Emma finished the last repeat of the chorus, holding the final note with a smile in her voice.

And just as she was about to encourage the audience to sing a final refrain with her, the lights in the arena went out. All of them. The vast space was thrown into total darkness. An anxious ripple passed through the crowd. Emma’s heart shot to her throat.

“Hello?” she asked into the mic.

The sound traveled no farther than a few yards around her. The sound was out too. She peered out into the darkness. The flashing red lights of the TV cameras weren’t there. All power must have been cut to the entire arena.

It wasn’t an accident. Somehow, deep in her heart, she knew. Cutting the power was a deliberate act of sabotage. But why? Was someone trying to undermine her? Or the royal family?

“What’s going on, man?” her drummer asked behind her.

Emma thought fast. If she could hear the drummer, then the people in the front row of the arena would be able to hear her. So far, the audience was hushed and expectant, as though the pitch black was part of her act. She had a responsibility to her fans to keep calm and reassure them, and she had a responsibility to the royal family, to Arne, to carry on until everything sorted itself out.

She walked to the front of the stage, mic lowered. “Do you guys have cell phones?” she asked.

Several people already had their phones out and were texting or checking the internet, looking for answers, she was sure. Those closest to the stage looked up at her, nodding and telling her yes in English and Aegirian.

“You wanna help me out?” she asked them, keeping her Fuchsia voice happy. When they replied positively, she went on with, “Could you shine your lights up here, on me?”

Instantly, the group of people turned their phones on bright and held them toward her. As soon as they did, the people around them, just out of hearing, did the same, then those behind them. Slowly but surely, in a wave of light Emma wished could have been caught on camera, everyone in the arena turned their phones to bright and pointed them toward her.

It still wasn’t much light. She was sure she looked like nothing more than a fuzzy shadow on the stage. Until a handful of Sven’s staff wound their way along the front row and side aisles. They all carried high-powered flashlights, which they flicked on and pointed at her.

“Whoa!” she said in as loud a voice as she could manage. “That’s better.”

A few people cheered, which started a ripple of cheers and applause. Without a working mic, Emma had to wait until the applause died down before speaking.

“Can everybody hear me?” she asked, using every last projection skill she’d learned in voice and acting lessons to be heard.

She got a mixed bag of results from the audience, but she couldn’t let that stop her.

“Well, this is new,” she said with a laugh.

Those who could hear her laughed with her, leaning forward to make sure they’d hear whatever she said next. Emma waited for them to hush before going on. Her gaze drifted up to the royal box. She’d seen Arne sitting beside Marina earlier, when the show had begun. The royal family had a dim light on them so that, even with the house lights turned off, the audience could see them. Now, all she could see were several glowing cell phones. But she was able to make out Arne’s profile illuminated by one of them. Her heart lurched. She didn’t care who else was there, the only person she wanted to reach was Arne.

“So I bet this wasn’t what you were expecting tonight,” she said, walking slowly from one end of the stage to the other so that as many people as possible could hear her. The stage hands with flashlights kept them trained on her. “It wasn’t what I was expecting either.”

She paused while the audience reacted with low chuckles. They seemed to understand that they needed to stay quiet for Emma to be heard.

“I just don’t feel like myself today,” she went on, pausing and striking a Fuchsia pose, even though she wasn’t in costume. Beth had done the best she could, but it wasn’t enough to hide the truth. Emma dropped the pose and turned to the audience with an earnest expression. “Actually, I feel more like myself right now than I have in a long time. But you all knew there was a real person under the costume, didn’t you?”

The audience responded with yeses and light laughter.

Emma started across the stage in the other direction. “You wanna know how this happened?” The audience said yes, so she went on. “You’ve heard the story of the Princess and the Frog, right?” More response. “Well, what happened to me is the story of the Prince and the Rock Star.”

Her glance flickered up to the royal box, but it was impossible to see if Arne was listening.

She took a deep breath, knowing her entire career and life as she knew it was on the line. “This is the story of a Rock Star who came from a far-off, strange land called Hollywood.”

The audience laughed.

