Chapter 81

Charlotte and I scoured through some magazines, looking at design ideas for new gowns for the Second Ball.

Since us candidates needed to conceal our true identities as part of the challenge, Elva and I couldn’t match this time. Therefore, every time we saw a cute kids’ costume, I showed Elva to see if she cared for it.

We passed by several options. An owl with lots of feathers. A baby seal with pearly white fur trim. A chameleon with shimmering fabric that changed colors in different lighting.

Finally, halfway through the third magazine, I stopped at a particular striking gown. It was a butterfly design, bold and beautiful with wings and an assortment of colors.

“Look at this one.” I turned the magazine to Charlotte, who immediately perked upon seeing it.

“Wow! That’s gorgeous!”

With a butterfly, I liked the theme of rebirth. It felt fitting somehow, to go from my old life as a lowly caterpillar to someone who could dare to dream of flying among the star-like princes.

Someday soon, I would have to transition again back into a butterfly. But for now, I could don my wings and fly.

“It will be a challenge,” I said, pointing to the many seams of the gown. The design required an immense number of smaller fabric swatches, all sewn together like a stain-glass-mirror of color.

Charlotte shrugged. “We’ve done well on the previous gowns we’ve made. Plus we have all those swatches left over from before. The only thing we would need is some wire for the wings, but I’m sure I can scrounge some from around her somewhere.”

Decided, I earmarked the page and we set that magazine aside. Instead, we began to more adamantly search for Elva’s design. So far, she had turned down the bumblebee, the lady bug, a swan, and a cat.

At the picture of the cat costume, she sighed. “Why would I be a cat, Mommy? I want to be a wolf!”

Charlotte and I glanced at each other. Then we poured through the magazines with renewed fervor. Eventually, we found an acceptable design, a faux-fur trimmed dress with a mask in the shape of a wolf face.

Elva loved it at once. She grabbed the magazine from my hands and held it to her heart.

“This one! This one, Mommy!”

When she was willing to part with the magazine again, Charlotte and I poured over the required items and the patterns.

“We don’t have the correct materials to replicate the fur,” Charlotte said. She walked up and down the table we had covered in all our remnants. “We’d have to order some.”

The Ball was fast approaching, and with my luck, I wasn’t sure we would get what we needed in time.

“I have a better idea,” I said, tapping my chin.

I walked toward the door where Mark was diligently keeping watch.

“Something the matter, Piper?”

“I was just wondering if I could go shopping. We need some things for Elva’s gown, and I’d rather not have to wait for an order to come in.”

He drew his brows together, frowning but also clearly considering it. “That’s not typically how these things work. Usually the servants take care of everything.”

“Mark, you know by now that I won’t make someone else do what I am perfectly capable of handling by myself.”

Mark watched me for a moment, then withdrew a cell phone from his pocket. “Give me a moment.” He opened a text. I didn’t see to who, or what he said, but I recognized the way his thumbs moved over the bottom half of the screen.

He only waited a moment for a reply.

“Someone will be here soon to take you. Should I alert the nanny to come stay with Elva?”

I glanced behind me, ready to ask Elva if she wanted to come, but she was too busy setting up a tea party for her stuffed animals. Those usually took all afternoon.

“If you would,” I told Mark.

Ten minutes later, the nanny walked through the door, ready to join Elva, Charlotte, and I for the tea party.

Five minutes after that, I excused myself from the party when Mark called for me.

As I headed to the door, I nearly tripped over my feet, spotting Nicholas waiting there.

“Prince Nicholas,” I said. “What a surprise.”

“You wanted to go to the store?” he asked me.

I glanced at Mark, but he just stared back brightly, like nothing was wrong.

“I surely can’t ask a prince to run errands with me,” I said.

Nicholas shrugged like it was no big deal. “It would be good to get away for a while.” He turned away before I could think to argue. I hurried to slip on my shoes, grab a light jacket, and chase after him into the hallway.

He drove us away from the palace in one of the less flashy sedans. It was black with tinted windows.

“If Julian had any sense, he would use one of these to sneak out properly,” Nicholas said.

I sighed, remembering our great escape of a first date. “Most of the time, he wants to be seen. He lives for that bad boy persona, I think.”

“A pity that he drags you into it,” Nicholas said.

I supposed that was true. Julian had a way of bringing me straight into trouble, but I was also indebted to him. Because of him and our outings, I was able to feel my wolf again, even if only briefly.

“He might not be all bad,” I said.

Nicholas’s face hardened. He said nothing more, just glared out the front windshield as we drove closer to town.

To get to the fabric store, we had to pass through a portion of the town with shuttered up buildings and run-down cars.

The car doors had locked automatically when Nicholas had started driving, but he clicked lock button again now, making sure.

“I apologize,” Nicholas said. “A lady shouldn’t have to witness such an unseemly part of town.”

“It doesn’t look all that different from what I’m used to,” I said.

Nicholas turned to glance at me. Then a second time. “You’re serious.”

Why would I joke about that? Or had that just been wishful thinking on his part?

“Honestly, Nicholas, much of your kingdom looks like this. Over the past few years, there’s been such an economic downturn that many people are homeless. I’ve had to work two or three jobs sometimes to keep a roof over Elva’s head.”

“Two or three jobs?” Nicholas repeated like he didn’t quite believe it.

“Yes, and we’d be much worse off if I didn’t find such a good person to room with. Anna has helped me with Elva more than I could ever thank her for. I’ll be indebted to her the rest of my life already, for these past couple of years.”

Nicholas’s knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. “Things have been that dire.” It wasn’t a question, not the way he said it, but I still treated it like one.

“Some points have definitely been better than others. Though the jobs that usually paid well didn’t last long before they went out of business. It’s tough all over. During some of the low points, I’d have to skip meals to make sure Elva always got hers.”

I looked out the window, at the burned out streetlights and the tired people trekking down the sidewalks. Not many had their own cars anymore. Walking and buses were the only way to get anywhere.

That was if the buses ran on time, or showed up at all.

“Living at the palace has felt like a dream. I’ve never eaten so well.”

“You were too skinny when you arrived,” Nicholas said. He sounded distant, like he was talking to me from somewhere else, and not from the seat beside mine.

I turned my attention to him. “Nicholas?”

His mouth was a hard line.

He said, “I have let my people suffer for too long.”