by Miranda King
“And I won’t hold you to yours.” But part of him wanted to.
“Prince Logan Named Special Advisor to the King”
– headline from The Summerland Tattler
“For all those asking, my natural hair color is red.”
– Pop Star Eden Knight’s tweet to her fans on Twitter
“We have no hope and yet we live in longing.”
– Dante Alighieri, Medieval Poet
Months later…
“You should be dancing like your brother.” Grandfather leans forward from his chair in the royal balcony box and looks down to where Adam dances with Emma, the beautiful tall blonde at the center of the palace ballroom floor.
Tonight’s charity gala gathers the country’s elite to Thorton Palace. It’s a small gathering of less than a thousand, even though the royal ballroom could hold countless more. It’s renowned for being the largest royal ballroom in the world, only rivaled by the Diamond Palace of Maravista along the French Riviera.
The Thorton Palace ballroom is several stories tall with crystal chandeliers, an ornate painted ceiling, marble walls, and gold gilded accents. The grandeur is breathtaking, and a symbol of his family’s royal power.
But during galas such as these, the ballroom turns into a battlefield for the elite, each trying to outdo one another, not with weapons, but with sparkling tiaras and diamond jewelry and couture gowns. The men size each other up based on the beauty of their dates. It’s an inane culture. Battlefield dynamics make more sense to him than the politics of this ballroom.
So he sits the night out in the royal balcony box above the crowd. An invitation to join the royals in their balcony box is the ultimate coup d’état for the social climbers in the room. But only he and his grandfather sit tonight in the red cushioned chairs, looking out past the red velvet drapery to the dancefloor and built-in stage below them.
Logan scans the room for Eden. She’s scheduled to perform a song and present tonight for the charity auction, but he’s yet to find her. She’s the only one that could tempt him to dance. But it’s the temptation of her that keeps him as far away as he can possibly be from her up in this balcony.
“I don’t think I’ll be dancing tonight.” Logan stops searching for Eden among the crowd, and focuses on his grandfather sitting beside him.
“Are you not feeling well?” He scans Logan’s face, probably looking for any sign of pain.
“I’ve been fine for a while.” Logan shifts in his seat, adjusting for some minor aches. He never complains about his injuries. Mostly they aren’t anything people can see. It’s like something inside him is broken. There’s no reason to laugh or find any joy in life. He doesn’t even want to try.
The doctors call it depression. He calls it what he deserves—punishment for Dante’s death.
“The General tells me you’d been taking too many risks on your assignments.” Grandfather repositions in his chair to face Logan.
“Is that why you forced me into this new position?”
Grandfather nods. “Your brother also needs someone he can trust when he becomes king.”
“We’ve spent most of our lives apart. We barely know each other.” Logan doesn’t need to add that his grandfather is the reason for that. It’s the unspoken knife between them, always cutting into their relationship.
Grandfather sighs. “I need to speak to you about something because we don’t know how much time I have left on this earth.”
“Don’t talk like that.” A familiar sharp pain jabs Logan’s chest. Too much loss. Milton. Dante. And despite Logan’s problems with his grandfather, he doesn’t want to lose him, too. When the doctors told them that Grandfather was sick and needed treatments, no one could believe it. “You’re tougher than an iron horse. You’ll beat this.”
Grandfather holds up his hand. “Although I may be a king, I’m just a man. When it’s my time to go, I don’t want to leave behind any regrets. Can you help me with that?”
Logan nods. He’s a certified expert in regrets.
“I’ve always regretted sending you away when you were young.” Grandfather looks him directly in the eyes.
Logan returns the look, as hard as it is. “I understand why. I’m the reason for what happened to Dad. You’ve told me that many times.”
His grandfather sighs. “I know, and I shouldn’t have. It was easier to blame you than myself. You weren’t to blame for what happened. It was an accident. But if anyone was to blame, it was me.”
“I don’t understand.” Logan’s world just tilted off its axis.
“You always were the better athlete between you and your brother. You’re stronger, faster. And Adam… well, he didn’t need his little brother outperforming him in just about everything. To be seen as a strong king, he needed to be the alpha male. He is now. Very much so. He’s all that I could hope for as a successor. Tall, broad shouldered, masculine in every way.” He looks below to Adam on the dance floor.
“But when he was younger, I didn’t know he’d grow up to be this way. I wanted him to be more like you. So I encouraged the competition between the two of you. I’m the one ultimately responsible for the rivalry that caused you two to go down that advanced slope when you were much too young for it.” He shakes his head. “Yet even still, you handled it like a pro.”
Grandfather’s words echo something Eden had told him. Logan leans forward. “Is that why Dad chose to save Adam over me? Because he thought I was the stronger skier?”
Grandfather nods. “It’s what I’ve always thought.” He sighs. “Your father was faced with an impossible choice, which son should he save? The answer is, the weaker one. The stronger one doesn’t need him as much.”
Logan leans back in his chair. Eden had been right. Of course, she’d been right. She’s the smartest woman he knows.
His gut wrenches thinking about her. She’s here tonight to perform. It’ll be the first time he’s seen her since the hospital. Until now, he’s used his deployment as an excuse not to see her. But now that he’s back home, there would be no avoiding her.
