Page 62 of Once Upon a Royal Summer
She still wasn’t sure what to make of it, but she’d decided that, in light of the picture Henry had warned her about, it couldn’t have been good.
Lacey felt paralyzed every time she thought about the photograph. She didn’t know what to do about it anymore. It might break her heart to read a statement from the palace implying she and Henry were simple acquaintances, that she was just someone who’d crossed paths with a prince—theme-park royalty who Henry would likely never see again once this week was over. But the conversation with Queen Elloise had left her more than a little rattled.
“Are you excited about tonight?” Ava asked as they made their way back to the palace with their small, pastel-colored shopping bags swinging from their arms.
Lacey grinned. “Yes.”
A royal ball was a royal ball, regardless of how Henry’s mother felt about her. She couldn’t wait to dance with Henry again. Their waltz at Ever After Castle seemed like it had taken place ages ago. Whatever happened tomorrow, they would still have this. They’d had cotton candy and fireworks. Butterflies and balconies. And tonight, they’d have music and dancing and a night she would’ve never even dreamed about before this summer.
“Text me if you need any help with your dress, but I’m going down to the ballroom early,” Ava said. “Ian wants to give me a private tour of the decorations before the guests start arriving.”
“Does he, now?” Lacey grinned. “You two are getting awfully chummy, aren’t you?”
Ava’s eyes danced. “He’s so sweet, Lace. He’s already invited me to come back to Bella-Moritz in two months for my birthday.”
Lacey blinked. “Wow, that’s amazing. I’m so happy for you.”
Could dating someone long-distance really be that easy? Lacey supposed it could, unless the person you were dating was royal. The crown, and all that went with it, definitely seemed to complicate things.
“I’ll be fine. You enjoy your time with Ian. I got into the gown with no problem at Madeline’s.” Lacey dropped her bags in front of the door to her room, and she wrapped her arms around Ava. “I’m so happy you came with me on this trip. Thank you.”
“Are you kidding?” Ava laughed and tried to her hug back without dropping her shopping bags. “I’m having the time of my life.”
“See you at the ball?” Lacey said.
“See you at the ball.”
Once inside her room, Lacey wrote out the postcard to her dad and stepmom while she nibbled one of her macarons. Then she took her time with her makeup, sweeping her eyeliner into a cat’s-eye shape like she’d seen on a YouTube tutorial. All she had left to do was slip into her pretty lilac gown, and her transformation into Cinderella would be complete.
She reached into the antique wardrobe for the garment bag and hung it on the outside door. Then, just as she reached to unzip it, her phone rang.
Lacey darted to her nightstand to answer the call, figuring it must be Ava, needing help with her gown instead of the other way around. But when she glanced at the name on the screen, she nearly dropped her phone.
It was Mark. Why on earth could he be calling her?
She stared at the ringing phone for a beat, tempted to let it roll straight to voicemail. But if she ignored the call, she’d wonder about it all night. Mark had never been a big fan of voicemail. The last thing she wanted to be low-key worried about at the ball was why her ex-boyfriend had tried to call her out of the blue.
She tapped the green button. “Hello,” she said flatly.
“Lace? It’s Mark.”
She cleared her throat. “Mark, hi.”
He sounded perfectly normal. Cheery, even—as if they hadn’t parted on such painful terms. Surely he didn’t want to get back together. Goodness, she really hoped not. That was a conversation Lacey did not want to have while she was standing in a palace half a world away.
“Now really isn’t a good time,” she said, hoping to put him off. “I’m out of town.”
Understatement of the century.
“Oh, okay. This won’t take long, actually. It’s just there’s going to be an announcement in the paper tomorrow, and I didn’t want you to get caught off-guard,” Mark said.
Lacey was confused for a second. Was he talking about the picture of her and Henry on the Ferris wheel? How could he possibly know about that? “What kind of announcement?”
“Um.” Mark breathed out a loud breath like he always did when he was nervous. “An engagement announcement. I’m getting married.”
“Oh. Wow.”
She couldn’t have been more shocked if a fire-breathing dragon jumped down from the top of the palace and came stomping into her room. As surprised as she was, though, she didn’t experience even a twinge of jealousy. In fact, she felt genuinely happy for him.
