She drew a deep breath. “Actually, I’m not. I’m Natalie. And she’s me. I mean—” She winced at the tangle of words. “I mean that the girl you know as Natalie is the real Princess Rose.”
“Posey is Princess Rose?” His face was devoid of all expression, as if he was working hard to conceal his true feelings.
Now Natalie was confused. “Posey?”
“That’s what Natalie said she preferred to be called…I mean….Rose said?”
They were both lost in the confusing mash of exchanged identities.
“You’re serious?” he asked, still carefully blank. “The companion who arrived in Lanover with you is the true Princess Rose?”
“Yes, Your Highness. I’m very sorry for deceiving you. We only intended to do it for a few days as a…game of sorts, and meaning no disrespect to you or the Lanoverian court. But then?—”
She looked over at Rose, her eyes pleading for help. Leo’s brows contracted, and he turned, following her gaze.
As soon as his eyes met Rose’s, she unfroze. But instead of coming to Natalie’s rescue, she turned and fled further into the garden.
“No, wait!” Natalie called. “It isn’t?—”
Leo didn’t hesitate, running after Rose without a backward glance for Natalie.
“—safe,” she finished, more quietly. Clearly neither of them was listening to her, but at least Rose wasn’t on her own.
What had just happened? She wasn’t sure, but Leo hadn’t exactly looked angry as he chased after the princess. So hopefully that meant there wasn’t going to be an international incident?
She sighed and turned back toward the ballroom. At least now she could stop avoiding Luca. He might even be able to shed some light on his cousin’s odd response.
Her gaze swept idly over the garden as she turned, skimming over the gardener who was unobtrusively working to clear party debris from the lantern-lit sections of the garden. Her eyes continued on to the ballroom before her mind caught up.
She recognized that face!
She swung back around to find the gardener had straightened and was looking toward her. Their eyes locked.
Her attacker.
CHAPTER 16
“Don’t try running away again!” a commanding voice ordered from behind her.
Natalie didn’t turn to look at Luca, her eyes still locked on the man dressed as a gardener. He had started to back slowly away, still watching her.
“I don’t know why you’re avoiding me.” Luca’s voice came closer. “I thought we were past all that. If you can dance with Leo, surely you can take pity on me and dance with me too.”
She still didn’t turn, her mind racing as she tried to decide what to do.
“Lila?” Luca sounded less sure. “Have I done something to upset you?”
The fake gardener dropped the pretense and ran. Natalie shifted her weight, about to dash after him, but Luca’s presence held her back, like an anchor.
She had once told Luca that if she needed his help, she would ask for it. She had failed that test the first time, overconfident in her own abilities. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.
Natalie was the only one who knew the man’s features, but in Lanover she was on Luca’s home turf, not her own. He hadproven himself several times over, and it was past time for her to stop shutting him out. They needed to do what they should have done from the beginning and work as a team.
“Luca.” She met his eyes, a wealth of meaning in her own. There wasn’t time for speeches, just one important sentence. “Will you help me?”
His eyes lit up, his earlier worries wiped away. “Always.”
“Then run!” she cried already sprinting in the direction the gardener had fled.
