Chapter 330: v4 - 31: how to get her alone?

Chapter 330: v4 Chapter 31: how to get her alone?

Cassian had spent most of the morning thinking about Marian.

He had not seen her since the banquet.

That alone was beginning to irritate him.

He had discovered the previous day that she spent most of her time inside the Emperor’s private apartments, which made seeing her again considerably more difficult than he had anticipated.

Still, he had hoped there might be some opportunity.

There wasn’t.

The morning passed without a glimpse of her.

By midday, Cassian had nearly given up on seeing her at all.

Then came the afternoon gathering.

And Marian was there.

Cassian noticed her almost immediately.

She stood beside Adrian, dressed beautifully, her golden hair catching the light whenever she moved.

For a moment, he could not take his eyes off her.

She looked almost exactly as he remembered, though memory could not possibly have captured the woman she had become.

In fact, she looked better than anything he had imagined.

Six years had passed. She had grown more beautiful, but she was still unmistakably the same Marian he knew—or at least, she was as far as he could tell.

The way she stood.

The slight movement of her head when listening.

The expression that appeared whenever something amused her.

After considerable effort, Cassian finally looked away before he could linger too long.

He knew he had to be discreet.

He spoke with several members of the Milician delegation instead.

Or tried to.

His attention kept drifting back toward her.

Marian remained beside Adrian for most of the gathering.

Cassian began to wonder whether there would ever be an opportunity to speak to her.

Unfortunately, he was not exactly short of company himself.

Several imperial ladies had already approached him.

They had clearly been waiting for an opportunity, drawn by the novelty of the visiting marquess and the attention he had attracted since arriving at court.

They came with easy smiles and practiced curiosity, their interest hardly concealed beneath polite conversation.

Their Milician was barely understandable, softened by the court’s accent and made more difficult by the way they spoke around their smiles.

One of them tilted her head and asked whether Milician men were always so serious.

"Only when they are being watched," Cassian replied.

The lady blinked, then laughed softly.

"Ah. Then perhaps we should stop watching you."

Her pronunciation was so delicate that Cassian had to concentrate to understand her.

Another leaned closer and asked whether the journey had been difficult.

"Not particularly."

"Then you must have been eager to arrive," she said.

"Very."

The answer made them exchange glances.

One murmured something to the other in Imperial, too quickly for him to follow.

The second lady covered her mouth, but not before Cassian saw the smile spreading across her face.

They laughed together.

Cassian understood enough to know that he was the subject of their amusement.

He pretended not to understand a word.

"Is something amusing?" he asked in Milician.

The ladies immediately composed themselves.

"Nothing," one said.

"Nothing at all," added another, though her eyes were still bright with laughter.

Cassian gave them a polite smile.

He had no difficulty speaking with them.

That was precisely the problem.

They were coy, playful, and entirely too pleased with themselves. Their questions came wrapped in teasing, their smiles lingering a moment too long. Whenever he answered, they exchanged another quick remark in Imperial, then laughed together as though they had shared some private joke.

Cassian continued pretending not to understand.

He answered their questions with the appropriate degree of warmth, even when one of them touched his sleeve lightly and asked whether the fashions in Milicia were truly as severe as his coat.

"Severe?"

"Elegant," she corrected, though the word came out uncertainly in his language.

The ladies laughed again.

This time, one whispered something in Imperial that Cassian understood perfectly.

He chose not to show it.

His mind remained elsewhere.

Every so often, his gaze found Marian again.

She was still beside Adrian.

Cassian had begun to wonder whether she would remain there for the entire afternoon.

Then, at some point, he looked toward her again.

She was gone.

His eyes moved across the room.

For a moment, he could not find her.

Then he spotted her at the buffet table.

She was closer than he had expected.

Only a few steps separated them.

For the first time since returning to the Empire, Cassian could see her face clearly without having to search for her across a crowded room. He could see the slight movement of her brows, the way her eyes moved over the selections before her, the subtle changes in her expression as she considered what to take.

He could see her.

Not as a distant figure beside Adrian.

Not as the woman he had spent six years remembering.

But as Marian.

Right there.

