A Farewell to Charms (19 page)

I’m going to stay near Floressa in the hopes that she doesn’t tell the press about the event, and if she does, I’ll do damage control. Elsa would do the same thing, wouldn’t she?”

Karl’s face reddened. “Well, I suppose, given the circumstances, she might—”

“And you, Karl.” I couldn’t help it; when I said his name, I lost the edge in my voice. I would always have a soft spot for Karl. He was my first prince, really, despite all the identity mix-ups along the way. He was trying to be noble for Elsa, and I loved that about him. “Karl, your job is to act normal and stay out of our way. And trust us, okay? Do you think you can do that for me?”

“I think…” Karl looked down at his casual white button-down shirt and dark jeans. “I think I need to find some more formal attire.”

“Do that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish getting ready. Run along, boys.”

Karl shuffled out of the room. Reed stood there, staring at me in wonder.

“What?” I asked. “Look, I know Elsa looks hot in this dress, but—”

“I’m not thinking about Elsa.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re so…You’ve come a long way from that girl I met at Idaho Potato Days. Remind me never to cross you, okay?”

“Reed, never cross me.”

He grinned, which looked very Reed-like even on Barrett’s adorable face, and punched my arm. “Okay, princess. Get your tiara on. It’s showtime.”

W
e took a limo to the ranch. Karl was sitting right next to me, and across from us were Floressa and Reed/Barrett. Floressa was snuggled in close to Reed. Another limo could fit in the space between Karl and I.

“I still don’t get why you’re here, Karl,” Floressa said. She’d been rude to him ever since he showed up. Of course, she thought this was Karl’s sub, because the real Karl was supposed to be at the resort with Elsa. “Shouldn’t you be in Fenmar? Or vacationing somewhere?”

“I asked him to come to lend me support,” Reed said. “So I could have, uh, more support to offer you.”

Floressa nestled into Reed’s shoulder. “Don’t I have the best boyfriend, Elsa?”

I barely managed to avoid an eye roll. “Sure.”

“I love you Bear-Bear.”

Reed grinned.

I opened the mini-fridge and looked for a Mountain Dew, anything to avoid watching those two together. I bet Reed loved his job. He can say he doen’t like Floressa all he wants, but seriously, she’s
Floressa Chase
.

“So, you’ve obviously subbed for Elsa before,” Karl said softly.

“I have in the past.” I scooted across the seat so we could talk. “I like her a lot. I’m happy for you two.”

Karl couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you. Yes, she is remarkable. When did you say you subbed for her?”

Karl wanted to know if I’d ever subbed for her when they were together. Façade created an invisible barrier between royals, an unspoken secret. They all knew that they used subs, but no one ever knew
when.
It had probably never occurred to Karl before that the girl he was dating wasn’t always Elsa. “I subbed for her in Metzahg. Right before Nana Helga allowed her to join the royal scene.”

“Metzahg?” Karl’s face reddened. “Er, do you know…what dates, exactly?”

“Not really.” Of course I did. I’d only replayed that trip a million times in my head. But now that I knew Reed wasn’t Karl’s sub, I had no clue what moments were spent with Karl and what time was with another sub.

“You two are getting snuggly!” Floressa laughed. “Ooh, are you going to kiss?”

“We’re not ones for public displays of affection,” Karl said smoothly.

Floressa thought this was fun because she was making two subs very uncomfortable. Then again, she also thought the boy sitting next to her was really Prince Barrett, so what did she know?

The limo stopped and Floressa clapped her hands. “We’re here! Come on. There’s a party to get to!”

The door opened and Floressa stepped out.

“Ladies first,” Reed said.

I followed Floressa and looked out at the spectacular view. The word “ranch” had thrown me. The green mountains rose on one side of us and dropped off at a cliff over the ocean. The mansion sprawled across the picturesque scene, and white tents were already filled with tables and elaborate silver-and-blue decorations.

“Now, this is a winter wonderland,” I said.

Reed stood behind me. “Not in Idaho anymore, huh?”

We picked our way up the pathway.

Floressa glanced behind her shoulder. “I’ll meet up with you in a bit. I want to tell my mom congratulations first.”

So Floressa was softening. Maybe she would choose to support her mom, which would make my job here a lot easier. I gave her hand a quick squeeze. “Find me when you’re done.”

