It takes me maybe twenty minutes to pack up my tiny little room. I won’t even pretend that I’m going to miss it. The owners of the hostel have been really nice to me, since they know my situation, but their place isn’t exactly what I’d call nice.

Besides, I’m going to live in the castle now. That idea scares the hell out of me, but I’m moving forward, one step at a time, and I won’t look back.

I can’t, anyway. I signed that contract and now I’m officially the Wife Consort, or whatever the heck that means. I have freedoms, but I also have responsibilities, and my life is going to be very, very different from now on.

As soon as I get outside of the hostel, there’s a castle steward standing there with a black car.

“Your bags, miss,” he says to me.

I hesitate. I assumed I was going to walk. “Thanks,” I say finally. “Are you, uh, here for me?”

He nods, but doesn’t smile. Stewards are always so dour. “Yes, miss. I’ll be your steward. My name is Thomas.

“Uh, nice to meet you, Thomas. I’m Hazel.”

He nods. “Yes, miss. I know your name.” He takes my bag, puts it in the trunk, and opens the back door for me. Once I’m inside, he goes around and gets in the driver’s seat.

Thomas is the image of efficiency. He’s stouter than most Polovian men, round in the middle with thinning dark hair and a serious face. I don’t know what it means to have a steward, although I know what the stewards generally do. They’re like personal assistants for the most important people in the palace, and they work closely with the royals to make sure that their days run smoothly.

The fact that I have a steward personally assigned to me is actually pretty terrifying. But then again, I can’t really complain. I planned on walking back to the castle with my bag, but now I don’t have to do that at least.

I can’t stop thinking about the way Nolan looked at me in that room. As soon as I signed that paper, his eyes lit up, like he was genuinely happy. I don’t really understand it. The man doesn’t know me, and yet he wants me to be his wife. I could be a total psycho or something, he has no clue.

I understand what he’s getting out of this though. He needs a wife to get back into his father’s good graces, and I suspect that he never does anything the easy way. He probably could marry a Polovian girl, maybe some noble girl, much more easily and have things work more simply. But he chose me, although I don’t understand why.

As soon as we pull into the castle’s main entrance, and I realize that I’m going to go in through the main doors, I suddenly think of Britta. She’s going to flip her shit when she realizes that I just married into the royal family.

“Holy crap,” I say out loud. Britta might be actually get really angry with me, now that I think about it. She knows that I don’t take any of this royal stuff seriously at all.

“Miss?” Thomas looks at me questioningly.

“Uh, nothing,” I say.

He stops the car and climbs out. He opens the door and gestures for me to follow him. “This way, miss, I’ll show you to your room.”

“Erm, should I get my bag?” I ask him.

“Someone will get that for you, miss,” he says, waving his hand. “Come this way.”

I follow him in through the main doors, which are reserved for nobility and other ceremonial functions. Sometimes photographers sit outside and take pictures of anyone that goes inside. Today, there are only two paparazzi, but they only look at me with confused stares. Clearly they have no clue who I am or why I’d be going through the main entrance and not the side doors like everyone else.

Thomas leads me through the halls and I can’t help but look around with a new perspective. I’ve walked the castle a few times now during my time as a maid, but I never really looked at it. Before, this castle was just the place I had to clean and work in, but now it’s something more.

Now I live here, at least for a little while. At least until the prince gets me pregnant.

The thought sends a chill down my spine, and I have to force myself not to think about it.

The castle has a simply beauty to it that I never really appreciated before. There are signs of wealth all over the place, of course, but the Polovian castle doesn’t go overboard with it. There are paintings and beautiful real gold accents adorning everything, but the architecture is straightforward and almost simplistic. It’s a conventional place, built for a purpose, without too much excess. I’m sure the Polovian rulers that built this place could have made it as ostentatious as they wanted, but they chose to make it this way instead, and I actually really respect that.

We head down through the castle and finally Thomas brings me to the room directly next to the prince’s.

“Here you are,” he says. “Your chambers.”

I can’t help but smile at that. I’ve never had “chambers” before.

“Thank you, Thomas.”

He nods. “My pleasure.” He opens the door for me, and I step inside.

I stand there, totally stunned, as the door clicks shut behind me.

I’ve cleaned this room before. It isn’t new to me, not really. I’ve seen every bit of it before.

But I’m looking at it with a new perspective. I take a step forward and bite my lower lip.

This room is mine. I live in this room now. I find it genuinely hard to believe that all this space is for one person, but here I am, standing in the middle of it with my personal steward waiting just outside the door for me.

The rooms in this wing are large, with an open living room and kitchen area. Everything is sleek and modern, but decorated in a more traditional fashion. It looks like what you’d think a royal room would look like, but there’s also a comfortable couch and a big-screen TV. It’s functional while still being ceremonial.

I walk further into the room, touching everything. I’ve never, ever stayed in a place like this before. I’ve cleaned it, of course, but now someone else will clean up for me. I won’t have to be down on my knees scrubbing this place anymore.

I walk back and look at the big bedroom and bathroom, and for a second, I feel like I’m going to cry.

