Cursed: Gowns & Crowns, Book 5

by Jennifer Chance

  “Well, thank you. I think they worry too much.”

  To her surprise, Nicki chuckled softly, her expression softening. “I think we all tend to worry too much, only not about the right things. You’re more worried than you should be about your family, but not about yourself. This curse or whatever is laid on the Saleris has existed for several hundred years, right? Why does it need to be solved in your lifetime?”

  Nicki went on, but her words had the exact opposite of the intended effect, Edeena realized. The curse had gone on as long as it had because no one had taken a stand to bring the family together. Because when each generation had a chance to do something about it—and there were several generations that had met the criteria—no one had stepped forth and committed.

  But Edeena wasn’t going to let this generation pass without at least making the attempt. And that meant she had a party to get ready for.

  “Will you be there tonight?” she asked Nicki, who was draining the last of her coffee. “Somewhere I can see you?”

  “Oh, honey, despite the dress-up craziness, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She grinned at Edeena and waggled her brows. “It’s not every day you get to see a girl give it her all to break a family curse.”

  Vince barreled into the punching bag for the third and final round of his workout, but he wasn’t feeling any better. He didn’t know who he wanted to hit harder—himself for caring too much about something that was completely out of his control, or any one of the thirty odd guys that Edeena could pick as her husband-to-be.

  “You want to pick on someone your own size?”

  Dimitri Korba’s voice rolled over the wide, empty room and Vince straightened, turning sharply as the captain of the Garronia National Security Force strode toward him. Like himself, Dimitri was dressed in workout gear and looked like he’d already gone through a punishing regimen, but he had a smile on his face that indicated he’d actually been enjoying himself.

  Now he picked up a pair of boxing gloves and slipped them on, gesturing for Vince to come out onto the large square mat. He moved around to Vince’s left, his gloves up. “You don’t seem to be a very happy man, Prince Rallis,” Dimitri said. “That’s a shame, for someone who has so captured the interest of the queen.”

  Vince lifted his brows, and obligingly moved out onto the mat. “The queen? What’s she got to do with anything?”

  “If you spend any time in Garronia, you’ll learn she has everything to do with everything she can possibly pry into. It’s her royal right.”

  Vince jabbed and Dimitri feinted easily, letting him get comfortable as Dimitri kept speaking.

  “In your case, she is intrigued by everything you have brought to her attention, such as the Contos home at Heron’s Point. The queen is related to the Saleris by marriage, but she’s not unaware of the family’s holdings. This home in South Carolina interests her a great deal, however. Then there’s the curse and Edeena’s resolution to resolve it, and your interest in Edeena as well.”

  Dimitri was watching Vince’s face, clearly expecting some kind of reaction to his words, and in so doing left his body open. Vince got in a kidney punch before Dimitri could cover himself, sending the big captain spinning around. Dimitri’s face darkened with annoyance, and Vince grinned.

  “You’re right, this is making me feel better,” he said. “Maybe we should focus on the fight and leave the talk for later.”

  “That’s the problem.” Dimitri paused to deliver several blows to Vince’s head, grunting with satisfaction as Vince blocked him capably, though Vince could tell he wasn’t deliberately trying to score a punishing hit, merely spar. “Later, perhaps sooner than you’d like, you’re going to be cornered by the queen and she’ll demand to know what your intentions are with Edeena. I like you, and you’ve done your best to protect Edeena, even from herself, so I wanted to warn you.”

  “Consider me warned, then.” After that, the conversation fell away as the two of them sparred in ever more tighter rounds, with Dimitri scoring major hits to Vince’s shoulder, torso, and even kidneys, though none to his face. When they finally spun away from each other, both men were sweating hard, and Vince winced ruefully.

  “I got to get back into the gym,” he muttered, while Dimitri grinned.

  “Be glad you will be on display tonight, my friend,” he laughed. “Or you’d be sporting a black eye. You stay much longer in Garronia, we will fight again. It helps you to keep your head on straight, no?”

