AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A flash of gold and green caught his eye. A few feet to his left, he noticed an angel perched near the top of the tree. Unlike the other ornaments, which were ornate almost to the point of ostentation, the angel was simple and made of felt with a mound of golden hair surrounding her face. He really must be losing his mind; the way the angel was hung, it looked like she was watching him. “What do you think I should do, angel? Do I do the honorable thing and keep my promise to Mona? Or do I go against everything I’ve ever been taught to run after Rosa?”
Nothing.
That’s what he thought. As if a Christmas ornament would know any more than a branch of mistletoe.
Why then did he feel as though the answer was right there, waiting for him to see it? “Why did Christina have to die in the first place?” he asked the angel. “Life would be so much easier if she had just taken the curve a little slower. I wouldn’t have needed to enter an agreement with King Omar because I wouldn’t need a wife.”
And Rosa would still be with Fredo. Unacceptable. As much as he had loved Christina, he would never bring her back if it meant leaving Rosa married and fearful. Christina wouldn’t want to come back under those circumstances.
But she would tell you to follow your heart. That life is too short to waste time feeling angry and unhappy. Not when happiness is within your reach. All you have to do is to be brave enough to take a chance. To sneak out after dark and turn on the Christmas lights.
To leave the abusive husband. If Rosa could be brave enough to walk away from Fredo, if the other women could walk away from worse, then surely he could summon up enough bravery to be happy.
“Armando! Are you here?”
Looked like he would be tested sooner than he thought. “In the archway, Father.”
“I should have known.” King Carlos appeared at the top of the opposite stairs. “I swear you are as bad as your sister regarding these lights,” he said as he navigated the steps.
“It’s too cold to go outside,” Armando told him. “This is the next best thing.”
“You are aware you are sitting under the mistletoe?”
“Believe me, I know. Damn plant is following me.”
His father chuckled. “You, my son, might be the first person I have ever heard complain about kissing traditions. Or is it a more specific problem?” he asked, settling himself on the step as well. “Your sister is right. You’ve been out of sorts for a few days now. Did something happen?”
“You could say that,” Armando replied. He stared at his palms. Maybe one of the lines had the words he needed to explain. “Did you mean what you said last night? About being proud of Arianna and me?”
Whatever his father had been expecting, that wasn’t it. He leaned back a little so he could see Armando’s face. “Of course I did. You make me immensely proud.”
Would he still feel that way once Armando finished—that was the question. “Even if I dishonored Corinthia?”
“Considering your sister married a man who is not the father of her child, it would be hypocritical of me, don’t you think? Besides, I doubt there’s anything you could do that would dishonor Corinthia too much.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
His father paused as what Armando said sank in. “What have you done?”
“More like what I can’t do,” Armando replied and looked up from his hand. He didn’t need a love or life line to tell him what needed to be said. “I can’t marry Mona.”
“I see.” There was another pause. “And why can’t you?”
“Because I’m in love with someone else.” He laid out the entire story, from why he contacted King Omar in the first place to his goodbye to Rosa a short time earlier. When he finished, he went back to studying his palms. “I know we’re responsible for every light in Corinthia. I know that backing out of this arrangement means dishonoring our reputation and making an enemy out an important economic ally, but I just can’t.
“It’s selfish, but I’m tired of being unhappy, Father,” he said, staring at the shadows flickering along the wall. “It’s been three years of not being among the living. I need to live again.”
By this point, he’d been expecting his father’s silence, so it was a surprise when his father responded immediately. “Every light in Corinthia? Sounds like someone spent time with his grandfather.”
He reached over and patted Armando’s knee, something he hadn’t done in Armando’s childhood. “My father was a good man, but some of his advice could be heavy-handed. If I had known he was putting such notions in your head when you were young... Apparently I’ve failed you as well.”
