Royal Date

by Sariah Wilson

  When she left I saw that bright red hair belonging to Seamus in the crowd surrounding the lake, even more noticeable against the whiteness of the snow. I told Lemon I’d be right back.

  I walked toward Seamus, both relieved that this would soon be over and terrified that I’d get caught before I could get rid of him. My heart pounded louder with every step that I took.

  “There you are,” Seamus said to me.

  “I don’t want to do this,” I told him. “I can’t take your money or take the pictures.” I took the camera out and held it out to him.

  He didn’t take it. He studied me with a disgusted expression. “Fine. I’ll double the money. One hundred thousand American dollars.”

  Before I could respond, Nico was there. Smiling down at me. “Katerina.” He noticed who I was with, and my stomach bottomed out when he said, “Mr. O’Brien? What are you doing here?”

  “You should ask your girlfriend what I’m doing here.”

  My veins filled with ice, paralyzing me for a second. My teeth started to chatter and my hands shook. I couldn’t breathe. He was going to hate me. Nico would never forgive me.

  I had ruined everything.

  He looked confused and then angry. “What’s happening? Explain yourself,” he said to the reporter.

  Seamus had a nasty smile on his face. “Just a business transaction. Isn’t that right, Kat?”

  “I’m calling for security,” Nico said, and I had a moment’s hope that he might not discover what I had done—that they would throw Seamus out before he could rat me out.

  “Before you do that, you really should talk to your girlfriend here. She’s on my payroll. I gave her that phone. You should see the pictures she’s taken for me.”

  I hadn’t taken any pictures for him, but he sounded so believable it made me more afraid.

  “May I see the phone, Kat?” Nico asked, holding out his hand.

  He didn’t call me Katerina. Despair and terror made me tremble. He always called me Katerina.

  But I didn’t have anything to hide, so I gave him the phone. He turned it on, and I could see that he was scrolling through something. I didn’t know how that was possible since until today, I hadn’t taken the phone out of my drawer.

  He handed it back to me, and I did not like the expression on his face. It scared me to death.

  I looked at the phone, and there was a picture of Nico and his brothers playing video games. I flicked it with my thumb. One of Violetta texting on her phone. Flicked again. Chiara drawing in her sketchpad. Another flick and my heart plummeted. A picture of the king in his bed.

  “Nico, I did not take these pictures. I promise you that I did not take these pictures.”

  “I offered her a hundred thousand dollars to take those pictures,” Seamus said, looking way too satisfied with himself. “Does she really seem like the kind of girl who would turn down a hundred thousand dollars?”

  What could I say in my own defense? Saying it was only fifty thousand initially and he’d just upped his offer sounded stupid. Mostly because he was right. I was the kind of girl who wouldn’t say no to a hundred thousand dollars. I needed it for my tuition. For my future plans. For the kids I loved.

  And Nico knew it.

  “And before you get too angry with me, she approached me in Paris. She was looking for a way to make a quick dollar. I was happy to oblige.”

  The hurt, the pain in Nico’s eyes was more than I could bear. His face had turned hard, like stone. I grabbed his arm, desperate for him to believe in me.

  “Never. I would never do that to you. Or to your family. Seamus came to me, offered me money, and left before I could say no. I’m meeting with him today to give him back his phone and his money.” Unshed tears were making my voice thick and my throat raw. I pulled the envelope out of my pocket and handed it to Nico. “I need you to trust me, to believe in me.”

  “You never said anything about this.” Nico’s voice was so quiet I could barely hear him.

  “I was embarrassed, and I didn’t know how to explain.” A fearsome desperation clawed its way through me, making it hard for me to think. I looked him in the eyes, even though I wanted to run away and hide. I would stay and face this. I would make him understand.

  “You asked me to trust you. And I did. Now I’m asking you for the same thing. I am asking you to trust me. To believe me.”