Emma smiled. “The Rock Star was very good at croaking…I mean singing—” More laughter. “—so the magical land of Hollywood sent her on tour. But as beautiful as the Rock Star’s songs were, her heart was sad.” She waited for the audience to respond before going on. “Even though the Rock Star made many, many friends in her travels—” She opened her arms to the audience. “—she never found love.”

The audience made a sympathetic sound.

“Until one day, the Rock Star traveled to the amazing kingdom of Aegiria.”

Emma had to wait for an outburst of cheering to crest and die down before going on.

“And in this magical land, she met a handsome prince.”

Again, she had to wait for oohs and aahs to quiet before continuing.

“But the Rock Star had a problem. She was charmed by the handsome prince and fell in love with him.” Her heart quivered with nerves at the admission, but she figured she might as well go for broke. At least that way, Arne might believe everything she said next. “Only, because of the spell put on her back in the land of Hollywood, she had to keep who she was a secret. Until one day, the handsome prince discovered the truth.”

The audience reacted, and Emma glanced up to the royal box.

“The prince was hurt, and the Rock Star felt so sad. The spell put on her had always felt wonderful and exciting, but suddenly it felt like a curse. And more than anything, the Rock Star wished for the curse to be lifted. Because the handsome prince made her happy, for the first time in a long time, and she was so sorry to have wrecked that. She wanted him to know it, and she wanted everyone else in the kingdom of Aegiria to see her for who she really was, even if it meant she had a difficult road ahead of her.” And heaven knew how Hoss would react to her whole story. She had a bad feeling she was in serious trouble, but she wasn’t about to stop.

“But there was hope,” she went on, fishing for a way to bring her rambling story back to a point. “Because very happy things were about to happen in the kingdom of Aegiria. The queen had a great and glorious announcement to make. And the Rock Star hoped that by helping the queen to make that announcement, the handsome prince might see that the Rock Star really did care for him and that she wanted to make up for all the things that were beyond her control. So what do you say, friends? Should we hear what Queen Viktoria has to announce to all of us?”

The audience burst into applause and enthusiastic support. Emma gestured for the stage hands to shine the lights away from her and up to the royal box. They moved quickly, pointing their light up. A few other staff members managed to get to the boxes on either side of the royal box. They shone their lights on the queen and Dr. Hayes, who stepped front and center, waving to the crowd. The rest of the royal family stepped up with him, showing their support for the announcement about to be made.

At least, most of them stepped up. Emma searched the rest of the box for Arne, but he wasn’t there.

Arne bumped his way through the darkness of corridors without power on his way to the stage. All he had to illuminate the way were the emergency lights running along the edges of the hall and his cell phone. It wasn’t much, but it didn’t matter. He had to get to the stage, get to Emma as soon as possible.

He was an idiot to hold her secret against her. Of course she was under a spell cast by Hollywood. If he’d been more concerned about her and less about his wounded pride for not knowing everything all the time, he would have seen that. People who performed wearing costumes like Fuchsia’s, with so much make-up that it was hard to tell who they really were had to be more of a creation than not. It wasn’t Emma’s fault.

There was more and more light as he reached the backstage area. The power still wasn’t on, but Sven’s staff must have found generators and lanterns to keep people from breaking their necks as they rushed around trying to figure out why the power was out. The area directly behind the stage almost felt bright in comparison to the hallways. Arne could just barely hear Emma talking on the stage and the audience responding. He didn’t care if it made him look foolish and needy, he had to get to her.

He made it to the wings on stage left before Hoss stepped into his path, thrusting out a hand. Arne walked right into it. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I need to reach Emma,” Arne said staring daggers back at the man.

“No one talks to her before I talk to her,” Hoss growled. “And when I’m through with her, I don’t think she’ll be in a position to talk to anybody.”

Arne burned hot with rage at the threat. “If you hurt her in any way, you’ll have me to deal with.”

“Hurt her?” Hoss humphed. “That stupid girl’s hurt herself. Standing out there without her costume, telling the whole world who she is.” He made an angry sound. “She’s in violation of her contract in so many ways that my lawyers will bleed her dry and take the skin off her back while they’re at it.”

