Chapter 14
“You’re not Princess Rose,” Luca said slowly, his shock already fading into something she couldn’t read.
Natalie’s hand dropped from her mouth, but she said nothing, waiting to see what he would do next.
“If you’re not Princess Rose, then who are you?” he asked matter-of-factly.
“I’m Natalie, of course. Natalie—Lila. Lila really is my childhood nickname.”
“Natalie,” he said softly, a small smile playing at the edges of his mouth. “I should have seen that.”
“You’re not angry?” Natalie asked, unable to help herself. He was taking it so calmly.
He tipped his head to the side, as if considering the matter. “I think I am—a little. But it’s also a relief to finally make sense of everything.” One side of his mouth curved up. “Like why you hadn’t tasted an orange until you were fourteen. That was when the mountain passes opened, I assume?”
She nodded her head silently.
“And if you’re Natalie,” he continued, puzzling it out for himself, “then I presume the Natalie I know is actually Princess Rose?”
Natalie nodded again and then added in a rush, “I didn’t force her to switch! She suggested it.”
Luca raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t dispute the statement. “She certainly seems to be enjoying herself playing mountain girl. And this whole time…” He suddenly tipped his head back and laughed loudly.
Natalie watched him in bewilderment. She couldn’t see any amusement in the situation herself. Not only had she accidentally revealed her secrets, but they hadn’t even caught the man threatening Rose.
Luca’s laughter subsided into chuckles. “This whole time…” He shook his head. “I wonder what he’ll do now?”
“Who?” Natalie’s patience was fraying along with her nerves. “What are you talking about?”
“Never mind.” Luca’s attention switched abruptly back to her. “I’m much more interested in what we’re going to do.”
“What do you mean?” Natalie asked, wary again.
“If that wasn’t an assassin trying to kill Princess Rose, then it was someone trying to kill you. Why was someone trying to kill you, Lila?”
“Oh, that.”
“Yes,” he said wryly. “That.”
“He recognized I wasn’t the princess, so I told him I was Princess Rose’s lady-in-waiting. He was going to kill me in order to punish her and send her a message.”
Luca’s hand tightened on the hilt of his sword. “He was going to…”
Words seemed to fail him, and Natalie sighed. Now he looked ready to dash off after her attacker. Where was that outrage when it could have been helpful?
Luca gestured toward the bench where she’d hidden the satchel. “I think we should sit down because I need to hear everything from the beginning. And I get the feeling it’s going to be a long story.”
He took her arm firmly, guiding her toward the seat. But he paused before sitting. “Unless we should be worried about a fresh wave of attackers arriving at any moment?”
Natalie shook her head. “I don’t think so. As far as I know, it’s just one man, and I think you effectively scared him away.”
Luca nodded and gently pushed her onto the seat.
He took the time to retrieve the abandoned lantern, removing the shutters before sitting beside her.
The fresh illumination revealed the determined lines of his face.
He was clearly going to insist on hearing everything before he let her escape to her room.
Her shoulders slumped. She’d been fooling him for weeks, so she had to admit he had the right to demand answers.
“Rose and I traveled here together,” she said, starting at the beginning, as she’d been instructed. “Just the two of us. That’s when we came up with the idea to switch places.”
“It’s incredible you got away with it,” he said. “It never would have worked if the whole court was here.”
“We wouldn’t even have attempted it except for the tour. Rose was certain that everyone she knew would be traveling with your parents.”
“You said it was Princess Rose’s suggestion? What reason could she have to want to live your life?”
“I think it was more that she didn’t want to live hers—just for a little.” Natalie peeked at him warily. How much could she safely say? “She was feeling a little…pressured. About certain expectations.”
“About Leo, you mean?” He went off into fresh gales of laughter.
Once again, he made no attempt to explain his merriment, merely wiping his eyes and gesturing for her to continue.
“We were expecting the crown prince to be dancing attendance on Princess Rose, and it suited us both for him to spend that time with me instead of her.” Natalie wrinkled her nose. “Not that it worked out anything like we expected.”
Luca fixed her with a stern expression, all trace of laughter extinguished. Natalie winced, but she was sick of half-truths and careful concealments. If Luca hated her once he knew the full truth, that was his right.
“I came to Lanover to marry Prince Leo,” she said in a rush. “So I could eventually become a queen, like Gwen and Charlotte.”
