by Leah Rooper
“Gamóto!” Tiberius roars, his glossy hair disheveled. He peers up at Daniel, his lip curling into a feral snarl.
Daniel doesn’t even shake his hand out. He just reaches down, grabs Tiberius’s shirt collar, and draws his fist back again. Tiberius shrieks.
I lurch forward and grab Daniel’s arm. “What are you doing?”
“You’re a fucking lowlife,” Daniel growls to Tiberius. His face is one of pure animalistic rage, and he’s so strong, I have to put my whole weight into keeping his fist off of Tiberius’s princely nose.
“What did poor Tiberius do?” Tiberius cries.
“You know what you fucking did!” Daniel roars. “She told me she loves you! Loves you, dammit!”
“Who?” Tiberius cries, cowering into the fetal position. “Everyone loves Tiberius!”
“Eva,” Daniel snarls. “Eva loves you.”
At this, my body goes slack, and I lose my grip on Daniel’s fist. I stumble to the ground. Freed, Daniel nails Tiberius again then snatches his sniveling body up and tosses him across the hallway.
Eva told Daniel she loves Tiberius.
But she loves me. And now it’s not just between us, hidden out in the snow.
She was brave enough to tell Daniel, while I am a coward. And now our hidden love is exploding in front of my eyes.
My mouth goes dry, and I can’t take in air fast enough. A thousand thoughts compete for room in my head—thoughts that burst like fireworks and fall like rain. The chorus that’s been sounding in my mind ever since I met Eva—whatamidoingwhatamidoingwhatamidoing—finally silences, replaced by a single echoing thought:
What have I done?
I’m torn out of my head by a girlish shriek as Daniel pushes Tiberius up against the wall.
“Think you can fuck around on my sister, huh, you spineless cad?” Daniel says.
“I don’t know!” Tiberius keeps screaming. “I don’t know!”
I jump to my feet. “Daniel!”
Daniel looks at me, and Tiberius takes advantage of Daniel’s distraction. He wiggles his arm free and gives Daniel a quick pop to his already crooked nose.
Daniel staggers back, and Tiberius scurries away, bolting down the hallway. Blood gushes from Daniel’s nose, but he doesn’t seem to notice. He stares at me, the bottom half of his face and his white dress shirt doused in blood. “Fight with me. Help me avenge my sister.”
I stand there, gaping at him. He doesn’t wait for a response. Daniel takes off down the hallway after Tiberius.
“Wait!” I scream, and dart after them. Jesus Christ. Daniel is going to kill Tiberius—because he thinks Eva is in love with him. But she’s not.
She’s in love with me.
I breathe deeply, begging my body to carry me faster. I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but I know I have to stop Daniel from killing the Prince of Perienza.
Daniel catches up to Tiberius right outside the giant double doors that lead to the banquet hall. He lunges, grabbing Tiberius around the knees, and swings him around.
“Daniel, stop!” I shout, and leap in between them, trying to shield the prince.
“Come on and fight, Evans.” Daniel’s voice is dark, as if he’s been taken over by some malevolent force. He shoves me hard, and I topple to the ground.
Tiberius cowers in his favored fetal position. “Protect me!”
In an instant, I’m back up, throwing myself between the two princes. Tiberius lets out a yowl and starts scratching at Daniel’s eyes. I get a fist to the jaw from someone—I don’t even know who—and counter with a punch of my own. The three of us are a bundle of fists, feet, and fury as we wrestle on the ground.
I grab someone’s shirt and tumble over someone else. Then the three of us are rolling, and I’m on top of Tiberius, then I’m underneath Daniel, then—
Then we break through something heavy and hear a loud gasp.
I push Tiberius’s long mop of hair out of my eyes and blink rapidly. I stare into the gaping faces of the banquet-goers. Somehow in our tussle, we burst through the double doors that back into the banquet hall. I can only imagine what we look like. I touch my lip, feel blood there. I want to look away, but I can’t. All the eyes of the dinner party are on me…and the two princes in a heap beside me. Madison is front and center, for once as stunned and silent as everyone else. The Queen Dowager looks like she might faint.