Obviously, the man didn’t know how dangerous his words were. Arne stepped right up to him, grabbing a handful of his shirt. “You may have a contract, but in case you hadn’t noticed, the power is out. There are no cameras broadcasting. Emma is out there doing the best she can under the circumstances. And even though word of this will get out in no time, you can’t blame Emma for that.”

“She violated her contract the second she told you who she was,” Hoss said, clearly intimidated, but trying to hold his own.

“She didn’t tell me who she was,” Arne said, shaking Hoss then letting him go. “You did.”

“It’s a lie.” Hoss took a large step back, straightening his shirt.

“Emma didn’t tell me anything. I didn’t know she was Fuchsia until you barged in on us this morning and revealed everything. How do you think your lawyers will feel when I testify that you were the one who broke the contract?”

Hoss gaped and shook his head. “She’s the one out there spilling all to a thousand people.”

“Has she said her real name yet?” Arne challenged him. “Has she done anything more than go out there without make-up?”

“Any fool can match her image from tonight with anything on the internet saying who she is.”

“But Emma won’t be the one revealing her secret. Not any more than she would be if someone snuck a pic of her out of costume when she didn’t know she was being watched.”

“But…I won’t…she’s responsible….” Hoss flailed.

Arne was through listening to him. The audience had just burst into some sort of expectant murmur. The flashlights that had been pointing to Emma had focused somewhere else. He used that as his opportunity to stride onto the stage, ignoring everything else, just to reach her.

“Emma,” he said when he was close to her.

She was watching the royal balcony, along with everyone else in the audience, but turned to him. “Arne?” Even in the near blackness, he could see the surprise on her face, and the affection. “Arne, I’m so sorry,” she said, taking a few steps toward him.

“I know.” He closed the space between them, taking her into his arms. “I’m sorry too. I was a total idiot.”

“No more than I was.” She accepted his embrace, resting her arms around him. “I should have told you everything from the start.”

He shook his head. “You couldn’t have. I get that now.” He paused. “I just ran into Hoss, and let’s just say that he made it clear what you had to lose by telling me.”

“Still, I should have said something.”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” his mother called from the box above the arena floor. The queen had been addressing the crowd through the whole exchange, but he’d hardly noticed. With Emma still in his arms, Arne turned to watch. “It is with great pleasure that I would like to announce my engagement to Dr. William Hayes.”

The audience gasped, then burst into applause. Dr. Hayes stepped to the edge of the box and waved to the cheering crowd. His mother took his hand, then moved close to kiss him. The crowd’s enthusiasm for the kiss was deafening, their approval overwhelming.

For the first time in weeks, Arne let go of the tension that had held him in an iron grip. The wedding was announced and people approved. Everything was going to be all right.

He turned to Emma and shouted, “That looks like a good idea,” over the roar of the audience.

“What does?” Emma shouted back.

Arne drew her into his arms, kissing her soundly. She responded with complete acceptance, molding her body against his and kissing him back with all the passion she’d shown the night before. Happiness burst through Arne’s entire body. Emma was what he’d waited his whole life for.

All at once, the power came on with a blinding flash of light and a deafening screech as the sound equipment roared back to life. The audience turned from the royal box to find Arne and Emma clasped in a passionate embrace, lips locked. A whole new round of shouted approval rose up through the arena.

Arne gasped and broke the kiss, but kept Emma in his arms. They laughed, then both turned to the audience. With absolute poise, Emma waved to the audience. She still held the microphone in her hand and raised it to say, “Well, this feels like a fairy tale ending, doesn’t it?”

Her words reverberated through the arena. The television camera lights were back on, so there was a chance her words echoed through all of Aegiria and the world. She turned to him with a smile of such pure happiness that Arne couldn’t help but kiss her again.

The crowd went wild.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Emma laughed as soon as Arne let her go. “Let’s hear it for Queen Viktoria and her husband-to-be, Dr. William Hayes!”

The cheering was so loud that Arne could barely hear himself think. But he didn’t need to think, he only needed to feel. He squeezed Emma’s hand as he backed farther away from her. She turned to her band and indicated that they should be ready to go on with the concert. Arne was fine with taking a backseat and letting her sing. He had the solid, confident feeling that he wasn’t about to lose her. On the contrary. One look at her dazzling smile, and he knew they had a whole lifetime of happiness ahead of them.