Chapter 23
Hundreds of commoners were streaming into the courtyard, all dressed up and chattering excitedly with each other as they were ushered into their seats.
I couldn’t help comparing myself to the other women filing in.
They all looked beautiful and carried themselves so differently than I did.
Most women had their hand on a man’s elbow as Lochlan had tried to get me to do, but I simply couldn’t bring myself to imitate them.
Lochlan and I were walking close enough that it should be obvious we were together.
In a flash, I wondered what I would do if another woman flirted with Lochlan.
Then I had the terrifying thought of what Lochlan would do if another woman flirted with him.
But I needn’t have worried.
Even though other women had more makeup, fancier hair, and more revealing dresses, Lochlan didn’t look their way even once.
He kept smiling at me and walked ahead of me through the crowd until we found some seats.
I couldn’t help but be relieved that Lochlan wasn’t insisting on escorting me or demanding to hold my hand.
I was already uncomfortable enough without having to monitor how sweaty my palms were.
Several rows up from us, I spotted Elvin among the crowd, cleverly positioned close to a man on one of the bounty posters back on the wall at the Syndicate safehouse.
Elvin didn’t give me a second glance; he was too focused on his target.
A whole side of the courtyard was lined with uniformed Nightsworn, watching for people to do exactly what Elvin was likely planning.
I scanned their faces and was surprised to see a woman among the sea of men.
I’d assumed that all of the Nightsworn were male, but the woman looked to be perhaps fifty years old, with gray streaked liberally through her dark hair, all pulled into a severe bun at the top of her head.
“We don’t need to worry about them,” Lochlan breathed in my ear. “I’m sure no one will recognize us here. They’re just looking for troublemakers.”
I wasn’t sure I believed that. The woman’s eyes were sweeping the gathered crowd, and when she spotted Elvin, she was upon him within seconds.
I smothered a smile as she grabbed his upper arm in a vice-like grip and hauled him out of his seat and away from the crowd.
It was no wonder Ambrose always had to give Elvin the simplest bounties.
He was too obvious. I kept my head bowed so he wouldn’t notice me as he was dragged past and found that Lochlan was doing the same.
We caught each other’s eye and muffled our quiet laughter.
“I don’t see anyone from Ebora yet,” I said, looking through the crowd. “I used to know several people there before I came here to Berkway.”
“It looks like there are a few representatives over that way,” Lochlan said, nodding toward a group of middle-aged men talking and laughing together on the other side of the courtyard.
One of the men broke away to greet a beautiful blonde woman who I instantly recognized. I quietly inhaled.
“What?” Lochlan asked, following my gaze.
“That’s Dahlia,” I breathed to Lochlan. “She was a key member of the rebellion to overthrow King Raquel, and she’s engaged to Prince Korth of Haven Harbor.
I’ve spoken to her before.” I neglected to add that she had hired bounty hunters in the past and forced Korth to pay hefty bounties directly to me so Ambrose didn’t take his usual cut.
Hope swelled in my chest. Dahlia had practically been raised in Ebora’s castle under King Raquel’s rule.
She would’ve known the other servants and was sure to have known my mother if my mother had been sold to King Raquel.
I stood, fully intending to march over and ask, but trumpets blared.
The ceremony was about to begin. Dahlia was seated near the front, along with Prince Korth and his sister Princess Tess.
I didn’t take my eyes off Dahlia for the entire duration of the ceremony.
I barely heard anything that the wedding officiant said and completely ignored the vows Prince Jameson and Elena exchanged.
They would inevitably be some sort of sappily sweet promises to always love each other or whatnot.
I could have burned a hole in the side of Dahlia’s head from how intensely I stared.
The opportunity to find out what had happened to my mother was here, and I would not pass it up.
If only I had been able to ask before. I’d just never known that she might have that information.
And now, she was only half a courtyard away.
There was no way I would let her slip away unnoticed after the ceremony without talking to her first. I’d tackle her if I needed to.
Lochlan seemed to actually be paying attention to the wedding ceremony and applauded when the bride and groom kissed after the officiant pronounced them husband and wife.
I clapped automatically and finally looked up at the couple when everyone stood.
Elena was radiantly beautiful. I barely even recognized her; she looked so vastly different from the dirty, famished girl I’d known aboard Tyrone’s ship.
She and her husband glowed with happiness as they looked at each other, that same adoration shining out of their eyes that I’d seen on couples before, and I felt another twinge of jealousy again.
What would it be like to be completely and utterly adored like that?
I could only imagine how much they must love each other. Would anyone ever love me like that?
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.
“I am sure,” 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 blend in?” 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?