Page 8 of Captured

Dimitri turned instinctively, his gaze sweeping the space. There were packages, stacks of flyers, letters. “What?”

“That.” She lifted a hand that had only now begun to tremble, pointing an elegant finger to single out a small, richly wrapped package in black and white. Her face looked stricken, her eyes filled with both a panic and desperation that Dimitri would never have thought possible in someone with as much power and influence as he knew she had back in her glittering ivory towers. “Get it out of here.”

“But what?—”

“Please!” She grabbed his arm and stared into his face for a panicked moment. Then her control crashed down again, her expression lightening, her mouth curving gently into a smile.

But there was no denying the haunted look in her eyes. “Please, if it’s what I think it is, it should be removed from the palace.” Her fingers tightened. “Immediately.”

Five

Lauren tilted her head exactly eighteen degrees, moving her body into a three-point stance that she knew showed her figure off to best advantage. Not that anyone was looking at her, but in her experience, someone was always looking at someone, and she wanted to be prepared.

It was the only armor she had.

Dimitri moved forward rapidly, barking to the guard in terse Oûrois, relaying another order on its heels. King Jasen and Prince Kristos, both to be summoned immediately, once the danger was assessed.

The first blank wash of fear ebbed away as quickly as it had overtaken her. The king and the prince? Over a box? Lauren opened her mouth to take it all back, to play down her reaction, to smooth everything over—but words wouldn’t come right away.

Dimitri stood, scowling down at the package, and she blinked, trying to refocus. “You’re sure?” he growled.

“Yes, sir,” said the young woman in a palace uniform at his side. “Absolutely, sir. Nothing inside.”

Another wave of panic seized her.Relax!she ordered herself, but unlike Dimitri, she wasn’t as good at masking her emotionswhen she wasn’t the center of attention. It was as if she could only dance on the marionette’s strings when the curtain was up. Something she needed to work on, but?—

Then eyes were upon her once again, and her training kicked in. She lifted her chin, willing her expression to clear as Dimitri scowled in her direction. “You know who sent this?”

“I thought I did.” She nodded, unsure how to play this.Go with something he can understand, something simple, easy. Something not insane.“That—that packaging is a signature look of someone I know, someone who plays with electronics, tracking devices, that sort of thing.”

Dimitri’s brows went up. “Tracking. Who is this person?”

She blinked at him. “Oh, um.”Stupid!She should have known he’d ask that question first, and Henry Smithson was no more a tech-head than she was. But he was dangerous, at least to her, and he or one of his stooges could quite easily enter the castle grounds if he wanted to. His little present proved that clearly enough. What if he was here, in the city? What if she truly had something to worry about?

“Who is it?” Dimitri asked again, and she shook herself back to the present.

“Henry Smithson—he’s not a criminal.”Not exactly.“He’s just—a friend. Of the family’s. Who sometimes likes to play games.”And oh, the games he played.

“Henry Smithson.” Dimitri flicked a glance to a man standing at the side of the room, then back to her. “American?”

“Expat. Lives part time in England, part time in...I don’t know. Wherever it suits him, I guess. I thought he was in Brazil. But again, he’s not going to be in any criminal database. He’s simply a very rich man who...”

“Likes to play games.” Without saying anything further, Dimitri appeared to dismiss the woman at his side, who turnedand left silently. Dimitri waved the box toward Lauren. “What else has he sent?”

She managed a shrug. “What do you mean?”

“He’s sent you other things, in boxes like this. You or perhaps your family, but I’m thinking it’s you. What? And when did it start?”

Smile, dammit. Tell him something that makes sense. “Well, the reason why I was alarmed...He’d send digital recorders with conversations of my voice that I couldn’t imagine how he’d captured. But it wasn’t all bad.” Smile.Smile. Wave your hand. “He’d also send chocolate and jewelry, clothing sometimes.” And also dead things. Scorpions. Locks of hair from her own head or her sister’s. Newspaper clippings of injured friends. “It became a little unnerving because I didn’t know what it might be, or why he might be sending them.”

“And always in this type of box?” He gestured with the package again, and Lauren fought not to get queasy.

“Yes, I’m so sorry. Looking at it now, it’s an ordinary box, I know. Black paper and white ribbon isn’t that distinctive. But, well, it’s what he always uses. And that’s why I didn’t want it in the palace. I thought—well, I thought it was some sort of recorder, but...” She shook her head. “If you say the box was empty, then I’m so sorry. I must be completely turned around.” She lifted a hand to her mouth, feigning mortification. She didn’t need to act all that convincingly. “Or maybe a bit tipsy.”

Dimitri didn’t waver. “Does this Smithson know you’re here?”

Her stomach knotted. “I didn’t think so, but...”

He spoke her next thought aloud. “The paparazzi.” His scowl deepened. “In the wake of Emmaline and Kristos’s announcement, and all the coverage that followed. If you weren’t on his radar screen before, you are now. You say he’s a friend of your family’s? Or of yours?”

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