Page 4 of A Princess, Stolen
“Yes, like they do at balls,” I said quickly.
“No.” He shook his head. “And balls are for rich idiots!”
Now I crossed my arms. “My dad is not an idiot at all!”
“But he is rich. Your house is a castle.”
“Yeah, and?” We stared at each other and I considered running back, but that faint smile flashed across his face again.
“Do you want to dance?” He came toward me, his gray eyes sparkling like a winter sea catching the rays of sunlight.
I felt strangely warm. “It’s easy,” I said quietly when he was in front of me. “You have to put your arms around my waist and I’ll put mine on your shoulders. Then we’ll move slowly, but you have to guide me.” I knew all this from Dad.
“Okay.” Nathan put his arms around my middle and I wrapped mine around his neck. It felt odd because we were so close, and it made us giggle. “Like this?” he asked.
“In a way, yes.”
He took a few clumsy steps and I was terribly afraid of stepping on his bare feet.
“You smell good. Like vanilla and chocolate,” he said at some point, and because he was so close to me, I could feel his breath on my face. Strangely, I got goose bumps as if I was freezing.
“And you smell of salt and sea,” I said, probably because his eyes reminded me of it. In truth, I couldn’t say what he smelled like exactly, a bit of forest and swamp, perhaps.
“I come here to talk to my sister. With Lea.” He looked at me from above. “Just like you go to your memorial.”
We were still moving: step right, step left. “And—do you sometimes see her here?”
“No. But, sometimes, when I’m here, a really bright ray of sunlight suddenly falls into the Palace of Shards, brighter than all the others. I think…well, I think this is her way of telling me that she’s here listening to me.”
I had to swallow. It must have been hard for him to tell me that. Maybe brought on by this place. He had called it the Palace of Shards. It was fitting. So splintered and yet so solemn, so mysterious. It seemed as if you could say anything here, as if thispalace could absorb everything with its magic and turn what was said into light.
“I don’t remember Mom’s death,” I whispered at some point. “I forgot three whole days of my life…and since then, I’ve had nightmares…almost every night.”
Nathan said nothing, but I felt his arms tighten slightly around me.
“I stole some eggs from a farmer in Baton Rouge yesterday…I…I was hungry.”
It would be a waste of time to explain to him that it isn’t right to steal, and judging by his hesitation, he was sorry. “Did they taste good?” I asked.
He beamed for a few seconds. “Great.” Suddenly, he stopped. “Look,” he said quietly, letting go of me and pointing to a spot behind me.
I turned and a beam of light as wide and bright as a stage spotlight fell across the grass, weeds, and broken marble. It was brighter than all the others.
Nathan ran into the light and spread his arms. “She’s here. She’s listening to me.” He looked up. “I’m sorry, Lea!” he called out skyward. “Do you hear? I’m so very sorry.” And even though he was standing in the sun, his face was full of shadows. Full of grief. He seemed to be waiting for an answer, but the light went out as if a switch had been pressed.
“She’s gone,” I said, just to say something.
“Yes…but she must have heard me.”
I didn’t ask him if we should dance again. Besides, I had to get back before anyone noticed my absence.
When I told Nathan that, he wordlessly took my hand and led me back to the hedge. Since dancing together in the Palace of Shards, we had formed a bond. Maybe it was because we had told each other something about ourselves that we didn’t telleveryone. Maybe he sensed it too, at least, that’s how it seemed to me.
“Are you coming back tomorrow?” I heard him ask after I had crawled through the hedge.
I stood and looked around, but everything was as before except that Mr. O’Brien was no longer mowing the lawn. “Of course,” I said. “Of course I’ll come back tomorrow. We have to see if Lea will listen to you again.” He was silent and I was afraid I had annoyed him, but then he reached his hand through the bare spot in the hedge.
“Hey, Will,” he said gently. His nickname for me sent a sweet shiver down my skin. “I have something else for you. I worked on it all night.”
