Royal Chase (22 page)

I missed Dante’s family. And I really missed seeing Kat. It was weird to go from living with someone and seeing her every single day for years to just visiting.

I must have fallen asleep, because the flight attendant woke me up for landing. I rubbed my eyes and tightened my seatbelt. But when I looked out the window, I didn’t see the Alps. I saw cars and buildings.

One building looked an awful lot like the Eiffel Tower.

“Excuse me,” I said, turning in my chair. The attendant walked back over. “Yes?”

“Are we in Paris?”

“We are, and we will be landing shortly.”

Paris? Why had Dante taken me to Paris?

It wasn’t like anyone on this plane would tell me anything, so I’d just have to wait to find out what he had up his sleeve.

We got through customs quickly to find a black SUV waiting for us. Giacomo stepped out from the front seat in one of his tailored suits, and I almost hugged him. I didn’t though, because he wasn’t a hugger. He was one of the queen’s personal secretaries, and the last time we’d been in Monterra he had helped Kat and me navigate around and dressed us in couture gowns.

Ooh, did this mean a shopping spree? I was so down for a shopping spree!

“Signorina Lemon, it is a pleasure to see you again.” I half expected him to bow, because he was always so formal.

“I’m so happy to see you, Giacomo. What’s going on?”

“I have instructions to deliver you to His Highness. He will explain.”

A shopping spree with Giacomo and Dante? I hoped he didn’t think this was going to be like some
Pretty Woman
montage where I modeled stuff for him. That wasn’t going to happen.

The car arrived at our destination, a very old, very beautiful building with stone columns and pillars and gold statues along the roof. “Where are we?” I asked.

Giacomo got out to open the door for me. He handed me a dress bag and told me not to open it. “Leave your belongings here, and I will see that they are taken care of. His Highness waits for you inside.”

Not caring if the crew was ready or not, I hurried in. If this was a mall, it was the most beautiful mall in the world. I entered through the one open door into a cavernous lobby, with multiple sets of stairs, and huge, gorgeous, twinkling chandeliers everywhere. My shoes echoed on the expensive floors, and I looked up to see that I was surrounded by murals on the walls and ceilings.

My heart leapt with excitement when I found him. Dante stood on the landing in the middle of the staircases, and I climbed up to meet him. He was wearing a tuxedo and looked criminally handsome.

“What is this? Where are we?” I asked.

“Come with me. I have a surprise for you.”

Chapter 22

People may not always tell you how they feel about you, but they will always show you.

I followed him down a hallway, and then another, until he opened a set of double doors. We walked into a theater decorated in reds and golds. A luxurious red velvet curtain hung over the stage, and there were at least five levels of balconies on either side of the stage.

We walked down the center aisle and he stopped. “This is your surprise.”

An empty theater? I heard a violin chord, then the sounds of other string and brass instruments being warmed up. So not totally empty, there was an orchestra in the pit.

“Thank you?”

He laughed. “You said you never got to do your solo as Clara. Your mother contacted your former ballet instructor, and she e-mailed me the sheet music for the part.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. And you still haven’t told me where we are.”

“We’re in the Opéra National de Paris, and some of the most famous ballet dancers in the world have performed here. Now it’s your turn. You have your costume, a dressing room’s been prepared for you, and there is a stage director backstage who will give you your cue to enter.”

I gasped and put my fingers over my open mouth. And, predictably enough, the tears were back. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m very serious.

“I can’t do this. I can’t just get out there and do a dance that I haven’t rehearsed in almost ten years.” My voice shook.

He put his hands on my shoulders, making certain that I was looking at him. “You told me that you still remembered every single step. There’s hardly anyone else here, so you don’t have to worry about being embarrassed. I just wanted you to have your chance to dance your solo.”

Then I couldn’t talk. I wanted to, to thank him, to tell him what this meant to me, to tell him . . . what? What else did I want to say but couldn’t?

“Now get backstage and get ready. These people are charging me by the hour.”

He gave me a little push toward the staircase on the side of the stage, where the woman I assumed was the stage manager waited for me. She spoke rapid French, and I had no idea what she said. I’d taken French in high school, but not enough to make heads or tails of what I could only guess were directions.