  I felt my soul spiral as an unbelievable darkness spread through me. Because Nico just stood there, staring at me. He wasn’t saying anything. Why wouldn’t he say something? It was like being knifed in the stomach repeatedly, standing there waiting.

  “I believe you.”

  He said it so quietly that for a minute I thought I had imagined it. That I was so pathetically desperate for him to trust me that I had hallucinated it.

  “You believe me?” I had tears at the edge of my words.

  He nodded at me and pulled me to him, hugging me tightly. Relief flooded through me as I wrapped my arms around him. That feeling of home returned, but I ignored it and just clung to him. Grateful that I could be in his arms again.

  He shoved the envelope into Seamus’s chest. “There’s your money. I expect you to return to your hotel and leave my country. If you aren’t gone in the next hour, I will have my security detail personally escort you out.”

  “I’ll be taking my phone back,” the reporter said.

  “I don’t think so,” Nico said. “Count it as the cost of doing ‘business.’”

  Seamus turned an angry shade of red just before he stomped off. Nico gestured to one of his guards and gave him instructions in Italian. Two guards in black suits with black trench coats followed behind Seamus.

  As terrible as this entire encounter had been, I was so glad that Nico had interrupted us. It would have been world-ending if he hadn’t. I would have handed that phone over, not knowing that there were pictures on it. I could only imagine the damage that would have done to his family.

  And the damage it would have done to us.

  I held the phone up, scrolling through the pictures. The thought had crossed my mind that Seamus had set me up and put pictures on the phone in the first place, but these were all recent. I could see the Christmas decorations in the pictures. These had to be taken by someone with access inside the palace. But who would do that?

  I let out a laugh when I figured it out. I held the phone up to Nico. “I caught our culprit.”

  Serafina had taken twenty different selfies. She had stolen my phone and taken all these pictures. She’d stolen everyone else’s phones—I don’t know why I imagined I would be exempt.

  That made Nico smile. I could feel his relief as clearly as my own. “Someone will have to have a talk with her about respecting personal property.”

  I looked up at him. “I should have told you.”

  “I should have immediately trusted you. I’m sorry I doubted you.”

  “I don’t blame you. I doubted me and I knew I hadn’t done it.”

  That made him chuckle, and he hugged me again. I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.

  Lady Claire. Everything clicked. Why Seamus had lied. Why he tried to make it sound like this was all my idea. I had thought he was just trying to protect himself, but now I knew there was something deeper going on here. How could a paparazzo like Seamus get into the charity ball? How could he be allowed into this event? There was only one way.

  If someone who was invited had let him in.

  “That horrible little witch,” I said.

  “Who?” Nico asked.

  “Lady Claire did this. Look, I know she’s your friend and your families are friends, but she has been trying to set me up since I met her. She introduced me to an ambassador at the ball and told me to say something to him that humiliated me. I told her I didn’t drink and she’s the one who had them bring me that vodka. She confronted me at the ball, telling me that you guys were engaged and that you were just using me. And now she set me up with that paparazz
o to make you turn against me. He said things that were totally untrue, like it being my idea. She’s out to get me.”

  He looked puzzled. Confused.

  “I know this sounds crazy. I know she’s not like this around you. But I am telling you that she has gone out of her way to sabotage me. Caitlin said Claire used to do this kind of stuff to her all the time in college. Think about this—how could someone like Seamus O’Brien go to your ball? I know you didn’t invite him. How is he here? Somebody had to make sure he got in. And there’s only one person I know of who wants to sabotage me.”

  “Stay here, please,” he said as he walked off with long, angry strides.

  I wanted to follow him, but he had asked so nicely and I was so relieved that we were okay that I would have been willing to do anything he wanted me to.

  Nico was talking to Lady Claire, who was putting on a show of disbelief and pretending to not understand what he was saying. I heard him actually yell. It surprised me. I’d never heard Nico yell before. He looked furious. Like an avenging angel. I could see her pleading with him, putting her hands on his arms, and him jerking back, like he couldn’t stand to have her touch him.

