“Tomorrow, Princess. I promise I will answer every question you can think of. But please give me until tomorrow,” Leo begged.
“Why?”
“I don’t want to waste tonight on things that aren’t important. I want to dance with you and tell you how gorgeous you are.”
Evelyn couldn’t help but smile. “I guess the boring stuff can wait another day.”
“If you stay in Gryon, we can have all the time we want.”
“Or you could come to Carrowmore.”
Leo shook his head. “I need you here with me.”
“Why?” Evelyn asked again.
“Because I cannot imagine going a single day without seeing your beautiful face or hearing your voice or holding your hand.”
If my heart beats any faster, I might actually die in this ballroom.
Leo leaned in closer. “Will you consider it? Staying here with me?”
He wants to be with me! I know it’s not that easy, and it’s not like he’s proposing, but… He wants me to stay!
“I’ll think about it,” Evelyn said.
When the final song came to an end, she wanted to cry.
How is the ball already over? That was too fast!
Leo bowed to Evelyn and kissed her hand. “Tomorrow, Princess. Give me tomorrow and I will give you the world.”
21
Lies
“Your mother and I met at a ball like this one,” King Tristan said.
Evelyn jumped, torn from her thoughts. The final dance had ended and Leo had left to do whatever guards did after a ball. She hadn’t noticed her father standing at her side. He held a drink—not his first, based on the color staining his cheeks—and gazed out at the almost empty dance floor.
“I thought the two of you grew up together,” Evelyn replied.
“She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen,” the king continued. “It was like the gods formed her directly from my dreams.”
That might be the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.
“Did you ask her to dance?”
“Immediately. My knees nearly gave out in the seconds she took to respond.”
“But she said yes?”
“She did.” The king’s eyes were unfocused, his mind somewhere else. “We danced the whole evening. I swept her away from any other suitors who came near.”
“And you’re not even that good at dancing,” Evelyn teased.
King Tristan chuckled. “If she noticed, she didn’t say anything.” Sorrow crept into his expression like darkness overtaking the horizon at sunset. “My heart cracked into pieces when I had to leave her.”
“You didn’t leave her,” Evelyn said. “Youmarriedher.”
