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He’s wearing a tailored jacket in a deep red wine color, with golden embroidered details on the cuffs and chest, matched with a crisp, coordinating vest and pants.
He looks like Simon, the Duke of Hastings from Bridgerton, only with a set of small wings attached to his back to fit the ball’s “enchanted” theme.
With soft music floating through the air, I take the steps down to the grass. He holds out his hand, the look in his eyes telling me exactly how he feels about me. “My Texas Princess,” he says with a smile that’s so full of love, my heart begins to bang like it’s in an 80s rock band, laying down a rousing tune.
“Alex,” I murmur.
He lifts my hand to his lips, his kiss soft on my skin. “You make an absolutely breath-taking fairy.”
“Ditto,” I reply with a short-lived smile. “Alex, we need to talk.”
He raises his brows, a smile playing on his lips. “Ah, the words every man wants to hear when he’s got a pair of fairy wings attached to his back.”
“I’m serious.”
His features drop. “I know we do.”
“You do?” I ask in surprise.
A hush falls over the crowd and Alex peers over my shoulder.
“He’s here?”
“What? Who?” I swivel around to see and it’s as though a lightning bolt has etched a shocking image directly into my brain.
No! It can’t be!
Can it?
It’s someone I haven’t laid eyes on since I was a child. Someone for whom I owe the very existence of my new life to.
Prince Nicolas.
He briefly greets his parents and the King and Queen of Ledonia, before he walks over to Alex and me. With a broad smile on his face, he offers us a bow. “Ah, my niece, Maddie, the most beautiful fairy of them all.”
“Uncle Nicolas?” I ask as I take him in. Like Alex, he’s wearing a suit with a pair of wings, although his is pale blue, reminding me of those terrible tuxes guys at my high school wore ironically to Prom. Although taller, he reminds me so much of my mom, particularly the set of his blue eyes, and the way his lips form a smile.
I catch my breath.
“The very same,” he replies with a warm smile that tugs at my heartstrings, reminding me of simpler times when Mom was still here and I didn’t have an impossible decision to make.
But perhaps Nicolas’s reappearance will give me an answer?
“Nicolas. It’s good to see you,” Alex says, pumping his hand. “Good and unexpected, I might say.”
“I thought it was about time I made an appearance. Don’t you?”
He can say that again.
“But what are you doing here?” I ask, still trying to wrap my head around his sudden appearance. Despite not having laid eyes on him, he’s loomed so large in my life.
“I do so love this ball. I’ve come every year since I can remember,” he replies, without replying at all.
“But—” I begin.
What does it mean that my uncle has turned up out of the blue? Is he here to claim his throne? Is he here to formally abdicate?
And what does it mean for me?