Close enough that if he crossed those few steps, he could reach her in moments. Close enough to speak to her without raising his voice. Close enough to see her expression without having to guess at it.

The realization struck him with unexpected force.

This was the nearest he had been to her since returning to the Empire.

For six years, he had carried only memories of her—her face, her expressions, the small details he had once known without thinking.

Now she was only a few steps away.

Near enough that the years between them suddenly felt far less real.

For a moment, Cassian simply watched her.

She was alone.

He could walk over casually. He could pretend he had come for a drink, or perhaps ask whether she recommended anything from the Imperial table. It would be simple enough.

At least, it should have been.

His gaze shifted toward Adrian.

The Emperor was still speaking with one of the Imperial ministers.

But his attention was not entirely on the conversation.

He was looking at Marian.

Cassian noticed immediately.

Adrian did not seem suspicious.

At least, Cassian had no reason to think he was.

But if Cassian crossed the room now and approached Marian while Adrian was watching, that could change.

It would be too deliberate.

Too noticeable.

He could not risk giving Adrian a reason to wonder why the visiting Marquess of Valmere seemed so interested in his wife.

Not when he had spent so long making certain that no one questioned who Carlo truly was.

Cassian looked back toward Marian.

For a moment, he considered going anyway.

He could approach her casually.

Say something about the refreshments.

Offer some harmless courtesy.

But Adrian’s attention remained somewhere near them.

Cassian decided against it.

Not yet.

He would have to find another opportunity.

The women around him continued talking.

One asked him something in Milician.

Another immediately followed with another question.

Cassian answered politely, though he barely registered either.

He wanted them to stop talking.

Just for a moment.

He wanted to hear Marian’s voice.

Instead, he played the part of the foreign gentleman, offering the appropriate smiles and courteous replies while his attention remained fixed elsewhere.

Then Marian looked up.

Their eyes met.

Cassian went still.

For a moment, everything around him seemed to disappear.

She was looking directly at him.

There was something in her expression that he couldn’t decipher.

Questioning.

Uncertainty.

Something else he could not name.

He had not given himself away.

He was certain of that.

He had been careful from the moment he entered the Empire. He had spoken only Milician. He had introduced himself as Carlo. Nothing in his conduct should have revealed who he was.

So the thought that she had recognized him felt almost impossible.

And yet—

She was looking at him.

Really looking at him.

For one brief moment, Cassian wanted to cross the room.

He wanted to go to her.

Then his eyes shifted toward Adrian.

The Emperor was still watching Marian.

Cassian stopped himself.

Not here.

Not when approaching her so openly might make Adrian start asking questions.

Before he could think any further, Marian looked away.

Cassian remained where he was.

He could not understand what had just happened.

Perhaps she had only noticed him looking at her.

Perhaps she had simply been curious about the foreign marquess standing among the imperial ladies.

That made more sense.

It had to.

Because if she had recognized him—

Cassian’s thoughts stalled.

He didn’t want to finish the thought.

What would it mean if she had recognized him, only to turn around and return to Adrian?

He watched as Marian went back to her husband and slipped her arm through his.

Adrian glanced down at her.

Marian said something to him.

He answered.

She smiled.

Cassian looked away.

If she had recognized him, then she had known exactly what she was doing.

She had looked at him.

She had known who he was.

And then she had simply returned to Adrian.

As though she had nothing to say to him.

As though she had no reason to care.

Cassian felt something tighten in his chest.

No.

That could not be what it meant.

Perhaps she had not recognized him after all.

Perhaps she had only seen a stranger watching her.

That was easier to believe.

Much easier.

He lowered his gaze and forced himself to return his attention to the women surrounding him.

He played the foreign gentleman.

But his mind was no longer with them.

It was with Marian.

With the way she had looked at him.

With the possibility that she might somehow have recognized him despite everything.

And with the far more troubling possibility that she had recognized him—

and simply didn’t care.

Cassian glanced toward her once more.

She was still beside Adrian, her arm linked with his.

He looked away.

Perhaps it was better this way.

At least for now.

But that left him with the same problem he had been trying to solve since arriving.

How was he supposed to get Marian alone?

--

Tbc