I’d let my mother be in charge of my dress, but when it had come to picking Fae’s, I’d been the one to make the final decision. I’d picked a dress with so many frills that she’d be lost in them. It was a pale blue to compliment the dark blue of my gown, and I topped it off with a ribbon around her head with a flower embroidered into it along with the initial L.
If anyone asked, I’d tell them it was for the shortened form of my name, Lia, but truly, it was for Fae’s father, Luka. I was moving on with Jay, but Luka would always be a part of me and a part of Fae.
When she was dressed, I picked her up and moved back over to the mirror, pointing at her in it. She was completely unmoved by how beautiful she was, but I knew that was something she would grow into. I gave her a light kiss then wiped away the lipstick I’d left on her cheek with my thumb. The music in the grand hall had already begun, and we were in danger of being late to our own party.
Judith met us by the door to the main hall, waiting to take Fae from my arms.
“I’ll introduce her to everyone, and then, when she gets tired, you can take her to bed,” I said to her. No one was robbing me of formally introducing my daughter. “Feel free to enjoy the party before that. Make sure you get some food.”
Judith nodded her head and walked down the corridor that would bring her to one of the side entrances to the grand hall. The main entrance where we were was reserved for royalty only. Normally, it wasn’t used, but on nights like this, it was the best way of making a grand entrance.
My stomach was in knots as my father appeared. He kissed my cheek and Fae’s, then took my mother’s arm. I knew my nerves had nothing to do with Fae. The people would love her. What was there not to love? She was perfection in an overly frilly dress. I was nervous because Jay would be inside waiting for me, and I had to act like it was normal, that my insides didn’t feel like I’d swallowed a hundred snakes.
The master of the doors put his hand to the door handle. I took a deep breath as the guards inside signaled their fanfare. A hand on my arm had me spinning around.
Jay stood there, looking more handsome than I’d ever seen him. He’d had a haircut and a shave and didn’t have the usual smudge of mud across his cheek.
I opened my mouth to say something, but his attention was already on Fae.
The doors opened and we walked in, already a couple. He’d planned it that way, knowing I’d be nervous. As the photographers jostled for the best position and the guests applauded our arrival, I clung to him, fearful that if I let go, he would disappear.
He clasped my hand tightly, and right then, I knew he’d always be there for me. From planning a practice date the day before to walking through the main doors with me, something he’d almost certainly asked permission from my father to do, he was always one step ahead, anticipating my needs before I even knew I had them.
I took a quick glance over at him. He had a flower in his hand. It was a gerbera daisy. They didn’t grow in The Vale. I knew this because they were my favorite flowers. Bright, colorful, and yet simple. They were the flowers that Luka used to buy me when he could. Jay knew that, and he’d gone out of his way to make sure I was happy. At least, I’d thought that, but as I watched, he handed the flower to Fae. She grabbed the stem in her little fist, squashing it, breaking the stem so that it bent. She then let go, dropping the flower to the floor.
“She’s going to be a feisty one when she grows up,” Jay whispered to me, and I broke into a laugh. Somewhere in front of me, another light went off as the photographers captured the special moment.
There was so much I wanted to say to Jay, but once the photographers had been given their turn to take photos, they were ushered out to keep the rest of the party private, and I was given the chance to introduce Fae. She was the star of the show, and having people cooing over her made it so much easier to be with Jay in an official capacity. No one was looking at us as I made a trip around the room, introducing Fae to as many people as possible. No one noticed his hand on my back, the whispers of encouragement in my ear, the looks we gave each other. They only noticed the baby. She was the perfect decoy. I even managed to get some food before she became cranky and began to wail. I didn’t even need to look for Judith. She appeared out of the throng of people, ready to do her job. I gave Fae a quick cuddle and handed her to Judith. Jay bent over and kissed her forehead.
“You’d better go and let the king and queen say goodnight to her,” I said, nodding toward my parents who were in deep conversation with a couple I didn’t recognize.
