The letters were important to both Nikolas and me. We exchanged hundreds over the years, and occasionally met up again when my father would take me on trips, or if we were invited to a party in Europe. We never really got to visit properly during those times, because Nikolas was usually dragged off to talk to people and I wasn’t always allowed to go. But we were at least in the same country again, and would write to each other about it later.
We did not truly see each other again until we were both in our teens.
Isabel,
So I’ve got really good news. It’s supposed to be a surprise so when your dad tells you, you have to act surprised, okay? Don’t tell him I told you or my dad would kill me. Seriously. I mean it. I know you’re a terrible secret keeper. But I wanted to tell you before they did because they’ll probably make it sound super boring.
We’ll get to see each other again! For real this time.
My dad is throwing a huge party in a few weeks and he’s going to invite your family to stay at one of the guest houses in the palace. I don’t have to return to school until the next week so we’ll get to see each other again. It’s been far too long and you can yell at Hugo for his poor book recommendations in person because he’ll be staying as well, with his sister. If it’s possible I’m sure you could bring Jess; I’d like to meet the girl behind all the snarky mail I’ve gotten over the years.
Keep it a secret (or at least try) and I can’t wait to see you! Write back soon!
Sincerely,
Nik
I was ecstatic to receive that letter. I told Jess to meet me at the Starbucks in minutes flat.
We went to different schools now, since my father insisted I go to a private school in the city and she stayed in our public school. It didn’t hinder us, though. She finally got that cell phone at the end of sixth grade, and when I told my parents, they got me one too.
“You’re ruining my Chopped marathon,” she complained when she sat down at our usual table in the corner.
“I’m going to Heledia for an end-of-summer party,” I practically squealed.
She blinked a few times before she registered what I said, and then smirked.
“And get to hang out with your hunky Prince Charming?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Stop,” I said, with my cheeks flaming. “He’s one of my oldest friends.”
“Yeah, and have you seen a picture of him lately? He’s hot, please don’t pull that ‘he’s like my brother’ crap,” Jess said.
“I told you to meet me so I could invite you, but if you’re going to make fun of me the whole time—“
“Wait, what?”
“He asked you to go too, but since you’re so intent on making fun—“
“There’s no fun. I’m not making fun. There is an absence of fun making.”
I smiled at her frazzled face and eventually she smiled back.
“Did he really invite me?” she asked.
“Yeah. He said, and I quote, he wants to meet the girl behind the snarky letters,” I said.
“Maybe if you don’t go for him, I will,” she teased.
I swallowed and the fear must have shown on my face because she laughed and shoved my shoulder, and told me she was just kidding. We spent the rest of the time sipping syrupy coffee drinks and talking about the party. The entire time, my anticipation grew at the idea of seeing Nikolas again for the first time in so long.
Chapter 2
The island of Heledia was as beautiful as I remembered from my childhood visits. It was a luscious display of green and blue, and lit by such pure sunlight. Everything about it was pristine and ancient and not at all like the smells of the metro or the sound of traffic on the street and people all around, most of them in a hurry. The salty air was divine and Jess seemed to fall in love with it the second we touched down. My parents yawned their way off the plane as we walked down the steps, but Jess was practically bursting with excitement.
“This place is heaven; why have you been hiding it from me?” she asked, and I laughed.
We clamored into the car, surrounded by a motorcade, to be driven to the guest house at the Rose Palace.
“So, how nervous are you about seeing Nikolas?” she asked in an undertone, playing with the built-in cooler in the limo, while my parents sat across from us, dozing.
“Not very.”
“That sounds like bull, but sure.”
I shot her a glare and she stuck her tongue out at me. In all honesty, I hadn’t felt nervous until the second I smelled the familiar salty air of Heledia and everything I remembered about the place come flooding back. Nikolas was, at best, a childhood friend whom I had only seen on a handful of occasions. But it was hard to ignore that we were both older and there was a certain amount of stigma placed on relationships like ours at a certain age.
Maybe if I was a princess we’d already be engaged. Not that I wanted to be engaged to him.
The Rose Palace’s guest house was bigger than our brownstone in Capitol Hill. My parents had already laid claim to the master suite inside while Jess and I were getting ready to race in, each trying to claim the next biggest room. My mother said one supposedly had a flat screen TV, and Jess immediately wanted to start a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors for it.
“You girls are on your own,” my father said. “I don’t handle the jet lag quite as well as I used to.”
They departed from us, waving to a young man waiting down by the entrance of the house.
I felt my heart jump right up and into my throat when I focused on the figure standing there in expensive sunglasses and a polo button-up with khaki pants. It was the boy from my childhood, but completely different. He was clean cut, he was fit. He’d gotten tall. I’d seen pictures of him recently, but they didn’t really show how tall he’d become.
“Isabel!” he called. “Isabel Maguire, look at you.”
His voice was accented. I’d forgotten about that, and how beautiful it could be. His curly chocolate-colored hair hung around his eyes, and his jaw had become chiseled with the receding of its baby softness. In short, he’d become a man while I was still a teenaged girl who enjoyed sleeping with her childhood teddy bear nearby.
