen caught him looking. “You shouldn’t be so obvious, Ari,” she said, though her gaze remained merry. “Francesca knows you have obligations to perform. I had the same challenges with your father when he first asked me to marry him. It was an absolute chore to make myself scarce until he needed me.”
Ari lifted his brows. “And you put up with that?”
“Oh, I would have done about anything for that man,” she said, her voice going suddenly soft. “Even leave him, if I thought that would be best.” When she glanced back at Ari, her eyes were a little misty. “I would want someone like that for you too, you know. Someone who would do whatever it took to make sure you were safe.”
He grimaced. “I haven’t forgotten everything, Mother. Especially not your penchant for matchmaking. If you like Francesca so well, why have you thrown half of Garronia’s marriageable daughters at me this evening? Which, by the way, I wasn’t aware we were inviting. Since when did you become close personal friends with the Ramanos family?”
“The girls will be fine, and they need the practice,” his mother said blithely. “You’ve done a credible job not betraying your interest in Francesca too overtly. I think we can probably get three or more official balls out of this if we play our cards right.”
He stared at her, horror-struck. “Tell me you’re joking.”
Her laughter filled the space around them, competing with the music. “That’s up to you, I should say. If you don’t make your move…”
They danced for the remainder of the song, then parted, his mother curtseying gratefully as the crowd applauded with genuine delight. The music shifted then to faster-paced traditional reels, and Ari stepped pointedly off the dance floor. Francesca still had not put in an appearance and that felt…odd to him. Granted, she had no reason to be at his beck and call, and yet it felt strange to have her absent for so long a time.
He spied Dimitri standing by the large French doors leading out to one of the courtyards, and angled his way.
“Finally tired of dancing?” the captain joked as Ari approached him. Then his face went instantly serious as he caught Ari’s expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing—it’s probably nothing,” Ari said, lifting a hand to massage his temple. The jagged knife of pain was back, poking at him insistently. “Have you seen Francesca recently?”
Dimitri frowned. “No. I thought she was with Lauren—”
As one they scanned the room, and Dimitri spotted Lauren first. Nicki, LaurenandEmmaline, actually, all clustered at one of the large banquet tables. They weren’t eating but talking to a man who looked like the chef, who was gesticulating wildly, his face beaming with joy.
Dimitri grimaced. “Why do I get the feeling they’re planning another party?”
“But if Francesca isn’t with them, and they’re not concerned, she can’t have been gone long, right?” Ari tried to squelch his growing panic. “One of the women’s restrooms?”
Dimitri cocked a glance at him. “Her friends could check—and would.” He narrowed his gaze on Ari’s face. “You’re concerned. Legitimately concerned.”
“Something about this isn’t right,” Ari muttered. He stepped closer to Dimitri, keeping his voice low. “The night that I left—I asked you about it already. Nothing was wrong you said. Nothing out of place.”
