“It’s okay. Have fun.”
I move on to the next person, a man in shorts and a t-shirt. “Excuse me… did you see a tall woman in a blue dress go by?”
“No, Your Highness,” he says, dipping his head. “I didn’t. I’m sorry.”
“No,” I smile. “Don’t apologize.”
I move deeper into the crowd and when a hand wraps around my bicep, I jump.
“It’s just me, Your Highness,” Leo says quietly, and I let out the breath I’ve been holding and nod at the fact it’s him. “What’s going on?”
“I saw a woman over this way,” I explain, “when I was at the maypole with the kids. She was in a blue dress.”
“I know I saw you leave the area and head into the crowd. With no protection officers, I might add,” he says.
“Did you see her too?” I ask, excited that someone else might have seen her as well and I’m not losing my mind. Or maybe I should be sad because it could mean that I’ve already lost my marbles. Shit. I don’t even know.
“Who?”
“The woman,” I shout.
“What woman?”
“The woman I was following,” I tell him. “She was tall and blonde, and she wore a blue dress.”
“I didn’t see her.”
“Rats. Neither did the people I asked.”
“You shouldn’t be questioning people like that,” he says. “It’s unseemly.”
“Who cares? I think it’s Suzanne,” I tell him as he leads me back toward the main part of the party.
“Why would she be at this function?” he asks.
“I don’t know, why wouldn’t she be?” I struggle to keep up with his long-legged stride.
“She knows she can’t get to the King through youor his sister,” he explains in a whisper so only I can hear and not everyone else. “Her better bet would be to go to the event that the King or his brother are attending.”
“Thanks for making me feel irrelevant,” I say.
Leo rolls his eyes. “That’s not what I meant. Besides, I thought you said she was dead.”
“She is dead.”
“Then why would she be at this block party on the far end of the island?” he asks like it’s the most rational question in the world.
“I see what you did there, and I’m not arguing with you about this.”
“That’s fine because it’s time to leave. You need to prepare for today’s investiture,” he says. “So, it doesn’t matter who was in the blue dress after all.”
“This feels wrong,” I tell him. “Something is very wrong.”
“And if that’s the case, then it will still be wrong tomorrow. Or better yet, next week when I can get a chance to look into it,” he says.
“By then I’ll be in some padded cell,” I tell him. Leo just stares at me. “Ugh, fine, I’m being annoying. I’ll be annoying again later.”
“I’m counting on it, Your Highness.”