She opened a door for me into a little dressing room, where there was a bench covered in makeup with a large mirror and bright lights. Four vases of lemon lilies waited for me. She shut the door and I looked around, touching the table and smelling the lilies. I saw a small white card in one of the vases and opened it.

Break a leg. —D

That made me smile. I opened the dress bag and touched my Clara costume. I didn’t have to try anything on to know that it would fit me perfectly. Giacomo had my measurements somewhere, and he’d probably used them for this costume, which had an empire waist and was pale pink with ribbons and lace at the sleeves and hem. It was supposed to have a nightgown feel to it, but still be suitable for dance.

A matching pair of pointe shoes waited, but they weren’t broken in and I hadn’t been
en pointe
in years. I would have to dance this on my tippy toes and balls of my feet, the same way that I had as a little girl. I put on some stage makeup and ran a brush through my hair. It was too short for a bun or ribbons, and I would just have to make do.

I finished lacing up my slippers and walked out of the door. The stage manager had been waiting for me, and she took me to the wings where I could hear the orchestra playing the opening bars of my piece. The stage lights prevented me from seeing out into the audience, and I couldn’t tell where Dante sat.

The stage manager said something to me that I assumed was “go” or “start.” I went downstage center and took my first pose. Nervous energy racked my whole body, making me shake just a tiny bit. I was already glistening like crazy.

The music began, and I felt like I was a teenager again. I couldn’t
extend the way I used to or hit every position correctly, but I didn’t worry
so much about the technical part of it. I just wanted to move to the music.

I had forgotten the joy, the exhilaration of this. Even if the theater was empty, it was enough just to be on stage again. I made mistakes and did jumps and turns that would have made my ballet teacher pull her hair out in frustration. It couldn’t have looked all that great.

But that was okay. Because this was just for me, and I loved every second of finally dancing my last solo.

The music ended, and I bowed. Once the music was gone, I heard voices yelling, “Brava! Brava!”

I held my hand up to shade my eyes, and I saw Dante cheering for me, and his youngest sister, Serafina. She came rushing up to the stage carrying a bouquet of flowers for me. She jumped into my arms, and I hugged her tightly. “Serafina, darlin’! What are you doing here? I’m so happy to see you!”

“I wanted to surprise you. Are you surprised?”

“I’m very surprised,” I told her. “What did you think?”

“You were so pretty! I’m going to ask Mamma and Papa if I can take ballet when we get home.” I put her down as Dante walked onto the stage. The orchestra members had started to disassemble, putting away their instruments and sheet music. The stage manager said something to Dante, and he replied in French.

Serafina ran into the middle of the stage and started doing her own version of my dance.

“Do you think this would qualify as completing my final quest? Have I proven myself?” His light brown eyes sparkled in these lights, and he looked so happy.

“That’s between you and your liege lord,” I said, holding the giant bouquet of flowers between us like a shield so I wouldn’t do something I shouldn’t. “Did I do okay?”

It was sad how much his answer mattered to me. I told myself that it was because of all the expense and effort he had gone to, but his opinion mattered. Probably even more than I was willing to admit.

“You were . . .” He stopped, as if searching for the right word in English. “Poetic.”

My heart stilled. “Poetic?”

He took a step toward me, making me cling tighter to my flowers. “Since I’m not allowed to tell you how beautiful, or amazing, or talented you are, it was poetic.”

My hand went to his chest of its own volition, and he put one of his hands over it. Right above his heart. “This was the most thoughtful gift I have ever received. I’d forgotten just how much I love ballet. Thank you.”

He looked at me for a moment, as if he wanted to say something but didn’t dare. Finally he said, “I know that you thought it was better to settle and be real and to let go of your dreams. But sometimes it is better to still dream.”

I looked at this man, really looked at him. This wonderful, beautiful, amazing man who had just let me erase one of my deepest regrets. Who wanted me to dream.

I loved him.

I truly, deeply, completely loved him.

And not just as a friend.

The realization stunned me, and I actually felt a bit dizzy. My skin flushed and I had to look away from him so he wouldn’t see what I was feeling. I was in love with him, and probably always had been. Even if I had fought it with every fiber of my being. Heck, I’d even gotten engaged to someone else to keep from admitting it.

