Chapter Eight
When the procession finally returned to the palace, over two hundred people were already in the expansive ballroom dancing to a lively waltz played by the string orchestra. Emrys kept Caitlyn on his arm and watched her eyes shining as she took in the towering walls lined with gold filigree molding, the chandeliers that sparkled over the dancers, and the dancers themselves gliding in their gowns and tuxedos around and around the room. Her expression reminded him of the time he’d taken her to Giverny to see Monet’s gardens. She’d never been terribly overwhelmed by art. Her reaction to the museums had been gently appreciative. But when they’d stood in front of those gardens, she’d lit up, bouncing on her toes, and grabbed his hand excitedly.
She was doing the same now, even though it was impossible for her to bounce properly in her heels, and she seemed to be trying to restrain herself in the presence of his mother. Eliana was looking at them, in fact, and giving Emrys a knowing look. They would be having a formal conversation quite soon.
The waltz ended abruptly, and the king led the way through the ballroom. The dancers parted for the royal family to pass, with many bowing or, in the case of military officers, saluting. Emrys gave nods and waves to the people as they made their way across the tremendous length of the room. At the other end, a pair of thrones waited, as well as several other chairs on either side. Imelda and her family would sit on the king’s right and the rest of them on the left. They each stood in front of their chairs and waited for the king to speak. The lighting in the room adjusted, highlighting the head of state.
“Good people of Cabeau, it is good to be home,” he began in a booming voice. “Our country, our home, has done well in this year past.”
The king spoke for several minutes, detailing gains in certain economic sectors, work that he and the parliament had been doing to improve infrastructure, and the pride the country should feel at their hard work this year. He made a similar speech every year during the Autumn Festival. The speech was prepared rather than extemporaneous, and an unobtrusively placed microphone and camera recorded him as he spoke, which allowed those not invited to the ball itself the chance to hear the king’s words. Most would be watching the broadcast that very evening, but some would be out enjoying the festival.
At the end of the king’s speech, he spread his hands and encouraged everyone to enjoy themselves. He then took Eliana’s hand and walked out into the middle of the ballroom. The music began to play again, and the people watched for several minutes as they danced alone. Imelda joined with her husband, and finally, the rest of the guests began to dance as well.
“We could dance,” Emrys suggested.
“Oh, God. I don’t have to know how to do that, do I?” Caitlyn looked horrified.
“It’s not that terribly difficult. I will lead, and you just follow my movements.”
“I’ll trip all over you!”
“I won’t let you fall,” Emrys promised. Caitlyn still seemed hesitant, so he took her hand and helped her into her seat. “Maybe later. How about a drink?”
Emrys spoke to one of the servants nearby about drinks and then returned to Caitlyn’s side. He spoke to her in low tones, telling her bits and pieces about the people they were seeing as she sipped her champagne and watched with large eyes.
At long last, the king and queen returned to their seats, hand in hand, and Emrys prepared himself. His mother looked to him, and so he rose, smoothed the front of his suit jacket and waistcoat, and offered Caitlyn his hand.
“I-I don’t know if I want to dance yet.”
“We won’t. But I do need to introduce you formally to the king and queen.”
Caitlyn nodded and took his hand. “I’ve met your mother, though.”
“Nothing really counts until the king knows about it and approves.”
Now was the dangerous moment. He approached the two thrones slowly, and then gave a half-waisted bow. Caitlyn awkwardly did the same. Emrys suppressed a wince, since she ought to have curtsied. King Eldon raised a brow in near amusement at the gesture, while Eliana clicked her tongue. His mother was likely annoyed that she hadn’t had enough time to prepare Caitlyn for proper greetings. Emrys could imagine Elsa smirking to their side; she always bowed rather than curtsied out of sheer contrariness.
“Come forward, my son. Let me get a look at you.” King Eldon beckoned them with one gloved hand.
Emrys nodded to Caitlyn, drew closer, and waited patiently for his father to give them permission to speak. The man scanned his eyes over the two of them critically. Finally, he lay one finger by the side of his mouth and nodded resolutely.
“Speak, Prince Emrys."
“I would like to introduce you to Caitlyn Durst,” Emrys said with another bow. “I have known her for several years, and she has long been a good friend.”
“I see.” The King waited and stared at Caitlyn. “Well, speak, child.”
“I-I, um, it’s a pleasure to be in your kingdom, sir. I mean, Your Highness,” Caitlyn managed.
“But of course. What causes you to come visit us?” The King leaned forward. As though Queen Eliana wouldn’t have already briefed him on what Emrys was going to speak to him about.
“I’m here because Emrys asked me to come,” Caitlyn replied.
“Yes,” Emrys agreed. “I simply had to spend more time with her, and I needed for you to meet her.” He gestured to Caitlyn in an elegant motion. “Caitlyn Durst, of Pettysburg, Ohio, has been asked to be my wife.”
Caitlyn’s eyes were already wide from the excitement of standing in front of the king. They couldn’t get any rounder, so her surprise wasn’t immediately evident, even though her lips parted and she seemed like she might say something to ruin the whole plot, like, “You never asked me at all, and you had plenty of time to do it!”
But she remained silent, looking between the king and queen.
“Close your mouth, dear. You look like a codfish,” Eliana said mildly. She smiled at her husband. “Please do say something before the poor girl collapses from nerves.”
King Eldon narrowed his eyes and gestured toward her. “You have known my son for some time? For how long?”
Caitlyn’s opened her mouth again to speak, closed it, and then opened it again. “W-we met five, um, five years a-ago. In Nice.”
“An American girl in France,” the King said, as though amused.
