King Branimir looks at me over his glasses and sighs, shaking his head. I hit stop on the recorder and raise an eyebrow as a small smile creeps across his face.

“Did she really do coke with him?” he asks me.

I sigh. “That’s what you’re taking from this?”

His smile grows larger. “Maybe.”

“Yes, she did,” I say, smiling a little in return. “She was keeping her cover, after all.”

“What an impressive girl.” His laugh is genuine and deep. “Has she ever done something like that before?”

“The drugs or the spying?” I grin at him and shake my head. “No, neither of them, and she says she’s never doing either of them again.”

My father leans back in his chair and watches me for a moment without saying anything. After a moment, he reaches down into a drawer and produces a bottle of whisky and two glasses. I smile at him as he pours two glasses and pushes one across his desk for me.

I sip the whisky and watch him as he takes a drink. The smile never leaves his lips as he drinks, and I have to admit, I haven’t seen my father this happy in a long time.

“We have to give that girl some kind of medal,” he says finally.

“I don’t think she wants it.”

“Why would she do that for us?” He cocks his head at me.

“She’s my fiancée,” I say.

He narrows his eyes at me. “Bran. Do you really think your mother wouldn’t tell me?”

I stare down at my glass and suddenly I feel like a little kid again, getting caught misbehaving. Back then, I was afraid of my father as only a young boy can be. But of course, I have nothing to fear from him anymore. I’m a grown man and I just saved his damn kingdom.

“She likes it here,” I say finally.

My father laughs. “Of course she does,” he says.

“She felt a sense of… I don’t know. Duty.”

“Is that what you really think?” His smile is knowing and it drives me nuts.

I finish my whisky in one quick drink. “What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to stop being so stupid and blind. The girl is obviously in love with you.” My father leans across his desk. “And you’re a damn fool if you give that up.”

I stare at him, surprised as hell. “But she’s not royal,” I say. “She’s not a good match.”

“Who the hell cares? She saved my damn kingdom. She can marry my worthless son if she wants to.”

I can’t help but grin at him. “The Kingdom isn’t saved yet, you know.”

“No, but it will be.”

I nod at him slowly. “Perko will fall, that’s for sure. But he’s not working alone.”

“No, there will be others. But Perko was the heart of the conspiracy. Without him, it’ll fall apart.” He smirks at me and refills my glass. “When it’s all over, what will you do? Run back to America and return to your old life?”

I glare at him. “It wouldn’t be running.”

“No? I guess not. That’s where you love now. Not here, your home.”

“Don’t try to guilt trip me. This was always supposed to be temporary.”

My father watches me for a moment and finishes his whisky. He nods his head slowly and shrugs at me. “True, temporary, until one day I’m gone and you’re king.”

“We have a long while before that’s reality.”

“I hope so.” He sighs and leans toward me. “But listen to me, son, and listen closely. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this world, it’s this: find what you love and never fucking let it go. There are so few people truly willing and able to give you everything, and the ones that can, they deserve everything in return.” He leans back in his chair and looks back to his computer. “Anyway, I have things to do, ministers to smear. Send your mother back here if you see her, will you?”

“Sure,” I mumble and stand up. I watch my father for a second, frowning, his words ringing in my ears. “Oh, and do me a favor. Remove the parts where Mila does drugs before you release the tapes, okay?”

My father laughs again. “As far as I’m concerned, Princess Mila never touched the stuff.”

“Thanks,” I say before turning and leaving his office. I head back through his rooms and out into the hallway, my mind still running through that conversation.

I’ve never heard my father be so frank and honest about something like happiness and love before. He’s normally a practical man and he doesn’t have time for emotional things. He has a kingdom to run, and he can’t cloud his judgment with lofty thoughts and ideals, or at least that’s what he used to say.

That was a very rare moment from my father. And I can’t help but notice that he called her Princess Mila at the end of the conversation, although he knows damn well that she’s not a Princess. Hell, she’s a commoner and a foreigner, and she has no place in our venerable and ancient royalty.

At least that’s what I thought he’d say about her. Now that we have the ammunition we need to destroy Perko, I assumed my parents would want me to return to America with Mila and to slowly phase her out of my life.