His eyes narrowed, but he looked more triumphant than horrified. “I knew it! Right from the beginning I questioned your motives. I could tell you were hiding something. Leo thought I was imagining it, but I was so certain.”
Despite her guilt and contrition, Natalie felt the stirrings of indignation.
“It didn’t stop you kissing me!”
Her accusation sobered him instantly.
“As I said at the time, that was a mistake.”
The repetition of his earlier words hit her in the chest like a blow.
But he continued without pause, his expression rueful. “As much as I’d been wanting to kiss you, I was determined not to do so until I knew what you were hiding from me. But I lost control for a moment, and…” He gave her a boyish grin. “Sorry about that.”
Her mind went blank. He’d been wanting to kiss her even before that? For how long?
She wanted to demand answers, but she couldn’t do that until she’d taken responsibility for her mistakes.
“I’m the one who should be sorry,” she said.
“The whole scheme was outrageous—I can see that now. When Gwen took the throne in the mountain kingdom, my parents shut me out of court. After everything I’d done to help the rebellion, I felt betrayed.
I thought the answer was to become someone so important that no one could ever shut me out again.
I thought that way I could become the kind of person who mattered—who did things that mattered.
But I never properly considered Leo in the middle of all that.
Looking back now, I was painfully na?ve.
I didn’t think of it as using him. I was so sure that I’d arrive, and Leo and I would just… just fall in love.”
“We are a good-looking family,” Luca said with a grin that made her glare at him.
His expression softened, and he took her hand. “You don’t need to marry Leo to matter, Lila. I hope you know that.”
Natalie grimaced. “I just hope your cousin won’t take offense on behalf of Lanover.
We initially only planned to switch for a few days, and I actually thought he’d already have fallen in love with me by then.
” She gave a pained laugh. “I was sure he’d forgive everything when we confessed the truth.
But everything has spiraled out of control, and I’m terrified my foolish na?veté is going to cause an international incident.
” She gave Luca a worried look. “Maybe we shouldn’t mention my reasons for the switch to Leo? ”
“Maybe not,” he agreed solemnly, but he looked like he was once again struggling not to laugh at something she didn’t understand.
“I’m still surprised the princess was willing to take the risk,” he said after a moment of silence. “She should have known better.”
“When we discussed it, we thought it sounded like something the two of you would have done,” Natalie explained. “So we thought you’d have to forgive us.”
This time he did break out into laughter.
“We might have switched places a time or two when we were younger,” he admitted once his fresh mirth subsided.
“Does that mean you’ll forgive me for the deception?” Natalie asked in a small voice. “I truly regret it.”
“I don’t regret it at all,” he said promptly.
Her eyes flew to his. He was smiling, but his eyes were focused on the dark depths of the garden, his thoughts seemingly elsewhere. “It might have done a great deal of good.”
She waited, but he let the thought drop, turning to her with a twinkle. “Having confessed my own disgraceful past, I can hardly refuse to forgive you without making myself a hypocrite.”
Natalie bit her lip, not wanting to grow too hopeful. “You’re not upset that I’m not really a princess?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I think we’ve already covered the reprehensible nature of pursuing someone only for their rank. I may be a prince, but I believe the same principle applies. On the matter of your true identity, at least, we can make peace.”
Relief swept over Natalie, but she didn’t have time to enjoy it before his voice turned darker.
“There is, however, another matter. Your misguided swap with Princess Rose does not explain why I just found a masked man trying to stab you in the palace gardens.”
“That has nothing to do with the swap,” Natalie said. “At least not initially.” She explained her discovery of the note on Rose’s pillow and everything that had happened since, concluding with, “So you can see why I got so annoyed at you when you kept getting in the way.”
“See why you were annoyed with me?” Luca looked up from examining the two notes, gathering wrath in his eyes. “See that you were determined to get yourself killed, more like! Of all the misguided, foolish, mule-headed—”
“Don’t!” Natalie put up a hand to stop the rush of words, tears pricking at her eyes.
“I know it was foolish of me. I’ve realized that already. I’ll let Rose lecture me all she wants, but not you. There’s been no harm done to Lanover.”
“No harm to…” He twisted his body toward her, grasping her arm and staring down at her. “Do you think I’m worried about Lanover? You could have been killed! If I hadn’t heard you scream, you would have been!”