I won’t be able to do that. I’m not here to socialize.”
Panic spiked within me. Until I remembered that the suitors hadn’t been told that they were here for me, just for “opportunities.”
I took an urgent step towards him. “Whatever business you’re here for, be it trade or connections, I’m sure I can help you smooth out the process.”
For the first time tonight, he stepped away, putting more distance between us. “What I’m here for is a little more specific than that.”
“And what is that?”
“The girl I’ve been searching for.”
The whole world bated its breath for a long, exquisite moment. If my heart were a nightingale, this would be the moment it burst into song.
That was why he was refusing to see “Zafira” again.
He was here for me.
Little did he know that he’d already found me. That he was the one I wanted. Even if my life didn’t depend on it.
“There you are!”
The shrill yell fell on my tingling nerves like a lash.
Meira. I had forgotten all about her, and about everything else.
Groaning inwardly, I made a staying gesture at him, before turning to run back to her.
“Do you have any idea what we went through looking for you?” she yelled again as she rushed towards me from the ballroom. “We thought that wolf-man ate you!”
I met her halfway, lifting my mask partially to grit between my teeth, “Go away, Meira. I’m in the middle of something important.”
“Well, nothing can be as important as the Grand Duke of Opona! He has finally arrived.”
“What are you talking about? He arrived long ago.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“Meira, I’ve been talking to him for a quite a while. See, he’s right—there…” I turned, pointing at Reynard—and found nothing but moonlight pouring over the spot where he’d been.
He was gone!
Chapter Five
It was as if Reynard had disappeared into thin air.
My handmaidens had insisted they hadn’t seen him with me, so I’d armed them with his description, and sent them off looking for him.
It was a couple of fruitless hours of searching later when I’d finally gathered enough wits to realize Leander could find him for me.
I’d caught up with Leander when he’d been seeing off the last of our guests, pouncing on him with my breathless demands that he find Reynard.
Leander had looked down at me in total confusion, then had dismissed my hovering handmaidens, and gently led me to his quarters.
After listening to my account of the incredible man who’d saved me from Lycaon, and I’d thought the Grand Duke of Opona, Leander finally shook his head.
“It turns out the real Prince Nikolai, while here for a bride, it’s not for himself. He wants you for one of his younger brothers, as it appears heirs to the Oponan throne are required to marry fellow mages, to ensure powerful magical offspring.”
I stopped mid-pace, threw my hands up. “Who cares about him or his younger brothers or their magical offspring! I told you I already found the perfect candidate. Now all you have to do is find him for me!”
Leander exhaled, dropping onto a couch as I resumed pacing agitatedly. “You want me to find this man, who came out of nowhere, then vanished into thin air? The man no one else but you saw?”
“Are you implying I imagined him?” I turned on him, indignant.
“I’m only saying that your handmaidens didn’t see you dancing with him, or talking to him outside. Then you turned, and he was gone. When you were on a terrace a hundred feet above ground. Not even magical people can do that so quickly, not without portals and elaborate spells.”
“I’m not delusional, Leo! Wait—Lycaon can attest to his being real!”
Leander exhaled angrily, his eyes escaping mine as if in shame. “Lycaon is long gone. I was told too late of new information that made me realize I made a grave mistake inviting him. Thank the Fates you escaped his clutches before he had a chance to—turn you.”
“Turn…? You mean he could have made me into a werewolf?” I squawked, my stomach turning with the remembered horror of my encounter with him. So I’d been right to be terrified of him.
Which also meant my gut instincts were as accurate about Reynard.
Leander began to apologize and I waved. “It’s not important. I’m fine. Because the man who saved me is real. And now you must find him for me.”
My intensity must have gotten to him, as he sat forward, the eyes that were so much like mine dead serious. “Apart from the facts that he