People swarmed me, pelting me with questions and comments. What did I think about the marriage? What an interesting dress I’d chosen. Did I love Ericen? I must be so grateful. What did this mean for Rhodairen and Illucian relations? I muttered quick responses or pretended not to hear them. I needed air.

The barrage of people didn’t slow. The responsibility of who I was demanded to be faced. I didn’t know what to say or how to say it. I might not be hiding under my covers anymore, but I still wasn’t Caliza.

A woman stepped in front of me, her skin the color of wet desert sand flecked with gold. She regarded me with keen eyes, a scar across one that had turned it a milky white.

“So Rhodaire has sided with Illucia?” she asked in a light Ambriellan accent.

“No.” I responded without thinking. Who knew who this woman was? She could work for Razel for all I knew. “We’ve entered into negotiations,” I clarified.

Her sharp eyes narrowed. “The type fit only for the Night Captain. The type done in the shadows and that slowly takes your soul.”

I frowned. “I don’t know what you mean. It was this or war. Who are you?”

She looked me up and down, and I felt myself straighten reflexively beneath her critical gaze. When she met my eyes again, there was no warmth in her face. “An ally. An enemy. Who is to say?”

“Wait!”

But she was already moving, slipping between bodies like smoke. I moved after her, but the crowd closed, carrying her away from me. My heart shuddered, and I stumbled back, suddenly unsteady.

I saw Kiva fighting her way through the crowd toward me, then Ericen was at my side, his hand pressing into the small of my back. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” I let out a breath. He nodded, then made to turn away again, but I grabbed his arm. “Where have you been the last few days, Ericen?”

His jaw tightened. “I told you. I had a mission.”

Someone shifted behind him, and Shearen faced us just as Kiva reached my side. Shearen slid an arm over Ericen’s shoulders in what would have been a show of camaraderie if Ericen didn’t stiffen at his touch.

“Don’t be modest, Eri,” Shearen said, though his eyes were on me. “Thanks to you, we escorted the first successful shipment of new additions to Her Majesty’s army through the Verian Hills in months. And killed a few rebels while we were at it.”

I stared, unblinking, at Ericen. He held my gaze like a rabbit in a hunter’s trap, and I realized what was different about him. His eyes, normally bright as the sun on the ocean, looked dull. Like something was missing.

“Thia—”