Page 24

“You’re truly engaged to him then?” Charlene asked dryly. “Our very own princess-to-be. I knew there was a good reason I was on good terms with you.”

Sera offered an unconvincing smile, a tight thing that didn’t reach her eyes. “It isn’t as if I had much choice. You know how these things are decided among our parents the moment we first toddle about the ballroom.”

If I had a choice, it certainly wouldn’t be some unknown man from somewhere! It would be an unknown man from somewhere else! Yes, the irony wasn’t lost on her.

Maddie raised an eyebrow. “Oh no, you can’t say it like that, Sera.

Prince von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen is every girl’s dream!

Isn’t he? Just think of his connections to every royal family in Europe!

You could live at a different castle each season.

” She turned to Charlene and Ashley. “He’d probably arrive at Almack’s looking like a proper storybook hero—armor shining, sweeping Sera onto his perfectly white steed. You’d have no choice but to swoon.”

Ashley snorted. “If only he’d had a rose clenched between his teeth, right? You’d have convinced the entire ton that a fairy tale could come to life.”

Sera shifted, warmth spreading along her neck. “He’s a prince, not a romantic fantasy,” she said. “Which, I should remind you, means no fairy godmother will be coming along to fix my life when it all falls apart.” She still prayed that wouldn’t happen. She still had Alex. And she believed in him.

Charlene waved a languid hand. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic.

He may not have a fairy godmother, but he probably has Europe’s most charming manners and more crowns than you’ll know what to do with.

Married to him, you’ll have the world at your fingertips—and a wardrobe far lovelier than mine, I imagine. ”

Ashley smirked. “For once.”

Sera snorted. Not everything was about glitter. She imagined the prince stiff and harsh, eager to clip her wings and make her an accessory to his overripe life.

The very opposite of Alex.

Maddie leaned forward conspiratorially, her fan forgotten in her lap. “He does sound appealing to the ear, doesn’t he? We shall have to see for ourselves if this is the case with the eyes. Be that as it may, don’t be too hard on your family. I don’t believe they are conspiring to make a bad match.”

Her throat tightened. “I know,” she murmured, though inside her chest, her heart jack-knifed.

A prince certainly was polished, regal, neatly checkered into the pre-approved plans of her parents.

But he wasn’t him . Initially, having a prince—any man—was not her dream.

But now, Sera wanted Alex as much as she needed the air she breathed.

Each imagined image of her future smudged, like spoiled ink, and then filled instead with a man with untamed blond hair and sun-warmed skin who had walked barefoot with her on the beach.

Alex. Simple, maddening, impossible Alex. “You’re terribly distracted,” Charlene prodded, inspecting Sera with narrowed eyes. “That’s not like you.”

Time to come clean. “I’ve decided I want to dissolve the engagement,” Sera blurted, more abruptly than she intended. The words burned as they spilled out, but once free, they carved a surprising relief.

Her friends froze. Ashley’s hand paused mid-air, her cup of honeyed tea forgotten. Charlene sat up straighter, her expression losing its lazy amusement. Maddie spoke first, blinking quickly. “I beg your pardon?”

“You heard me,” Sera stated, her voice steadier now. “I will not marry the prince, so I intend to lose him.”

“How,” Maddie began, clearly flabbergasted, “do you expect to lose a prince this summer, in time before the formal announcement of your engagement and wedding?”

Charlene leaned in, gleaming with interest. “Just asking out of curiosity, my dear, why would you wish to? He’s rumored to be absurdly handsome, well-versed in European politics, and did I mention the crowns?”

“I find crowns unsettling,” Sera shot back, exhaling slowly. “And I wish to… extricate myself because I can’t, in good conscience, wed someone I don’t—”

“Love?” Ashley cut in with a slight grin. “Is this the start of some grand romantic rebellion?”

Sera opened her mouth, then closed it.

Could she admit the truth aloud? Confess her discretion? I love someone who isn’t him, someone I met with the salty taste of sea air on my lips. Someone who doesn’t fit into cream-colored drawing rooms or balance Society’s endless rules. Possibly a pirate.

Instead, she shook her head cautiously. “I don’t feel it’s right…

for either of us. I don’t care about those things.

You ought to understand.” It was Ashley, after all, who ended up engaged and madly in love with her nemesis, the Earl of Linsey.

“Your husband certainly doesn’t like being stuck in bland drawing rooms sipping on tiny cups of tea. Doesn’t he have a brewery of his own?”

“Yes, he does, Sera. But one doesn’t exclude the other.

You know he cuts a fine figure in tailcoats and runs the estate with a firm hand.

