He loves me! Everything I imagined about this night doesn’t begin to compare to what just happened.

Derek looks down at me tenderly, running his hands through my blonde waves that are now falling down my back after the way he just fucked me. “So beautiful, my Ella.”

I smile up at him. “My handsome prince.” I shake my head, laughing. “I really can’t get over that one.”

He gives me the sexy smirk I love so much and leans in to kiss me again before grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the room we sneaked into. “Come on, babe. There’s an unused guest wing in the palace. We’ll be safe there. No one will find us and we can spend the rest of the night hiding away from everyone.”

His choice of words strikes me as strange, but I don’t think about it when he gives me a heated look. We laugh and kiss as we stumble through the hallways of the palace, Derek leading me to this secret hideaway. I barely notice all the ornate decor because we’re so caught up in each other, unable to keep our hands off the other’s body.

The guesthouse is gorgeous, just like everything else, full of expensive but comfortable furniture, and we go straight to the bedroom, collapsing on a huge bed that has to be the equivalent of two king-size beds. I smile. How fitting for a prince.

We spend the rest of the night lost in each other, then drift off to sleep. When I wake in the morning, Derek’s arms are wrapped around me, and I take a minute to just snuggle in and enjoy the feeling of being here with him. After everything we did to find each other, it’s a relief to just be here, hidden away together.

That thought triggers a memory of his words from last night.

We’ll be safe.

No one will find us.

Hiding away from everyone.

I frown, not able to shake the confused and worried feeling taking over me now that the initial excitement of finding him has passed.

Carefully extricating myself from Derek’s embrace, I crawl from the bed and find my clothes, which are strewn all over the room. I need to clear my head. Get some fresh air. Figure out why I feel so off.

In the early morning light that’s now streaming in, I can see a gorgeous courtyard off the bedroom, just through a set of double doors. It looks private, so I push open the doors and walk outside.

I stroll around, barely noticing the gorgeous flowers and topiaries because thoughts of last night are mingling with the growing nagging feeling over being hidden away by Derek.

The night was so perfect. Derek said he loves me. I mean, he went to so much trouble to find me. Right? That is what the ball was all about. I’m pretty sure. But now that I think more about it, he never said anything about marrying me, even though that was supposedly the reason for the ball—to find his future wife.

If that’s supposed to be me, why does he want us to hide away? Wouldn’t he have made some announcement or something at the ball? Or told somebody something?

I’m only getting more confused the more I think about it. Just as I’m about to head toward a bench to sit down, some woman I’ve never seen before appears out of nowhere and stars walking along beside me.

I blink in surprise. I thought this was a private courtyard. “Who are you?”

She almost sneers at me, like I should know or something. “What’s more important here is who you are. Or rather, who you aren’t.”

“Excuse me?”

She laughs, but it sounds like pure evil to me. “I know you think that you’ve scored yourself a prince, but let me assure you, whatever happened between you two is nothing. You hear me? Nothing.”

Anger surges in my chest, and I can’t help snapping at her. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” And she doesn’t. She doesn’t know the first thing about Derek and I.

“Oh, believe me. I know.” She flashes a smile that’s just as wicked as that laugh. “I’ve known Derek my entire life. In fact, we’re supposed to be married. It’s what his father wants. What would be best for the kingdom.”

“What about what Derek wants?” I bite out.

She shakes her head, giving me a pitying look like I’m too stupid to understand. “What happened with you and the prince is just one last fling before he realizes where he belongs. With me.”

I can’t help laughing at this. “You have no idea what happened between us,” I repeat.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve seen this before. Here’s the thing.” She sets her hand on my arm, and I want to shake her off because her touch gives me chills. “You’re just a commoner. An easy fuck. He’ll forget you and move on. Sooner than you think. And then he’ll come back to me. Where he belongs. You’ll be just another one of his dirty little secrets.”

Her words hit me right where they do the most damage, echoing all the things I was worried about to begin with. Why is he hiding me away? Why doesn’t he want anyone to find me? And why didn’t he say anything about our future?

He told me he loves me, and it felt real. Everything with him has felt real from that very first night at the club. But what if I’ve read too much into all of it? The things the girl at the bar said yesterday come back to me then, too. How it would be ridiculous to think that a prince would actually marry a commoner.

Suddenly, I feel sick. It’s too much to take. I need time to think, to process all this. To figure out what’s real and what’s not.

“Excuse me,” I mumble, pushing past this vile woman, saying the first thing that comes to mind to get me away from her as quickly as possible. “I have to be at work soon. First day and they have me going on stage.”

I race to the gates and find my way out of the palace. I need to get away from all of this and figure out for myself if all of this with Derek is what I think it is.

Or if I’ve been fooling myself all along.