“Frankie?”
“Hmm?” I hummed as I looked up and realized I’d been staring into space instead of listening to the conversation. I was with Meredith and the other court ladies and they were discussing the upcoming state visit—still five months away—and of course I’d zoned out because I wouldn’t be here. I would be long gone by the time the Merveille queen and her entourage visited.
“I was asking if you knew anyone in the village who might be able to handle the floral centerpieces?”
I rolled my lips together and mentally flipped through all the people I’d met. “Possibly,” I replied. “There’s a woman and her grandmother I met just recently. She’s kind of a Jill of all trades. She does lots of different things to help people in the village—cleaning and cooking and mending. I know she put some small bouquets together for a young couple who got married just recently. If she can’t do it, then she probably knows someone who can.”
“Is there no florist in the village?” Elena asked with a sniff.
“No,” I replied with a shake of my head. “Flowers are not exactly a priority among people trying to make ends meet.”
“There was a wedding in the village?” Meredith asked, her eyes going soft and a little glassy.
“There have been two since I’ve been here,” I replied.
“And you went to both of them?”
I nodded. “They insisted. I’d met either the bride or the groom and their families through my work, and they asked me to go. It was good for my research, seeing how life goes on, how people still fall in love and get married even when times are tough.”
Meredith sniffed. “That’s beautiful,” she murmured and then growled. “Stupid hormones. I cry at everything these days.”
I smiled. Meredith was fierce, but pregnancy had softened her and that wasn’t a bad thing. She was definitely rocking the balance between independent, powerful woman and impending motherhood.
“I can speak to Callie today, if you like,” I said.
“Callie? Is that her name?”
“Calypso Dimakos is her name, but she goes by Callie.”
Elena gasped. “Calypso Dimakos?”
I nodded. “It’s a mouthful, that’s for sure, which is probably why she uses Callie.”
Meredith looked at Elena. “Do you know her?”
Elena bit her lip in the first sign of weakness I’d ever seen in the woman. “My parents were friends with Lord Dimakos,” she said and then shook her head. “But it couldn’t be the same family. He was old and Dimakos isn’t exactly an unusual name on the island.”
“Hmm,” Meredith hummed, her eyes going distant.
Nothing got past Meredith. I suspected it was from her previous position as a bodyguard that made her notice everything. Both she and Jamie appeared to be all-seeing. Which made it so much more uncomfortable to remember I was basically living a lie while I was here…and they hadn’t noticed.
Either Lucas and I were damned good actors or they could see my stupid infatuation with him all over my face. Which meant it was time for me to go home before we got in any deeper. I hated lying to my new friends, but I couldn’t exactly come clean, and with the way things were between Lucas and me at the moment, it wouldn’t be long before people started asking questions. We hadn’t even sat next to each other all week at dinner. No one had commented on it, but I knew everyone had noticed. Dorian certainly had, especially because he’d become my surrogate seat mate. He’d only raised his eyebrows at me. Thankfully, he’d refrained from commenting, otherwise I might have blurted the whole sordid story out to him—accompanied by copious amounts of tears and snot—and that would have made both of us uncomfortable. Dorian didn’t do emotions, which was why he was the perfect friend at the moment. We could blissfully ignore my current unhinged state. If I spent too much time with Sophia or Meredith, they would know before too long that something wasn’t right and instead of ignoring it like Dorian chose to, they would ask questions and eventually pry it out of me and then I would be in worse trouble.
There was always Elena, but I couldn’t say we were all that friendly and me suddenly spending time with her would raise all sorts of flags. Besides, she was rarely alone with her sister Athena dogging her every step.
I stood up and smoothed my pants. Okay, maybe I’d grown accustomed to wearing more than ripped jeans and scuffed boots. I might even actually like the clothes I’d been wearing. I certainly felt more grown up in them and that wasn’t a bad thing.
“I need to go,” I said. “I’ll speak to Callie today and let you know what she says.”
“Thank you,” Meredith called to me as I escaped the room and headed for the village where I felt infinitely more comfortable.
“I don’t know,” Callie said when I asked her about helping at the state dinner.
I frowned at her. I didn’t understand why she was turning the opportunity down. “They’ll pay you,” I said, in case she thought the palace would expect her to do it for nothing.
“It’s not about the money,” she replied. “Although the money would be good.”
“So what is it, then?” I asked.
I really didn’t understand her reticence. Nearly every person I came into contact with supported the monarchy and what they were trying to do. The people loved Jamie. So many of them thought he’d died with the rest of his family, and having him come back and take his place on the throne was a dream come true. In all my contact with Callie, she’d never once hinted that she didn’t support Jamie and his monarchy.
Callie sighed. “It’s a long story and not really mine to tell.”
“That can’t be true. If it’s stopping you from taking this job, then it definitely is your story to tell. If you’re worried I’ll blab to the palace about it, I promise I won’t. I can keep a secret.”
“You’re really nosey, you know that?” Callie said with a small smile.
“Oh, I absolutely know,” I replied with a grin. “It’s why I’m so good at what I do.”
“And what exactly is it you do?” Callie asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.
“I get people to tell me their secrets,” I replied with a wink.
She smiled and then sighed; the grin falling from her face. “My grandfather was part of the old king’s court,” she said. “It didn’t end well for him, or my parents, and I’m not sure I want to get tangled up with the royal family. I don’t think it would be much good for me either.”
“So your grandfather was Lord Dimakos?” I asked.
She frowned quizzically at me. “How did you know that?”
“It wasn’t hard to extrapolate,” I said and when she didn’t accept my brush off I sighed. “Okay, Elena may have mentioned her parents were friends with a Lord Dimakos.”
“Elena Manolis? Oh yeah, her parents were friends with my grandfather, although frenemies was probably more accurate.”
I fidgeted with my fingers. “You don’t think Elena’s parents had anything to do with…you know?”
Callie shook her head. “No. I know they didn’t. There might have been a friendly rivalry between the members of the court, but they wouldn’t have betrayed one another. The court was tight and loyal.”