Chapter 84

I sat in a sitting room at a table for two, having tea and pastries with Julian. I wasn’t surprised when Julian asked me on another date. We had plenty left to investigate, after all. But I was confused when he led me here, to what seemed like a legitimate date.

I was startled that Nicholas and Lilliana were also here, having the same assortment of tea and snacks at an identical table on the other side of the medium-sized room. In the corner, one of the servants masterfully played the pianoforte.

Cameras covered almost every angle of the room, coming in closer to our faces every now and then.

I leaned closer to Julian so the cameras wouldn’t overhear.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked him.

He looked at me with a lifted brow. “Enjoy our tea and pastries?”

I frowned at him. “Are we not… investigating?”

“Here?” He glanced around. “Heavens, no.”

“But… you asked me on a date.”

“Maybe I just wanted to enjoy the pleasure of your company.”

I gave him a flat look.

He relented with a sigh. “Fine. My dear uncle Terry clearly has some suspicions about us. It makes sense to prove them untrue by going on an actual date. Think of it as a cover for our cover.”

That didn’t feel like the full truth. “There’s more, isn’t there?”

He smiled at me for a moment, then gestured to my teacup. “Would you like more tea?”

He wouldn’t tell me, then. Julian was always so secretive, sometimes it was downright frustrating.

As Julian poured more tea into my teacup, I glanced over to the other table, where Nicholas was sitting across from Lilliana. They hadn’t talked much, just quietly enjoyed their tea. Nicholas’s back was ramrod straight. A frown was heavy on his lips.

I couldn’t help but worry about him. Was this the future he truly wanted for himself? To sit across from someone every day who he couldn’t even speak to?

“Don’t worry about him,” Julian said, speaking softly near my ear. “He’s probably still sulking from when the King lectured him this afternoon.”

That caught my interest and I swiveled back to Julian. “The King lectured him?”

Julian shrugged. “Good little Nicholas was trying to convince our parents to care about the plight of the common people. Unsuccessfully, I might add, especially with Terry there.”

My heart warmed from the inside out. Nicholas had tried to advocate for the people? Could he have truly listened to me when I told him about the common people’s hardships?

A smile tugged at my lips.

Suddenly, Julian’s hand was cupping my face. Gently, he brushed his thumb against the corner of my mouth.

He smiled at me. “Crumbs,” he said, like that was a reasonable explanation for why he was touching me so familiarly, or for so long.

A sharp crack sounded from the other table.

“Prince Nicholas!” Lilliana gasped.

We all turned to look.

Nicholas had cracked off the handle of his teacup.

Julian, chuckling, lowered his hand. I glared at him.

“You did that just to upset Nicholas!” I said, hushed.

The producers, meanwhile, pulled the cameramen closer to Nicholas.

“What happened there?” one of them asked him. “Faulty cup?”

“It’s old,” Nicholas said and pushed it aside. He offered no other explanation. The camera crew waited a moment more, then pulled away, disappointed by what they perceived as a lack of story.

Julian cleared his throat, and I knew he meant trouble.

“Prince Julian –” I tried to cut him off, but he simply spoke loudly, talking over me.

“Please tell me what you are dressing as at the ball, Piper, so that I can coordinate.”

The producers gasped and redirected the cameras over to us.

Julian had put me on the spot. If we coordinated, this would solidify our status as a couple. I was not ready for that move.

“I… uh…”

Glancing over, I noticed Nicholas watching me with piercing eyes. His mouth was a hard line, and his jawline tense. He looked about ready to flip both tables.

His gaze sent a pleasant shiver down my spine. Blushing slightly, I glanced away from him and toward the cameras instead. Their presence reminded me of where I was and what Julian had just asked me.

I cleared my throat. To Julian, I said, “You’ll have to wait and see.”

He laughed.

Ten minutes later, Julian held out his hand, “Will you dance with me, Piper?”

I knew he was up to something, but with the cameras watching, I couldn’t refuse.

I placed my hand in his. He closed his fingers around mine, and tugged me closer to the pianoforte. Then he pulled me into his arms.

At the same time, Nicholas led Lilliana to dance as well. They held each other stiffly and at a respectable distance. The moved with formal, stilted steps.

Julian placed my hand on his chest, and Nicholas nearly tripped over his own feet. Yet he immediately righted himself and continued dancing.

Julian smiled, but it wasn’t quite as cutting as it had earlier been. “This isn’t as fun as I’d hoped.”

Julian was only being so flirtatious with me to bother Nicholas. But I struggled to understand why it was working. Although Nicholas had made it clear from the start that he didn’t like the idea of Julian and me together, particularly since Julian was a known playboy.

I supposed Nicholas’s reactions were still tethered to those feelings.

Though the way he was looking at me did not seem like the glare of a man who was simply trying to protect me from his promiscuous brother. He looked… jealous.

“Ah, I thought of something,” Julian said suddenly.

While spinning in our circles, Julian led me closer to Nicholas and Lilliana. Before I could truly react, Julian abruptly disappeared, so when I came out of my spin, I was pressing flat into the chest of Nicholas!

I glanced, and Julian had masterfully switched partners. Now he danced around with an annoyed-looking Lilliana.

Nicholas looked down at me, and I, up at him. I thought he might walk away or suggest we return to our original partners.

Instead, his arms went around my waist.

By now, Julian had led Lilliana – and the cameras – mostly to the door.

Even if Nicholas wasn’t jealous, I didn’t want him to think that I was interested in Julian, so I told him, “If you wanted to know what costume I’d be wearing at the Second Ball, I would tell you.”

The hard edge in his gaze softened a little. “You wouldn’t need to tell me. I’d always be able to recognize you, in costume or not.”

My heart pounded in my chest.

He seemed entirely confident. How could he be so sure?

I didn’t ask him. I was afraid to hear what he might say, or if he might take the words back instead.

“I mean it, Piper,” he said, just as softly.

“Nicholas…”

Before I could finish my thought, one of the cameras had appeared beside us, and the producer spoke up, “What do you think of Prince Julian’s little games, Piper? Do you find them delightful? Are they part of the reason you’ve been falling for him?”

“I… uh…”

I looked at Nicholas, hoping for a rescue, but he totally shelled up again, hiding his emotions behind his princely façade.

Slowly, he ended our dance and removed his hands away from me.

The growing distance between us felt like a canyon. I wanted to close it again, but I couldn’t with so many people watching.

Even if they hadn’t been watching, Nicholas might not have been receptive.

“Julian is… fine,” I managed.

The producer furrowed his brow. “That’s it?”

“If you will excuse me,” I said and retreated, from the cameras, from the producers, and from my budding feelings for Nicholas.