Page 7 of Captured

She lifted a brow, but the panicked relief on her face was unmistakable. He barely avoided smirking as she squinted back at him. “How do you know I won’t try to escape from there?”

Then he did smirk. “No windows.”

She was back out into the main room faster than he would have expected, somehow looking fresher, smoother. As if she’d come out of a spa instead of a utilitarian washroom. Their brief separation had done little to improve her mood, however. “I should have you reported for restraining me. You had no right.”

“Your safety is my primary concern this evening, after my duty to my country, and your safety required me to haul you along while I reported in to Cyril. Besides, I figured if you did wake up and realized where you were, you’d have tried to get away without anyone noticing, especially if you thought I was on a command phone call. Which I was. Couldn’t take the risk.”

“I could have screamed.”

“Nope. Not and look like the drunk, spoiled little rich girl that you are. That wouldn’t exactly fit with the whole haughty-bitch thing you’ve got going on, would it?”

Anger flashed between them so hot, he was surprised his eyebrows weren’t singed. “How dare you,” she seethed.

“There’s pretty much nothing I wouldn’t dare, princess.” He held the door for her, and she stomped out in front of him. They entered the courtyard again, and she looked around, clearly trying to get her bearings.

“This is the military compound attached to the palace.”

“Yup.” He pointed. “We go that way.”

She hesitated for a second, then fell into step with him. “We’ve been through this area before, and there’s a corridor to the main building. Why take me around to the front?”

He flashed her a smile. It was easy to bait her when she stepped so easily into the trap every time. “Cameras line that corridor and feed directly into the royal residence. Who knowsif they’re being monitored, but they’re definitely recording. You really want to be seen sneaking into the main castle with a captain of the ONSF? That’s a sure way to get some talk started.”

She might have blushed, he couldn’t tell. But her words, when they came, were frostbitten. “I assure you, I couldn’t care less about what you people think of me.”

“Most of us, no,” he said, enjoying himself far too much, but he didn’t care. A beautiful clear night in Oûros, and he escorted a stunningly gorgeous woman back to her bed. There were worse ways to spend the evening. “But you do seem to admire the queen. It’d be a pity if her opinion of you changed, and for what reason? We’re doing nothing wrong.”

She opened her mouth to issue a retort, then shut it again. After a few moments of stony silence, they exited a small, automated gate with the help of Dimitri’s pass card and stepped out onto the wide paved sidewalk. From here it was a five-minute walk to the front gates of the palace. Not yet midnight, and the American’s wits were coming back to her with every deep breath of the sweet night air.

Her witsandher sharp tongue. “Who put you up to this?” she asked. “Who assigned you to me?”

This, he would need to dance around. “No one,” he lied. “When the evening ended and you weren’t with your friends, I got suspicious. They said you’d gone to bed early, but there was no record of that on the cameras.”

“You’re watching me?”

“We watch everyone, princess.” He didn’t try to tamp down the amusement in his voice. “What the camerasdidshow was you out in the front terraced gardens, wandering through the flowers—until you weren’t.” Kristos had fed him this information, and what Lauren didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him.

“You have cameras in the gardens too?” She sounded dubious, but he let her stew in those thoughts on her own. Therewere cameras in the gardens, of course. But he wasn’t actually in charge of palace security. He wasn’t even usually in charge of the blonde’s security. She’d become his pet project at Kristos’s behest, and mostly because she was the least predictable of the four girls who were now official guests of the royal house of Oûros. In his work, Dimitri didn’t appreciate unpredictable. Unpredictable caused problems. And this time, above all others, should be a period of calm and contentment for the royal family. They’d had enough problems to last a lifetime. Even one as long as his.

“It was Emmaline, wasn’t it?”

He blinked at her. “What?”

“Emmaline. That’s who asked you to track me. She worries too much about everyone but herself.”

They were coming around the final corner now, with the palace walls before them, the gates open, guards stationed every few feet. They nodded easily to Dimitri, their eyes sweeping over Lauren with no judgment. He glanced at her and could see why. She didn’t look like she’d been passed-out drunk a bare half hour before. She looked cool, clean, unmussed.

Perfect.

They cleared the gates and followed the lit walkway up to the main palace. He didn’t want to ruin the moment with more talk. He already suspected their time was short, circumscribed by their stations and temperaments. But the American had asked a question, and he was bound to respond. “Not Emmaline. Standard procedure only, princess. Sorry to disappoint.”

“Hmm.” They took the last few steps to reach the front doors of the castle, doors that were opened promptly by smartly dressed staff who ushered them into the grand foyer. Lauren didn’t get more than ten feet inside when she turned to Dimitri. “I can find the rest of the way myself. Thank you so much for your escort. It was a lovely walk.”

He gave her a short bow, but he could feel the moment when her gaze left his body, like a blanket slipping away so that he must face the morning chill. As he straightened, however, he could also immediately identify the stiffness in her body, the way she held herself completely statue-like, as if she was about to break. Only this time, she wasn’t looking at him.

“What,” she asked very quietly, “is that?”

Her eyes were fixed on the antechamber beyond him, a shallow, cream-colored room with a long table and ornate shelving, used as a staging area for the endless flow of petitions, gifts, and written correspondence that flooded through the palace gates.

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