I closed the door softly, turning and jumping when I found him standing across the hall, leaning against the wall under his portrait. It was a tale of two Aidens though, and I preferred the one in the painting. His weirdly bright red military outfit was undone and his dark hair disheveled. I pressed my back against the door, wishing I’d spent slightly less time contemplating it all, though I wasn’t sure how long he’d been here, but by the way he hadn’t caught his breath yet, I guessed it wasn't long. He’d been much faster than the fifteen minutes, no doubt aware of what I was plotting.

“Hi.” My body went pins and needles.

“Thought you could sneak out, leave my ring on my pillow again, and break my heart on my coronation day?” he asked between breaths.

“No,” I lied. “How’s your dad?” I tried to divert our attention.

“Sleepy.” He walked to me, his dress shoes slapping on the wooden floors. He paused in front of me, his fingers balled, before he reached for me, leaning in too close and smelling too much like home. He opened the door behind me, and waited for me to walk in.

“I have to go to bed, Aiden. I’m exhausted.”

“Fin, your bags are packed. You’re leaving.” He hovered over me, staring down in a way that made his hair drop around his eyes. “And before you try to leave, I think I need to explain something—”

“No,” I cut him off, lifting a hand to his chest, just like she had. “Me first. I’m so sorry,” I offered, though the words burned and tasted like ash. “I reacted like an idiot, and I’m going to be humiliated and regret it for the rest of my life.”

“As will I.” He stepped closer, pressing his body against mine. “Fin—”

“Don't,” I whispered, pressing against him and still avoiding his stare. “Just let me talk first.” I stepped backward into the room where the note I’d left sat on his pillow.

“No.” He lingered in the doorway, looking defeated.

“Please,” I pleaded, struggling to recall what I’d planned on saying from the moment I saw him standing there, becoming a king. How did you apologize for ruining the most important day a person would ever have? “My whole life I’ve been in the wrong family. One where I didn't belong.” My voice cracked, my eyes threatened tears but I refused them. I swallowed down the lump and continued, “Sheila set me up to look like a terrible person, constantly. I think that’s how I ended up here, in some ways. She convinced me I was shit so I did shit things. And now I am sort of shit, aren’t I?”

“Don't do this.” He stepped into the room where the flames of the fire lit up his face enough to see the heartbreak and fury mixing.

“And instead of learning from it, or just letting her win, I fell for her schemes. I competed with her and lost most of the time. I let her make me into shit and I’ve stayed here for a long time.” I paused again, needing the moment. “And now, here I am repeating the same mistakes. Your mother is never going to accept me. Which means these little games will continue, her setting me up and me falling for it. And today, I fell for it.” I furrowed my brow. “Seeing you kissing Alex, her in her silk nightgown next to the breakfast you guys just ate even though she was half naked, was spectacularly done. Impeccable timing.” Losing the battle, tears flooded my eyes as I heaved a bit, reliving it again. “But me falling for the trap isn’t the only problem. You’re part of the problem and you don't see it. The fake ski trip with friends where Hello! magazine plastered you and Alex all over it. That was done for a reason. Your mom parading her all over the mansion, continually selling her to the people. And then the kiss and breakfast.” I dared to meet his wounded gaze. “You fell for it. You always do. I mean, come on. You ate breakfast with your half-naked sister-in-law who you knew was trying to win you over because she wants to be queen. And to be honest, she wants it way more than I do. I don't want it at all. I just want you.”

“Fin, I didn't—”

“Don’t. I saw you. Don't do that. Don't take that colossal fuck-up of yours away from me. Without it, I’ve ruined your coronation day for nothing. So, for me, just let me have it. You have some sob story of hers, some manipulation you will again not see or you’ll justify away. But I need this to at least be partially your fault.”

“It’s entirely my fault.” He dared another step.

“No. I’m the one who got drunk out of pathetic jealously and humiliated myself and your family and worst of all, you. The person I love on the most important day of your life.”

“We can fix this.”

