They were running out of time.
   He needed to find out why she had snuck out of the ball to lurk around this courtyard, then sneak them both back into the crowded ballroom. He also had to deal with the very dead Viscount in the fountain. Although, due to time constraints, the order of these priorities may need to shift.
   “We find ourselves currently in a position where if we do not act prudently, we could find ourselves in an even more difficult situation.” He sighed and moved closer. He didn’t fail to notice how she tensed at his movements, the arm lying at her side twitching, before she forced herself to relax. She was still wary of him.
   “As a lady alone in a dark garden with a possible murderer, I would say that I’m already in a precarious situation, Nick.” Her soft voice flowed out, carrying a hint of amusement. It was the current trend for young ladies to cultivate a tone that tinkled, like the sound of bells. Lady Serena’s voice, however, didn’t tinkle. It lilted. He much preferred it. Nicholas swore that it was a concerted effort by the whole of high society to drive him out of ballrooms with the affected, high-pitched twittering. Her smooth, dulcet voice, however, left one wanting to hear more. 
   He noted her use of that overly familiar form of address again. Even his family had only ever called him Nicholas. No one had ever dared to give him a pet name before. For some reason, it didn’t bother him, coming from her. 
With a silent sigh, Nicholas mentally calculated how long they had been missing from the ballroom. It had already been at least three-quarters of an hour. Too long. He was sure that her absence had already been noted. The fortune hunters were sure to be circling, their calculating gazes focused on her and her plump dowry.
   Thinking about all the young aristocrats scheming after her for money left him feeling unsettled, as if he were a cat whose fur had been rubbed the wrong way. Shaking his head, he chose to put that away, along with the unsettled feeling of familiarity that the look in her eyes had given him. 
   The rumors about her had always emphasized her quiet and reserved personality. The descriptions he had heard had always mentioned how obedient and demure she was. If he hadn’t recognized her eyes, practically identical to the Countess’s, and her hair, not a common shade, he would question if he had identified her correctly. The woman who was reclining next to the pool where a dead man floated as if she were taking tea in her own garden was anything but shy and retiring. That earned a small amount of his respect. A resource he didn’t give out lightly.
She was clever. The way she had adapted to the situation tonight was a testament to that. Seemingly unbothered by the situation or him. If he were to use the numerous young ladies that his mother kept insisting on introducing to him as a template for the breed, she should be in hysterics by now. Or at the very least, spilling everything they know to extricate themselves from this mess. If she were an average young lady. 
   Lady Serena, however, had turned his subtle interrogation back on him and even accused him of being the murderer. The way she had been verbally sparring with him was beyond the capabilities of most Lords, let alone their daughters. 
   He chose not to think about how easily she had slipped out of his hold. It might be time to add some sparring sessions with the Guards to his schedule. If even such a petite young lady could get away from him, he might have been too neglectful of his training in recent days. 
   “Well, we find ourselves at a bit of an impasse. I can assure you that I am not, in fact, the culprit. But you don’t have the luxury of having followed me from the ballroom as I did you, so I have no way to definitively prove my innocence to you.” He shrugged nonchalantly, taking a small bit of satisfaction at the fleeting look of irritation that crossed her face. So she hadn’t realized she had been followed. That eased the pinch to his ego he’d been feeling. And she wasn’t happy about it, which confirmed that she wasn’t meeting someone here. Concealment had been her aim. So what had she come here to secretly observe?
   “Unless, of course, you were lurking in the gardens in hopes of being forced into an engagement with a possible murderer because of the Viscount's inconvenient death?” Nicholas made sure that his tone conveyed how ridiculous he thought that was, though she bristled anyway.
   “Trust me, I don’t want a fiancé. Murderously inclined or not. I do not need to be under some man’s ‘protection’. That would just cramp my style. No offense, but I have better things to do.” He tried to do as she instructed and not take offense at the appraising look she shot him. But the dismissive wave of her hand that she paired it with did sting a little. Just a tiny bit, though.
