Page 39 of Once Upon A Royal Christmas
“That’s right.” Gracie had forgotten all about the corn maze. She did so many events that sometimes they started to run together.
“I’ll head left.” Clara pointed to the fork in the path where they’d just come from.
Gracie nodded. “Okay, I’ll go right. But if neither of us gets to the middle within an hour, I say we call each other and come up with another plan.”
“Like what?” Clara arched a brow.
“I have no idea.” Gracie laughed again. It felt so good to do something normal. Something Christmas-y. Maybe the rest of the week wouldn’t be so bad.
“I’m glad you’re having fun, but we have to get back to the B&B eventually. My phone is blowing up.” Clara looked down at her device’s screen again, then held it out for Gracie to see. “The palace posted a picture from your meet and greet last night on the monarchy’s main account.”
“Seriously?” Gracie squinted. There she was, on the House of Montavan’s Instagram grid, in all her party princess glory.
“Of course. You won their contest. They’re probably going to be posting your picture all week. It’s getting loads of likes, by the way. They even tagged the Perfect Party Princess account.” Clara pocketed her phone again. “I’m telling you—this trip is going to be the best thing that ever happened to you.”
Gracie wanted to believe her. She really did, but so far, the journey hadn’t been anything like Gracie had imagined. And she was even less convinced that she could get through a song on Christmas Eve than she’d been before she’d ever set foot in San Glacera.
“Don’t argue,” Clara said, as if she could see straight inside Gracie’s head. “Just believe.”
Then Clara promptly spun around and disappeared among the evergreens.
Believe.
It was the kind of thing that grown-ups said to kids while they waited in line at the shopping mall to see Santa. Department stores printed the word on shiny red shopping bags in whimsical calligraphy. If ever there was a time to believe, Christmas was it.
Maybe it wasn’t too late to salvage a modicum of her dignity. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she could forget everything that had led up to the Ice Festival last night, including ever setting eyes on the Abominable Snow Prince in the flesh. Maybe Clara was right, and this Christmas would be her best one yet.
Gracie lifted her gaze to the snowy sky and whispered, “I believe.”
Then she took a deep breath and let herself get lost.
“What are we doing here?” Nick frowned in the direction of the cluster of trees that seemed to appear out of nowhere as he and Emilie turned down the cobblestone avenue that ran behind San Glacera Cathedral. He stopped dead in his tracks.
“It’s the Christmas tree maze.” Emilie shot him her brightest, most hopeful grin.
She still had a lot of explaining to do. Nick knew without a doubt that his sister had recognized Gracie Clark at first glance, and instead of doing the right thing—the grown-up thing—and telling him who she was, Emilie had fled with a wink and a nudge. She’d just left him there, primed to make a complete and total fool of himself.
And now Emilie had tugged him outside by the elbow, promising to make it up to him.
Nick wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but it wasn’t this.
“You loved this place when we were kids,” Emilie added.
He’d loved everything about Christmas in San Glacera. But at the moment, he was in no mood to get lost in a maze of evergreens. Every time his thoughts strayed to anything Christmas-related, he saw Gracie dressed as an ice princess last night, expression open and trusting. Breathless with anticipation. It was like a movie playing over and over in his mind, and no matter how many times he tried to press pause and rewind the scene back to the very beginning, it just kept on going…
All the way to the frame where he’d accused her of orchestrating their meeting or working with the press to intentionally embarrass him.
He’d gone too far. Gracie didn’t seem like the type of person to be involved with something so underhanded. Nick had made the mistake of trusting the wrong person before, though. He was as lost out there in the real world as he’d probably be in this festive maze his sister was trying to force on him.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and didn’t budge. “You knew it was Gracie at the market. Don’t even try and deny it.”
Emilie dropped her gaze to the snow-covered walkway. “I recognized her from her contest submission video.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
She shrugged in that maddening way that teenagers had been doing since the dawn of time. “You were in such a good mood, and she clearly loved the hot cocoa. I figured if I left, you’d talk to her about San Glacera’s great Christmas cocoa tradition, the two of you might get along and you’d realize how wrong you were about the contest. She seemed utterly charming.”
Nick glanced at the clouds overhead, swollen with snow. What was he supposed to say to that? Emilie hadn’t been wrong. He and Gracie had indeed gotten along. Nick had been more charmed than he wanted to admit…even if he still thought the contest was an awful idea.
