Once more glasses were raised and soon after that waiters circulated with more canapés; soft music played in the background until it came time for the newly-weds to leave.
Gabi moved forward to hug them. ‘I am so happy for you both,’ she said.
‘Thank you, big sister.’
‘It still feels strange to hear you say that.’
‘But it is true.’ Antonio spoke softly now. ‘Gabi. Follow your heart—and do not let anyone pressure you into anything simply to win approval. Things have changed in the Valenti family—duty is important but not at the cost of your happiness.’
Gabi looked at him, wondered if he knew of or suspected Cesar’s plans. Perhaps to a royal they were obvious.
‘Thank you, and have a wonderful honeymoon.’
Once the happy couple had been waved off Cesar turned to Gabi. ‘Shall we go?’
Gabi glanced at him, sure that the man next to her, despite the smile on his lips and all the suave sophistication on show, wanted to shake the dust off his feet and flee the wedding and the company.
‘I’ll change into something more comfortable and then, yes, I’m ready.’
* * *
An hour later Cesar felt a loosening of tension as the Cessna levelled out flying over the verdant ever green beauty of Casavalle. It felt good to be flying high above the cloying confetti-strewn scenes of everlasting love, good to watch Gabriella’s expression as she gazed out at the panoramic vista. He wanted to see her smile; knew that the wedding of her brother had brought mixed emotions for her as well as for him. The clusters of deep green trees that dotted the sweep and roll of the snow-dusted hills, the misty, mystical crags and peaks of Aguilarez’s mountainous terrain in the distance were more than enough to bring a sense of joy.
For a while they gazed out in a silence only broken by the thrum of the plane’s engines. Then she turned to him. ‘It’s awe-inspiring. It gives you are a real perspective—up here I feel free. Up here if I wanted to I could take off my boots and wriggle my bare toes and no one would tell me I was breaching royal protocol. I could paint my nails bright scarlet.’
‘If you’d told me I’d have brought some nail polish.’
Her smile was rueful. ‘It’s mad, really. I never wanted to paint them scarlet before—it’s only now I know I can’t.’
Her honesty made him smile in return. ‘It will become easier; once your position is more settled, once you get used to all the rules. Then you’ll be able to figure out which ones you can break. And you’ll learn the all-important royal requirement—how to wear a mask. That helps.’
‘Is that what you were doing today?’
The question caught him off guard. ‘Meaning?’
‘At the wedding I got the impression you were...not uncomfortable, exactly, but that there were other places you’d rather be.’ Surprise creased his forehead; how on earth had Gabriella noticed that? Hell, he must be losing his royal diplomatic touch.
‘I did find the whole event...a little disconcerting,’ he admitted. ‘It was hard to believe the evidence of my eyes—to see the Valenti princes behaving in a way that seems so out of character. I knew the court had changed since the King’s death but I had not expected to see Antonio, usually so reserved, so outwardly happy. And Luca—he is like a different person with Imogen.’
‘And you disapprove.’
‘It is not my place to approve or disapprove. It just felt surreal.’
There was a silence. ‘I think it took both my brothers by surprise as well. Neither of them intended to fall in love.’ She inhaled an audible breath. ‘So maybe it could happen to you.’
‘No.’ The word unequivocal, no quarter or doubt, because he needed her to know that if she married him, she must not harbour delusions of or hope for love. ‘That will not happen to me.’
‘I don’t understand how you can be so sure. As you said yourself, both Luca and Antonio have changed their stance towards love.’
Cesar suspected that Luca and Antonio had been able to show love, feel love because their upbringing, though similarly rooted in duty, had also contained love. True, King Vincenzo had been distant, formal, but he had once known the headiness of love with Gabriella’s mother, and had had a good relationship with Queen Maria, even though it had not been a love match. And Queen Maria was a little softer than his own mother, had managed to temper the dictates of duty with some show of feeling towards her children. Perhaps made them believe in the possibility of love, made them foolish enough to open up to the risks. ‘But I’m not made that way.’
‘So what if you too change your mind?’ she asked. Then, as if reading his expression, she raised her hand, her face flushing, sheer horror in her eyes. ‘Oh, God. I don’t mean do you think you will fall in love with me! I meant what if you fall in love with someone else?’ Cesar frowned; why would she assume it would be possible for him to fall in love but not with her? ‘Like Meribel did.’
‘That will not happen.’ How to convince her of something he knew with bone-deep certainty? ‘Love is not in my vocabulary, not in my dictionary, not in my lexicon. Look at the mess and misery Meribel caused. I know Luca says that she did no wrong, that there is nothing to forgive.’ He had been there when Luca had met with his sister, had admired the Valenti prince’s eloquence and generosity. ‘I know he now believes love trumps duty, that love is a driving force, but, whilst I respect that belief, I am not made that way.’
And so whilst he would not have chosen marriage he had accepted the necessity, and now as he looked at Gabriella it no longer felt like a life sentence—instead it felt like something that could work.
‘I truly believe a marriage will work better without love. If Meribel had not met Dana, not fallen pregnant, if the marriage