“I nearly followed you.” He said this quietly as his expression turned inward. “I told myself I’d be a fool, but if I had—”

“No.” She laid her fingertips on his lips. “You couldn’t know what would happen.”

He brushed his lips over her fingers, then took them in his. “I saw you come back in, alone, pale. You were trembling. All I could think was that Bennett had upset you. I reached you just as you were telling Reeve and my father what was happening on the terrace upstairs. You were as white as a sheet and trembling, but you led us back to them.”

“When we got there and I saw the blood and Ben lying on the ground … I thought he was dead.” She closed her eyes a moment, then lowered herself to Alexander. “All I could think was that it wasn’t right, wasn’t fair. He’d been so much alive.” Even with her eyes closed she could see, so she opened them and watched the moonlight. “So long ago, but I’ve never forgotten any of it. When Janet Smithers and Loubet were arrested, I thought it was over and everyone would be safe. And now—”

“Everyone is safe.”

“No.” She lifted her head again and shook it fiercely. “Alex, don’t shut me out of this. The phone call came to me, and the warning. I was there seven years ago to see what Deboque can do from his prison cell. I’m here now.”

“It’s not for you to worry about Deboque.”

“Now you’re treating me like a child, the way you think a woman should be treated.”

He couldn’t prevent his lips from curving. “You can accuse me of that when I have such a sister as Gabriella? Eve, I learned as a child not to expect a woman to like to be coddled. I only mean that you can do nothing about Deboque and that worrying about him is useless.” He ran a fingertip down the side of her face. “If it makes you easier, I can tell you that Reeve is working on a solution.”

“It doesn’t. Every time you leave the palace to perform some duty I’m afraid.”

“Ma belle, I can hardly remain in the palace until Deboque is dead.” Seeing the expression on her face, he kept his voice quiet. It was best she understood, and understood now before they took another step. “Do you think it will end before that? As long as he lives he’ll seek his revenge. It is in Cordina he’s imprisoned.”

“Then have him transferred to another prison.”

“It’s not so simple as that. Deboque knows how long and hard my father worked to put him behind bars.”

“But Reeve said it was Interpol.”