I don’t come from money. I never had much. Money has always been something of a struggle for me. I got lucky and saved up to come to Europe, but I did it on a budget, and I ended up getting robbed and going broke anyway. But here I am in one of the richest rooms I’ve ever seen in my life, at the height of luxury, and I don’t have to worry about money ever again.

“Overwhelming, isn’t it?”

I turn around, surprised. Nolan stands in the doorway, smiling at me.

“A little,” I admit, getting myself together. I don’t want him to see me crying.

“What do you think so far?” he asks, gesturing around him. “Not bad, right?”

“Beats my hostel,” I say.

“And the steward, how was he?”

“Fine,” I say. “Stewards are…” I trail off, not sure what to say.

“Stewards are weird,” he finishes for me, grinning.

“Yeah, they really are. What’s with that?”

He laughs and shrugs. “They’re always so mean looking.”

“Like they smell something bad.”

“I know, it’s like they’re looking down on you.” He laughs and shakes his head. “I don’t know why. They all do it.”

“Must be the training.”

“Of course. The pretentiousness training they get.”

I smile and feel slightly more at ease. “How did you get in here anyway?” I ask him.

“Our rooms are connected,” he says. “Normally, we’d stay in the same room, but I thought you’d like this better.”

I nod but don’t respond. He’s right, I’m glad we have separate rooms, though I don’t know how long that’ll last. I know, sooner or later, he’s going to come into my bed. And I’m going to have to sleep with him.

I look at his handsome, grinning face, and it strikes me suddenly that I’m contractually obligated to have sex with this man. Not like that’s a bad thing, since my body reacts to him every time he’s near. But it’s totally strange to think that I’m bound by law to fuck a man who I really would fuck regardless.

“I hope you’ll be comfortable here,” he says to me. “This is your home now, princess.”

I bite my lower lip. “That’s so strange,” I admit. “I was cleaning this place yesterday.”

He smiles at me. “Funny how life can be.”

“And now I’ll be doing… what? Lying around all day, eating chocolates?”

“Is that what you think royalty does?”

I shrug a little. “You’re sure not cleaning your own toilets.”

He sighs but grins at me. “No, you won’t be eating chocolates all day. Although you can if you want, but please, I advise against it. You need to be in top physical shape for me, after all.”

I blush slightly at the implication, though we both know full well that we’ll be having sex soon. “So what then?”

“We’ll be meeting with people,” he says. “We’re going to change my reputation around here, and you’re going to help me. So no, you won’t be cleaning toilets, but you will be doing something much more difficult.”

“Is your reputation really so bad?” I ask, a bit nervous.

“Yes,” he says. “It really is.”

He laughs as I shake my head. “Then I don’t know if I can help.”

“Oh, you can,” he says. “Just make sure you’re ready to fulfill your end of the bargain.”

“I know what I agreed to,” I say simply.

“Do you?” He steps closer to me, and I feel my heart suddenly leap into my throat. “Are you really sure you understand it all?”

“Yes,” I say, though it comes out quieter than I expected.

“You’re mine now, Hazel,” he says. “Contractually, I can fuck you whenever and wherever I please, at least until I put a baby inside that pretty little body of yours. Do you get that?”

“Yes,” I say again, not backing down from him. I realize that I’m dripping wet at the thought of him taking me right here and now.

“Good,” he says. He steps close to me and tips my chin up toward him. Nolan is so much taller and larger than I am, he could easily destroy me if he wanted. And that makes me so excited. “But you’re my princess too. I won’t take anything you don’t want to willingly give me. Understand?”

“I understand,” I say to him.

“Good.” He releases my chin. “You look a little nervous, princess.”

“I’m not. This is just a lot to process.”

“Of course.” He steps away, a smile on his face, and I take a deep breath. “You’ve never been a member of a royal family before, have you?”

“Not even close,” I say.

“Well, tonight, you’ll get your first taste of it.” He walks back toward the bedroom door.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“We’re having dinner with some nobles that I know,” he says. “Call it a celebration, I guess.” He looks back at me with that cocky little smirk of his. “Take a look in the closet and pick something to wear. I’ll come get you in a few hours.” He disappears and I hear a door open and shut in the other room.

I walk over to the large wardrobe, not sure what he meant. I pull it open and inside are five dresses, each of them absolutely beautiful.

I pull one out and lay it gently on the bed. It’s long and dark with a flowing skirt and very subtle shimmering fabric around the low-cut top.

I’ve never owned a dress like it before in my life, let alone put one on my body. I stare at it, not sure what to think. There’s a closet full of these dresses, and they look like they’ll fit.

I’m not looking forward to having dinner with a bunch of stuffy nobles. Plus, I don’t even speak the language. I can follow along a little bit, since it’s close to German, but I can’t really interact with anyone.

Doesn’t matter. This is my job now. It’s my duty to go to dinner with some boring, stuffy nobles, and to smile like a good Wife Consort. I walk into the bathroom and look into the mirror, but I don’t see anything different.

But I am different. I’m a totally new person. And that’s a little terrifying.