“Hello, Nik,” I beamed, and felt him pull me into a tight hug. I tried not to notice that I could feel just how taut every single muscle on his body was. “I barely recognize you.”
It looked like he might be blushing beneath his awesome suntan. He shrugged and offered a hand to Jess, standing behind me with her mouth hanging open. She was just as struck as I was by the Adonis standing in front of us.
“Not so snarky in the flesh,” he laughed, and she seemed to regain her bearings.
“I’m just revving up, Your Highness,” she said playfully, but she gave a little curtsey, and he smiled.
“It’s been so long, I don’t even know where to start,” he said. “I can’t wait to introduce you to Hugo. His sister, Selene, is here too. She’s lovely; you’ll like her. My parents have been anxious to meet you. Wait until you see the food for tonight…”
He went on in a delicate and beautiful ramble as he walked us into the guest house. He handed our bags off to a butler waiting nearby, and led us onto a small patio in the back where someone had set up a cheese and fruit spread for lunch.
“I’m not sure if you ate on the plane,” he said, pulling out a seat for me, and my heart hammered. “I hope you didn’t, at least, that stuff looks like it came out of a lab.”
“Say what you will, but airline nachos are to die for,” Jess said.
“Or to die of,” I said.
Nik laughed again and I felt a flutter just behind my belly button. I loved making him laugh. I loved the sound of it, and I loved the way his eyes lit up and searched me out. He seemed to have left some of the melancholy of his childhood behind, and inherited his father’s jolly nature.
“I thought I heard an obnoxious laugh,” called a man’s voice from inside the house.
Two more people steppe
d out, just about our age. The boy was far less along in his development than Nik; he had pockets of pudge hanging around his face and only a few small hairs decorated his jawline, too short and too few to warrant shaving. With him was a young woman. In short, she was gorgeous. Her red hair seemed to be on fire in the best way possible, and everything about her was straight lines and perfect angles. They took a seat on either side of Nik.
“Did he tell you we were coming, or did he try to keep you for himself?” the boy asked me. “All he does is talk about ‘Isabel’ this and ‘Isabel’ that.”
Now I knew he was blushing as he stared down at his plate of grapes and Brie. He elbowed the companion, who I had realized very quickly was Hugo. He was not exactly what I imagined, but I had assumed all French men were walking visions of Mediterranean beauty with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths. This boy I could see walking down the street beside me in Arlington. The girl looked every bit as French as I imagined, with lush straight, bright hair and smoky dark eyes. The problem was, those eyes hadn’t touched on us at all – they were fixed on Nik.
“You must be Hugo,” I said with the best smile I could muster over her shameless staring.
“Enchanté,” Hugo said with a wink, taking my hand.
“I thought people only said that in movies,” Jess said. Hugo laughed and nodded, offering her a handshake as well.
Selene said something in French to Nik, who responded quietly, also in French. As if this couldn’t get any worse. Of course he would speak French completely fluently and attractively. This was totally burning up any chance I had at convincing myself I didn’t have a tiny crush on my childhood friend. And the way Selene was watching him didn’t help.
They spoke to each other in rapid French for a few more minutes before Hugo nudged them, muttered something in French himself, and they turned back to the table.
“Where are my manners?” Nik asked, sounding exactly like his father. “I forget our American friends don’t speak French. Selene was just telling me about a yacht race tomorrow in the harbor, if anyone would like to go.”
I eyed Selene carefully and noted the twinge of disappointment in her eyes. She had wanted to go alone with Nik. His obliviousness was a good sign, though. Not that I was about to turn this into some love triangle competition just because I might be a little infatuated with my childhood pen pal.
“Are you sure your American friends are up for it? I know they’re used to passing their time in…other ways. Perhaps you would prefer to go shopping, or play video games?”
Okay, that was out of line. This chick was on my radar in a bad way now. I felt Jess ruffle beside me and I placed a hand on her leg. While I might be willing to stew in my own annoyance, she was extremely likely to blurt out something entirely uncouth. My parents had warned me long ago that while Nik was my friend, our relationship was just as political as anything else. I didn’t need Jess starting a war over some stuck up, spoiled Parisian brat.
“Nonsense,” Hugo said. “If anything, we’ll culture our fine American friends and perhaps we can organize a trade. You show us some of your kind of fun.”
Hugo was a saint, and winked our way. Jess smirked and I nodded.
“Sounds like a lovely time.”
We ate our lunch around random small talk after that. Nik asked me about school, about home. We traded stories about snow, now that he actually had something to contribute on that front. Hugo did his best to make fun of him every chance he got, and Selene was silent, but always watching Nik.
When we finished, Nik called me over for a walk. I felt a burst of pride as Selene’s eyes bore into mine and then into the back of my head as I passed her. Score one for me, this round. I heard the sounds of Hugo ushering her off and Jess making him laugh with some joke she’d perfected on the plane ride over.
“I figured we could use a moment to ourselves,” he said, and I felt my heart start to hammer. “Like when we first met as kids.”