Instead, my father apparently wants me to make this arrangement an actual marriage.

I stop and lean against the railing overlooking the cavern and close my eyes for a second. I picture what my life would look like with Mila, how things would play out. But I can’t seem to see anything at all. The only thing I can feel is an emotion, one single emotion.

It’s desire, pure and simple.

I open my eyes and turn my head to the left. Aleks is standing there, watching me from a doorway.

“Don’t just stare,” I grumble at him.

“I wanted to give you space, my Prince,” he says, a cocky grin on his face.

I sigh and shake my head. “Enough with that.”

He joins me at the railing. “Still pissed at me?”

“A little bit,” I say, smiling. “Helps that it was my mom’s idea the whole time.”

“Look, I wouldn’t have agreed if I didn’t think Mila would be safe and up to the task.”

“Clearly you were right on both accounts.” I sigh and look down toward the lake in the center of the cave. “I guess it’s finished now, though.”

“Yeah, guess so.” He quiet for a second. “What are you going to do now?”

“I’m not sure,” I admit. “I guess I can go home.”

“You mean, back to America.” I can hear the subtle tone in his voice.

“That’s been my home for years, Aleks.”

He sighs and looks at me. “Was it really? Is that why you’ve been funneling money into this country for as long as you’ve been out there?”

I give him a look. “What’s with people today? First, my dad tells me to marry Mila for real, and now you’re telling me to come back home.”

“We miss you, Bran,” he says softly. He pushes himself off the railing and heads back toward the royal apartment. “And you should fucking marry her. If you don’t, I will.”

I laugh and flip him off as he heads back down the hallway. He gives me a wave as he disappears around the bend.

I linger for a second before walking back to the elevator and riding down to my floor. I head down the hall and step into Mila’s room.

For a second, I think she’s not in, but I spot her sitting off near a wall underneath a large landscape painting and reading a book. She looks up as I walk over to her and smiles.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hey, yourself.” I cock my head. “What are you doing?”

“There aren’t any windows in here, you know that?”

“We’re underground.” I grin at her.

“Well, I pulled this chair underneath this painting and now I’m pretending that it’s a window.”

I stare at her for a second before bursting out with laughter. I’ve never met someone so strange, so interesting, and with the uncanny ability to always make me smile. She grins at me and shrugs a little bit, clearly not sure why I’m laughing so hard.

But in this moment, it’s so obvious to me. Everything is clear. Everything I need and want.

I drop down to one knee in front of her. She smiles uncertainly at me and puts her book facedown as I take her left hand into both of mine.

“Mila, I need to ask you something,” I say.

“You’re being weird.”

“Just listen. We’ve gone through a lot together lately, haven’t we?”

“I did cocaine,” she says flatly.

“I know.” I can’t help but grin at her like an idiot. “And you survived an assassination attempt.”

“Don’t remind me,” she says.

“I want you to stay with me.” As I’m saying it, I’m even more certain than I’ve ever been before.

She watches me quietly for a second and I can’t read her face. My heart is beating so fast in my chest that I can barely control myself.

“Are you sure?” she asks finally.

“I love you, Mila. I think I’ve loved you since the second we came here.”

She bites her lip and watches me silently for a moment. I don’t know what she’s going to say, but I have absolutely no regrets at all. I know this is what I want, it’s what I need.

I need my Princess. If my life is going to be in Bellestan, I can’t do it without her. There’s more work to be done here, if we want to do it, and I need her by my side.

Without a word, she leans forward and kisses me. I pull her closer, kissing her harder, leaning into it in a way I’ve never felt before. I love her taste, her smell, her laugh, her eyes, everything about her. I need it all.

“I love you too,” she says finally as we break apart.

“Does that mean you’ll stay?”

“If you want me to stay, I’ll stay,” she says and grins. “Besides, I can speak and understand the language now. Might as well put that concussion to use.”

I laugh and pull her against me, hugging her close.

“Are you sure you want to be Princess Mila?”

She doesn’t even hesitate. “More than anything else in this world.”

I kiss her again and I know what my future holds. Maybe it’s not what I’ve always imagined, but it’s good, it’s better than good, it’s perfect. I finally have a princess to help me make my family complete.