Auggie met everyone at the main table, all with a loving kiss on the cheek. I followed his lead. Dinner was announced, it was venison, a gift brought by the Byrnes fresh from the hunt. My stomach rebelled a little as I thought of the deer that we had seen at Greystone. I pushed my plate away slightly.
“You don’t like deer?” Giz asked. I shook my head. “Me, either” she confessed. She summoned a servant with a raised finger. “Another vegetarian plate, please,” she instructed.
“Thank you,” I grinned.
“You’re welcome,” she smiled back, before she went right back to what she was doing. She was a fixer who knew how to get things done. I loved her fiercely and immediately.
“Speaking of hunting,” Princess Mariel spoke up. “When was the last time you worked with the falcons?”
My eyes traveled to Auggie. “Falcons?”
He nodded. “Falconry was one of my father’s passions. He trained me.”
Princess Mariel cleared her throat. Auggie chuckled.
“As did my wonderful aunt,” he corrected.
“You use falcons to hunt?” Dash asked.
“Not anymore,” Mariel said. “It’s more of a sport now. But when Roan and I were kids, we were taught how to hunt squirrels and rabbits.”
“She’s a vegetarian now, too,” Giz explained.
“I can see why,” Dash replied, to everyone’s great amusement.
“I still have Seamus, though.”
Auggie’s eyebrow arched. “Are you kidding? It’s been almost fourteen years.”
“He’s a grumpy old man, but he’s hanging in there. You should see him before you leave.”
Giz glanced up. “You’re leaving already?”
Auggie looked at me. “We haven’t decided yet,” I explained.
“She wants to get married in America,” Dash filled in for me. “On our farm. September 1st.”
“I thought you had to get married here to be king,” Giz said.
Auggie put his hand on mine. “There are a lot of things we haven’t decided yet.”
“What’s to decide? You’re the only one left. You have to be king.”
“I’m waiting on you to get married, Aunt Giz,” he teased. She rolled her eyes.
“I don’t have time for a man,” she explained.
“Amen, sister,” the notoriously single Mariel commented as she ate a tomato from her salad.
The Queen listened to the conversation but didn’t contribute much. At least verbally. I could tell her steely gaze missed nothing. Princess Fiona often leaned forward to whisper something, the Queen would nod and say nothing in response.
The conversation turned to a jumble of politics and current events. I ate my vegetarian stew in relative quiet as I processed everything. Auggie watched me under hooded eyes, but I had no answers for him yet.
I still had no answers by the time dinner ended and the ball officially began. Several acts performed for the Queen, before the dance floor was opened to guests. Auggie and I were expected to lead the way, by taking to the floor first.
He held me in an elegant waltz as the symphony played something appropriately classical, swinging me around just like someone caught in fairy tale, waiting for the clock to strike midnight. We said nothing until other dancers joined us on the floor, starting with Dash and Giz. The crowd was enamored the minute he bowed to her and held out a hand to ask her to dance.
After that, the floor filled and Auggie pulled me close. “You truly look beautiful, Pea,” he murmured.
“It was your creation,” I said, gesturing to the dress.
“No,” he corrected softly. “I couldn’t have conjured you if I tried.”
I thought back to the strange journey that brought us to that moment. “I suppose you did try, didn’t you?”
“I regret nothing that brought you into my life, Pea. And I’ll fight to my very last breath to make it worth it if you stay.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Auggie. I love you.”
He kissed me softly, in front of everyone, decorum be damned. “You are my fairy tale,” he murmured against my lips.
I held him as we danced on.
As the orchestra picked up the pace, it went into a rousing new dance where we swung into the arms of new partners. Dad was there to catch me first, then Dash, then Archer and Gav.
Then I found myself in the powerful arms of Cillian Byrne.
He held me fast, much stronger and closer than I expected. Those impossible eyes drilled into mine. “Hello, Princess,” he said, his mouth curving into a smile most could never be certain if it was benevolent or malevolent. I, sadly, knew the truth.
“Your Grace,” I greeted, using his formal title since he was a Duke.
“What do you think of Aldayne?” he asked, holding me