“Aiden.” I shook my head. “We can’t fix this. Not if you want to be taken seriously by the people of your country. And I get it. You’re angry, you love me. I’m your person. I know. You’re my person.” I struggled with the tears. “And honestly, I don't understand how God could hate me so much that he would make us meet when I was struggling to find myself.” I laughed bitterly. “Because I guarantee in like a year, I’m gonna be amazing. If we met then, it would be different.” I stepped back, wiping my eyes. “But maybe I needed you to help me get there.”

“Fin, please don't do this.”

“Do what? Save you from me? I have to. You won’t save yourself.”

“Stop.” He came forward, grabbing my arms and squeezing. “I’m not letting you do this. I’m not letting you break things off. I refuse it.”

“You have to.” I forced my eyes to get lost in his one last time before I broke both our hearts. “Watching you up there, I saw it. You need to be here. You need to be king. You are king. And you were born for this job. And yes, you’re young right now and making some mistakes, but in a year, you’re going to be amazing too.” I lifted my hands and cupped his cheeks. “And we’ll wish we met then, a king and a college girl, not a prince and a high school brat. I am so sorry for ruining this day.”

“You haven’t ruined anything yet. You’re trying to ruin it right now.” He started to get angry, perhaps because I wasn't backing down. “You’re making me choose between my country and you, and it won’t win. It’s you. It’s always going to be you.”

“Aiden, I told you I would never make you choose between your country and me.” I forced the words from my lips, “I’m withdrawing myself from the competition.”

“You don't want to be with me?” he asked in disbelief.

I reached down deep, searching for one of the shallow and callus responses I used to be fairly famous for and shook my head. “I don't want this life.” It wasn't enough. “I don't want to be with someone like you.”

His eyes widened. “Like how?” His fingers tightened their grip as he processed what I was saying, breaking his heart to save him from me. To save the country from the mistake he’d made falling in love with me.

“I just want to be a regular girl. I don't want to watch over my back, waiting for someone to sabotage me because I’m in the way. I’m always in the way. And I want that to end. I want this over. I want to one day be part of a family that wants me there. That’s mine.”

“No.”

“You don't get a say in it.” I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips into his cheek, noting it was damp from silent tears I hadn’t seen. “I’m keeping your heart though,” I whispered into his cheek.

“I want to negotiate.” His voice cracked again.

“Why don't you wait and see if you have time for negotiations. Sort out the big part of your life before you worry about the others.” I slid past him, walking toward the open door.

“Fin, don't do this, you are the big part of my life.”

“I have to.” I turned back to face him. “When you love someone, you have to put them first. And I’m asking you to put what I want first.”

“No.” He walked to the pillow, grabbing the note and ripping it to pieces. “Absolutely not. You’re not giving me a choice, then I’m not giving you a choice!” he shouted and stormed to the door behind me, slamming it shut. “There, you can’t leave.” He leaned against it, smug and angry. “Now you will listen to me. I listened to you, it’s only fair.” He was acting crazy. “The ski trip and photo shoot were completely set up, I agree. It was done by my mother, there is no doubt. I thought you trusted me enough to know I wouldn't do anything to hurt you like that, ever.”

I bit my lip, taking a step back from him. He wasn't making me nervous, but I was worried about where this was going. It could only end badly—Aiden screaming at his family, choosing me over them.

“This morning I ate breakfast with my father, as I have almost every day this week since he’s been home from Switzerland. Dad left, not feeling well obviously, since he’s dying. As I was just ready for the day, and waiting for the staff to come and clean up the mess, Alex came into the room, inappropriately in her nightgown. Which I told her, straightaway. I was at the window, looking outside, asking her to leave. Seeing her nearly naked was awkward, like you always say, so I wasn't facing her.”

He walked to me, tilting my face and sliding his large fingers into my loose hair, his hands trembling. “Then she came right up to me and asked why I wasn't looking at her. She asked if I thought she was ugly. I told her no, I said she was beautiful, and was about to say that she knew it, but I didn't get to because she kissed me.” He held me tightly, speaking firmly. “I pushed her off, she stumbled into the bedpost. I felt terrible. She has a bruise on her thigh. You can ask her to see it, if you like.”