I watched as Judith walked through the crowd with Fae, who was still wailing. My mother lit up when she saw her, even though she’d been with her less than half an hour earlier. She really did love us all. She doted on Fae, and I was pretty sure the only reason she didn’t insist on accompanying Judith up to my room was that she’d miss out on the opportunity to gush about her new granddaughter to all her friends.
“She’ll be all right, you know.” Jay slipped his hand in mine as the music started to play. I turned to face him.
“Here, I have one for you too.” He pulled out another gerbera daisy from a pocket. It was almost as bent as the one Fae had dropped on the floor earlier. I gave him a shy smile as I took the flower from him. With his free hand, he gestured to the dance floor. People were still eating and talking, and, as yet, no one had ventured out to dance. “Would you dance with me?”
My stomach squirmed again. I no longer had Fae as a shield. Dancing with Jay would tell the world that we were together, but as I looked into his eyes, I knew that I wanted it. I’d wanted it for so long, and it was way overdue that I acknowledged it.
“I’d be delighted.”
All eyes were on us as Jay swept me out onto the dance floor. As he spun me around, I saw Judith slipping out with Fae. I closed my eyes, blocking the whole world out, and rested my head on Jay’s shoulder. It was such an intimate moment, watched by hundreds. I didn’t care. Being in Jay’s arms felt so right. How could I have not known how perfect we were together? The signs had been there all along. He’d been my best friend my whole life. He was one of my earliest memories, and now, he was the man making my whole body sing. The music played faster and faster, and the evening flew by. By the time the orchestra was playing the slow songs, my feet were aching and my heart was full. No one had bothered us, and yet I’d seen with my own eyes the people watching us dance. I wondered briefly if this would cause a scandal in The Vale. After all, I’d not long since given birth to another man’s baby. Then I found I didn’t care. Those people, supposedly our greatest friends, although I’d never met half of them, didn’t know what it was like to lose a husband and then months later give birth to his child.
“What are you thinking about?” Jay whispered in my ear as we swayed together, my head on his shoulder. “Are you thinking about Luka?”
I pulled back a little so I could look him in the eye. “Kind of. I was wondering about how this would be perceived in the papers tomorrow. People of The Vale are straight-laced. They might not like the fact I’m dancing with a man who isn’t the new princess’s father.”
“And does that bother you?”
I shook my head and whispered back. “Not in the slightest.” Leaning forward, I pressed my lips against his to show him I was telling the truth. All around us, I heard a collective gasp, but I drowned the sound out, preferring to listen only to the music and to fall into the kiss, among the first of many.
“Let’s go outside.” Jay took my hand, and together, we made our way through the crowds of people. Like most palaces of royalty, ours had a balcony where we would pose for royal photos on days when the public demanded it, such as royal occasions. What most people didn’t know was that we had a private balcony at the back of the palace that overlooked the palace gardens.
It was lit by a beautiful combination of torches, stars, and fireflies that danced around us.
“I meant what I said inside. I really don’t care what people think. It took me a l
ong time to get here, but I’m here now. I love you, Jay.”
I’d never seen his face so lit up or animated at my words. He’d been waiting a long time to hear them.
“I know that Luka will always be part of your life, I don’t want to change that, I...”
I held a finger to his lips. “This night isn’t about Luka. It’s about us.”
“Actually, it’s about Fae, but...”
I silenced him with a kiss, moving my lips against his in a way that felt so natural that I wondered how I could ever have thought otherwise. I ran my fingers through his dark hair and inhaled his scent of fresh soap and a hint of the staviary that never really left him.
When I finally pulled away, I noticed some of the unicorns flying over the garden. One of them was Zacharina, followed by Epiphany. My stomach lurched, and for a second, I thought they were coming to tell me something was wrong, but then I saw they weren’t just flying, they were parading in the air, almost a dance, giving the fireflies a run for their money.
“Jay?”