  A few minutes later he was walking back toward me. Claire, who had been making a show of crying great sobs in front of him, turned off the waterworks and glared at me as he returned.

  “She won’t be bothering you anymore,” Nico promised as he put his arm around my waist. “She’ll be leaving soon and won’t be bothering any of us ever again.”

  He kissed me quickly, fiercely, and it was over too soon.

  “Now let’s go find Alex so I can rub the match in his face.”

  Alex and Nico went back and forth about the match, arguing in a friendly and joking way, in between bites of food. They were eating like their last meal had been a month ago. Lemon had gone off somewhere with Dante, and Caitlin and I were talking, watching the guys, and laughing at their conversation.

  Nico looked over and winked at me before going back to his play fight. The way he looked at me, the way he took care of me, the way he believed in me, all added up to something that I didn’t quite comprehend and had never felt before. All these small and big things created a sensation that I only felt when I was with him.

  “What are your plans after your holiday?” Caitlin asked me. It was such an innocuous, innocent question, but I felt like she’d just flattened me with a steamroller.

  I only had four more days with Nico. Just four more days. Then it was back to real life. I couldn’t even think about it.

  “Back to school. Finishing up my final semester before I can get my master’s degree in social work.”

  “You know, they have a university here,” Caitlin said. “I’ve heard they even have a king’s scholarship that covers tuition. I bet you might have a bit of an in on that one.”

  I glanced over at Nico to see if he was listening. Wondering if he’d told her about this, or if she’d just come up with it on her own. I realized that Lemon had possibly been involved.

  “It’s really hard to transfer schools this far along. I would have to take classes over again, and I’m not interested in doing that.”

  “Oh, well. It’s only a few months. Alex and I have certainly had to go through that kind of separation while he was out with the military.”

  Why did everyone talk about Nico and me as if we were some foregone conclusion? Had he not told anyone else about his plans to not marry? Was I supposed to just hang around him like one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriends? Hoping against hope that he might eventually change his mind someday about marriage, and that I might possibly be the one to change it?

  Much as I liked Nico, much as I wanted to be with him, I did not want to waste my life being his accessory.

  The winter carnival had begun, and it had completely taken over the capital city. We were scheduled to spend the day there with his family. Nico had already set out early that morning for some ceremony, and we were to meet up with him later. Serafina insisted on staying with Lemon and me. To my amusement, so did Dante. And where Dante went, Rafe wasn’t far behind.

  The sun was high, the air was cold, and the snow crunched under our feet as we walked through the market. There were Christmas ornaments, musical instruments, homemade soap, hand-carved toys, clothing sewn by hand. Anything you could imagine was for sale. The man at the ornament booth was actually blowing the glass himself, and we stopped to watch him for a little while. I picked up one of his snow globes and was tempted to buy it. He had Nico’s castle inside of it. I put it down when I saw the price.

  The market was full of people, and the scents of gingerbread and sugar cookies filled the air. The twins bought themselves and Lemon a hot drink called mulled wine, and they got hot apple cider for Serafina and me.

  There were musicians on the corners and small groups of singers. I saw a juggler on another corner. One street had been blocked off by a large stage, and there was a group of dancers performing on it.

  Aside from all the hustle and bustle, what probably impressed me most was how clean everything was. Pristine. All the little storybook stores and houses were in perfect condition. Like I’d wandered into a pretend place that didn’t really exist. I wondered how involved Nico was with keeping his city looking like this.

  As if on cue, I felt his arms sliding around my waist, and he planted a kiss on the side of my neck.

  “I was just thinking about you,” I told him.

  “I like occupying your thoughts,” he said. I smiled and turned around to kiss him properly, but I had to stop when Serafina started making gagging noises. His brothers laughed, and I knew the exact moment my cheeks went red, because they started laughing harder.