“What is going on?” Evangeline cuts through the crowd, her voice cutting through the air. She looks so worried, and my heart aches. I did this to her.
“Tiberius,” she says and starts forward. “You’re hurt.”
Daniel leaps to his feet and blocks her path. “Don’t, Eva,” he says. “Don’t waste one more breath on that guy.”
“W-What?” Eva says, looking past Daniel at me.
“I caught him in the hallway,” Daniel says, not caring about the dignitaries and officials watching, “making out with some girl.”
Eva takes a small breath, her throat bobbing ever so slightly. Her eyes go blank and glossy. “T-Tiberius…is this true?”
Daniel steps toward her. “Don’t worry, Evans and I handled it. He’ll rue the day he messed with Daniel Sacachelli’s little sister.” He reaches for her, but she steps out of his grasp. She’s still looking behind him, her eyes trained on me.
“You…you made me feel like I belonged,” she whispers. “Like I was finally heard.” She steps around her brother.
“Eva, don’t,” Daniel says, trying to grab her arm again.
“Daniel!” she says, her voice escalating. He backs away from her.
Her steps are firm and deliberate as she walks toward me, still tangled up with the real Tiberius. I can’t look at her anymore. My body feels like an engine that’s run out of gas. There’s no more running, no more stories. There’s no Madison or Millie to dig me out of this one.
It’s time to face what I’ve done.
“Stand up,” she orders. A queen’s voice.
Tiberius and I both shuffle to our feet, eyes downcast.
“Evans, you can come—” Daniel says, but Eva holds up a single finger. He silences.
Then she strikes me across the face with the palm of her hand.
“Eva!” Daniel roars. “What are you doing?”
Eva’s whole body is shaking. Her teeth are gritted together, and tendrils of hair have fallen loose around her face. “Was it all a lie?” she chokes.
“No,” I say. Because it wasn’t.
Daniel rushes over and throws an arm over my shoulder. “What the hell, Eva? Don’t take this out on Evans!”
My whole body shuts down. All I can do is bow my head. My cheek stings.
“Evans?” Eva says, blinking wildly. “You said you caught Tiberius with another…”
“Yeah,” Daniel says, releasing me and grabbing the scruff of Prince Tiberius’s collar. He gives a little peep. “Prince Tiberius? Your true love?”
“N-No…” Eva says, shaking her head and gesturing to me. “This is Prince Tiberius.”
But then the real Tiberius throws his head back and laughs darkly. “There is only ONE Prince Tiberius,” he says, his accent thick on every word. “And that is me.”
“What the hell is going on here?” Daniel says, his eyes flying between Eva and me. “Tyler…”
“Tyler,” Eva says, as if the word were toxic on her tongue. “Ty…”
Suddenly, Madison is beside Eva, gently touching her arm. “Eva, maybe we should let the boys get cleaned up. Everyone’s watching.”
Eva doesn’t even acknowledge her. “Who,” she says, her voice cutting like a blade, “is Prince Tiberius?”
The real Prince Tiberius sweeps into a bow. “At your service, Your Highness.”
Eva grabs my chin and forces me to stare at her. “Then who are you?”
My words are more breath than voice. “Tyler Evans,” I say. “I’m…” I’m what? A hockey player? Daniel’s friend? A liar? All true, but they all feel so empty. “I’m nobody.
”
“All this time,” she says, “you were lying to me?” Her hand falls from my face.
I stare at her pleadingly. “I only did it because…I wanted to be with you. I did it because…” I shake my head, feel my eyes start to sting. “Because I love you.”
“How can you possibly love me,” she breathes, “when everything about you is a lie?”
“Eva—” I reach for her hand.
“Don’t touch me!” she yells, her voice echoing through the ballroom.
“Someone tell me what the hell is going on,” Daniel says. His body tenses like a bowstring. “Or I’m going to start making my own conclusions, and that’s not a good idea for anybody.”
“No,” Madison mumbles quietly, “it’s really not.”
“It’s my fault,” I choke out. “When I met Eva at the airport, I had already lost Tiberius…so…so I pretended to be him.”