  Hours later, Vince was still breathing a little gingerly when he strode down the hall behind a staff member, both of them wearing equally well-cut tuxedos. The man had come for him precisely at seven p.m., but despite Dimitri’s warning, the queen hadn’t been lying in wait for him anywhere, lurking around corners to spring on him unawares. He hadn’t seen Edeena either. Then again, she had a ball to prepare for. Surely that was an hours-long proposition right there.

  “What is this passageway?” he asked now as they turned deeper into the palace, instead of heading out to the main entryway.

  “With the queen’s decision to enlarge the ball for more guests, the streets are packed with cars,” the man said in heavily accented English. “Though it’s a bit of a walk, it’s faster to take you the back way, on foot, to the Visitors Palace. We should be there in less than twenty minutes. Most likely you will return this way as well.” The man chuckled. “I cannot imagine anyone will be getting away from the castle easily tonight.”

  Something in the man’s words caught Vince up short. It almost made him feel trapped. Then again, they were going to the second formal party in less than a week, and everywhere he looked women were in formal gowns, men were in tuxedos, and even the servers were dressed to the nines.

  One thing was for sure, Vince wouldn’t miss all the goddamned dancing that seemed to go on in this country.

  When they finally climbed the last set of stairs, Vince couldn’t deny the ingenuity of the passage. The hallway tee’d off sharply here, one path leading deeper into the complex, the other toward what sounded like a thousand people milling around. The man gave him an engraved card and gestured him on, and Vince was left with no choice but to head toward the madness. In another twenty steps, he emerged into a wide foyer, doors flung wide both to a glassed-in atrium style ballroom and also to the steps leading out to the courtyard. The courtyard was thronged with people, and they were barely contained from spilling into the drive. The driveway itself was now lined with cars that crept forward to disgorge new guests.

  “Vince!” At the sound of the familiar voice, Vince turned to see Marguerite and Caroline rushing toward him, Rob and Cindy Marks on their heels.

  “Where is Edeena. Does she know? Did you tell her?”

  Vince smiled, accepting Marguerite’s impulsive hug despite his damaged body, then setting her back. “She doesn’t. Your secret is safe.” He’d gotten the call from the girls the morning after he’d traveled to the farm country with Edeena. Both sisters had been adamant about attending the engagement ball, and Marks and his wife had been game to come along. Now the Saleri sisters wore evening gowns, and even Rob and Cindy were dressed in a tuxedo and a floor length gown, respectively. Vince couldn’t decide which of the two Americans looked more awkward. He figured he was probably a close third.

  “Flight go okay?” he asked, smothering his smile.

  “I do not even want to know how much that cost,” Rob said, shaking his head. He looked around with surprise evident in his face. “And this place . . . I don’t know what I was expecting, but this was not it.”

  Another feminine voice called out, and Caroline turned, her face lighting up in recognition. “Go,” Vince ordered and she headed off, Cindy right behind her. He continued then with Rob. “Caroline and Marguerite should be safe here anyway, but make sure none of their own family members leave with them.”

  Rob grimaced. “You really think there’s going to be a problem?”

  “I don’t know what to think anymore, my man.”
Vince shook his head. “This entire place has gone nuts.”

  “Roger that.” Rob took off after Marguerite, and Vince finally made it into the ballroom proper. He showed his card to the door attendant, and the woman immediately began threading her way through the crowd, gesturing to him to follow. Though music was playing and people were already dancing, the vibe was very different here than it had been at the gathering earlier in the week. For one thing, there were far more people, and food and alcohol flowed in abundance. It seemed a much looser affair, more like a grand party than a formal rite of passage.

  For the other, Edeena was not mingling happily on the floor with all her admirers. She was sitting in the place of honor, her back perfectly straight, her face serene. She seemed to be scanning the crowd and when her glance fell on him, she smiled.

  Vince couldn’t help the way his heart turned over in his chest. He touched the arm of his guide, and she checked her stride. “Do you know what the agenda is here tonight? He asked. “Is there a set time for the, uh, announcement?”