  “Come on, y’all. Let’s leave them alone,” Lemon said to Dante and Rafe, trying to take Serafina with her as well.

  “No! I want to stay with Nico and Kat,” she protested as she wrapped herself around Nico’s leg.

  “She can stay with us. Go have fun,” I told my friend. She gave me a hug and said she’d see me later. I assumed we would run into them at some point during the carnival. It couldn’t be that big.

  I was wrong.

  Serafina wanted to go to the petting zoo in the main park, and so we headed that way. I gasped when we got there. The entire park was full of ice sculptures.

  “Serafina picked the theme this year. Winter Fairyland.”

  “I wanted Frozen, but nobody would let me have it.”

  There were fairies, trolls, princesses, knights, mermaids, and Disney characters all perfectly formed in ice. They looked like they could come to life at any moment. Blue, pink, and purple lights hit them from behind, and I bet they looked amazing at night.

  Near the petting zoo was a kid-sized castle that looked just like the Fiorelli family castle on the outside. They had a free hot chocolate station next to it, and I grabbed one. I took a sip. Not nearly as good as the stuff Giacomo brought me, but still good. They had a cookie-decorating table next to it, and I seriously considered creating something delicious for us to eat, but Serafina had already run into the petting zoo.

  The zoo was as overrun by kids as it was by animals. There were reindeer, goats, sheep, white rabbits, guinea pigs, Shetland ponies wearing cardigans, and one very fat and very annoyed miniature donkey.

  Beyond the petting zoo I could see a carnival dedicated solely to kids. There were games and rides. I guessed we would be spending some time there next. Nico put his arm around me, and I leaned into him. Even when it was this cold, he still seemed to be radiating heat.

  “You do this every year?”

  “Every year. It’s tradition and has been for generations. It used to be much smaller, but every year we add something to it.”

  He told me about all the nighttime activities. The Mozart concert by the Monterran Symphony Orchestra. The nightclubs with DJs and famous bands. Bobsledding and ice horse racing. Opera performances. The Vienna Boys Choir singing. An ice hockey game. They even had a bar made
solely out of ice. Everybody had to wear special clothing to drink there and could only stay for thirty minutes at a time.

  “And then we have the costume ball at the end of the week as the finale.”

  “Why a costume ball?” Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. These were the same people who had a witch delivering presents at Christmas. Why not Halloween costumes too?

  “Mainly because my great-great-grandfather wanted to consort publicly and openly with his mistresses without public redress. By wearing masks and costumes, nobody suspected he was up to no good.”

  “What costume are you wearing?”

  His hold on me tightened. “I’m not telling.”

  “Then neither am I. Guess you’ll just have to hope you recognize me.”

  He looked at me seriously. “I would know you anywhere.”

  I gulped. “We’ll see in a few days.”

  He grinned and then kissed me gently and softly, and I had to stop him before we lost track of time and space and potentially his sister.

  The days went by too quickly. There was a moonlit carriage ride one night, and Nico and I cuddled up on the back bench under a blanket so we could kiss without anyone giving us a hard time.

  He took me dancing at nightclubs. To cafés and restaurants. To quaint bookstores. Always sat next to me at dinners with his family. Took me to all the events he could at the carnival like the concerts and the operas. Whenever he had a free moment, he was showing me something else darling and wonderful about Imperia. He was making me like him more and more every time we were together.

  And every midnight, there was a tray of moonflowers and gelato waiting for me.

  But as much fun as I had, as much as I enjoyed being with him, it was like there was this axe hanging over our heads because our time was quickly coming to an end.

  Nico was also careful to never be alone with me. We were always surrounded by other people. He didn’t walk me back to my room anymore. And when he did kiss me, it was like there was a wall between us. Like he was holding back. I knew that he did it because I’d asked him to, but I didn’t like it. It was a frustrating limbo to be in—we couldn’t go forward, and I didn’t want to stay stuck.