“But—”
“—yes, there are only two.” She said, then was quiet for a beat. “There is fear, and there is love. Every single situation presents you with those two options. Now, never forget this Charlie — you must choose love. You must resist the urge to choose fear. Fear is there to hold you back. We think it’s there to keep us safe, but it just gets in the way of everything…”
I could picture her swatting her hand through the air as if she was batting away a fruit fly.
“Fear keeps us on the same path. Love is the only way you can create new footprints and change your path.”
A tightness that had been coiling in my gut finally released. With some instinctual feeling, I knew that everything she was saying to me was true.
“Have fun in Italy!” she said with a giggle.
“Thanks, Hazel, I’m sorry I keep call—”
“Oh, don’t bother with that ‘sorry’ nonsense,” she said quickly. “I’m always happy to hear from you. You turned my hair hot pink and you’re shiny. I like you. So give me a call whenever you want to.”
Happiness lit up in my gut. “I— I’m so happy I met you,” I said, trying to articulate the strangeness and wonderfulness of this relationship that had formed between us. But I really couldn’t find the words.
“I’m happy to have met you too, Charlie,” she said. “I have a feeling our paths will cross again soon.”
Chapter Four
There was perfect weather in Italy. The sun was beating down, the trees were lush and green, and I had just entered an ancient-looking city on the Italian Coast. It felt like I’d traveled back a few hundred years in time.
The driver didn’t bother to slow the car down as he wound around the hairpin turns on the cliffs, so I was terrified the whole time.
But still, I kept thinking of what Hazel told me yesterday. I could either choose fear or love, she said. So I consciously tried to calm myself, focus on the roof of the car, and choose love.
It was impossible.
I was thanking my lucky stars as the driver finally got to the base of the cliff where the shoot was. He pulled up to a group of trailers clustered near the beach.
He said something quickly in Italian and gestured for me to get out of the car.
I was more than happy to leave that death machine, plucking my suitcase out of the trunk. I watched as the car drove away and wound right back up the sides of the cliff.
“You look like you’re going to throw up!” Said a familiar voice from behind me.
I turned to see Alina looking like an absolute vision in a billowing white toga dress, her beautiful white hair whipping around her face.
“Alina!” I cried, abandoning my suitcase and wrapping her in a huge hug.
“It feels like it’s been forever!” she said, curling her slim arms around my back.
“It’s only been a few weeks, but you’re right!” I said as we twirled.
“Ugh, I know! I missed you so much!” Then she came in a little closer and whispered, “this town has a lot of hot guys with your name all over them!”
I blushed. “Alina, stop. We both know you’re doing this to distract me from asking about your love life. Who have you been seeing?”
She blushed and with a look that seemed very unnatural on her face, her features shifted to a delicate shyness.
We both knew it was true. Every time she sent me some pic of a gorgeous, glistening guy, I’d wonder why she hadn’t jumped on him herself. The only conclusion I could gather was that she was seeing someone.
And with her expression like this in front of me, I knew I was right.
“I’m not seeing anyone,” she denied, her eyes looking out at the sea.
With her hair and makeup like this, she truly looked like some kind of greek goddess.
“Well, fine, don’t tell me,” I said, eyeing her suspiciously. “But I’ve got to say, you look absolutely stunning.”
“Thanks!” she said with a bright smile. “You do too — have you lost weight?”
“I have!” I said proudly, twirling in the sand as the wind whipped my hair around my face. It was true — I’d lost about eight pounds in the last few weeks, preparing to come onto this set. And if I was honest with myself, I was preparing to meet my heartmate, just as Hazel promised.
“Well, you look incredible.” She said. “I’ve been trying to lose weight for this role, too. The producers said I need to drop about ten pounds for the camera.”
“What?!” I said, eyeing her willowy limbs. “Do they see how skinny and perfect you already are?”
She leaned in with a wink and whispered, “I told them they could eat a dick!”
We both laughed there on the beach in the sunshine. I had a fleeting thought that this was what true happiness was.
Everything about Italy was different — the air, the scenery, the smells, and this feeling of ancient magic tingled in the fibers of everything that I couldn’t really place. Maybe it was because I knew this place carried all this history with it. Thousands of stories had flowed through this city with the sands of time.
“Come on, let me introduce you to everyone,” Alina said with a glowing smile as she took me by the hand.
An hour later, we were in Alina’s fabulous trailer having a chat.
“So, did you meet anyone you like?” she asked, sipping on some cinnamon tea I’d made for us.
“Well, everyone here is beautiful,” I admitted sheepishly, crossing my legs.
“Right, there are lots of options,” she agreed. Then she took another sip and there was silence. “I think Reese likes you — he was looking at you like you were a snack.”
I nearly spit out my tea. “The director?” I pictured him — an older guy with salt and pepper hair. Slim, well-dressed, but had somehow retained that sparkle of youth in his eyes.
She nodded with a smile.
