A Royal Kiss and Tell

Leo’s breath was snatched from his lungs—Caroline looked beautiful. She always looked beautiful—but tonight there was something about her that sparkled. She wore a headdress made of gold and sparkling crystals that looked a bit like a crown, and from which three gold feathers rose up on one side. Her dress was a brilliant shade of gold, so light that it looked a bit like stardust. The skirt, a diaphanous layer of silk over another layer of heavier silk, was embellished with tiny seed pearls. She wore a choker of pearls around her neck, and another, larger pearl brooch pinned to her bodice. A wrap of the same material as her dress was draped loosely around her arms.

She was elegant, resplendent—he felt like a crow, and she the shiniest of objects. He couldn’t look away.

“It was well worth the wait, then, darling,” Beck said. “You and Hollis will outshine all the other ladies.”

“That’s an unexpectedly kind thing for you to say, Beck,” Caroline said with a curtsy. She turned her smile to Leo and he felt it sink into his bones and lodge there. He hoped he never forgot that smile. “Your Highness! How do you do this glorious evening? The weather is so fine, I think they will have the doors open, won’t they?”

“I am...ah.” He felt a little tongue-tied. “I’m very well, thank you.” He smiled. He was speechless. Utterly bewitched. In love.

Her smile deepened, too, as if she understood what he was thinking.

Beck said, “If the two of you will stop gawking at each other, we might be on our way.” Beck and Hollis had already moved to the door and Leo hadn’t noticed.

The ride to the Pennybacker mansion was quick, as it was only a few blocks away, but the wait on the street to disembark was interminable. When at last they pulled in front of the house, Beck stepped out first, then helped Hollis and Caroline down. Leo brought up the rear. Hollis took Beck’s arm, and Leo escorted Caroline inside. It was the first opportunity he had to speak to her privately. “You are a vision,” he murmured. “A lovelier sight I have not seen.”

She smiled with delight. “And so are you very dashing, Your Highness. A true prince. I shall be the envy of everyone here on your arm and I don’t know how we’ll go about the business of finding a maid—I can’t imagine anyone will look away from us.” She smiled and nodded at a pair of acquaintances, then whispered, “I have an idea of how to find her, the maid.”

“I don’t want you to involve yourself tonight, Caroline. It’s too risky.”

“Really?” she said as they climbed the steps. “And how on earth do you think you will manage without me? This place is too large for you to go wandering about. She’s probably a retiring room attendant, poor thing.”

She had a point. The ball would be so crowded, it would be impossible to ferret out one maid. He hadn’t really thought how, but he suddenly had an image of him wandering around in his princely attire, asking after Rasa.

“I’ve a surprise for you.”

He glanced at her. “Well. My curiosity knows no bounds.”

She giggled. “I’ll tell you all when no one is about. Perhaps when we dance.” She glanced up at him with sparkling eyes. “You meant to invite me to stand up with you, didn’t you?”

He looked at her, at the shimmering green eyes, the full lips. The smooth, porcelain skin. She was the stuff of men’s dreams. “I meant to invite you.”

They stepped into a receiving line, and inched along with the throng waiting to greet the earl and his wife. Hollis and Beck were engaged in a lively and somewhat heated discussion, which, curiously, seemed to do with eggs. Caroline spoke to several people as they moved, greeting friends, pausing occasionally to introduce someone to him. But as they neared the earl and his wife, and Caroline had run out of acquaintances to greet, she leaned into him and whispered, “My surprise for you is that I’ve found another one.”

“Another what?” he asked. He glanced around them, expecting another officer of the foreign secretary to step up and accost him.

“Another Weslorian!”

Leo’s heart slowed. Then rapidly began to beat. “What? Here? Where?”

“The Farringtons’.” She smiled, pleased with herself. “It was quite by accident! I had gone to see my friend Lady Farrington and convince her to invite you to dine, because, of course, if she had you to dine, then Lady Pennybacker would have you to the ball. And there she was.”

“What?” he asked, confused.

“My lord!” Caroline suddenly slipped into a curtsy. Leo realized only then that they had reached the Pennybackers. This was the second time this evening people and space and time moved around him while he’d stood still, captivated by Caroline.

“Lady Caroline, you grace us with your presence,” Pennybacker boomed. “Your Royal Highness, welcome,” he said, and clasped Leo’s hand in both of his and shook.

“Thank you,” Leo said. “I must thank you for the kind invitation. I shall consider it my last opportunity to see friends before I go.”

“So the talk is true, is it? You’re returning to Alucia?”

“It is true.”