Chapter 28

Without thought, I placed my hand in Nicholas’s waiting one, and let him tug me away from Julian’s arms and into his own.

He was good at leading, even more so than Julian. Watching him, trusting his guidance, I didn’t need to count my steps anymore. I simply followed him as we danced around the ballroom.

Despite our closeness, he didn’t utter one word. In fact, he seemed mostly irritable, glaring at the rest of the world while pointedly avoiding looking at me.

I felt guilty and unsure. Why would he choose to dance with me if he didn’t want to?

“We could end our dance early,” I offered.

His grip on me tightened. “No.”

Okay.

I wracked my brain for something to get him to speak to me. Or, at the very least, look at me.

Then I remembered, this was the perfect time to mention Elva’s fears. Here, I had his ear away from the other girls.

“Elva has been a bit upset,” I said.

Finally, his gaze snapped to me. “What? Why?”

“Lena disapproved of Elva waving at you the other day. Things were said. Now Elva believes you don’t like her anymore, no matter how much I try to talk her out of it.”

“I do like her,” Nicholas said, indignant.

I smiled a little. “I know, but it’s much harder to convince her.”

Nicholas thought on it for a moment, his face stern with concentration.

My whole heart melted. He was treating her worry with such careful consideration. Surely he many other things to worry about.

“I’ll dance with her next,” he said at last, with finality.

My fondness for him only grew.

“The servants might not like the change in order.”

“They’ll work around it,” he said. “I’ll apologize later.”

“You don’t have to do that. You can wait for later.”

He searched my face. “I’m already breaking the order, Piper.”

I supposed I already knew that, deep inside my brain, but to hear him openly acknowledge it sent me for a loop. I had to double check to make sure we weren’t flying.

There was something about this place, the large ballroom with the live orchestra and everyone in their gowns and tuxedos. It felt magical, almost. Like anything could happen.

Even forgiveness.

Nicholas looked especially handsome tonight, wearing a form-fitting black tuxedo with golden, princely embellishments. I could have stared at him for hours. I could have danced with him well into the dawn.

But too soon, our song ended and it was time to change partners.

I was disappointed until I remembered his proclaimed next partner.

He held his arm for me, then led me to the edge of the floor where Elva was spinning around with the nanny. After nodding at me, he let my arm drop.

Then he approached Elva. He dropped to one knee. “Princess, may I have this dance?”

Her eyes were wide as saucers. She smiled so big she laughed. “Yes!”

Elva wasn’t included in the dance training, so she knew none of the proper moves. That mattered little to Elva or Nicholas.

He spun her whichever way she wanted to spin, then lifted her up into his arms to lead her in the dance. Her legs dangled, kicking a little as she mimicked the steps.

“He’s going to make such a great father,” one of the girls said, swooning.

I couldn’t help but agree. He was so sweet and gentle with Elva and her fragile little heart that I began to tear up.

I wished Nicholas could have been in her life from the start. Maybe she wouldn’t have known so much heartache if she had a father-figure like him to keep her safe.

To keep us both safe.

I shook the thought away. Whatever relationship I could have had with Nicholas was long gone. But maybe… he’d be willing to keep being friends with Elva?

No, that was a foolish notion. He was kind to Elva because he was a kind person. At the end of the day, Elva and I were going to be eliminated from the competition.

We’d leave the palace, return to our little apartment with Anna, and never hear from Nicholas again. We’d probably see him on television sometimes, with updates on his new family.

It might hurt to see, but that was life.

Dreams were dreams. Reality was reality.

I couldn’t have both.

“It’s so nice of Prince Nicholas to spend so much time with you and your daughter,” said one of the other girls to me.

“Looks good for the cameras, too,” said another girl, pointing as a cameraman came close to Elva.

Odd, I hadn’t really noticed them before.

Neither, apparently, had Nicholas. Because the moment he spotted the camera following Elva, he swung her the other way, out of the camera’s line of sight.

“You don’t think he’s doing it just for show?” said the first girl.

“Not exactly, no,” the second girl relented. “It just shows off a side of him people don’t get to see. I’m not sure why he’s trying to hide from that.”

I knew Elva and I were only here as a publicity stunt. But even so, Nicholas was not the type of person to take advantage of that. He danced with Elva because he didn’t want her to be sad. That was that.

“Well, it’s fun to see while it lasts,” another girl said. “Hope you are enjoying yourself too, Piper. We all know you’ll be the first one out.”

I gave her a polite smile but didn’t say anything. I knew I’d be gone soon as well as anyone, but it still hurt to hear other people say so.

“Oh? Are those guards headed this way?”

I looked up where the other girls were staring. True enough, a pair of guards was weaving their way through the crowd, coming right for us.

“What do you think they want?” I asked.

The guards came closer. I waited for them to go by, but instead they stopped right in front of me.

“Miss Piper?” one asked.

“Looks like they’re here for you,” whispered one of the girls into my ear.

“Yes, that’s me,” I told the guards.

They watched me with blank expressions. These must have been more of Joseph’s guards, the ones who didn’t like me. I wondered what happened to the ones who had initially been kind to me. I hoped they hadn’t been fired.

“Follow me.”

One of the guards began to walk away. The other waited for me to follow the first, then fell in line behind me.

It was unnerving, like I was being arrested or something. But how could that be?

I searched out Elva and Nicholas. They were still dancing, now with her standing on his shoes. He paused, though, when he spotted me. His eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of my armed guard.

The guards led me away from the ballroom and into a side, sitting room. The Queen herself sat on a plush sofa, bracketed by a pair of older women nobles. Lena stood behind the sofa, to the side.

“The Luna will speak with you,” the guard said, and motioned for me to move inside.

I nervously hovered in the doorway, unsure of the proper procedure for approaching the Queen like this.

Thankfully, she spotted me right away and said, “Enter, girl. Come and stand before us.”

I obeyed at once, and moved further into the room. I stopped in the center of the room, standing before the sofa.

The Luna touched her chin. Her disapproving scowl slid from my face down to my gloves.

I tugged at them, self-conscious.

“Tell me, girl,” the Queen said. “Why have you chosen to insult me tonight?”