Slowly, Daniel looks between Eva and me. “You…you pretended to be Tiberius. Which means…” His gaze settles on me. “You’re the Tiberius that Eva is in love with.”
There are a hundred pairs of eyes on me, but there’s only one I care about. Eva looks at me as if I’m a stranger. As if we hadn’t laughed together, spilled our secrets to one another, felt the touch of each other’s body. And the look she’s giving me right now is worse than the absent glare from when I tried to talk to her with my hockey gear on.
“Please,” I gasp. “Let me explain.”
Madison rushes forward. “No, let me explain.” She puts a hand on Daniel’s arm. “I just wanted to give Tyler a chance at true love.”
“You knew about this?” Daniel looks down at her.
“Don’t blame Madison,” I say. “This…this is all me.”
A look of pained understanding crosses my friend’s face, and I realize with stark brutality how much I’ve hurt him. There’s no fight left in him, no light. “After everything…”
Then his words just die.
I step forward. “Please—”
“Enough.”
The word is crisp and clear and slices through the ballroom. Evangeline seems to stand taller than everyone here and her icy glare has the entire banquet frozen. “The party is over. Leave. Everyone.”
Slowly, everyone starts murmuring and shuffling toward the door.
“Eva, please,” I beg.
“Don’t.” Her body stiffens. “I believed you. Every word.” She looks back, just a peek over her shoulder. “You could have believed in me, too.”
I fall to the ground, head in my arms.
“Tyler, I’m so sorry.” Madison’s voice drifts over, and I feel her hand on my arm. “We can…I can fix this. I promise.”
“It’s not your fault,” I murmur. I hear footsteps and look up to see Daniel walking over to her. He doesn’t meet my gaze. “Just go, Madison,” I whisper.
“Tyler…”
She shouldn’t have to take the bullets for me. This is my fault. Anger at myself rumbles through my body, and I don’t mean for my words to come out in a snarl, but they do. “Just go.”
Their footsteps echo in the emptying banquet hall as they leave. The bustle of the crowd dies down, and then the lights go out. The room is lit only by the soft orange of the candles on the wall.
I sit alone in the dark, as one by one, the candles flicker and go out.
Chapter Eleven
Eva
“Gee, thanks.” Daniel holds up a light blue multicolored knit creation. “I love it.”
Madison tsks and crosses her arms. “I can’t believe you don’t even know what it is! Do you know how many episodes of the Kardashians I missed making that for you?”
“You made it?” Daniel murmurs. “That explains a lot…”
“Excuse me?” Her brows rise up to her hair line.
Daniel crawls over to Madison and places three quick kisses on her face. “I love it, babe.”
“It’s a hand-knitted cravat.” She rolls her eyes and then turns to me. “Eva, have you opened all your presents?”
“I think so.” I survey the living room—it’s a chaos of wrapping paper and presents. It’s Christmas morning, but it’s only me, Daniel, and Madison here. Mother said she had to spend the day fixing the disaster from last night. I don’t even feel upset she’s not here.
I don’t really feel anything at all.
It’s not the embarrassment of my first banquet as the queen being a complete train-wreck that’s tearing me up inside.
It was the expression on Tiberius’s—Tyler’s—face as he looked at me and told me who he was.
My vision blurs and the wrapping paper swirls before me like a kaleidoscope. What had been real about him? Not his name, not who he was. But what about all the things we shared? I thought for once, someone had actually understood me.
“Oh, I see one,” Madison says, crawling through the sea of paper. She reaches deep under the tree and pulls out a square box. It’s wrapped in simple blue paper with a cardboard tag. She peers at it. “It’s for you, Eva! It’s from…” She trails off then shoves it back under the tree. “Never mind.”
“Who’s it from?” I ask.
Madison looks from Daniel to me then says softly, “It’s from Tyler.”
“Throw it in the fire!” Daniel crawls over and wraps an arm around me. “Don’t worry, Eva. Eldredge saw to it that Evans was put on a plane right after that fiasco. Why, he’s in a whole different continent right now! And I promise you, I will personally deal with him when I get back to Chicago.” I don’t respond, and Daniel pulls me closer against him. “I don’t know what he was thinking. I never would have expected that kind of mess from Evans.”