Because I was still scared to trust him.

“Did you do something like this for any of the other girls?”

He put a finger under my chin, lifting my face up to look at him. “That’s why I had you come first. I’m not doing this for anyone else. No one else matters to me.”

The words were beating against my chest, wanting to be let out. They flew their way up, to the tip of my tongue.

Tell him!

I opened my mouth, and Serafina came bounding over. “Let’s go home! We’re all having dinner tonight.”

The moment passed. This wasn’t the time or place to say anything, and I still needed to work some things out. I reluctantly pulled my hand away, and he just as reluctantly let me go.

“Sure thing.” I smiled at her and then turned to Dante to ask him to have the stage manager get my things, because I was pretty sure I’d get lost backstage if I had to figure it out on my own.

“Darl—” I stopped. I’d nearly called him darlin’. I’d never called him that.

It seemed like my traitorous heart was trying to tell him what I felt against my wishes.

I hoped he hadn’t heard.

He had. He wore the biggest grin I’d ever seen. “You almost called me darling.” He didn’t leave off the G the way I normally did. “You only say that to people you care about.”

My eyes went wide. “No, I was trying to say Dante.”

“I heard it. Or maybe you confuse words in English sometimes too.”

Yeah. I confused them the exact same way he confused them. On purpose.

I felt pinned beneath his gaze. “I know what you said, and you know what you said, and that’s good enough for me.”

I opened and closed my mouth, like a live fish about to be fried. “I need to change and get my things.”

“I’ll find the manager for you.” He left me alone on the stage with Serafina. She did a couple of leaps and twirls until she was standing next to me.

She put her hand in mine. “You did almost call him darling. I heard it.”

I frowned at her. “Whose side are you on?”

“Dante’s. I want you to be my sister too.”

I didn’t get to talk to him much on the plane ride to Monterra, as Serafina had an unlimited number of stories to tell me. Which was good, because she made an excellent chaperone. While I’d basically ignored Dante’s texts after last Christmas, I had texted constantly with his two youngest sisters, Chiara and Serafina. They had a lot of messages for Kat, whom they adored, but she didn’t want to talk to them or see them because anything that reminded her of Nico was too painful. So I was the one they chatted with, and we’d become even closer as a result.

She finally wore herself out when we got into the waiting car. She fell asleep within seconds, her poor little head falling to one side. I tried to move it to a more comfortable position, but she just kept flopping forward. I gave up.

“All of me is starting to hurt,” I whispered to him. “I forgot I even had some of these muscles.” I probably should have warmed up or stretched first.

“If you need any help massaging your sore muscles, I am at your service. I am excellent with my hands.” He winked at me, and we both suppressed our laughter.

I nudged him with my shoulder. “I shouldn’t humor you.”

“I think you should. I thoroughly enjoy being humored.”

As we drove through the cobblestone streets in the capital city of Imperia, I smiled at all the darling Swiss chalet shops with their gingerbread lattices that lined the main streets. Their red shutters were thrown open, and each window had its own box filled with colorful flowers. This time the only snow was at the very top of the Alps, and everything else was lush, clean, and welcoming. There was the medieval cathedral where I’d celebrated Christmas with the royal family. I saw the massive stone fountain where I’d made a wish and Dante had pretended to push Rafe in. I felt the same wave of homesickness that I’d felt in Atlanta.

Which I didn’t understand, because how could two completely different places feel like home?

We sat in a comfortable silence, watching the scenery fly by. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

I kept my gaze trained on the window. “If you hadn’t seen me for weeks and I came to Monterra for one day and I asked you to see me, but you were busy working and had a deadline, what would you do?”

“I would get in the car the moment you called and would spend every minute I had with you.”

He would have. I knew it. And if he was playing me, if this was all a game to him, he was the best player who had ever lived. Because his answer was perfect.

I gently leaned my head on his shoulder. I just wanted to feel him next to me, to be touching him in some small way since I couldn’t and wouldn’t do anything more.

He sighed happily, but didn’t move and didn’t say anything. Right then, it was enough for both of us.

The car passed through the castle gate, and I was so excited to be back at the palace. As if she knew we were home, Serafina instantly woke up. I took my head away from Dante’s arm.