Or his grandfather. But this conversation is proving to cut some of the tension between them. A détente.
That word makes him think of Eden, Hershey’s chocolate kisses, and the way she eats them.
Stop obsessing. Get her out of your mind.
Much easier said than done.
The object of his obsession walks onto the ballroom stage below him. The dance music has ended. The lights are dimmed. The spotlight is on her as the host for the gala.
She is a vision in red. She wears a slim red gown with a slit on her right side that rides all the way up to her hip. There are five shiny medallions on her bodice. Two near each shoulder, holding together the two thin ribbons that served as straps. The other three medallions form a single file line down her chest, holding together crisscross strips of material that barely covered her breasts and stomach.
The way she saunters across the stage in that dress rouses his body.
But it’s her hair that wakes his soul.
Red.
Her natural hair color.
The color he told her he likes.
Has she returned to her natural red color because I said I liked it?
Stop obsessing. Get her out of your mind.
But that doesn’t stop his eyes from following her every move on stage. She struts like a supermodel, and her voice mesmerizes him. Everyone in the ballroom is captivated. She showcases some of the dresses on mannequins being auctioned off tonight, and then she sings.
He is riveted. Just as the first time when he heard her sing. The range of her voice is pure God-given talent. Yet it’s the emotion she pours behind each word that draws him in.
This song is a new one. The lyrics are something about a love triangle. A woman loves a man who says he just wants to be friends, so she ends up with someone else. She belts out the song with heartbreak in her voice:
I know that you love me.
Frien
ds is all we’re gonna be.
Yet another man can’t stay away,
tells me words that you can’t say.
I’m cold and I’m lonely.
I want you to hold me.
But here he is, and oh so hot,
giving me everything that you’re not.
So you don’t want to love me,
and friends is all we’ll ever be.
Now I have him here in my bed.
Guess I got you out of my head.
Did she write this song about them? It sure does sound like it. Has she found someone else?
That possibility attacks his soul. The idea that he can’t have her pounds into him daily like a blitzkrieg. But the reality that she may not want him because she’s moved on with another man—that’s brutal. The kind of bruising, ripping, tearing, slicing into his soul type of brutal reality.
The kind that leaves your soul devastated. Hiroshima devastated.
The song ends with a standing ovation by everyone, including his grandfather.
Grandfather leans into Logan, standing next to him. “Sounds like she’s recently had a heartbreak.” Grandfather shakes his head, as if Logan is a naughty boy. “Too bad. I really liked her. She’s a beautiful woman—not just on the outside. She never left your hospital room the whole time you were there. Do you know that?”
Logan nods. Of course, he knew. The feel of her body. The strength of her words, willing him not to give up. Without her, he doesn’t know if he would’ve bothered to open his eyes.
“Poppy brought her changes of clothes and food and sat with you for a good part of the time, although not as much as she did.” Grandfather points to Eden, who’s already exited the stage and being swarmed by people clamoring for her attention.
“I know.” He offers only those two words, letting his grandfather talk out of respect, but not wanting to encourage the conversation topic either.
“They knew each other because they both collect—oh, I forget what they collect. But Poppy wanted to go to some Supermodel Convention in the States—of course, we couldn’t let her. It’s too dangerous for her to leave the palace.”
Poor, Poppy. His little sister may be a princess, yet her life is a fairytale that keeps her trapped in a castle. Or specifically, Thorton Palace. She was kidnapped as a baby, and ever since, she rarely gets to go anywhere outside the palace complex. And even then, it’s only for school.
Logan helps his grandfather get settled before he sits down himself. He sees Eden and Poppy talking in the corner of the ballroom.
Grandfather follows his eyes. “Poppy said she’d loved to have Eden as a sister. They’ve gotten to be really close. I wouldn’t mind having her as part of the family.”
That’s Grandfather’s not-so-subtle hint.
“Your brother will be engaged soon enough. You can’t let him beat you, now can you?” Grandfather offers a good-natured grin, as if he can’t resist this type of friendly competition between his two grandsons.
“Which brother?” Logan turns to Grandfather, already knowing the answer. But as he learned on the battlefield, when you’re taking hits, create a diversion.
Grandfather stares at him. “The only other one I care about—Adam.” Grandfather sits taller in his chair. “Grant doesn’t count.”
“He counts for Poppy, Adam, and me. I wish you’d just recognize him. Give him a title. Why not?”
“Ha, like I’d give him a title.” Grandfather waves off the thought. “Grant doesn’t have your father’s blood. My blood. Royal blood. He’s a bastard. Why are you defending him?”
Logan shrugs. “I guess I know what it feels like to be an outcast from this family.”
Grandfather sighs. “You didn’t deserve for me to be so hard on you. It isn’t easy to admit, but it wasn’t just because I acted like I blamed you for your father’s death.” Grandfather studies Logan’s face. “It’s that you look so damn much like your father, that every time I look at you, I remember him”—he closes his eyes for a second and swallows hard—“and for a long time, it was too much to bear. You are so much like him. Not only in looks, but in personality, even his sense of humor.”