“I was, um, studying abroad, and…” Caitlyn looked to Emrys, and he could tell that she could barely breathe from how fast her heart must’ve been beating. “W-we hit it off.”
“You hit it off with her five years ago, and you’re bringing me to her now?” the King asked.
Eliana was not so amused, however. Emrys could see that she’d put the timeline together.
“We met again at my latest premiere,” Emrys told them. “I simply couldn’t let her go again.”
Caitlyn flushed, looking up at him with a little smile. She creased her brow in confusion, but there was no resolving it for the moment. Emrys did feel guilty for springing this on her, but he would make it up to her later.
“Well, isn’t she adorable,” Eliana said dryly.
“She is indeed. I fail to see, however, what a prince of Cabeau sees in this stammering commoner,” Eldon drawled.
Emrys tensed. “Your highness,” he objected.
“It is my decision, ultimately, who my children wed. Does she have anything else to her credit besides being adorable? Someone you simply couldn’t live without?”
Emrys felt his face burning, but before his temper could get the better of him, Caitlyn picked up the sides of her dress and took a step forward.
“It probably means nothing to you, but I run my own web design business,” Caitlyn said. “Maybe Cabeau doesn’t value entrepreneurs; I couldn’t speak to that. But I make enough to have a few employees, and I manage almost a hundred accounts now. Where I’ll end up, I don’t know, but in America, we at least pay lip service to the idea that even commoners like me can and should find a way to contribute to the world.”
Emrys felt his heart in his throat. His mother was sitting very, very still and kept her eyes on Eldon.
The king laughed.
“We do appreciate entrepreneurship here. However, technology has not been a large part of our economic growth, unfortunately,” he said, leaning forward on his throne.
“Well, not every country can or should try to make money that way.” Caitlyn shrugged. “Technology isn’t good in itself. It’s expensive and is too often treated as a buzzword for increasing business without any real understanding of what that would require. I’m sure your advisors and parliament know best how and when you want to develop in that area.”
“She’s clever.” Eldon looked to Emrys. “The connections aren’t what we’d like, but she is clever, I’ll give her that. We will think on the matter, Emrys.”
“That is generous,” Emrys said, with a final bow.
***
“I’m your fiancée!?” Caitlyn hissed as she pulled Emrys into a room down the hall from the ballroom. He’d been reluctant to leave the ball at all, but after an hour, her curiosity and irritation were reaching their peak. Whatever the official protocol for the ball was, he could slip away for a few moments to explain an outright lie to the king that he’d expected her to play along with.
“Well, I can explain that.” Emrys checked to make certain the door was closed, and then returned to her side and took her hand.
“It’s a bit late to propose now. Apparently I missed it!”
Emrys frowned at her. “Please, just listen.”
Caitlyn pulled her hand away and crossed her arms. “I wait with bated breath.”
“You really do belong here, you know,” he drawled. “I was speaking to my mother when we arrived, and she incorrectly assumed that you were here as my fiancée. I should have explained right away that she was mistaken, but…”
Caitlyn sighed and let her arms fall to her sides. It was so hard to stay mad at him when he did foolish things trying to please his parents. Her own parents were just tickled pink that she’d graduated from college and gotten out of their little town. Nothing else seemed to faze them, aside from her perpetually single status.
“In any case, if you were my fiancée, everything would be much smoother. People wouldn’t question your presence here or the time we spend together. We’re much freer this way. I am sorry that I didn’t bring it up to you before now. I wasn’t certain how to do it or how you might take it.”
Caitlyn lifted her chin. “What do you mean?”
Emrys put his hands on his hips. “It would be very beneficial for me to marry. My trust fund doesn’t release until I’m forty. I’m not hurting for money, but at the same time, it’s galling to be held back in this way. My father is very controlling.”
“I can see that. But you’re not actually marrying me. Won’t that put a kink in the plan?”
“It would. But would you like to?”
Caitlyn thought her heart might have actually stopped. “L-like to? What, marry you?”
“If you go along with the plan—” Emrys came to her side again and put his hand on the small of her back. “We could make our engagement real. If you want to.”
“We’re not getting married!” Caitlyn laughed before she could think about it. Emrys’s lips twisted in displeasure and she grabbed his lapels before he could pull away from her. “I’m begging you to be serious here, Emrys. I care about you a lot. But I’m not going to marry someone just to help out with his trust fund! And we’ve just barely reconnected.”
“Well. I suppose that much is true.”
“We work well together,” she admitted. “Better than I’ve ever worked with anyone else. But we can’t do it like this. I’ll play along. It’s fun, being the fiancée of a prince, and I wouldn’t want to make anyone’s family drama worse.”
“Fair enough.” Emrys leaned forward and kissed her lips lightly, to avoid mussing her lipstick. “Play along this week, while my father is here, because I cannot smooth anything over with my mother while that man is at the palace. And then what?”
Caitlyn shrugged and pressed her palm to his chest. “If you fall in love with me, we can make our engagement real.”
“You don’t ask much, do you?”
“More than you do, apparently. Why would you ever marry anyone other than the woman you loved, after everything you went through with Miranda?” Caitlyn shook a finger at him.
“I’m not much of a reasonable man within these walls,” Emrys admitted.
“Let’s get back.”
“Will you dance with me?”
Caitlyn considered it as she took his arm. “Only if you go slow and don’t mind my heels digging into your feet.”
“I’ll instruct the orchestra to play us a sonata. Everyone else will fall asleep, so no one will see you dancing.”
Caitlyn laughed and rested her head against his arm. The things she did for this man.