Did he think we were the same kind of innocent friends? Would he laugh if he found out I was insanely jealous of Selene’s eyes all over him at lunch? Would he think me totally silly for having a crush on the future king of Heledia?
He’d never been that to me, though. In fact, it was only when I saw him dressed in his uniform and standing ramrod straight next to his father that I remembered who he was, what he was born into. It made my heart sink a little more. I knew how these stories went, the rules that governed the life of someone like him.
“I missed you a lot,” he said, this time quieter, softer. It invited me to lean in as we stopped by an old, large tree.
“I missed you too,” I said. It wasn’t eloquent, but it was true.
He smiled and instead of his eyes dazzling, they seemed to simmer, almost smolder.
I leaned back against the tree and, like gravity, he seemed to follow me. Or perhaps like a string was attaching us at the chest. He was still several inches away but the gap had stopped being respectable, or professional, long ago. And the air between us sizzled.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a long time about something,” he said. “Something I’ve been thinking about at school. I’m not sure when I first thought it but—”
“Nikolas! Your father’s valet is asking for you,” called that all-too-familiar, all-too-annoying voice, and I felt everything in me crumble.
He looked like he might be just as crushed as me, and pulled back. He gave me a small smile and a nod. He shrugged and walked away as I plotted exactly how I was going to make Selene’s life as miserable as possible from here on out.
* * *
It was just like Nik’s father to throw a party – he was good at hosting parties. My dad always said King Alexandru’s skills in diplomacy stemmed from his ability to intoxicate his guests into a whirlpool of fun. And the fondue fountain didn’t hurt either. Jess agreed on that front. The second she saw it she went running right for it.
“We’re in an actual royal palace and the first thing you go for is the cheese fountain?” I asked.
“Duh.”
I laughed and watched as she threaded pieces of bread onto the delicate skewers and let the curtain of cheese fall over it.
“Who needs to fit in a prom dress anyway?” she laughed, and plated her prizes before I eventually dragged her away.
Nik was dressed in another full dress uniform. This time it was red and gold, still decorated with medals and adorned with the shine of a blue sash. One time my mom tried to teach me about the uniform and what all the parts were supposed to mean. Mostly I just liked to look at Nik dressed as a literal Prince Charming.
And that was another problem – dealing with the realization that I might have feelings for one of my oldest friends. I hadn’t told Jess yet because I was a tiny bit terrified that would make it real. And I would not be able to handle the smug look on her face when I admitted she was right.
I’d had crushes on boys before. Jack Norton was the first, in middle school. He was the tallest boy in the class and played baseball in the spring. His mom worked for a lobbying company and his dad was a professional baseball coach. He was every bit first crush material and I asked him to go with me to the eighth grade formal. It ended in complete, embarrassing disaster, when he turned me down. I learned pretty quickly not to jump the gun when it came to going after crushes.
And who knew if I really was crushing on Nik? Maybe it was just surprise at seeing him so grown up. He was like my brother…right?
Not. This was going to be so difficult, and his Prince Charming uniform and perfectly combed, wavy dark hair weren’t helping things. And neither was Selene’s smoldering look from across the room.
“If you glare any harder I think she might catch on fire,” Jess said, nudging me with her elbow.
“I’m not glaring. There is an absence of glaring. I’m…pensive,” I said.
“You know I hate clichés but if looks really could kill,” Jess laughed. “What is it about Miss Baguette that has you so work
ed up?
“Nothing, I just have a stomach ache,” I lied.
“And you’re looking at her like she’s a kidney stone.”
“Gross.”
“So spill. What’s the deal?”
I sighed and looked at Selene laughing and talking. Even without hearing her I could tell, by watching her lips move quickly over the words she was saying, that she was speaking French. The language itself was always beautiful but the way she spoke it was like a crystal stream of words flowing out of her. She could read me the French phone book and I’d be content.
The mistake I made was letting my gaze flow over to where Nik was talking with someone. I’d caught him in the middle of telling a joke, because the people around him broke out into a chorus of laughter while he smiled. It was a self-satisfied sort of smile. He’d done it even when we were children and I could always sense it in his letters. He always thought he was so clever and so smart. And even if I agreed, I would never…
I realized then that everything I was thinking must have been etched on my face in a glazed over, smitten daze because Jess was smirking.
“You,” she hissed. “You’ve got the hots for the prince.”
I shushed her, probably louder than she had even spoken in the first place. I yanked her by the crook of her elbow off to the side. I felt my cheeks heat up and feared just how red they might be if I looked in the mirror. But instead I was faced with Jess’s own smug smile.
“I do not,” I said.
“Oh please,” she snorted. “I’ve had this theory since we were twelve but now I have proof.”
She pinched my cheek and I swatted her hand away.
“Listen,” she said. “You’ve got a history with Nikolas that the prissy Parisian doesn’t. Sure she’s hot and French and a solid 10 to your 7.5—“
“Gee, thanks.”
“But you’ve been writing this guy letters, and he’s been writing back, since you guys were in elementary school. She needs years to catch up,” Jess insisted.
“He went to school with her brother for years though,” I whined.
Letters from a Prince: The Royals of Heledia (Book 1) Page 2