The only memories Logan has of his father are hazy. “I was so young when he died. I wish I could remember every detail about him.” There’s a heaviness in his voice that comes from carrying too much sadness inside. “I can’t even remember the way Dad laughed. I wish I could.”
“If you want to know the way he laughed, you only need to listen to yourself laugh.” Grandfather’s lips attempt a smile that falls flat. “Although it’s been many months since I’ve heard you laugh. Nothing can bring you more joy and laughter than a wife and children.”
Grandfather leans over and puts a hand on Logan’s shoulder. “Let me formally transfer Thorton Hall to you. Let me make up to you for your childhood, so you can create a family of your own, one that will bring laughter back into your life. Let me have peace and leave this world without regret.”
Logan couldn’t envision building a family without Eden. He has no use for Thorton Hall. But Grandfather needs him to take it because Grandfather needs release from his heartache.
That Logan understands. “What’s done is done. I will take the Hall, and now let’s forget the past.”
“Thank you.” Grandfather pats Logan’s shoulder, and then drops his hand away from Logan. “But let’s not repeat past mistakes. Don’t turn away loving someone just because they remind you of someone you lost. I did that with you because of your dad.” He searches the ballroom, as if he’s looking for someone. “I have a feeling you’re doing that with Eden because of what happened with her brother.”
“It’s a little more complicated than that.”
“I saw the telltale spark of the Thorton Thunderbolt between you two at the hospital.” Grandfather chuckles. “She’s your destiny. Destiny has a way of uncomplicating things that are meant to be.”
“Don’t get your hopes up—”
Grandfather raises his hand. “Trust me.” Grandfather says it like he’s a shaman. “Now I have to go find your brother Adam. He’s caught up in some drama between twin sisters.”
Logan furrows his brows together. “You mean Emma and Marianne?”
Grandfather nods.
“Is Grant caught up in it, too?”
“Why would he be?” Grandfather asks.
“Grant likes Marianne.”
Grandfather sighs. “Grant always has to get involved where he doesn’t belong.” He stirs from his seat and stands. “I’d better go find Adam. The clock is ticking down to his 25th birthday. He needs a wife, and soon.”
Before Grandfather is out the door, he turns back to Logan. “Don’t forget you agreed to help Poppy with her video after school tomorrow.”
“How could I? She’s turned Thorton Hall into a movie studio. I walked in today, and there was an entire advance team from Hollywood setting up cameras and lighting. Not to mention, she’s decorated the place like a pink Barbie house.”
Grandfather chuckles. “You did tell her she could decorate for you however she wanted. You indulge her.”
“Says the one who brought in an entire Hollywood film crew for a teenager’s video project.”
“True, I’ve spared no expense ensuring that she gets everything she could possibly want brought to her. But I don’t have to tell you how dangerous it is outside these palace walls.”
Logan nods, having seen firsthand just how dangerous. “How did I even get wrangled into this video project? I don’t ever remember agreeing to it.”
Grandfather shrugs. “Poppy came up with the idea while you were in the hospital, and you promised her you’d be in it.”
“That explains it. I wasn’t in my right mind at the hospital.”
“You still promised her. I was there. Poppy felt so helpless when you were in the hospital. We all did. I think this video is a way for her to take that feeling of helplessness and turn it into something good. All the proceeds will go to
military families.” Grandfather clenches the doorknob. “Don’t back out of it. You’ll break her heart.”
“Of course I won’t back out on her. But just so I know what I’ve gotten myself into, what kind of video is this anyway?
“A music video.”
Something about the way Logan saw Poppy and Eden talking, only moments ago, raises his suspicions. “What kind of music video?”
“The kind with Eden Knight in it.” Grandfather’s smile plumps his cheeks, making him seem younger and stronger than he is. And with that, he is out the door.
Ollie files in shortly after.
“You’re late.” Logan grumbles. This music video with Eden has put him in a distinctly foul mood. How is he supposed to be around Eden for an entire day tomorrow? Being around her, having to hear her talk and laugh, and then somehow keep his hands off her—that’s pure torture. The Universe must be conspiring against him, or at least his family is.
“I didn’t realize my promotion to your assistant would require fancy galas.” Ollie sits. “I had to track down a tux.”
“You could’ve just borrowed one of mine.”
“I thought you’d say that.” Ollie grins. “I took one from your closet and dropped off the General’s housewarming gift that came in the mail today. It’s that candy tray shaped like two balancing scales.”
Ah, yes, the one Dante knocked from the General’s desk, just hours before he died.
“It reminds me of Dante, and I really don’t have much that does.” Except Eden. She’s a constant reminder of the promise he made to Dante.
“I set the scales next to some potpourri and pink flowers on the fireplace near your entryway. You sure do have a lot of pink in that place. Do you know you even have a pink bedspread and a gazillion pink pillows on your bed?”
Logan rolls his eyes. “Yeah, my sister decorated like she’s holding me hostage in a Barbie doll’s house.”
Ollie laughs. Maybe the old Logan would have joined in. But this new Dante-less Logan doesn’t remember how.