The room on the other side of the door was pure glass.
A large crystal-clear dome arched above, giving Tella a magnificent view of the stars. She watched several of them shoot across the dark night sky, leaving trails of sparks that transformed into snow as they fell.
Once the snowflakes touched the glass dome above her, they transmuted again to glittering pieces of sparkle that magically floated through the glass, filling it with a brilliant shimmer that made Tella feel as if it were raining moonlight. This magic felt like Legend. But he wasn’t there.
Tella was alone in the glass globe. It was empty save for the bright, glittering lights and a single red pedestal.
The pedestal in the center of the dome came up to Tella’s waist. There were two more presents wrapped in white on top of it, and then there was another black card with more gold writing.
“I am a weapon,” Tella muttered.
In her peripheral vision, she saw something move. Tella abruptly turned.
On the other side of the glass, the world was made of nighttime, but there was just enough light from within for Tella to see the outline of someone who looked a lot like Legend. Tall, broad-shouldered, top hat on a head that was tilted at an arrogant angle.
Her breath quickened and she suddenly became very aware of her racing heartbeat. It could have been him, but the blackguard’s face was obscured by the dark.
Leaving the pedestal behind, Tella walked toward the glass.
The shadowy young man who might have been Legend appeared to be watching her. But she couldn’t tell for sure with the darkness outside still obscuring his face.
He pointed behind her, toward the pedestal with the boxes, motioning for her to open them.
“Let me out of here first.” He shook his head.
More moonlight snow began to fall.
Tella cocked her hip and put a hand on it. She wasn’t quite sure what this pose said to him, but it made her feel rather powerful as she said, “You can’t keep me here forever.”
He tilted his head as if to say, Are you sure about that?
She turned toward the door she’d just come through, but it had disappeared. Something fluttered in her chest, too nervous to be butterflies. She was trapped in the snow globe like a doll inside a cloche.
Tella looked back at her captor, who was still standing on the other side of the glass. His head remained tilted to the side, and although she still couldn’t see his face, she had the feeling he was smiling as he watched her realize that she was trapped by him again.
Well played, Tella thought. But she said, “I’m only looking because I’m curious.”
She turned back to the pedestal with a swish of her golden skirts.
Moonlight snow covered the boxes and formed a border across the bottom of the note—which had changed.
Tella was certain it had been black before, but now the notecard was red. The writing was still gold, but the words had also shifted.
Tella melted at the word love, which was suddenly her favorite four- letter word. Love, love, love, love, love, love, love!
As Tella stood there under the glass, rereading the word love, it might have been the sappiest moment of her life. And Tella didn’t care if this moment was sentimental, or sappy. In fact, if this was how it felt to be sappy, then she wanted to feel it more often.
She opened the lid of the first box as soft snow dusted her shoulders. And she found another blindfold.
Tella’s heart and hope fell like a stone. “I’m not putting this on.”
“You haven’t even taken it out of the box.” His voice was right behind her now. Soft and smooth and so, so close.
She suddenly felt dizzy at the sound of it. It had to be him. It had to be Legend. No one else made her feel like this.
But she didn’t allow herself to move. If she turned around and the world went black or he disappeared again, she wasn’t sure her heart could handle it.
“I could stand here all night,” he said gently, “but I think there are better
ways to enjoy the Holiday.”
He put his warm wide hand on top of hers and guided it toward the blindfold. As soon as she touched fabric, the cloth dissolved, leaving nothing but a well-worn piece of folded paper.
“What is this?” She opened it carefully.
Her letter. She’d forgotten about this letter, but he’d clearly remembered. He was the most wonderful scoundrel she’d ever met. Tella spun around before she’d even finished reading.
It was him.
Her Legend.
The real Legend.
The only Legend.
She knew it would be him. And it was still the most exquisite relief to finally see his handsome face. His dark eyes, his strong jaw, his amused smile. He was even wearing a Holiday red tailcoat, and he looked absolutely magnificent in it.
Snow and moonlight fell all around him, but none of it seemed to touch him. The shadows seemed to like him more than the starlight. But Tella liked him most of all.
“Happy Great Holiday, Tella.”
“I knew it was you! You’re a scoundrel and a rogue and a blackguard and—”
She broke off. Tella threw her arms around his neck and kissed him the way she’d wanted to back when they were on Garland Street. Although she didn’t like to think about Garland Street, because then she’d remember how silly she’d been, afraid he didn’t love her, afraid he hadn’t gotten her a gift.
Afraid. Afraid. Afraid.
Legend could definitely still break her if he wanted to. But Tella couldn’t believe she had feared that he actually would.
She knew Legend truly loved her and that he would keep loving her. And she didn’t believe this just because he’d gone to such elaborate lengths to give her this most wondrous Holiday gift, or even because he’d said it to her, but because it was simply the truth.
“When did you figure it out?” Legend asked later.
It was sometime after the kissing had ended.
His arms were still around her, and hers were still around him, only now they were lying in the moonlight snow, which felt more like feathers and less like snow. Their legs were tangled and her head was on his chest.
“Well”—Tella half shrugged against him—“that letter of mine in the box sort of gave it away.”
Legend stiffened beneath her.
She laughed and reached up to cup his cheek. “Who knew that the famous Master Legend was so gullible?” Tella pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “I knew it was you all along.”
He arched a brow.
All right, so maybe that wasn’t entirely true, either.
Tella didn’t want to admit it, but Legend had actually tricked her at first. She hadn’t known Legend was behind all of her recent escapades during her
audition.
She hadn’t figured it out until after she’d been tied up, blindfolded, and then locked up in the room. She really had believed there was an imposter Legend until the moment she’d had her back arched up against the door, trying to dislodge the blindfold.
Then she had heard Legend’s low laugh move through the chamber, and she immediately recognized the intoxicating sound of it. That was when she’d finally figured it out. But he didn’t need to know that it had taken her that long or that she had briefly doubted herself after figuring it out.
“I just have one question now,” Tella said. “Were Scarlett and Julian involved?”
Legend grinned. “Your sister insisted on having a role this time.” “I should have known,” Tella grumbled.
“But I thought you knew everything all along?” Legend curled the corner of his lip.
“I knew enough.” Tella pressed another kiss to his cheek.
Outside the glass, little lights were appearing in the trees, snow was falling on the ground, bunnies were hopping, and in the distance, she thought she heard the jingle of bells. “Does this mean you actually love the Great Holiday after all?”
Legend’s perfect smile appeared again. “No, Donatella. I just love you.”
