Page 95 of To Catch A Rogue

Lark glanced toward Sergey. "I don't think you'd like my answer. But perhaps you should think of who benefited the most from the deaths of the Grigorievs. Because if Dmitri was involved then he would have been the new Prince of Tsaritsyn. And yet, another stepped into that role and Dmitri vanished."

The music started drawing to an end. They slowed, rocking to a halt.

"That's a dangerous accusation," Nikolai said. "The Prince of Tsaritsyn has been nothing but loyal to his family."

"If he was loyal, then why has he not seen his cousin raised in his place? Sergey was behind Nikolai in the line of succession. It seems odd to see him raised above him. If, indeed, Nikolai survived."

"Perhaps his cousin wanted to vanish. Perhaps he wanted nothing to do with this world."

Lark drew away from him, but he held on to her fingertips.

"And if his sister survived? What then?" Nikolai murmured, searching her eyes. "Which one would she be? Yekaterina? Or Irina?"

God, Tin Man would be turning over in his grave right now.

But what if this manwasher brother?

She was almost entirely convinced.

"Which one would you think?"

He considered her for a long moment, especially her dark hair. "Irina. She would be Irina. She always had too smart a tongue for her mouth. Come. Walk with me."

He gestured toward the terrace outside.

Dark gardens. A dozen places for an ambush.

Her eyes lit upon Charlie, glaring at her from behind a nearby column. His fingers danced when he saw he'd caught her attention."What the hell are you doing?"

"Unfortunately, I seem to have a prior engagement," she murmured. "But it was lovely to talk to you."

"Who is he?" Nikolai demanded.

"Have you not discovered that yet?"

"'Charlie Todd' means nothing to me." The way he said it sent a chill down her spine.

"Well, Charlie Todd means everything to me," she whispered, face-to-face with him. "And if anything were to happen to him I would destroy whoever harmed him. I would burn his world down around him so that the fires of his tragic past would seem a fond memory."

Nikolai smiled, just faintly. "You should never reveal your hand, little bird. Only those with nothing to lose are safe in this world."

"Strange. I thought those with everything to lose were far more dangerous. A man with nothing to lose has nothing to fight for."

She saluted him with a tip of the chin before she turned and slipped through the crowd, her heart pounding against the crush of her corset.

* * *

The sightof Lark in another man's arms felt like swallowing a bunch of nails.

Charlie forced himself to watch her dance, grinding his teeth to keep his emotions from escaping. There had to be a reasonable explanation.

The stranger had been there at Grigoriev Palace that night. He'd barely caught a glimpse of the bastard, but something about the way he moved made his identity clear.

When Charlie burst in, the pair of them had been staring at each other like two cats suddenly merging on each other's territory, and there'd been a knife at Lark's throat.

But the way they glared at each other as they danced made the hairs down his neck rise.

Pushing away from the stranger, she moved through the crowd like an automaton, her face shocked and pale. Far too pale. Charlie started to hurry after her. Something was wrong.