“What makes you think that?” I asked, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks. I could get down with a director, and for a moment I wondered if it was him. If that was my heartmate Hazel had told me about. I had written down “creative” in my notebook about what I wanted him to be like. It was something I was sorely missing when I dated Boring Guy.
“Just the way he looked at you,” she said tantalizingly. “Call it a women’s intuition.”
I couldn’t hide my smile as I wiggled with excitement.
“There are more people to meet, too,” she said, letting her words hang in the air dramatically. “The rest of the cast is in town right now, exploring. I’m sure you’ll get to meet them all later.”
She began curling her eyelashes.
“Are you done for the day?” I asked.
“No, we have to shoot one more scene today, and it has to be at sunset.”
I knew exactly which scene she was talking about. I’d spent the past few weeks reading the Black Castle books.
“Ah, that scene,” I said knowingly.
“Yeah, that scene,” she agreed. “The scene where Prince Valentine realizes that Lady Bryn — me — is his soulmate and that he has to leave his wife!” she explained dramatically.
“Soulmate or heartmate?” I asked.
One of her black eyebrows went up. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing, just something I’ve been thinking about,” I dismissed. “So what do you guys have around here for lunch?”
“No, no. I want to hear what you meant,” she said, turning away from her vanity mirror to face me with a serious expression. “Heartmate?”
I furrowed my brow. I shouldn’t have said anything… she was going to think I was crazy. But holding Hazel’s words close to my heart, the ones about choosing love over fear, I decided to trust her.
“Soulmates show up in your life to teach you things,” I said. “Heartmates are your one true love. The other half. The big fish,” I finished.
She looked at me like she’d just turned over a stone and discovered it was a sparkling geode. “Wow, that— I’ve never heard i
t put that way before!” she said with an expression of wonder.
“Wait, you’ve heard of… of this stuff before?”
She nodded excitedly, then sat down next to me on the bed. “My grandma — she was super into that stuff. Always talking about star signs and making charts and things… her hobby was practicing tarot cards.”
“What?! Oh my God Alina, that’s so cool!” I exclaimed. “Can I meet her?”
I was picturing Hazel and wondered if the world was small enough for Hazel to be Alina’s grandmother.
Her eyes filled with sadness as she said, “No… she passed away a few years ago. But she was smart as a whip until then.”
I nodded and put my hand on hers.
“Oh, it’s nothing I’m still super sad about,” she waved off. “I was just reminded of her, that’s all.”
“I wish I had someone in my family like that,” I admitted, thinking of my parents. “I come from a family of rationalists.”
She chuckled. “My mom is like that. Every time we’d go over to grandma’s house when I was a kid, my grandmother would tell me that I was destined for big things. She’d wait until my mom went to the store or something, or went outside to water the garden, and then she’d do a tarot reading for me.”
I was sitting on the edge of my seat, desperate to get more glimpses into this secret world that Hazel was from.
“What was that like?” I asked, hunting for more details.
“Well, my mother didn’t like it. She liked things that were normal, stable, predictable. As soon as she’d leave the room grumbling about all this ‘gypsy stuff,’ grandma would say my mom was made of metal.”
My memory quivered at that, and I thought about how Hazel talked about my ex, the Boring Guy. Earth and Metal, she’d said.
And with a newfound clarity, I could picture exactly the type of person Alina’s mom was: Stubborn, headstrong, solid, predictable. Traits that I’d once admired in Boring Guy.
“I loved the visits to my grandma’s house. Everything about her made me feel loved and accepted, and she kept telling me that I was going to be great someday.”
I was reminded of Hazel again. That’s exactly how she made me feel.
“And when she talked about my love life, she said I’d have so many admirers, many loves, a lot of soulmates. But one big soulmate — the love of my life I guess.”
I was staring at her with my eyes wide. “Have you met this person, you think?” I asked.
“I dunno…” she trailed off, her eyes fixed on her trailer window. Then she turned to me. “Do you think you’ll know it when you see it? Like, is there something that happens when you come into their path? Do you feel fireworks inside?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, thinking of this magical man that Hazel claimed was in my future. “Sometimes I wonder the same thing.”
Admittedly, I had never felt that kind of magical chemistry with anyone. Everyone I’d been with in my past I’d had a lackluster meet-cute with. I wanted to cling to the belief of fireworks when you first meet your soulmate — or heartmate, to use the right word, but I had my doubts.
“Okay, we’ve got some time before we start shooting this epic scene…” Alina said, peering at her watch. “Want to go explore the town?”
A few minutes later, we were walking through the beautiful ancient town next to the seaside. Snippets of Italian floated by us as people walked down the street, taking care of their business for the day.
I fantasized for a moment about living in a town like this — what it would be like to not have to worry about a big, dirty city and all of its problems. Unlike L.A., there were no homeless to be seen. The sky was clear and without haze, and the air smelled clean. The gentle roar of the ocean underscored everything in the background, adding a serene backdrop to the already picturesque landscape. Beautiful bright flowers and vines dotted the face of ever storefront, and an ancient charm was present in everything we passed.