When she was gone, Reed readjusted his tie. “Hey, Karl, why don’t you come with me? I’ve got to go talk the bouncer into extending the guest list, and Barrett didn’t leave his wallet.”

“You need my money?” Karl asked incredulously.

“It’s for a worthy cause. Come on.” Reed leaned in to me and whispered, “We’ll scope out the guests next to the entrance. Can you watch the people arriving and see if any of them are a Caprice?”

“How will I know?”

“They’ll probably look out of place. You can also try the sub scanner app.”

They hurried away, leaving me standing near the first entrance as guest after guest brushed past me. It was like standing on the red carpet at the Oscars. I recognized nearly every face, some from the movies, others from royal gossip magazines. Hailey Gonzalez, teen superstar, even stopped me. “Oh! I’m so excited to meet you, Your Highness. I’ve been following you and Prince Karl in every magazine. Are you here together?”

I shook my head, thunderstruck. “
You’re
excited to meet
me
?”

“Of course. And that dress is to die for. I heard aqua was the new teal.”

I gave myself fifteen more minutes to mingle. Fifteen minutes to fulfill both my acting dreams and royal delights. I would carry that up close people-watching moment with me forever. Or at least until Façade wiped my memory.

I noticed one girl right when she got out of her car, a beat-up VW bug. Her eyes were huge as she took in the country singer to her left.

“Hi!” I said. “I’m Elsa. Who are you?”

“Caprice. One word. I’m an actress.”

Her accent sounded like she was from New York, not another country, but actresses were always changing their accents.

“Where are you from?” I asked.

“Staten Island.” She chomped on a piece of gum. “Look, I got an invitation, so I’m supposed to be here. Stop interrogating me, got it?”

I backed away. Meredith had said Caprice’s emotion was kindness. There was nothing magical or nice coming from this woman. But, then again, people change, and she could have hardened since working at Façade.

I clicked onto the sub-scanner application, and I discreetly held my manual behind Caprice, one word, to see if anything happened. The red and green bars that were supposed to increase if there was any magic didn’t move. Although we knew old subs might not register, it confirmed my gut feeling that this wasn’t my girl.

“Well, have fun at the party,” I said.

“Yeah, whatever.” Her jaw dropped. “OMG, is that Floressa Chase walking over here? That’s Floressa Chase!”

Floressa stumbled down the lawn toward us. It wasn’t until she got closer that I could see that she was crying.

“Floressa Chase is coming to talk to me. Move out of my way.”

Caprice pushed me to the side and waved at Floressa. Floressa gave her a look of bewilderment before grabbing me in a hug. “Des…Els…can we talk for a second?”

“Sure, sure.” I gave Caprice a little smile—seriously, she better not be the sub—and led Floressa into a garage. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

Floressa started to cry harder, her makeup smudging. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Didn’t mean to what?”

“I sent the e-mail.”

My heart sank. “What e-mail?”

“Don’t ‘what e-mail?’ me. The press release. I sent it out to all the contacts you listed.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I didn’t mean to!” she wailed. “I got on the house computer, and I was just reading the press release one more time. And then Isla came in and was all bouncy and happy and going on how she’s so excited to have a new mom, but Gina is
my
mom. She’s always been my mom, and it’s just been us two, and now she loves my dad, and she…she probably loves him more, and it’s not only us anymore, and…it’s like everything went black except for the computer screen, and I clicked the mouse. One little click, Desi, and boom…e-mail to ten magazines. And I regretted it right away, I promise. I…I’m awful. I’m an awful person. Who gets mad at her mom for being happy?”

“Oh, Floressa.” I handed her a tissue and my Rouge compact mirror. She wiped furiously at the makeup that had taken hours to apply. I couldn’t handle this girl sometimes. She was selfish, rude, childish, self-absorbed…and relatable. Floressa couldn’t be more different than me, but in this situation, I understood her. Change is hard. Change in your family? Probably the hardest. I’d been a brat to my parents when Gracie was first born, even though I loved her, and I had a moment of odd jealousy when my mom told me about this new baby. Floressa didn’t have many people in her life that liked her for her, who really tried to understand her like Gina did. All this wedding scheming wasn’t so much about trying to mess up her parents’ lives, but about keeping things as they were.

“You know love is like the strongest force in the world, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, I know. No matter what, my mom and dad are still going to get married.”

“They are. But no matter what, your mom is still going to love you, Floressa. Even if she loves other people. And your dad and Isla are going to love you. They already do. You’re not losing here, you’re gaining.”

