Discovered?
He Xi, still invisible, was seized. His muscles instantly tensed, and one hand lifted slightly.
"You've got some nerve," the other person said in a low voice. "Sneaking around backstage for so long—are you trying to steal a few expensive props to sell, or slip into Madam Wennai's dressing room and steal some intimate clothing?"
He Xi turned around and met a pair of eyes that shone brilliantly even in the darkness.
He was a young man of about twenty-five or twenty-six.
He wore a dark gray theater worker's uniform. His short chestnut-brown hair and sharply defined features made him look strikingly heroic. At the moment, he was sizing up this patch of air with a half-smile.
"Tell me your purpose honestly, or I'll hand you over to the guards outside and have them hang you from the theater's top floor with a Griffin to clear your head."
"My purpose?" He Xi's voice abruptly rose, and he made as if to turn toward the light spilling from the wings, as though he were about to shout at any moment regardless of the consequences. "Of course it's—"
"Mm!"
A soft palm instantly covered his mouth, smothering every sound.
The other person moved with extraordinary speed. Almost the instant He Xi's voice fell, she had already lunged forward, turning into an afterimage as she pinned him against a mottled stone wall.
A delicate fragrance, like water lilies, rushed into his nostrils.
The panic on He Xi's face instantly vanished, replaced by the smug satisfaction of a prank well played.
"You... how did you find me this time?"
The deliberately deep male voice vanished, reverting to her naturally languid female voice.
Beneath the brim of her hat, those sea-blue eyes widened in surprise, reflecting He Xi's smiling face from close range.
Realizing