I watched his fingers dance across the sparkling keys. “Two hearts became three. My love, my child and me. Perfect as it would seem. In her heart I’m home, I’m never alone. She made me king.”
The whole place went apeshit. Was he saying what they thought he was saying?
He didn’t answer, instead he kissed me hard for the whole world to see, before a stagehand escorted me off the stage so he could go into his next number.
I stood backstage trembling as I watched the show. He tantalized and teased for two straight hours, tireless and unabashed.
When the dancers took the stage, Fern and Gav performed a beautiful modern dance where they fought to be together only to wind up in each other’s arms.
“Fairy tales have happy endings,” Auggie told the audience, who adored the performance. “At least that is what I’ve been told by someone very important. Allow me to introduce my new little brother. Dashiell McPhee.”
I screamed and clapped as Dashie went on stage in that purple tutu given to him by the queen. Under a lone spotlight, he performed his own dance for thousands, every bit as unafraid and unapologetic as Auggie himself.
I wept with joy when he was done. He ran off the stage, waving goodbye to his legion of new fans, before vaulting himself into my arms.
I was so happy for him, I could hardly be upset with Auggie when he insisted that we share a car to ourselves back to Castlewick, once the festivities were over and the rest of the McPhees stayed at the hotel in Wandermere, to prepare for the Jubilee the next day.
As a royal, Auggie would be driven back to Shimmering Falls in a horse-driven carriage. As his future wife, I would ride with him, through the countryside to greet the Aldayneans.
“You know they’re expecting you to announce you’ll take the throne,” I said as I nestled in his arms in the back of the darkened car.
“What shall we tell them?” he wanted to know.
“What do you want, Auggie?”
“You,” he whispered as he nuzzled his face into my neck.
“Auggie,” I giggled. “I’m being serious.”
“So am I,” he said. “You decide this, Pea.”
“That’s not fair to put that on my shoulders, Auggie. What would you do if I weren’t here?”
He caressed my cheek with his strong hand. “Die,” he stated softly.
I shuddered, thinking about his dad. “Auggie.”
“I’ve been here before,” he said. “With my mom and my dad. He stayed because it was the right thing to do. But being without the ones he loved killed him. I never understood that before. I get it now. I searched the world over for my queen. I won’t live one day without you now that you’re mine.”
“That’s blackmail.”
“That’s the truth,” he corrected. “I go where you go. And that’s that.”
I let him kiss me as we sped back to the castle. I let him love me in the darkened space of that luxury car.
Inside my heart, however, the battle still raged. Choices? What choices? None were clear cut, like a happily ever after should be. Instead, I kept wondering if staying would keep us safe from our enemies or sink us further into the pit. And running away threatened to leave an entire nation in ruins. I was no closer to an answer than I was before.
That didn’t stop the sands from falling. The next day was the Grand Jubilee celebration, where my life would forever be changed.
By exactly how much? I was about to find out.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Technically the Queen’s Jubilee was a string of events that had begun nearly two weeks before. She traveled around the country, meeting with everyone from nobility to those vulnerable Aldayneans who needed her the most, those in hospitals and orphanages and assisted living. She and Giz had a special social gathering at Princess Giselle’s Academy for Independent Living, where both royals were celebrated. Humbly, they opted to celebrate those who were working hard to learn how to make their own worlds a little better, as well as the world at large.
All Quinns led through service, so that was how Queen Maeve chose to celebrate her 25th year on the throne. It would continue throughout the weeks, where she spoke at Girbridge and at different churches, including Crystal Sky Cathedral, the all-glass behemoth Evander had built for them to marry in 1960.
She would be visiting Greystone Abbey that morning, the ancient cathedral on the northern coast, where she was crowned queen. In fact, every monarch had been