Will you close your eyes? I’ll lead you in. The anxious uncertainty in Dominic’s eyes seemed out of proportion to the seriousness of the question. Looking up at him, I realized he was asking something deeper. He was asking me to trust him.
My breathing hitched and then sped up as I considered the question. Could I trust someone with such wild swings of emotion and behavior? But his earlier apology still echoed in my mind. After the past month, I knew how big a step that had been for him and, somehow, I couldn’t bear to reject him immediately afterwards.
“Of course.” I closed my eyes, keeping them shut even when he moved away from me.
I heard the doors creak open, and then he returned and took my hand. A small shiver shook me. It felt far more intimate than my hand in the crook of his arm. Or perhaps it was just because my eyes were closed.
He pulled on my hand, and I stepped tentatively forward, resisting the urge to stretch out my other hand to feel for obstacles. We walked forward several steps before he stopped and dropped my hand. You can open your eyes now.
I opened them and looked around. For several seconds, I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. I appeared to be looking down on a wonderland—an internal garden that mimicked the one outside. For a delirious moment, I couldn’t determine if it grew flowers or books. Then I blinked and the scene came into clarity. I stood inside the doorway, at the top of a small flight of stairs, looking down on the most unique library I had ever seen. Wooden bookshelves formed spiral passageways that wound around each other into a distant center. And every one was filled with books. Tall arched windows flooded the space with light, and chairs nestled within the curves, carved in the same patterns as the door.
It would have been a beautiful room just from its design and contents, but someone had transformed it into something magical by covering the entire room with roses. They wound around the chairs, covered the book shelves and had even been stuck between the books themselves.
Without conscious thought, I stepped down the stairs and began to wind through the books, running my hands along the spines and breathing in the smell of them. As my eyes caught on titles, I saw books on mathematics, economics, history, politics. I walked past them, memories of home and my family overwhelming me. My sister-in-law, Alyssa, would love it here.
But as I curved around, new memories came as well. Memories of reading aloud to Dominic as he recovered from his illness. As the spiral tightened, I felt utterly enclosed by the safe and familiar. And yet, at the same time, the room was so unlike any library I had ever encountered. This mirror of the magical rose garden outside felt as much like my new home as my old one.
I made a final turn and found myself in the center, where the spirals met. I could hear Dominic’s soft footfalls behind me and began to turn toward him, but gilded pages caught my eye. I stopped to examine the books more closely, before looking up at him in wonder.
“Fairy tales,” I murmured. “The fairy tales are all in here.”
I made this for you, so what else would be at its center? The smile looked awkward on his face, his fangs getting in the way, but the light in his eyes more than made up for it. I know that you would have wanted to share your birthday with your sister, and…” He paused, looking almost as awkward as he had done during his apology. “…and I know that it’s my fault you cannot. So, I wanted you to have something special for your birthday. In Palinar, a princess’ eighteenth birthday is usually celebrated with a ball. But I hope that you will be able to enjoy this anyway. He gazed into my eyes. Happy Birthday, Sophie.
I drew in a sharp breath. My birthday. Today was my eighteenth birthday. And Lily’s. I had completely lost track of the days in this strange life, so removed from my normal one.
Flushing, I looked away. The center of the spiraled bookcases formed a round nook where two comfortable chairs flanked a small table. A vase of roses and a chocolate cake had been placed there. I walked over to it, slowly shaking my head, still in shock.
But perhaps some part of my mind had remembered, and that was why I had woken dissatisfied and with my family on my mind. Two tears slipped down my cheeks. I had never imagined that I would spend this day apart from my twin. We had spent years dreaming up different plans for our eighteenth birthday, many far too outrageous to ever come to pass.
I swallowed and wiped at my face. Somehow Dominic had known and had gone to all this effort for me. My grief didn’t erase my gratitude to him for marking the day, and I didn’t wish to show him a face full of tears. When I was sure I could smile, I turned around.
“I could not have imagined such a thing,” I said. “Thank you.” He hadn’t moved from where he stood, but at my words he strode over to join me. “But how did you know? I didn’t think I’d mentioned anything about it?”
He glanced away, his face tightening and my curiosity rose. “Dominic?”
He looked back at me. I don’t want to make you angry with me on today of all days.
“Angry with you?” I put my hands on my hips. “Well now I’m really curious. And it’s my birthday so you have to tell me anything I ask. And do whatever I say, too,” I added for good measure.
Dominic raised both eyebrows. Is that how birthdays work in Arcadia?
“Oh, absolutely,” I said. But I couldn’t quite restrain my smile, and I could read in his eyes that he knew I was teasing.
Well, in that case…But the amusement dropped from his eyes as he continued to speak. When I returned from my ride yesterday, I knew I had behaved badly. I returned to my chambers, but my thoughts of you had made me curious. I wanted to see your sister, this other Sophie who might have won the Tourney and come in your place. So, I asked the mirror to show her to me.
I gasped, but he didn’t stop.
Its logic sometimes works strangely, and I thought that, given our betrothal, it might see her as one of my family, despite her not being Palinaran. And it worked. He paused. I didn’t expect her to look so much like you. But at the same time, she seemed different, somehow.
She was with Prince Jonathan of Marin and another girl I didn’t recognize. They were discussing how the other girl had decided to delay a visit to Princesses Emmeline and Giselle of Eldon.
“Celine! So, she’s still with Lily? I’m so glad!”
Dominic looked at me questioningly.
“Princess Celine of Lanover,” I explained. “One of our allies from the Four Kingdoms. She and the Lanoverian delegation came on the same ship we did.”
He looked at me curiously. You’re going to have to tell me more about your home and how you came to be a part of the Tourney. It still seems like a great mystery to me.
I bit my lip. We had avoided talking about our families previously, keeping our conversation to less personal ground. Did his sudden interest mean he also intended to finally tell me what had happened with his family?