   He was currently having to fight off socialites that his mother kept throwing at his head, so it was obvious he was a prime catch. Just not for Lady Serena. It seems this woman was destined to keep his ego in check. Oh well, it was clear that her statement was meant to encompass engagement in general, not specifically to him. At least the rest of his gender were all in the same boat. And, he reminded himself, getting engaged to a girl he just met over a dead body would also… What had she called it? 
   Ah yes. It would also ‘cramp my style’, he thought to himself with a mental chuckle.
   It was novel, realizing that not all women were obsessed with marriage and matchmaking. It allowed him to relax a little bit further. She should cooperate in order to get them both out of this with the least amount of inconvenience. 
   As long as they were able to at least slip her back into the ball, without anyone noticing, the situation was salvageable. His absence could be explained away with official duties. Hers would be much harder to explain away. If they were found together, they would be done for.  
   “Good. Neither of us wants to be forced into a farce over this. As intrigued as I am over what could make the daughter of a Count skulk through the Imperial Gardens when she should be twirling through the ballroom, we no longer have time to satisfy my curiosity. At the moment.” Nicholas shot her a look that he hoped conveyed that he would be following up on this point later. “I’ll deal with the unlucky Torrington. Only he could find a way to make himself a nuisance even in death. “ There was no hiding the disgust in his tone, though his companion also couldn’t hide the unladylike snort that escaped her. She did stifle the giggles that tried to follow, however. One couldn't abandon all manners.
   So she wasn’t a fan of the Viscount. Though what sane person would like that toad of a man? Not a subordinate then. Or at least not a willing one. While that did reassure him that she was most likely not connected to the man’s untimely passing, it did open up a new wave of questions. How did a Count’s daughter even get involved with whatever this was?
   “You’ll deal with the body? How are you going to sneak a body out of the Palace while all of high society is gathered just around the corner?” She quirked an eyebrow at him, a smirk still on her pink lips, though genuine curiosity shone in her eyes. 
   At that moment, Nicholas had to give some credit to the other rumors that had circulated about the Count’s daughter. Alongside the stories about her character had also been tales of her beauty. There was no denying that she was attractive. Some dramatic soul had described her as an exquisite orchid, blooming in the hothouse of the Count’s household, and the young men of society had run with it. 
   He would have to admit that the comparison to a flower would not be out of place. He even had heard Erik blathering on about the ‘Blanc Orchid’ a few times, speculating if she were as delicate as rumored. Her delicate features sat in a delicate oval face. Those distinctive and expressive eyes, the color of tropical seas, were framed by lush lashes. Courtesy of his attempt to silence her earlier, he was now well aware that her small frame, while petite, was filled out in all the correct places.  
   While she was as pretty as a flower, Nicholas would never compare her to an orchid. She was not in the least bit delicate. He would instead liken her to a wood violet. Vibrant, yet hiding in the shadows of the forest. 
   The demure and obedient Count’s daughter was a farce. A mask she put on to fool the world. Much like the ones he wore. 
   They would fool most, but as a natural dissembler himself, he was able to catch little glimpses of her true self. Or at least the self that she thought she was hiding. That woman was sharper, with a dry wit and a fearlessness he found refreshing. Whether that was her true self or yet another mask- time would tell.
   She seemed to have abandoned her unaffected lady act and was now acting much more expressive. Offering to dispose of a dead body appeared to have been the way to lower her guard. If only he had stumbled upon that earlier. Their conversation might have been much more productive.
   “While your confidence in my abilities is heart-warming- ” He let his amused sarcasm show, “I would never try and carry that wet lump of dead meat anywhere.” He felt no need to sugarcoat his opinion of the late Viscount Torrington in front of her. “Once we’ve gotten you back to the ballroom, I’ll simply call the guards to deal with it. Let them do some work to justify their ridiculous budget.” At this, her gaze ran over him again, brows lowered in confusion. She seemed to be reassessing him again. He idly wondered if he had risen or fallen in her evaluation.
