I shook myself. My family loved me, and that was enough. I would find them first and worry about romance later. I turned back to look for Dahlia, but with everyone standing up, I couldn’t see her. The crowd cheered as the new couple ran down the aisle, but I kept craning my neck, looking for my target. I was too short to see over the heads of all the people around us, so I clambered onto the chair.
“Get down,” Lochlan said with a laugh. “And you’re looking in the wrong direction. They ran the other way.” He went to grab my waist to lift me down but then thought better of touching me and waited for me to jump down on my own.
“I don’t care about watching them,” I said when I landed back on the ground. “I want to go talk to Dahlia. She grew up in Ebora and probably knows my mother.”
“You can’t be sure,” Lochlan began to caution me, but I shook my head.
“Iamsure,” I said. “Come on.” I plucked at his sleeve, trying to push our way through the press of people, but by the time I’d forced my way through, the guests who had been closest to the ceremony, including Dahlia, had already been escorted over to the reception area.
“We can stay, right?” I muttered to Lochlan, searching the crowd once more. There were so many people that I couldn’t even think straight. “I need to talk to her.”
“We can stay as long as you’d like. They’ll probably be at the dance. It looks like everyone’s heading this way. Shall we blendin?” He offered his arm again and, after a slight pause, I slipped my fingers into the crook of his elbow and followed the crowd.
All around us, servants were appearing, carrying trays with drinks and platters of food, offering them to each passing guest.
“You could eat first,” Lochlan suggested. “We have plenty of time and this looks good.” He picked up a small dish with a variety of delicacies on it and offered it to me. “You can occasionally relax, you know.”
I bit into one of the cream puffs from the dish and paused as the flavor hit my tongue. “It’s very good,” I admitted.
“Much better than Roderick’s cooking,” Lochlan teased. “It won’t hurt to have some more while we wait. Besides, it looks like the person you’re after might be awhile.” He nodded up to the line, where all the royalty from Ebora, Berkway, and Haven Harbor were gathered, greeting each guest in an already-long line.
My jaw locked. I should join the line and wait my turn so I could talk to her, but that would also mean I would be funneled through to meet all the other royalty, most of whom either didn’t trust me or had been forced to pay me exorbitant sums in the past. At least Dahlia understood me, even if she and I weren’t friends.
Elena and Prince Jameson were at the front, cordially greeting each person. Then came Prince Ernst, Jameson’s bookish younger brother. He looked rather bored with the whole proceeding, but Princess Tess, who was standing next to him, was talking animatedly with each person who came through the line, beaming and giving hugs so freely that people often rushed by or skipped Ernst to get to Tess. Tess’s brother Korth was beside her and was formally bowing to each individual. Then there was Dahlia, whose eyes were just as sharp and calculating as mine. There were several delegates from Ebora beyond Dahlia, and the greeting line was moving at a snail’s pace.
An orchestra began playing and couples began taking to the dance floor.
“All right,” I said quietly. “We can wait.”
Lochlan didn’t answer.
I looked around and didn’t see him anywhere. Had he gone to fetch more food or drinks? I moved through the crowd, searching, until I finally spotted him near a refreshment table, talking to the same Nightsworn member I’d seen swooping down upon Elvin.
I hung back, nerves on edge. What could they possibly be talking about? Had she seen us at the slaving warehouse fire and knew we were involved? We’d run away without answering any questions. Or perhaps she had seen Lochlan take me from the warehouse and assumed I was one of the prisoners and he had been kidnapping me. Ought I to go up and explain? Or—unease crept into my stomach—was Lochlan the one who had tipped off the Nightsworn to go raid our original location and simply covered it up well?
My instinct drove me to drift into the shadows and observe from a distance. It didn’t look like their conversation was in any way hostile. Lochlan smiled and nodded, and the woman eventually raised her glass to him then left. The moment she was gone, I slipped up behind Lochlan.
“What did she want?” I breathed. “Does she suspect us from a few days ago?”
He jumped a little. “I didn’t see you come up. And no, nothing like that. She simply recognized me from the knitting booth and was asking about the price of blankets. I believe I’m becoming famous.”
My abdomen unclenched and my shoulders dropped an inch. “Very well-deserved fame. Mable is right, your knitting is the finest in all of Berkway.”
“I wondered if Mable would be here—she always loves weddings. But I haven’t seen her,” Lochlan said. “Sorry to leave you back there; I was pulled away and thought the conversation would be shorter.”
“I’m not defenseless,” I said. “I don’t mind being left alone.”
“It’s poor manners to leave a lady alone during a date, and I promise to not repeat the same mistake. Would you like to dance?”
I hesitated. “I don’t dance.”
“But you can fight, can’t you? Dancing and fighting are almost the same thing.”
I couldn’t prevent a short bark of laughter that escaped me, which didn’t sound at all ladylike. “How so?”
Lochlan slipped a hand around my waist. “You predict your partner’s movements.”
“You mean my opponent?”
