Ariana POV
You could feel the tension in the air, hanging thick and foglike over the city and the palace. Inside the grand front entrance hall, Ariana stood with Dimitri. The electric lights in the castle had been dimmed, and the staff had lit the torches that lined the hall, just for that atmospheric Gothic romantic effect.
"Do we really need all this?" she queried. "It's over the top."
Dimitri gave her a puzzled look. "We want them to think we're helpless. The lights are low and no one is home. They think we're dead, remember?"
"Oh. Right."
He had the memory issues, but
She was restless. Now that her concern for Dimitri was a little appeased, she could think about her family, whom she'd left in enemy hands.
WHY had she done that? Aunt Sally, Uncle Bill, her grandfather, her uncle ... why did she leave them? She felt physically ill and shaky all the time, but couldn't give in. Guilt wouldn't accomplish anything.
