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Then she realized, it had nothing to do with her. It was all about Zeus.
Because he might be one of the biggest walking scandals in Europe, but he was still the Crown Prince of Theosia. And everybody knew that King Cronos was not doing well.
“They’re already lining up to kiss your ring,” Nina murmured as she and Zeus waited for their turn to be announced. Graciela’s castle was, like all castles, all about its ramparts and keeps. The ball, thankfully, was being held in the new annex—which meant a grand covered gallery festooned with heat lamps and circulating attendants.
She wanted to laugh, maybe a little hysterically, at the fact that even the rulers and figureheads of Europe had to line up like so many partygoers outside a club.
“A kingdom is a kingdom, after all,” Zeus told her, leaning down the way he did now. His mouth so close to her ear that goose bumps prickled down her neck. Or maybe that was because he had curled his hand over her nape. “Theosia might be small and unthreatening, and unlikely to wage war in the traditional sense, but there are always economic pressures that can be brought to bear.”
“It’s like you’re a king already,” Nina said with a sigh. She lifted a hand to rub at her neck, as if that could make the shivery sensation dissipate. It didn’t. “Already plotting out your wars.”
“You have not been paying attention.” Zeus gazed down at her, unusually grave. “I’ve been at war my whole life.”
She caught her breath, and her heart pounded—
But then they were being announced.
And she understood why he’d waited for this moment as they stood there at the top of a long stair. Because he had to do nothing but stand there, looking resplendent as ever in his formal attire. He looked even more impossibly beautiful than usual. And he had Nina on his arm, dressed in a gown so outrageous it had taken staff to help her into it.
This was the point all along, she understood as their names were called out and they started down toward the waiting crowd.
This was Zeus’s engagement announcement. He’d planned it this way.
But when they reached the floor of the ballroom, he looked down at her and smiled as he took her by the hand.
And Nina...forgot. That all of this was planned. Plotted out ruthlessly by Zeus and his public relations people to create a story. This story. Just as he’d said.
She knew better than to believe any of it.
She knew better, but he tugged her straight out onto the dance floor, then pulled her into his arms. She knew better, but he gazed down at her...and suddenly it didn’t matter what kingdom they were in, what ballroom. Who might be watching, or what the papers might say tomorrow.
There was only the way he held her, smiling down at her as he made the belly between them part of the dance instead of an impediment to it.
And Nina wanted fairy tales, the kind she’d dreamed of when she was a little girl.
She wanted all of them, she realized then, as she danced with her very own prince. Shewanted, when she thought she’d gotten rid of that sort of thing long ago.
Because a girl who wanted in an orphanage was only destined for despair. And a girl who wanted anything at all in service to Isabeau would find nothing but pettiness and backstabbing.
Just like the girl who was foolish enough to have feelings for Prince Zeus was proving herself no kind of shark at all, but a minnow, through and through.
Nina knew all of that, and oh, did she know better. And still, as the music swelled and they danced around and around, she let herself pretend that this was real. That none of this was for show. That the way he looked at her meant what it should.
Tomorrow could do its worst. She had no doubt it would.
What if?she asked herself.
And tonight, she let herself believe.
