Kaz laughed. So did the king.
“So,” the king said, clapping him on the back, “what is that old saying? ‘All’s well that ends well.’”
“It’s a line from a play.”
“Yes. And there’s that other line, too. How does it go? ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.’”
“You planned this entire thing,” Kaz said softly. “Putting Katie into my care—”
His grandfather shrugged.
“Did Zach know?”
“Who?” his grandfather said, but there was a twinkle in his eye. “Merry Christmas, Kazimir,” he said. “It is never easy, determining what to give one’s grandson as a gift.”
Kaz stared at him. Then, slowly, he began to grin.
“Grandfather. You’re an interesting piece of work.”
“A line from a play?”
“An American idiom. It means that I may have misjudged you.”
The king laughed as he linked his arm through Kaz’s and they started toward the doors that led to the throne room.
“Wait,” Kaz said.
“It’s Christmas Eve, Kazimir. A banquet awaits us.”
“I have to see Katie.”
“And you will, but surely—”
“I have to see her now. She’s the most important thing in my life. And she’s going through hell.”
“You are going to be a strong-minded ruler, Grandson,” the king said, smiling as he nodded to the guard who clicked his heels, stepped forward, and flung open the doors to the throne room.
The huge space was crowded with people. Music was playing; servers bore trays of canapés and glasses of champagne. An enormous Christmas tree, aglow with lights, stood in one corner with gifts heaped beneath it.
But all Kaz really saw was Ekaterina.
His Katie.
She was wearing the midnight-blue gown with the narrow red ribbon that she had worn the evening before.
Later, she would tell Kaz that she had refused to put on the gown that had been presented to her. This one last time, she’d been determined to dress as she knew Kaz would remember her.
Kaz. Her lover. The man she loved.
Her face was pale, but when she saw him, her eyes lit.
“Kazimir,” she said softly. “I asked if I could see you one last—”
He went straight through the crowd to her, swept her into his arms and kissed her, kissed her right there, in front of everyone, kissed her and kissed her until she forgot the room, the crowd, even what lay ahead.
She forgot everything but Kaz.
At last, he took his lips from hers.