‘Wilhelmina Priestley.’

Dressed in a green gown trimmed with black Tournai lace, she stood behind her brother Benjamin with a perfectly innocent expression, but Cassian saw it clearly. The moment, just seconds ago, when she shoved Benjamin’s back without mercy at precisely the right instant.

Even when her eyes met Cassian’s, Wilhelmina showed no sign of flustering. She gave him a warm smile, and then her lips moved without a sound to ask.

‘Did you see that?’

Unbelievable.

He had to admit it. Wilhelmina’s technique was not only swift but clean. This was not the kind of skill that came from doing something once or twice.

Better than expected. The moment that judgment formed, Cassian naturally worked his facial muscles into an expression of polite apology toward the people around him.

“Excuse me. My appointment has just arrived, it seems. I’m afraid I must be going.”

“Your appointment, surely not…”

After enjoying the sight of Count Wilbright showing genuine flustering for the first time, Cassian stepped past him and extended a hand toward Wilhelmina.

“Shall we, Miss Priestley.”

An undignified wave of shock rippled through the crowd.

“What is the meaning of…”

“His prior appointment is… Miss Priestley?”

Through the sea of gaping, wide-eyed faces, Wilhelmina walked out with easy composure. Her gliding, ladylike steps brought her forward, and her hand came to rest lightly atop Cassian’s.

“But then…”

Someone standing behind them muttered in a daze.

“Surely the ferryman of the River Tess wasn’t referring to His Highness the Duke of Clifford?”

“Keep your voice down! Everyone can hear you!”

Everyone heard.

But Wilhelmina didn’t bat an eye. Cassian, escorting her, lowered his voice and asked.

“Should I say it’s an honor to witness such impressive skill?”

“Think nothing of it.”

“With such remarkable problem-solving ability, I trust you naturally have a plan for what we should do from here.”

“But of course.”

Walking alongside Cassian’s escort, Wilhelmina kept her gaze fixed straight ahead and replied.

“We run.”

“Surely you’re not suggesting we let everyone watch us head to the balcony alone together on top of everything else?”

Wilhelmina’s eyebrow shot up as she turned to look at him.

“I beg your pardon, Your Highness.”

The hazel eyes, stripped of all amusement, flashed like a bird of prey.

“Have you lost your mind?”

“No.”

Even as he answered, Cassian made no effort to suppress the smile that kept slipping out. Perhaps because of that, Wilhelmina spoke with an expression that refused to shed its suspicion.

“Listen carefully, Your Highness.”

“Yes, I’m listening.”

“First, never again utter a dangerous word in a place like this that would send Winstor’s gossips into a frenzy.”

“The balcony, you mean?”

In place of an answer, Wilhelmina brought her heel down on the toe of Cassian’s shoe. Firmly.

“And second.”

The warning that one more word of nonsense would earn him a crushed instep next time came through perfectly clearly without needing to be said aloud.

“There is only one way to hold a private conversation away from prying eyes at an event like this.”

“And what would that be?”

Right on cue, the orchestra struck up a new dance. Wilhelmina rolled her eyes with an eloquent look and tilted her head.

“Dancing, Your Highness.”

Beneath the blaze of the grand chandelier, couples were pairing off and gathering to take their places for the waltz.

Following Wilhelmina’s lead into the crowd, Cassian soon found himself conceding that her idea was a good one.

“People who are dancing tend to have eyes only for each other. Or, well.”

Wilhelmina gave a slightly crooked smile.

“They have to at least pretend they do.”

Ah. Cassian grinned and nodded.

“I take your point.”

Whatever his unfamiliarity with the workings of a ballroom as a place of leisure and luxury, Cassian’s dancing itself was not particularly objectionable. Not especially impressive either, but on that point Wilhelmina was in no position to say anything, being in much the same situation.

“Using your brother as a rather effective shield was quite impressive.”

When they completed the first gentle rotation in time with the music, Cassian finally spoke.

“I’ve long heard that the Priestley siblings share a remarkable bond, but I never knew the way they demonstrated it could be quite so original.”

“Your Highness demonstrated quite originally that it has been a very long time since your last ball.”

“I suppose that’s fair to say.”

Cassian agreed with perfect ease, showing not the slightest trace of embarrassment at his own rustiness.

“Aren’t you a little too comfortable admitting that?”

“Admitting a fact doesn’t require any particular effort. While we’re on the subject.”

Drawing Wilhelmina into a half-embrace as her skirts swirled and spun, Cassian whispered low near her ear.

“Won’t you pay me a little something for the pleasure of watching my sorry state?”

“Pardon? ‘Sorry state’?”

Wilhelmina’s eyebrow flew up before she could stop it.

“That’s a rather deceptive choice of words.”

“In what way?”

“In what way, you ask?”

She slipped neatly out of his hold. The green silk brushed softly against his leg, smooth as a fish’s fin.

“You used yourself as bait, laid out a grand chessboard, and sat back to watch how I proved my worth on it.”

Cassian only smiled with easy composure at the sharp reframing. Wilhelmina held a pointed look on him for a moment, then executed a neat turn and finished her thought.

“In any case, I’d say ‘sorry state’ is a rather ill-fitting description for someone in that position.”

He was a man who could have extracted himself from that situation a hundred times over if he chose to. He could have chosen not to show his face at this irreverent ball in the first place.

And yet there was only one reason Cassian stood there exercising patience in the middle of that tiresome crowd. He wanted to verify whether Wilhelmina was truly the useful card she claimed to be.

Cassian smiled slightly. Then he gave an easy nod.

“I won’t bother denying it.”

Just as Wilhelmina raised her hazel eyes and moved to fire something back at him, Cassian suddenly pulled her toward him in one swift motion.

“……!”

To onlookers it would appear a minor stumble caused by a sharp turn in the waltz, but Wilhelmina, as the person it happened to, could tell. This was entirely deliberate.

“I surrender.”

The moon-like eyes looking down at her from close range held a deep, warm amusement.

“You were right.”

A soft shiver ran through her.

The composure with which Cassian conceded defeat was almost uncanny. All the more so considering that most men would sooner drown face-first in the River Tess than admit to being bested by a woman.

That easy flexibility told Wilhelmina at least one clear truth.

This man was not trapped in the same stale and petty prison of masculinity as the other men she dealt with.

Which also meant he was a far more difficult person to handle than she expected.

“I need you.”

That whispered voice.

Despite the suffocating corset cinched tight around her and the dress layered over it, Wilhelmina thought she could pinpoint the exact position of his fingers grazing the seam of the stiff whalebone stitching.

Perhaps because every sense was sharper than usual. Wilhelmina could see with perfect clarity what the man smiling at her with beautifully folded eyes intended. In that vivid certainty, she summoned her defiance and smiled back.

“Your Highness’s strategy…”

The music carried them apart once more.