Chapter 1
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
Arabella
"Happy birthday,Your Highness! How does it feel to be thirty?" That question is brought to you by an eager reporter who has followed my car all the way from the palace to Lotus Flower Spa, where I am about to have a rare few hours with no obligations whatsoever.
I smile at him sweetly, while in my mind I’m telling him tosod off. “Wonderful. I believe the thirties are a time when a lot of women really start to come into their own, and I hope I’m no exception.”
With that, I start toward the glass doors, but he clearly isn’t done with his hard-hitting reporting just yet.
“Are you planning anything special for today?”
I stuff my hands into my pockets to get them out of the biting March wind. “Yes, I’m taking an afternoon to get a bit of pampering, then home for a quiet dinner with the family.”
“Is Will going to be celebrating with you tonight?”
Bellford, my lead security guard, steps in between the reporter and me, holding up one hand to put an end to this impromptu interview. As welcome as his intervention is, if I don’t answer the stupid question, the press’ll have Will and I broken up by teatime. “He’s still away filming, but he’s the one who arranged for my spa visit and he sent me a lovely bouquet of roses this morning, so he’s definitely part of today’s festivities.” I give him that smile and nod that says ‘we’re done here,’ then spin around, this time picking up my pace as I walk away.
“So, he’s a real romantic, then?” he asks, following me.
I stop and turn back, not wanting to miss the opportunity to publicly sing Will’s praises. “Yes, he should write a book. It would be of great help to men everywhere.”
He smiles at me in such an earnest way, I can’t bear to blow him off. He looks to be about eighteen, although I know he must be older than that. Like, nineteen maybe?
“What’s your name?” I ask him.
“Ian Parker with the Weekly Observer.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Ian. I think Princess Tessa used to work there back in her reporting days. Lovely little paper.”
“I think so too,” he says. “Can you give me a hint as to when the wedding might be?”
I grin and shake a finger at him. “Nice try.”
He blushes a little, then says, “Well, how about any hints about the wedding itself? The bookies are giving two-to-one odds that you’ll hold the big event here in Valcourt, and ten-to-one that it’ll be on Santa Valentina Island. Care to comment?”
“Yes, people should find better things to do with their money. Now, I really must run or I’ll be late for my appointment,” I say as the doors slide open and I step through them.
The warmth of the lobby, combined with the heavenly blend of lavender, orange, and peppermint, causes my shoulders to relax. I allow myself a long, deep inhale and forget all about the fact that I woke up in my thirties and I haven’t seen my fiancé for close to six weeks. He's currently in Borneo filming a new season of his adventurous nature docu-series for the new Avonian Nature Network (a.k.a. ANN, or Ann, as people have taken to calling it). In short order, Will has become the face of ANN, as well as for Merrill hiking boots, Tru Earth laundry strips, and the Earth Wildlife Fund, for whom he stars in gorgeously adorable and heartbreaking commercials alongside some of the planet’s sweetest orphaned baby animals. Seriously, the ads are like woman catnip — incredibly hot guy holding a tiny squirrel monkey and talking about how much she needs your help. Donations have tripled in the last month alone.
Will is also almost six months into a three-year deal with the network that sucks poopsicles because he spends more time away than he spends here with me. This has made planning our wedding rather a challenge since I insisted we don't go ahead without him and he's never here, so the date when we finally become Mr. and Mrs. is more of an abstract idea than a reality. His schedule is wildly unpredictable and even though I never complain to him about it, I do miss him every single hour of every day.
“Good morning, Princess Arabella,” the woman behind the desk says. “The rest of your party is already in the change room.”
She’s referring to my sister-in-law, Tessa, and her bestie, Nikki, who have graciously brought me into their gang. A smile spreads across my face as I hurry down the hall to meet them. They’re an absolute hoot. Nothing at all like the stuffy girls with whom I grew up. I canreallybe myself around them—or at least, I can be someone slightly more fun than normal. Who I am is yet to be determined, but I suppose that’s the case with most people.
As soon as I open the door to the change room, I’m greeted by squeals of delight, big squeezy hugs, and birthday wishes.
“So? You okay?” Nikki asks, tugging on the sash of her white robe. “I went into a total funk when I turned thirty, but mind you, I wasn’t about to marry a super hot celeb.”
Nikki’s a hairdresser on the prowl for a sugar daddy to make all her dreams come true. She’s also the most wildly fun person I know and the only one who has ever-changing hair hues in all the colours of the rainbow. Today’s is bright yellow with lime green tips.
I smile at her as I slide my coat off. “I’m great, really. Well, good, anyway. It’s a bit of a shock maybe, which sounds stupid because Iknewit was going to happen. I do know how to count, after all.”
“But it’s still the absolute shits, isn’t it?” Tessa asks, dropping her handbag into her locker.
I nod. “Last night, I spotted a rather long frown line exactly one third of the way between my eyebrows and my hairline.” I point to it while Tessa and Nikki crane their necks and narrow their eyes.