“Hmmm?”
“Did you happen to talk about the ball in front of the unicorns at all?”
Even in the torchlight, I saw his cheeks color.
“I might have been practicing the courage to ask you as my date in front of them.”
I tried to hide the smirk on my face by turning away from him and looking out to the unicorns again.
Zacharina nodded then flew off into the night, followed by the other unicorns.
“I don’t know. I sometimes get the feeling that they understand every word we say.”
Jay held his hand out to me. I still hadn’t told him that, as well as unicorns understanding us, I could understand them and speak to them, too. Even now, with no other secrets between us, I wasn’t quite ready to give this part of me up. It felt too real. It would mean admitting that there was something weird about me. The strangers had all talked about magic, and I’d sat there silent on the subject. Maybe I should have told them. After all, magic wasn’t something to be ashamed of, but they all had powers that made sense. Azia could control dragons. Blaise could swim underwater. Castiel could actually change into an animal. My ability wasn’t really so different from theirs, but I couldn’t control the unicorns, nor could I turn into one. I could only talk to them, both verbally and telepathically.
“There you are!”
I turned to find my mother walking out onto the balcony.
“Sorry to interrupt you love birds, but the orchestra is packing up and people are leaving.”
She moved toward us and kissed first Jay, then me, on our cheeks. “You two were just beautiful out there. You’ll be the talk of the town tomorrow. The editor of the Echo told me himself he’s going to put you on the front page.”
“That’s what I’m worried about!”
My mother furrowed her brows. “Why?”
“She’s worried that they’ll think she’s awful for dancing with a man that isn’t Fae’s father.”
My mother tutted, then brought me into a hug. “Of all the silly things to worry about. Didn’t you hear what everyone was saying?”
I shook my head. I’d seen a lot of them looking at Jay and I dancing and chattering to themselves, but I’d not heard the topic of their conversations.
She put one hand on my shoulder and another on Jay’s shoulder and began to guide us back inside.
“After they’d finished up telling me how beautiful Fae was, they all remarked how nice it was to see you looking so happy. You know, I’d not noticed it before, but they were right. You looked radiant tonight, and it had nothing to do with the dress or the hair and makeup. It was the look of complete happiness as you danced with Jay. It’s been too long since I saw you so happy.”
In the hall, a couple of stragglers were still getting their coats on, but in the main part, the maids had taken over the room and were clearing everything away.
“I was wondering if you’d permit me to escort Eliana to her room,” Jay asked, his face a picture of complete innocence. Inside I felt the heat rise in embarrassment. Shockingly, my mother answered him with a wink.
“By the gods, that was embarrassing,” I said five minutes later as we walked up the stairs to my room.
“Worth it, though,” he answered, backing me up to the door to my suite and kissing me so hard that I completely forgot why I was mad. And, oh, he was right. It was worth it. Williamson and Avery were nowhere in sight. It was just Jay and me.
His lips crushed mine and I kissed back with urgency. I caressed his head in my hands, pulling him closer, deeper to me. My body ignited, excitement coursing through every pore. It had been a long time since anyone had made me feel this way. A really long time.
“I want... you… in my room” I breathed heavily, speaking between kisses.
“For however much I want that, and believe me, I do really want that, tonight isn’t the night. Fae and her nanny are asleep behind that door.”
I laughed, mainly so I didn’t cry.
“There will be time for that,” he said, kissing my nose, this time much more chastely. “Tonight was only our first date, remember.”
“Second,” I pouted.
This time he laughed. Somewhere I heard the clock strike midnight.
“Goodnight, Lia.” He kissed my hand and walked away.
3
15th May
I tiptoed past Judith, who was sleeping soundly on the bed my mother had brought up for her and checked the bassinet. Fae was sleeping too, her little chest rising and falling with each breath. Judith had taken her out of her frilly dress and put her in a onesie to sleep in. Fae had managed to kick her covers off completely, so I picked them up and tucked her back in, careful not to wake her. A big part of me wanted to pick the bassinet up and carry it into my bedroom, but that would no doubt wake Fae, which in turn would wake Judith. It was kinder to walk to my room alone and let them both sleep.
