Lucky Charm (Reverse Fairytales Book 2)(49)

I didn’t stay long, but the short time I did, I was forced to take on their surname.

“Cynder Bloom?”

“Don’t remind me! I changed it back to York as soon as I left. Is that why you thought I was married to them? I’m only about fourteen in this picture.”

“Not both of them,” I said, feeling a mixture of relief and stupidity. I should have figured it out. I took the photo back and studied it. He did look young in it.

I needed to speak to Leo and tell him to stop snooping on Cynder. I could actually do with introducing them all properly. Cynder had met my family, but apart from the odd mealtime, he’d not spent much time in the palace.

“Is that why you’ve been ignoring me all week? I thought I’d done something wrong.” He took my hand, and the ice in my heart melted. “Do you like all this? I wasn’t sure what to do for you.”

I looked around. The musicians picked their instruments back up now that the drama was over and began to play again.

“Ok? It’s the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen. You went to so much trouble.”

“Most of it is magic,” he admitted, before guiding me to one of the seats.

He took the seat opposite and almost immediately, out of thin air, a waiter came and placed a plate in front of me. He served Cynder next, who thanked him. When I looked around, he’d completely gone again.

“Was he magic too?” I whispered, not wanting to cause offense.

“He’s a dog. The musicians are rats, and if Daniel brought you here, you already know that the horses were mice.”

I gazed at the musicians. The four of them played beautifully and looked so smart in their finery. If it weren’t for all of them having whiskers, I’d never have known, they weren’t always human.

I stifled a giggle at the thought of it.

“Don’t laugh, it’s complicated magic!” but Cynder grinned too. “It’s taken me ages to train Fido to bring the food up rather than eat it.”

I burst out laughing, unable to control myself.

It diffused what I’d feared would be a difficult situation.

“It is really good!” I replied, taking a bite out of the starter. It was some kind of fish dish, quite unlike anything I’d ever tasted before. “You made this yourself, didn’t you?”

“It’s the Queen of Thalia’s favorite. She lets me make it for her,” admitted Cynder.

With everything that had been going on, I’d not thought much about Luca’s parents. They’d lost a member of their staff because of me, and now I was out on a date with him instead of their son. I made a note to write to them the next day apologizing. They would have seen that it was Luca’s idea to bring Cynder here, but that didn’t stop me from feeling guilty about it.

When the first course was finished, we waited for Fido. The silence between us was palpable. Neither of us had said a word to each other throughout the whole course. As I was eating, I could pass this off as enjoying my meal too much to talk, but now that we had finished, the quietness stretched on too long. It had been so easy when I could hate him for lying to me about having a wife. Sure, I’d been upset, but it meant I could marry Luca without anything getting in my way. The fact that Cynder hadn’t kept this hidden from me made things messy again. Messy, because I still wasn’t sure that Luca was the man I wanted to marry. It wasn’t helping that Cynder had organized the most romantic night I’d ever had in my life. I fished around in my brain for something to say.

“Why did you come back Cynder?” I asked. “You know I’m marrying Luca and you know that this whole charade is only for the media. Why put yourself through it?”

“I came back because I needed to. I knew I could help here a lot more than making food in the kitchens of Thalia. I’ve been waiting a long time for the chance to turn things around. Thank you.”

“What for?” I asked.

“For giving me the opportunity.”

I nodded, grateful that he could not see what I was thinking. I’d wanted him to give me an answer like that. It made everything less awkward, but now that he had, my heart ached. The truth was, I’d wanted just a small part of him to come back to see me. No matter how complicated it made everything. I shouldn’t have wanted it, but right then, I knew I did.

‘It’s better this way!’ I thought to myself as Fido took away our plates and replaced them with clean ones. A huge silver bowl was brought and laid between us, smelling delicious. Fido ladled the stew or whatever it was into my bowl. It was a spicy concoction with a creamy texture and quite unlike anything I’d tasted before.

Watching Cynder as he dipped a chunk of bread into the stew, I followed suit. It made me smile. There was no way he’d have gotten away with it at the palace. Jenny would have admonished him for not using the right cutlery. For some reason, it made the meal even more delicious.

After we’d finished, Cynder rose and took my hand.

“Let’s dance.”

“I can’t. I’m sorry.” It was clear that dancing was the reason he’d brought me up here in the first place. The whole of the rooftop was covered in petals, and I’d never seen a more romantic dance floor in my life, but that was the problem. If I danced with him, if we even spoke too much, or about the wrong things, I knew my heart wouldn’t be able to take it. I had to be strong. It wasn’t fair to Luca otherwise.