The significance of this moment struck Hélène like a thunderbolt. Her reply would change everything.It’s too complicated,she should tell him, except that every atom of her being wanted to shout instead,What took you so long?
She couldn’t lie to him; it would be like trying to lie to herself. There was only one answer to give.
“Of course I will.”
Eddy broke into a relieved smile. Hélène expected him to kiss her, but instead he tugged her deeper into the orangerie, as if hungry for more time alone. She pulled off one of her gloves and laced her fingers in his, relishing the sensation of touching him.
To their left was a bed full of plants she didn’t recognize, with spiky leaves that stretched toward the glass ceiling. Following her gaze, Eddy asked, “You like pineapples?”
Was that what a pineapple plant looked like? Hélène had only ever seen the inner fruit, cut into golden segments on a dessert platter. Pineapples were a rare delicacy, imported from the colonies for the very wealthy.
“They’re so ugly,” she blurted out, at which Eddy laughed.
“I don’t know if I would say ugly. They’re sharp on the outside and sweet within. Not unlike a French princess I know.” Before Hélène could argue, he’d reached for one of the spiky fruits and plucked it.
“Eddy!” she hissed. “You can’t steal one of the Earl Cadogan’s pineapples!”
“Why not? I highly doubt he’ll notice.” To her surprise, the prince pulled a small penknife from the pocket of his doublet. He expertly cut and cored the fruit, then held the knife toward her, a segment of pineapple speared on its tip.
Hélène lifted an eyebrow. “Impressive.”
“I picked up a few tricks in the navy.” He was back to his usual cheeky, mischievous grin. “Let it never be said that I don’t provide for the woman I love.”
Hélène leaned forward to bite the pineapple off his knife. “It’s magical,” she murmured, though she wasn’t sure to what she was referring.
Eddy took a bite, too, then let the rest of the fruit fall into the dirt. He tucked back a loose strand of Hélène’s hair and cradled her face in his hand. At the tenderness in his eyes she couldn’t take it anymore; she tilted her chin up and kissed him. Eddy tasted warm, and sweet like the pineapple, and beneath it all something else, something that was indefinablyhim.
“We’re getting married,” he declared, when they finally pulled apart.
Laughter bubbled up out of Hélène, and she shook her head wonderingly. “We’re getting married,” she repeated.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Alix
IN THE WEEK SINCE THECadogans’ fancy-dress ball, Alix had seen Nicholas nearly every day. It was always in a group setting—a musicale evening, a ride in Hyde Park—but whatever the occasion, the two of them would find a way to dance, or sit together, or simply talk.
She relished Nicholas’s stories about his family, and most of all about Russia. His words painted a vivid picture of his vast empire: from the barren reaches of Siberia to the windswept mountains of the Caucasus to the glittering waters of the Black Sea. He told her of thechyerti,the magical beings of Russian folklore: “Mother would have been angry if she knew, but our nurse always left out a sip of milk for thedomovoi.The house spirit,” he explained, with a wink.
In exchange Alix told him her own stories, of drinking mulled wine at Christmas and playing blindman’s bluff at the lake, of how Ernie used to bang at the family’s organ to wake her up.
“You have an organ in your house? Do you live in a church?” Nicholas had teased.
Alix explained that the organ was located directly beneath her bedroom; Ernie delighted in blasting it when itwas still dark out. “That organ is worse than the bagpipes at Balmoral,” she added, which only made Nicholas laugh harder.
She loved his laugh, a bright, easy chuckle that felt so atodds with the polite laughter of society. She loved it most whenshehad made him laugh.
There was no more sneaking around; Nicholas didn’t even reach for her hand unless the steps of a dance required it. But sometimes she caught him looking at her with a smoldering heat in his gaze, and Alix would shiver, thinking about their kiss. She wanted more of it—more of the delicious, illicit sensation of his mouth on hers, but alsomore.She wanted to be touching him in all ways possible.
It was a terrifying thought, and yet thrilling, too: the realization that kissing him didn’t seem to be enough. She had never felt this way about anyone, hadn’t even known she was capable of such a feeling.
Yesterday at breakfast, Grandmama had informed her that Eddy would be stopping by Buckingham Palace on Monday. “You will join us, Alix,” she’d said crisply, as she tapped a spoon against the side of her soft-boiled egg. “We have much to discuss.”
Alix couldn’t let this engagement become official. Which meant that she and Eddy needed to be on the same page, and face Queen Victoria together.
Accompanied by one of the Buckingham Palace parlormaids, whom Queen Victoria had assigned to be Alix’s lady’s maid during her stay, she began the short walk down the Mall. It was a misty afternoon, and the few people she passed—other women strolling with their maids, or stern-looking nurses pushing perambulators—hardly seemed to notice her.
“I’m here to see His Royal Highness, Prince Eddy,” Alix told the butler of Marlborough House, presenting her card. Though Nicholas was staying with the Waleses, she knew he would be out; he always spent the mornings riding with Tino. But Alix still feared she might run into Aunt Alexandra or Maud, and would be forced to explain why she was visiting her so-called fiancé unannounced.
