Before Juno could reply, the line was dead, and her sister was gone.
Juno’s heart rate increased as she put down the phone. The giddy rush of anticipation at what tonight might bring ramping up.
But as she spent the next hours getting primped and prepped to within an inch of her life, she couldn’t shake the growing feeling of vertigo, as if she were standing on the edge of a precipice and Jade’s blessing had just brought her one step closer to the fall.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE CHRISTMAS BALL was Severene’s premiere event of the year and one of Europe’s most sought-after social occasions. Dignitaries and VIPs, politicians and A-list celebrities were flown in from all over the globe to attend. The palace ballroom—considerably larger than the one in Monrova—glowed with the twinkle of a thousand tiny lights, the walls festooned with ribbon and garlands, silver baubles and gold leaves, to ring in the festive season. A thirty-foot fir tree from Severene’s pine forest stood like a beacon in the far corner aglow with green fairy lights and scarlet bows.
Beautiful people danced to a thirty-piece orchestra in the main ballroom, and mingled in the adjacent antechambers while being served cordon-bleu cuisine created by a battalion of Michelin-starred chefs and vintage champagne and wine curated by a world-renowned sommelier.
Juno floated through the evening on a wave of desperate hope and frantic excitement—while burying the unanswered questions deep.
As soon as Leo’s hand had folded over hers at the top of the wide sweeping staircase, where they were the last guests to be announced, and he led her down onto the marble floor of the ballroom, she’d made a conscious decision to live for the moment and deal with the decisions she had to make on an as and when basis.
She would play it by ear. Figure out what was the right thing to do when she needed to, and not before. Tonight was about living the dream and forgetting about the reality. Whatever happened it would be her last night with Leo; tomorrow she had to return to Monrova and, whether she told him who she really was or not, she could never see him again.
Whatever she did or didn’t tell Leo though, it gave her a giddy thrill to know that no one here even suspected a girl from Queens was masquerading as a queen among them tonight.
See, Father, for all my wild ways, I could have made a good queen. Just not your sort of queen.
Leo monopolised every one of her dances, and she could see the assembled throng going glassy-eyed at the romantic couple they made. Him in his red dress uniform, and her in a ball gown of rich emerald velvet that matched her eyes.
Their romance might be fake, but tonight the fairy tale felt real. And even if none of these people would ever know who she really was, she would know. And that was enough.
He’d helped her to prove her father wrong. And that mattered, even if tonight was their last night together.
She would miss him. In many ways he was the ultimate Prince Charming, handsome, dashing, demanding, unknowable, larger than life in every respect. But she couldn’t fall into the same trap as her mother—believing she could have more—when this was all there was.
She’d seen the press photos from the Christmas Ball over the years, a ball her sister had rarely attended, and locked the yearning to be here inside her?
?determined to believe she didn’t want the life that had been denied her. But tonight she could indulge every single one of those secret desires.
As the guest of honour at the ball, she had to mix and mingle, but Leo made no secret of the fact he wanted her in his arms as often as possible, so their royal duties were cut to a minimum.
Giddy with her new confidence, Juno fed on the adrenaline rush as he whisked her round under the twinkle of lights, and they played out the last of her Cinderella fantasy.
Anticipation skittered over her skin, every time his strong arms held her a little too close, or his subtle cologne filled her lungs, or his large hand rested on the small of her back.
As the clock struck midnight, and the revellers let up a cheer, a golden sleigh was hauled into the centre of the ballroom by six footmen, loaded down with elaborately wrapped gifts. As the guests began to help themselves, sighing and gasping at the kingdom’s largesse, Leo grasped Juno’s hand and tugged her towards the staircase they had descended together four hours before.
The adrenaline rush became turbocharged. Finally, they could be alone. The ball would wind down now, her state visit over. And the night they had committed to three days ago could begin.
There was nothing to stop them doing whatever they wanted into the early hours of the morning—and no one to see it.
He leaned down, his hand settling on her back, and whispered against her ear: ‘I have to say goodnight to a load of boring diplomats. But I’ll see you upstairs in fifteen minutes.’
The intense gaze that had been focussed on her all evening made her pulse jump and jitter. ‘But I’ll need to get Jennie to help me get out of this gown,’ she said.
His gaze dropped to her cleavage, and the emerald velvet compressed her ribs. ‘Give her the night off. Getting you out of that gown is a job I’ve been looking forward to all evening.’
Bowing, he made a point of kissing her knuckles and bidding her a formal goodnight. The camera clicks from a nearby photographer faded into the background, as Juno’s heart pummelled her chest in hard, heavy thuds.
She watched him disappear into the crowd. She would have to tell him who she really was. But did she have to tell him right away?
She waited the required five minutes to cover the fact they were leaving together, then summoned Serena. Ten frustrating minutes later, she had said all the necessary goodbyes and headed up the stairs towards her suite of rooms, so hyped she could hardly breathe.
There had been no sign of Leo. She hoped he had managed to escape faster than she had. And that he was waiting for her as planned. She didn’t want to have too much time to think alone in her rooms.