Shit.

“You likely just missed her stumbling back when you left.”

“Aiden—”

“No, Fin. I’m still speaking.” He let me go and paced in front of the fire. “I saw her game the moment she came into my room, thanks to the stupid ski trip photo shoot. I’ve been onto her and Mother since then. I just didn't know what she had planned this morning, intending for you to see the performance.”

“Well she did, and she’s not alone. Your mother was in on that.”

“I am well aware, Fin. I assure you, I am nowhere near as stupid as you and my sister and all our friends believe me to be. So to sum this up, not only was I sexually assaulted in this room, thanks to my mother, but you got drunk with my sister and tried to ruin my coronation. You refused to sit up front with my family, where you ought to have been, and disregarded what I needed. I needed you to be something and you couldn't. You let your petty jealously and my mother’s incredible meddling effort ruin my day. And now you’re going to break my heart because you think something and know nothing?” He finished and stared at me, waiting for me to respond.

I swallowed hard contemplating how to defend myself even slightly, but gave up. “I’m sorry I ruined your day.”

“You had help. And the worst part is, I am almost entirely to blame for not being firmer with Alex and my mother from the start of this nonsense. I tiptoed around Alex, giving her the benefit of the doubt. Geoff died and I assumed she was acting out of heartbreak and a fear of being alone. And I coddled Mother because she lost her child, her favorite child, hoping she would come to her senses, eventually. Neither worked out. And you were right, I was foolish to think it would. I gambled with our relationship by believing you trusted me, and I am so sorry. But you are not breaking this off. You are not breaking my heart.”

“Aiden”—I pleaded—“you’re not listening, I don't want this life. Not right now. I just want to go to college and hang with friends and make normal foolish mistakes. Not be photographed and pressured and interviewed. And I don't want to come between you and your mom. Your dad is going to die and you will need to be there for her.”

“Then we won’t change a thing. We will remain just a guy and a girl who are dating and in love. I’m not asking for anything else right now. Because I know how the story started and I know how it ends, and I can wait to see how the middle works out.” He turned to me again, pausing in his pacing. “But regardless of all that, it’s my coronation and we are not fighting. This is over, right now. Done.” He cracked a grin, but a hint of crazy remained in his eyes. “We fight enough about really stupid things, we’re not letting my mother win this one. I refuse. I want you to stay with me tonight. You owe me at least that.”

“I owe you sex?” I started to laugh, killing off all the other feelings.

“Yes.” He nodded, stepping closer. “You owe me at the very least sex.” His eyes danced with passion, and not the murderous kind. “More importantly you owe me for doubting my love of you for even a second.” He lifted his hand and brushed the hair from my cheek, tucking it behind my ear.

“I never doubted how much you love me. Just your intelligence.” I cracked a grin and forced myself to let go of the fears I had about what this was.

“Well, as the king of the country you are currently in, I am allowed to tell you how smart I am and you have to believe it. I also have the right to force you to stay, and force you to make love to me.” He pulled me closer, pressing my chest against his. “And if you wanted to fight me on it, I could have you thrown in the dungeons.”

“You don't have dungeons.”

“That you know of.” He arched an eyebrow. “The basement of the church is particularly creepy and cold. Decide, wench, what shall it be? The king’s bed or the dungeon?”

“Is the priest who did you mass the one who locks me up? Because he was kinda hot in his robes. I mean, if it’s him, my answer is dungeons, hands down.” I giggled and stepped back, closer to the bed.

“You’re a disgrace.” He smiled wide, laughing and sighing. “Can we be done fighting now? I’m incredibly tired and just want to hold you, obviously after you’ve serviced your king.”

“We need some boundaries.”

“Maybe.” He lowered his face, brushing his lips on mine, delicately lifting my upper lip with his and sliding his tongue in and kissing me like he’d needed to all night. He pulled back, making me gasp for air. “But can we negotiate tomorrow?”

“Yes,” I agreed to everything because regardless of the shitstorm we were living, he was everything. And in this room, it was just us.