Page 44 of Captive of the Stolen Empire

His thumb rubbed across my swollen lips. His eyes hooded as if he might start up our kiss again. “I’ll wait for you in my room.”

My room.The words echoed in my head long after he said them, stirring up a mess of butterflies in my stomach. Could he possibly mean his bedchamber?

“Do I look okay?” I touched my braid and gave a poor attempt of straightening my dress as he stepped back, cool air rushing in to calm my senses.

“Like Vespera herself.”

I searched his face for humor but found none. My core tensed, my thighs pressing together under the skirts of my dress. His hand trailed over my hair, down my back, lingering much longer than necessary. “No one will notice,” he promised. “Not if we slip back quickly in case someone is looking for you.”

He laced his hand through mine again as we wandered back toward the light, plumes of wood smoke, music, the shouts and whoops of celebration. “How do I get back?” The coaches wouldn’t leave again until the end of the festival.

“I’ll send a guard to escort you. One you know.” He gave me a reassuring squeeze.

The guards who watched us leave didn’t look twice as we returned, weaving back into the crowd as if we’d never left. At the edge of the ring of dancers, Lucien halted and raised my hand to his lips. The chaste kiss sent my toes curling. “Thank you for the dances, miss.” His eyes glittered with mirth. And promise.

I watched him go as he disappeared into the crowd, navigating between bodies with ease.

Released from the magic of his presence, I could finally think. The fog of my mind started to clear as I looked around for my friends. If Lucien could be here, wandering around like a commoner, would other captains do the same? They always hid their faces, and now I had a suspicion of why. If no one knew what they looked like, they could slip into any place or situation without being spotted.

I’d seen a handful of captains here tonight, but the others…I needed to find Gabriel. The meeting couldn’t happen now, not with so many potential eyes on us. Their farmer might be a captain without his disguise.

And I couldn’t go to the meeting with them. Not now. I finally had an opportunity to get into Lucien’s quarters, to earn his trust and dig for information. But more than that, I wanted to go to him.

Gaze roaming from face to face, I finally spied Elin reclined on the bench I’d long vacated, a young farmer at her side.

She waved to me, a broad smile on her face. Barely a handsbreadth separated her from the young man. Neither moved to increase that distance as I took the open seat next to her.

“Are you alright?” she asked, her pale brow creasing. “You look flushed.”

“I got talked into some dancing, though I’m not very good,” I admitted, hoping that would explain my look.

“It is exhausting.” She brushed a stray hair back from her face. “Especially with the heat of these fires.”

“Who is your friend?” I asked, peeking around her to the man at her side. Hints of youth still clung to his features. If I had to guess, I’d say he was about her age. Possibly a cycle or two older. His soft smile and sparkling eyes spoke of a certain enviable innocence.

“Todrick.” He dipped his head in greeting. “I live on Balberry Farm just outside the city.”

That voice…The fine hairs on the back of my neck rose as I fought to maintain my even features. I recognized it from somewhere, though I still couldn’t place it. “A pleasure,” I said. “Don’t exhaust Lady Elin too much. It wouldn’t do for her delicate feet to grow blisters.”

“Ilya,” she whined.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” The young man’s smile was only for her.

The hint of a blush rose on her cheeks as she stared back at her companion. They could have been in a world unto themselves, one I was suddenly intruding upon. Their bubble of soft sighs pushed me out, but I couldn’t leave, not yet.

“Have you seen Gabriel?” I asked, interrupting their reverie. Elin’s attention drifted back to me as she nodded along before I’d even finished. “It’s just, I am feeling a little odd, and I asked to go back early.”

Her brows wrinkled. The boy’s head cocked to the side. Something about him still tugged at the back of my mind, the thread of recognition just out of reach.

“Not in a little while,” she said.

“I need to talk to him before…”

My words trailed off as realization slapped me in the face. The man sitting next to Elin, who’d danced with her half the night, wasn’t a simple farmer. Warren radiated a gentle warmth so unlike the rest of the captains. I’d caught hints of that through his slitted helm many times on the journey to Zhine and since then. He stiffened ever so slightly as I stared at him.

Lucien wasn’t the only captain parading as a commoner. And when there were two…

“Ilya?” Elin asked, reaching for my hand.

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