He doesn’t like stuffy Society but that’s not because he doesn’t fit in—he certainly commands the room when he has to attend such gatherings—he merely prefers the honesty of the countryside over the hypocrisy in Society. ”

Charlene tilted her head, her golden curls shimmering in the late London sun streaming through the window. “Do you truly think it’s that easy to lose a prince?”

Sera blinked. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Because,” Charlene smirked, her tone half-mocking, half-serious, “if you’re seen as rejecting him, you’ll become instantly fascinating. And sadly, utterly scandalous. He’s a prince, dear. They don’t make it easy to slip away unnoticed.”

Sera sighed, heat creeping into her face again.

Maddie crossed her arms, the picture of mock skepticism. “Well then, do tell. How exactly do you plan to back out of this most advantageous match?”

A light laugh floated up from somewhere she couldn’t pinpoint, though whether it was tension breaking or nerves fraying, she didn’t quite care.

“One step at a time,” she replied with a rueful smile, her heart still oddly tangled and heavy.

But as her imagination wandered, as it always did when her mind was untethered, it arrived, per usual, at him. Alex.

“Is there anything in our handbook about how to repel a prince then?” Maddie asked.

“He’s not a moth,” Ashley said. “She’d have to completely ruin her chances—”

Sera held her breath and then pinched her lips. Maddie and Charlene seemed oblivious, but Ashley gave her a hard stare. “Sera?” her friend whispered. “What have you done?”

Heat crept up Sera’s face and she felt caught like a cat that spilled the milk. She shrugged.

“No!” Ashley put both hands on her mouth. “You have?”

Now, even Maddie and Charlene set their cups down. “Have what?”

Sera fanned herself. Why was it suddenly so hot in here?

“Sera?” Maddie pressed on with a tone that left no secrets unshared.

“Perhaps I have,” she offered vaguely. “A little bit.” Sera looked to Ashley for help for she had, too…

“When?” Ashley asked, understanding lacing her voice and a tinge of concern.

Charlene and Maddie’s heads flicked from Sera to Ashley and back again.

“In Cornwall.” Sera wrung her hands.

“Where? At home?” Maddie asked, enlightenment dawning on her face. Charlene seemed frozen, slack-jawed and wide-eyed as well.

“No, at the beach,” Sera mumbled. “In a cave.”

“At the beach?” Maddie stood abruptly. “In public?”

Ashley seemed to suppress a grin and put a hand on Sera’s. “Now, slowly, from the beginning. There’s another reason you don’t want to marry this prince, and I understand it now. Tell me how I can help.”

Sera nodded. “Is your friendly support all I need?” But truth be told, she could use some help.

“Did it hurt?” Charlene asked, curiosity evident in her voice.

Ashley and Sera exchanged simultaneous deadpan looks.

“I mean, did it?” Charlene pressed.

“Well, no, maybe a little,” Sera began, searching Ashley’s face for support. Her friend, however, blushed furiously, making her blonde hair stand out even more. “It was actually quite wonderful.”

“So, you love him then?” Maddie inquired.

“You can do this without being in love,” Ashley attempted to explain, as if she were an expert on the subject. “Not that I would know, though.”

“Me neither,” Sera admitted. The confession came easier than she expected.

All eyes turned to her, and her friends seemed to hold their breaths.

That softened Sera, and she shrugged. “It just happened, I guess. Love crept up on us, and now… now I can’t imagine life without him.”

Ashley nodded solemnly. “We need to lose the prince this summer.”

“That’s what I said,” Sera replied.

“Who’s this again?” Maddie asked, but Sera only raised an eyebrow. I’m not telling.

“So, first things first. What do we know about him?” Ashley began with renewed enthusiasm.

“He’s coming to London,” Sera said. “That’s all I know. And the engagement ball. But I have to break it off before the announcement.”

“Well, finding the prince in Society shouldn’t be too difficult. Leave it to me to uncover more about him—his whereabouts and so on.”

“Then, I’ll let him know,” Sera said, feeling a sense of hope with the plan.

“But what if he doesn’t let you out of the engagement?” Maddie asked, but the others’ death stares silenced her.

Well, then, she would reconsider her plans to run away.

*

Cloverdale House on Abbotsberry Road, London

Alex couldn’t shake the feeling of chains tightening around his chest during the entire carriage ride to London.

The farther he traveled from Cornwall, the more constricted his heart felt.

Being away from Sera felt like diving deep into the ocean—going deeper and deeper, unsure when the buoyancy would shift his descent to an ascent.

Until he saw her again, he wouldn’t breathe freely.