Madison sighs and crosses her arms. “If you had let me explain last night instead of moping at Oak’s Tavern until who knows when, you would understand.”
“Understand what?” Daniel says briskly. “He lied to me and Eva. What reason could he possibly have?”
She tucks her black hair behind her ears. “I know I should have told you when I figured it out…but it didn’t feel like it was my secret to tell. And I honestly thought his intentions were pure. He really cares for you, Eva.”
“How can you like someone and lie to their face?” I spit out.
Daniel and Madison exchange a look between each other.
“Okay, besides you two,” I say.
They exchange another look.
“And your crazy friends Hayden and Alice!” I let out an exasperated sigh. “What is wrong with all of you?”
“It just doesn’t make sense.” Daniel leans back. “All the things you told me…those things don’t sound like Evans. Fighting a reindeer, painting in the park, that whole art studio fiasco? It’s not Evans at all.”
“Tyler told me Tiberius made him feel different, important.” Madison shakes her head. “But I think he was wrong. It wasn’t being Tiberius that made him confident and happy… I think it was being around you, Eva.”
You’re a great motivator. I remember the way he looked at me when he said those words, the soft fall of his hair, the glint in his eyes.
“Give me the present.” I hold out my hand.
“Eva,” Daniel says, “are you sure?”
I take the present and slowly rip off the paper and lift open the box.
“Holy shit,” Daniel says, peering over my shoulder. “I know what that is.”
Of course, he would. It’s a hockey jersey. The Chicago Falcons jersey, in fact—royal-blue, with the silhouette of a flying falcon on the front.
On the back is the number thirteen, and above that, my name. HARWELL. I let the jersey fall to my lap, and a note flutters out. I quickly grab it before Madison or Daniel can snatch it up.
Eva,
If I’m giving you this present, I guess everything went okay last night. I don’t have a kingdom or a castle to offer you, but I want you to know I’ll always be on your line. Be a part of my team?
Tyler
What could this mean? Had Tiberius—
Tyler—been planning to tell me the truth the whole time? If so, why didn’t he?
“Evangeline.” Mother’s voice rings through the room. “What is that?”
I turned to see my mother hovering over us, her hair drawn up in a tight bun, the single black streak contrasting against the rest of her pure white hair.
I drop the letter onto the jersey.
“It’s bad enough Mr. Sacachelli tramps all over the castle in that hideous thing. Who in Heaven’s name gave you that?” She swoops down like a bird of prey and snatches up the letter. Her eyes narrow to the tiniest slits as she reads it. “It’s from that boy?” I thought Mother could add no more disdain to her voice than when she talks about Daniel. Now I see she’s been holding out. “That commoner who made a muck of your Christmas Eve banquet?”
I almost open my mouth to add that the real Prince Tiberius and Daniel had also contributed to that muck. But I guess Prince Tiberius gets a pass because he’s a visiting royal, and I think deep down, Mother really feels she owes my brother for stepping aside and letting me take the throne.
“It wasn’t all a mess, Mother,” I say very calmly.
“I heard Prince Tiberius say he wants to spend all his holidays here,” Madison squeaks.
“He did say it was the most entertaining Christmas he’s ever had,” Daniel says, rubbing his nose. “And something about our castle having the best-looking staff.”
“That would explain our strange conversation at breakfast this morning,” I say and look up at Mother. “The Prince was talking about doubling Perienza’s import of tomatoes.”
“It doesn’t matter that, by pure luck, you’ve managed to avoid causing a war between our two countries.” Mother crosses her arms. “It was still one of the most humiliating events to ever occur in Eldonia. And you will spend the rest of the day writing apology letters to our guests.”
“But it’s Christmas!” Daniel says, looking up at her.
“It’s the queen’s duty. Furthermore, I will not have anything reminiscent of that jester sullying our castle. Why he thought to give you this rag, Evangeline dearest, I haven’t the faintest notion.” And with that, Mother swoops down and grabs the jersey from my lap.