I can feel Alexei’s gaze on me as I descend. I keep my hand on the railing and am careful not to hook my heel in my hem or anything else that might send me tumbling down the stairs and into his arms. Not that I’d mind the end result.
“What are you doing here?” I say when I reach him.
Alexei smirks. “I was invited.” He pulls an invitation from the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket. “A palace messenger delivered it personally this morning. I felt very important.”
“You are important,” I say. Then I can’t help myself as I glance back at the boy who stands at the top of the stairs, grinning.
You’re welcome, the prince mouths, then walks away.
“I—” Alexei and I both start at exactly the same time. Then we both stop.
I want to tell him about the prince and the king and the key. I want to say out loud that it might be over, that I’ve placed this problem in the hands of the most powerful man in the land—that it’s no longer my burden to bear. I want to hug Alexei, kiss him, dissolve into him until all of the worry and dread that I’ve carried inside of me for weeks just fades away, rises up like the sound of the music.
But there’s not time for that because a tiny blond blur is already streaming toward me.
“Grace!” Rosie says, plastering herself against me. “How are you?”
“I’m okay, Ro,” I say, then look up at Alexei. Something about my face must show that something’s changed, though, because the wider I smile, the more worried Alexei looks.
“Wait. What’s wrong?” Rosie senses something and pulls back. “You look … happy. This worries me. Is anyone else worried about this?”
Megan and Noah have joined us now. They’re holding hands, I notice. And Noah looks so handsome in his tux. Megan is in a red gown with small gold flowers embroidered at the hem. But as soon as Rosie says it, they both stop smiling.
“Yeah.” Noah studies me. “What’s wrong?”
“Why does something have to be wrong?”
“You’re smiling,” Megan says.
“I can smile!” I tell them. “It’s allowed.”
“Yeah. Sure,” Noah says. “It’s just … unusual.”
I want to tell them that the status quo is changing, that this is who I’m going to be from here on out. But Rosie is scowling at me and shaking her head.
“Yeah. You look happy. Why are you happy?”
I’m not thinking. Really. It’s not a conscious thought. But with the words I can’t help myself—I glance in the prince’s direction. He’s in a group of people, but he’s looking right at me.
I’m so excited to tell my friends about the box and the key and the king’s promise to bring it all to an end, but Alexei follows my gaze. When Thomas gives me a wink, Alexei sees it, and bristles. He actually turns.
“Alexei, wait.” I reach out and grab his arm. His tux is smooth and soft beneath my fingers.
“It was a mistake to come here. I should never have left Karina alone.”
“How is she?” I ask before he can leave, before all my happy seeps away.
“Better.” Alexei glances around the room, distracted. “She is better.”
Noah and Megan share a look. Then Megan says, “She was lucid for a little while today. They must have had her super drugged up at the hospital. I really think that might be most of her problem. Maybe once all the drugs are out of her system …”
But Alexei isn’t like Megan. Alexei is like me. He has long been immune to hope, so he just shakes his head. “I should not have left her alone.”
“Wait.” I grab his hand and pull him back, then look at all my friends in turn. “Something happened yesterday morning. I think … Well, I mean, if everything works out, then I think it might be over.”
At first, my friends are stunned and silent. Confused. They’re as afraid to hope as I am, and before any of them can start to wonder if this is just another aspect of my messed-up mind, the band begins to play the Adrian national anthem, and everyone in the ballroom turns. For a second, I think they’re looking right at me, but then I realize, no, they’re looking higher, to the balcony above.
A uniformed man with a booming voice stands at the top of the stairs. As soon as all eyes are upon him he steps to the edge and yells, “His Royal Highness, the king!”
Almost as one, every soul in the ballroom drops into a bow or a curtsy when the king appears on the balcony overhead. Princess Ann and Thomas’s father are beside him.
A murmur is moving through the crowd, a wave of whispers that seem to say that nothing is as it seems. As I rise, I realize that someone has set a microphone stand on the top step. The king moves toward it, and the whispers get louder.
“What’s going on?” Megan asks. “The program didn’t say anything about the king giving a speech.”
I can feel my friends’ gazes burning into me, but I can’t take my eyes off the man at the top of the stairs.
“Friends, family, distinguished guests,” the king begins.
And there it is, deep inside of me, that tiny, fragile bubble that feels a lot like hope. I can feel it start to rise in spite of my best intentions.
“I am the luckiest of men to have worn the crown of Adria for fifty years. It has been my honor to be your king. But …”