The panic was back. Fear skittered up her spine and flooded her face.
Mason had started to propel her in the direction of a set of stairs just outside the doorway leading to the dance floor when he saw her face and immediately stopped, staring directly into her eyes.
“As I’ve said, he won’t hurt you. No one will hurt you. You have my word. So there is no reason to be fearful.”
“I just don’t understand why I have to meet him. Why do I have to go to him? If he wanted to meet me, he could have simply come down from his palace,” she said in frustration. She wanted to ask more but he stopped one more time and turned, gently cupping her cheek in a very surprising motion because he didn’t look like a man who made affectionate or comforting gestures, and he’d been nothing but extremely gentle a
