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I stared at him with an awful twisting in my stomach. I didn’t know what to tell him.
“Sorry.” He bowed again. “I should return to my sister.”
Wendel’s sister. A Princess of Prussia, no doubt.
I blinked fast. “Wait.”
Wolfram hadn’t heard me, so I grabbed him by the elbow. He gawked at me—commoners probably didn’t touch princes—but I didn’t let him go.
“Wendel came here with me,” I said.
Wolfram’s eyes lit up. “He did?”
“Yes.”
“God, where is he? I thought he was dead.”
I grimaced at the sad desperation in Wolfram’s voice. Wendel must have abandoned me the moment he saw his brother. I hadn’t thought of Wendel as a coward, but it seemed like such a cruel thing to?—
“Ardis!” Wendel lunged from the crowd. “Time to go.”
“Why? What happened?” My hand darted to where my sword should be, but of course I had left Chun Yi locked in our room at the hotel.
Wolfram stepped forward. “Wendel?”
The brothers locked gazes. A moment hung suspended in the air for an eternity. Neither one of them blinked, as if they were each waiting for the other to break first.
Wendel’s jaw hardened. I could see him shutting his emotions off. “Wolfram,” he said, with remarkable calm, “are you here with Juliana?”
“Yes.”
“Find her and make sure she leaves. It isn’t safe here.”
Wolfram’s face crumpled. “You can’t?—”
“What isn’t safe?” Lady Maili fanned herself. “What are you talking about?”
“The Order?” I asked.
Wendel nodded. “Assassins.”
Lady Maili dropped her fan. “You must be mad.”
Wendel clenched his hands and glanced around the ballroom. “Ardis, I can’t stay with you much longer. If they see me talking with you…”
“That would put me in danger,” I finished.
“Don’t leave.” Wolfram straightened, not quite as tall as his brother. “I won’t allow it.”
“Wolfram. You can’t stop me.”
“I haven’t seen you in years.”
Wendel’s shoulders sagged as if overburdened by the weight of reality. “Do as I say and keep Juliana safe.”
“No.”
“I outrank you.”