  The woman shook her head. “Ordinarily it would have already happened, but the countess’s father has been delayed.

  Oh, no. Vince looked hard at the woman. “There’s nothing wrong with his wife, is there?” he asked hastily, and she shook her head, her expression wry.

  “Nothing that dramatic. Rumor has it she’s in perfect health, in fact, and that the old—that the count has merely been using her as an excuse to isolate Edeena with her thoughts and obligations.” The woman shrugged. “I guess it’s worked. There’s an entire betting pool on who the countess is going to choose as her husband, and even the men in question are taking part.” She laughed at Vince’s shocked expression. “Welcome to Garronia, Mr. Rallis,” she said. “We have our own way of doing things, and they’re not for the faint of heart.”

  She cut to the side, taking him away from Edeena, and they stepped into a small open space, something Vince wouldn’t have thought was possible in such a packed room. Then he realized that in the center of the space, Queen Catherine was stepping back from a man he didn’t recognize, the two of them exchanging formal bows.

  Then she turned to him. “Ah! Mr. Rallis, I’ve been waiting for you,” she said, extending her hands to him. “Indulge me with a dance, if you would be so kind?”

  Someone moved behind her, and Vince caught Dimitri’s rueful grin for a second, then he stepped forward and took the queen’s hands.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Watching Vince and the queen take their turn around the dance floor, Edeena realized that the moment of her decision was nearly upon her. She now understood the reasoning behind the queen’s choice to open up the ballroom to a wider audience. Not only would this unquestionably draw some of the straggler Saleris in, if only out of curiosity, but it would also bring an audience. If Edeena’s choice succeeded in bringing the family together, then by God, there would be plenty of witnesses.

  She smiled a little, her gaze sweeping over the dance floor—then she froze.

  “Oh, no.” Putting all sense of decorum aside, she rose from her chair and strode forward, hopping off the dais. If anyone noticed that she was entering the dance floor prior to the official swell of ceremonial music, they didn’t stop her.

  And what she’d just seen simply couldn’t be happening.

  “Caroline!” Even across the crowded room, her responsible sister’s sixth sense for accountability meant Caro’s head lifted as Edeena called her name, swiveling around to see her. But her sister looked entirely unabashed as she squealed, then tugged on Marguerite’s arm. Marguerite also had the audacity to appear entirely thrilled to be discovered, and both of them rushed headlong toward Edeena, meeting her in the middle of the floor.

  “You came off your pedestal!” Marguerite said triumphantly as she reached Edeena, enveloping her in a warm hug.

  “You look absolutely regal,” Caro chimed in. Feeling her sisters’ arms around her, Edeena didn’t realize how much she’d missed them in the few short days they’d been apart. If anything, it gave her a renewed focus on what she needed to accomplish.

  “I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t come,” she protested, pulling back, unable to keep the smile from her face.

  “And miss your engagement? To whoever the lucky man is?” Marguerite teased. “I, for one, can’t wait to see the results. Do you think Father will turn from beast to real man?”

  Edeena laughed in a short, hiccupping outburst and a nearby couple turned to her, clearly recognizing the sound. Her brows lifted. “You brought Rob and Cindy? They could leave their kids?”

  “That’s apparently what grandmothers are made for,” Caroline said fondly. “The two of them have been everywhere with us. We’re perfectly safe.”

  “And they’re perfectly adorable,” Marguerite said, sounding almost wistful, far older than her twenty-five years. “Everything they do, they do together, without really seeming to think that much about it. I wouldn’t even know how to begin caring for someone so well.”

  “You’ll get your chance,” Edeena said firmly, and once again, her resolve was bolstered. She knew her sisters well enough, however, that it was time to distract them from how that chance would be made possible. “Have you seen the crush of people outside? Do you recognize any of them as Saleris?”

  “How could we possibly?” Caroline began, but at that moment the couples closest to them parted in time to the swelling music, and a new couple twirled toward them on the heels of an ending refrain.