Floressa kicked at a red sports car parked in the garage. “Well, that’s all great. But what am I supposed to do
now
? All those helicopters are going to show up.”

“You’ll have to warn your mom—tell her what you did.”

“You mean, take responsibility for my actions?”

“Yeah.”

“But that’s why I have
you
here.” Floressa tugged on my arm. “Can’t you say you sent out the press release? So my mom doesn’t have to get mad at me?”

“Oh, so Elsa can get in trouble? No, Floressa, this is on you.”

Floressa drew in a shaky breath. “Yeah, okay. You’re right. I’m supposed to meet her in the front entryway so I can walk her out. They’re doing the ceremony on the cliff.”

“Walk her out?”

“Like, down the aisle.” She gritted her teeth. “This is going to be the worst conversation EVER. I’m not paying you double anymore, I hope you know that.”

We linked arms and walked back onto the field. Floressa kept her head down as we hurried up to the house. We were almost to the back steps when King Aung stepped out onto the balcony of the mansion wearing his military uniform, medals and all. The chatter around us died down as one by one the guests noticed the king and turned to stare. It’s not every day someone dresses up in military duds. Only for big events. Like weddings. “Friends and family. Gina Chase requests you join her on the north cliff for a very special surprise. Thank you.”

The crowd buzzed. I smiled encouragingly at Floressa. “Looks like your mom will be waiting for you. You want a second alone before I come in?”

“Yes, I’m going to need to figure out what to say. Unless you want to tell my mom—”

“Floressa.”

“Right. Okay. Going in.” Floressa squared her shoulders and walked up the back steps. The break gave me two or three minutes to find Reed and recoup. With all the Floressa drama, I hadn’t had time to hunt out more Caprices, and now…who knows? They might call off the wedding and send everyone home. We might be out of time altogether.

Reed was under one of the tents, talking with Karl. He waved at me and rushed against the tide of people now wandering over to the cliff. Chairs were being whisked out, an aisle formed. Ryder fluttered around with rose petals.

“Hey. Evergreen,” he said.

“Evergreen,” I confirmed.

“I talked to two of the Caprices before the Prince of Spain yanked me away to discuss polo.”

“And?”

“Not our girls. One lady was fifty and from Norway. I don’t even know how she made the detective’s list. The other Caprice had an Italian accent and could have been the right age, but I ran my manual over her and there wasn’t a trace of magic. Not a lick. I know we said that application might not be accurate, but I just had a feeling about her, like maybe she wasn’t smart enough to have worked for Façade? Or didn’t have that special something, you know?”

“I felt the same way about Staten Island.”

“Who?”

“The third Caprice. She goes by only her first name.”

Ryder had stopped showering rose petals and was pointing at us frantically to take our seats.

“So that’s three,” I said. “Do you know if the last girl showed up?”

“No. But her name’s on the list. I’m sure she wouldn’t miss it. We’ll have the rest of the wedding to find her.”

“We might be leaving sooner than planned,” I said.

The crowd was now sitting in the seats, a harpist setting up in front. A large canopy was being assembled, with flowers being rushed in by frantic florists. The guests were beginning to understand what was happening, and all were craning their necks back to the house. “Floressa told the press about the wedding—sort of by accident—and now she’s confessing to her mom, but the leak means they might call off the wedding.”

A whirring sound filled the air, and I instinctively reached for Reed’s hand. “Oh, no! I’ve heard that sound before. It’s a bubble.”

Reed dropped my hand and pointed to the sky. “No. Rhymes with bubble, though. Trouble.”

A helicopter. The press had arrived.

“We’re not going to have time to find the other Caprice now!” I yelled. The guests were ducking or waving, based on their personal photo-opportunity policies.

“Go talk to Floressa. I’ll see if I can find the sub. DO NOT get sent home until we talk to this girl, okay? And, Desi?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to know, in case something happens, that…you’re really…Never mind. I’ll talk to you soon.”

I didn’t have time to think about what Reed was going to say to me. During my stealth training, I’d learned to push emotions away during times of crisis. I picked up the hem of Ryder Sullivan’s original design and ran into the house. Gina was sitting at the bottom of the stairs in her wedding dress, sobbing, and Floressa was right next to her, analyzing her pedicure. I slipped into a chair by the door, not wanting to interrupt.