   “If you were just going to alert the guards anyway, why did you stop me earlier? We could have had this whole thing handled already.” He caught the slight sulkiness in her tone. Seemed she didn’t like being snuck up on. For some reason, hearing that little bit of temper he had aroused made him feel a small sense of pride. Seems he could ruffle her feathers, too. Something about that gave him a perverse sense of satisfaction. She seemed to like playing with him, so why couldn’t he play with her right back?
   Riding on the wave of that little accomplishment, he answered her. “Well, my dear Serena, let’s think about it for just a moment. At the time, you didn’t know I was here. So it would have played out in one of two ways.” He paused to savor the way her shoulders straightened and her eyes narrowed at him. “One: The guards would have rushed over here and, in an uncharacteristic bout of competence, found me following a young lady. A young lady, who, in turn, had been sneaking through the garden to do who knows what, but is now next to a fountain with a dead man in it. I hope I don’t need to remind you how hungry for honors the young members of the Guards are. And those on duty in the garden on a night like tonight would be the ones with the least seniority.” He saw the moment she followed the story he was weaving to its inevitable conclusion.
   “And those morons would obviously assume it was one of us and start a hue and cry. Alerting everyone in the ballroom, ensuring that, whether or not we were the culprits, we would be marked for life as possible murderers and letting the real culprit know that there were two ready-made patsies here for their use.” She sighed with deep resignation and nodded at him in acknowledgment.
   “Correct. With the bonus of it being revealed that we were out here together, alone, for an unspecified amount of time, and an unspecified reason. So, at the very least, your scream would have ended with our engagement. Our families would insist to salvage what they could of our reputations and the family honor. I know that your parents at least would demand it.” He saw her flinch at that. Seemed she still cared for the Count and Countess. Maybe the rumors of her obedience weren’t all inflated. He added in a self-deprecating tone, “Lord knows my mother would probably fall on it as an act of the gods and rush us to the altar at top speed.” 
  “So your parents are after you as well?” She chuckled in commiseration and then shook her head again before continuing. “No need to spell out option two. Those bumbling chucks..” She trailed off for a moment after this odd insult, grimacing to herself, before continuing, her irritation now evident. “Those idiots, I should say, would fail to notice you, and I would present myself as the sole suspect, or more accurately, the sole witness. This was actually what I was expecting before you so abruptly grabbed me. I just didn’t factor in how inexperienced the Guards who responded were most likely to be. I assumed that with such a prestigious event happening, it would be handled discreetly. What is that Prime Minister doing? I assumed he would have more of a handle on things with so many important people on the property.” 
   Nicholas jerked slightly in shock. He could understand her not recognizing him on sight, as she was new to society, but her words had revealed that, despite providing his name, she still hadn’t recognized him. This just gave him more questions.
   How was that even possible? Even the commoners in the Empire recognized that the Armitage Family held the Ravenwood Duchy and had served as Prime Minister for generations, let alone a member of the aristocracy. He knew that the Blanc Family had kept her in seclusion, but this was a severe lack of education. To bring her to an event such as this, with so many nobles present, was tantamount to throwing the girl to the wolves. He couldn’t credit the Count’s household, which famously doted on the girl, with doing such a thing. So how could she not recognize him? 
   Well, that explained her deep suspicion of him. He had wondered why she would think that the Prime Minister would have a problem getting rid of a body.
   On another sigh, she stood and began to pace in front of the fountain, shooting him short glances as she continued talking. “So now we need to figure out a way for me to sneak back in unnoticed and save us from that he-”
   She froze mid-sentence and immediately shifted to a defensive stance again, eyes shifting over his shoulder towards the entrance of the courtyard, only a moment before Nicholas, alerted that they were no longer alone. Just as he was turning and shifting to hide her presence behind him, the source of the interruption became clear. 
A loud, amused, and frankly obnoxious voice boomed out, “Nicholas! So this is where you ran off to, old man! I see you’re making the most of the night. Do introduce me to this lovely young lady!”
Realizing who it was that had stumbled upon them, Nicholas ran a hand down his face in frustration. Of course, it was him. Could this get any worse?
   “Ah, yes. Of course it can.” He grumbled to himself as he saw the pair of Imperial Guards trailing a few steps behind His Highness, now focused on trying to see who was behind him.