It was like we were in a fairytale. It was like we were actually in The Black Castle.
We passed a patio outside of a restaurant, and a bunch of beautiful people were seated dressed in ancient clothing like we’d come across a bunch of gods and goddesses hanging out.
“Ah, here’s where everyone went!” Alina said loudly.
“Eyyy!” the rest of the cast greeted her.
I surveyed the crowd quickly, my eyes lingering on all of their beautiful celebrity faces. My stomach was starting to jump around with the feeling of being starstruck. Not even ten feet away from me sat Mason Vayne, my celeb crush.
It felt like my lips were knitted together and I couldn’t bring myself to speak. Mason Vayne had been a star since he was born — he was from a family that was old Hollywood royalty. When I was a teenager, I watched him on my T.V. as he hunted vampires with those bright blue eyes. When I was a young adult, I watched him save New York City from destruction over and over in a few superhero movies. More recently, he was getting into historical dramas, and he’d starred in the one I’d just finished: He played an arrogant, sexy king.
I nudged Alina as we went inside the restaurant.
“What?” she asked with a knowing smile.
“Was… was that Mason Vayne?” I asked in disbelief.
She nodded. “They decided to bring him on for season two as well. He plays a bastard of the king who doesn’t know he’s royalty.”
I thought of the character in the book: Chronis. That character was key to the major betrayal that happened at the end of this season.
“Wow, big part,” I said with a low whistle.
“Yeah, the casting crew pretty much had to beg him to join the show,” she rolled her eyes as she leaned on the bar counter. “He’s a big name, and I guess his performance in that recent show… what’s the name of it…?”
“The Last Kingdom,” I finished for her.
“Right! That one,” she said. “He played some king or something, and it’s like he’s still in character for that,” she said grumpily.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less from a movie star,” I joked, giving her a sly grin.
“Hey now, you’re in the presence of one!” she said in a false offended voice. “I am Lady Bryn, and I’m going to steal the heart of a prince, thank you very much!”
I laughed and shook my head. “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any more extra.”
The bartender passed us the two beers Alina ordered and muttered something about our food being brought out to the table.
Alina picked up the number and started to walk out to the patio.
“Wh-wait, we’re not going out there, are we?” I stammered.
“Well yes, of course we are.”
“But they’re movie stars!” I exclaimed with my mouth agape. “And I’m just—”
“You’re with me,” she smiled brightly. “And don’t worry — remember that they’re just people that are very very good at faking things.”
Alina sat down at a table right across from Mason Vayne and I took the seat next to her. There were a few more stars at the table, but all of them were eclipsed by this unspeakable charisma that seemed to glow from Mason’s skin.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. He was simply too good-looking; bright blue eyes peeked out underneath long black eyelashes. Sculpted, rugged eyebrows hung low over his eyes, and dark, wavy hair hung in a styled swoop that coiled at the side of his face.
He took a sip of his half-empty beer, greeted Alina, then fixed his bright blue eyes on me.
I felt like an icy arrow lodged itself in my heart.
“And your friend is…?” he asked.
“Oh yeah, how rude of me. This is my friend and stylist, Charlie.”
I dared to look up into his eyes again, then raised my hand meekly in greeting.
“Stylist?” he asked, his voice dripping like honey. He was nothing less than captivating in person, shimmering with this magical star quality.
Alina nodded good-naturedly.
<
br /> I was watching her face carefully, searching for any signs of a crush she might be harboring on him. If she was like any other woman on the planet, she would surely have the hots for Mason Vayne.
But there wasn’t a sign of anything there, only a friendly professionalism.
Then again, I had to remind myself that she was a good enough actress to get one of the lead parts in this show.
They ignored me for a few moments — which I was fine with. I used the time to continue sneaking looks at Mason and carry on with the conversation with some of the other stars at the table.
Once our food was brought out, I used the momentary distraction to check out the other tables around me filled with the cast. It only took me a few seconds to see the guy from the Netflix advertisement, Leo Knight, over in the corner at a small table by himself. He had his nose buried in book 2 of The Black Castle series and a mostly empty glass of golden beer next to him. It matched the gilded cover, and his gilded hair, and gilded eyes.
He was just… golden. A sparkling gold man.
I had to wonder why he was sitting alone when everyone else on the cast was split into groups like this. Something about it felt very cliquey.
Suddenly I felt a tug in my gut as the feeling of someone watching me prickled across my skin. When I returned my eyes to the table, I saw Mason’s bright blue eyes boring into me.
It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
I couldn’t deny the effect he was having on me with those eyes. They cut through me like blades of ice.
“So you’re here for the whole season?” he asked in a bored tone.
But even he couldn’t disguise the hint of interest that lined the edges of his words.
I was used to reading people; I was a hairstylist, after all.
“Yep, the whole season,” I answered, meeting his gaze.
He cocked his head to the side and smiled big and bright, and I thought I was going to fall out of my chair.
“Well, welcome then. You’re going to be doing hair and makeup, right?” he asked, his voice dripping with a tantalizing taunt.
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