“Maybe she’s just in love with the idea of marrying a prince.”
Alix started to rise to her feet. “I’m going to talk to her. Or better yet, I’ll talk to Grandmama—”
Hélène reached up to yank the other princess back down. “Don’t, please! That’s exactly why I haven’t mentioned this to Eddy.”
“He doesn’t know?”
“I broke things off with him. I had no choice!” Hélène burst out, helpless. “Eddy would have fought for us, but no matter what he did, it would end in my losing him. Even if he revealed the blackmail, May could still show everyone that letter. And we both know that I could never marry him once it got out.”
Alix didn’t argue with that. She stared out at the horizon, tapping her fingers absent-mindedly against her leg.
“You know, I never figured out whodidspread gossip about my fainting spell. Now I wonder…”
Hélène caught on at once. “You think May did it?”
“She’s already proven that she’ll resort to blackmail. If she wanted to get you out of the way, hoping she might win Eddy for herself, it stands to reason she would have tried to get rid of me, too.”
“She was at the opera that night! She could easily have seen you and not said anything,” Hélène agreed. It struck her as unbearably cruel, to find a young woman in the grips of utter panic and do nothing but walk away. To hoard the secret like currency that you would spend for your own gain.
“You’re right; we shouldn’t tell Eddy. He would want to solve this problem head-on, the way I did at first. No, if you’re going to beat May, you’ll have to fight dirty,” Alix insisted. Her perfect veneer seemed to have cracked, revealing an Alix that surprised Hélène—a passionate Alix, with a rough edge to her voice.
Hélène found that she preferred Alix this way.
“What do you mean, ‘fight dirty’?” she asked.
“Didn’t you play games as a child where someone cheated?That’s what May is doing,” Alix said vehemently, “so it’s what you’ll need to do in return.”
Something sparked, then, in the pool of grief at Hélène’s core. It was as if a light had flicked on and let in hope.
“I don’t understand.”
“You told Eddy the engagement was off, which will keep May satisfied while you figure out your counterattack. To beat her, you’re going to have to find her weakness, or secret: a way to escape her control. You won’t be safe until you’ve got a hold over her, like the one she has over you.”
“How will I do that?”
“I don’t know,” Alix admitted. “But you have to try. If you love Eddy the way you say you do, then you must fight for him.”
Hélène sat with that for a long moment. May had certainly fought dirty—digging through her past, getting hold of Laurent’s letter. Even her threats had been veiled and carefully drawn. Hélène much preferred an open attack, but she wouldn’t beat May on a clear field of battle.
She would have to be cunning, the way May was. To listen at keyholes and bribe servants and hide her intentions behind a demure smile.
Hélène turned to Alix. “Promise me you will take your own advice. The man you love, the one whose parents forbade you to marry? Don’t give up on him.”
“My situation is different.”
“Not that different! If you love him the way you say you do, then you must fight for him,” Hélène exclaimed, echoing Alix’s words.
To her surprise, Alix put an arm around her shouldersand hugged her, tipping her head onto Hélène’s shoulder the way Amélie would.
“All right, then,” Alix agreed. “We’ll fight for them.”
As if on cue, a whistle cut through the darkening night. Both young women looked up to see the opening burst of pyrotechnics exploding in the sky.
They stood, still leaning on each other, and walked around to the side of the palace that looked over ocean. Fireworks shot up into the stars, a vivid tapestry of red and green and blue that dissolved into sparks. Moonlight glittered on the water, reflecting the burning wheels and fiery stars on theocean’s surface.
It was magnificent but deadly. The way Hélène felt. A new determination roared up in her as she thought of everything she would have to do to get Eddy back.
But that was tomorrow’s problem. For now she was content to stand here with Alix, watching as the sky burst into flames, both of them wondering what would come next—and how it would all end.