  “Edeena!” Queen Catherine paused in front of them, laughter sparkling her eyes. “This is most excellent. Mr. Rallis was even now tiring of dancing with me. Perhaps you could allow him to escort you back to the dais? I believe your father has arrived.”

  Edeena jolted. Of course Silas would arrive the moment she left her appointed post. Even now she saw him at the top of the stairs, talking with King Jasen as his gaze swept the room. She groaned, and Catherine patted her arm.

  “Jasen will keep him occupied until you’re ready, dear. And Mr. Rallis will keep you safe. I have every faith in him.”

  With that the queen turned away to exclaim with delight over her sisters, and Edeena found herself once again on Vince’s arm. He turned, angling them toward the dais, and she suddenly tightened her grasp on him.

  “Could you . . . could you take me outside for a minute instead?” she asked quickly, as he looked down at her in surprise. “I know I have to get back, but it seems like most of the guests are in the courtyard, and I haven’t really gotten a chance to see it. I suspect it’s wonderful.”

  “It’s a crowd, that’s for sure,” Vince said. Still he didn’t object, his arm moving around her back as he turned toward the thicker part of the congregation of swirling skirts and black suits. They plunged into the crowd, and Edeena sighed as the music swelled up again, seeming to create a layer of anonymity around her and Vince, as if they somehow could slip away without being seen.

  A few minutes later they’d reached the great French doors that were flung open to the night sky, and stepped out onto the broad landing.

  The place was lit up like a carnival.

  A new set of musicians were holding forth out here, their music an echo of the internal reel and yet distinctly different, so that the two rose in perfect harmony no matter whether you were inside or out—or, like she was, caught on the precipice between. Everywhere she looked, however, there were people dancing, laughing, and talking, and the sight of it thrilled her. She didn’t know who, if any, among them were Saleris, but surely there had to be some members of her family there. Would they stand up in support of her, of each other? She’d soon find out.

  “You’re sure you want to do this?”

  At Vince’s quiet question, she looked up. He stared at her steadily, with an intensity that unnerved her.

  “What do you mean?” she almost snapped. “You know that I have to do . . . to do something, here. All these people are here, Vince. They’re here for a reason.�
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  “But what reason?” he pushed. “You have to make a decision, yes. A decision for your future. Do you really think they’ll care who you ultimately choose?”

  The cold, cutting, aristocratic voice of Silas Saleri somehow managed to drown out the music. “An excellent question, Mr. Rallis,” her father said, “and one I’m sure I did not expect you to have the presence of mind to pose.”

  Edeena had been sparring with her father for too long to show any weakness, and she pivoted now, as calm and poised as she could manage. She had reason to feel confident. Her gown was the stuff of magic, the most sophisticated confection she’d ever seen. Tea length to allow for dancing in the open air on the wide, grassy lawn, it had several layers of jet black skirts and a black bodice, before a striking swath of cream satin emerged at her high waist and flowed upward to a black, ribbon-edged sweetheart neckline. She knew she looked the perfect mix of youth but also sophistication, as appropriate for a woman about to change the trajectory of her future.

  Silas, in contrast, looked positively haggard. All of Edeena’s carefully prepared phrasing fled as she blinked at him. “Father, what’s wrong?” she asked hurriedly.

  It was a bad move. Silas drew himself up haughtily, his face turning stony as he scowled at her.

  “What’s wrong is that, instead of standing where you are supposed to, in the bosom of the nobility who even now awaits breathlessly for you to do your duty at last, you’re sneaking around with your American lover and causing whispers wherever you go.”

  Her lover! Edeena stared at her father, aghast, even as Vince bristled.

  But Silas wasn’t finished. “You didn’t land your prince, but you can still do your part, Edeena. Take the first step toward reminding the people of Garronia of who the Saleris are, of all the undeserved misfortune we’ve experienced. It’s long past time that we took our rightful place at the royal family’s side, not at their feet.”