I pulled my dress over my head, then struggled to get out of the corset I’d been squeezed into hours before. When it finally loosened, I took a deep breath, letting my lungs expand and my body return to its natural post-birth shape. With a long sigh, I fell into bed and went to sleep almost immediately.
My dreams were full of happiness, of dancing and kissing. When I woke up, much later than usual, the memory of a dream of dancing with Luka lingered. But it wasn’t a sad dream. He’d given his blessing to Jay and I. As I had let him go, he was finally letting me go.
Fae wasn’t in her bassinet when I walked through my sitting room to get to the bathroom, and Judith was also absent. Judging by the brightness coming through the windows, the day was already half over, so it was no surprise that Judith would be elsewhere in the castle.
As I padded across the room in my bare feet, a sudden feeling of panic engulfed me. The sight of the framed picture on my wall, the one that had been there as long as I could remember, reminded me that we were still in danger.
Rumpelstiltskin.
I’d not given much thought to him in the past couple of days. My dates with Jay had eclipsed everything, but suddenly his name struck terror in my heart. Had Judith been told to stay in the room with Fae until I woke up? Or had something happened to them? I opened the door to the corridor. Avery caught sight of me in only my nightgown and blushed.
“Can I help you, Your Highness?” he asked, not knowing where to put his eyes.
“Have you seen Judith this morning?” I asked, my heart pounding in fear.
“The lady took Fae down for breakfast with the queen. The queen’s orders were not to wake you.”
Feeling foolish, I headed back into my room. I walked over to the framed print of the word Rumpelstiltskin and yanked it off the wall. The paint behind it was much brighter and more vivid than the rest of the room. Not that I cared. I wanted the thing to be gone. It had plagued my life enough. It wasn’t as though I was likely to forget his name now anyway. I opened the door again.
“Avery. When Williamson
comes on shift, can you take this and dispose of it?” I handed him the picture that had become the bane of my life.
Avery raised an eyebrow. “Where would you like me to dispose of it?”
“I don’t care. Destroy it. Smash the glass and rip the picture up into a thousand pieces. I just don’t want to see it ever again.”
“Very well, Your Highness.”
I shut the door and went for the bath I’d set out for ten minutes earlier.
Now that I knew Fae was all right, I let my mind drift back to Jay. To the kiss we’d shared before I’d retreated to my room. It was no chaste goodnight kiss on the cheek. It was full of the passion we’d both repressed for so long. I’d forgotten how wonderful it was to be touched, how my body felt like it was on fire with each caress. Unfortunately, I hadn’t forgotten that beyond the door I’d been pushed against, my baby daughter—not to mention her nanny—had been sleeping.
I’d said goodnight to Jay, but I hadn’t wanted to. I hadn’t wanted the night to end at my door, but it had. Just because Williamson and Avery had given us some space didn’t mean they weren’t just around the corner.
But Jay and I would have our chance to be together again. Last night was just a promise of things to come.
I washed and dressed quickly and headed downstairs. I found Fae in the grand hall in the arms of my mother who was overseeing the cleanup of the event from the night before. She gave me a knowing smile as she handed Fae over.
“Did you have a good night?” she inquired with a smirk. My mother never smirked. It just wasn’t something she did.
“I did, as a matter of fact. I was thinking I’d grab some food and head out to the staviary to see Jay.”
“He’s not in today.” She saw my look and quickly added “He’s in town sorting out an order, that’s all. Apparently, you two were so busy glancing lovingly into each other’s eyes the other day that neither of you checked the order and some of it’s wrong. I’m sure he’ll be back later.”
Eliana: Remembering Rumpelstiltskin (Kingdom of Fairytales Boxset Book 5) Page 25