My shovel bites into the soil and I kick my heel against the blade. It sinks, I push, and another bit of dirt plops onto the pile next to me.

I look up and wipe my brow. I’m sweating, though not too much. I’m glad Nolan told me to dress in active clothing for this, although he didn’t tell me that I’d be digging damn holes in the heat all day. I feel like Shia LaBeouf, except saner.

“Just a little deeper,” Janey, the supervisor, says.

I glare at her and quickly cover that with a smile. “Of course,” I say. “Trees are important!”

She gives me a fake smile in return and walks off. I can’t help but notice that she’s not digging any damn holes.

“Don’t kill her,” Nolan says next to me, grinning huge. “That’ll be bad for us.”

I grip my shovel with both hands like a weapon. “If she says one more thing about my holes…”

“Save it for the dirt,” he says.

I sigh and get back to work. After a few more minutes, the hole is big enough for a new tree. I walk over to the group of baby trees they have lined up near the truck, pick one up, and carry it over to the hole. I remove the packing from the root ball, drop it down, cover it with dirt, and call a supervisor over to check.

“Good job,” the supervisor says, flashing me a smile. “Now, just one more, yes?”

I sigh and nod. “Of course.”

Nolan gives me another grin as I get to work digging another hole. “This looks great,” he says to me. “Just relax.”

I sigh. “I know. I’m relaxed. It’s just that woman, and the cameras.”

“I get it,” he says, as another reporter wanders past and snaps a few pictures. Nolan smiles handsomely and I try my best to look happy. “It’s not easy to look like you’re having fun digging holes.”

“At least we’re doing a good thing,” I say. “I mean, nobody can complain about us planting new trees.”

“That’s a good point. I wonder what they think you’re spying on here.”

“Probably think I’m going to steal the secrets of your special magical soil and bring it back to my evil country.” I sigh and roll my eyes as Nolan laughs.

I get back to digging, trying not to feel too grumpy. I wish we were back at the cabin, but I know I shouldn’t be so lazy. I’m used to hard work and I need to be strong.

Nolan came up with this idea. We’re volunteers with a local group that plants new trees where the Polovian wood industry clear-cut entire swaths of the pristine forest. About fifty years ago, Polovia was best known for its wood exports, boasting some of the best wood in the world. Now though, the industry is more highly regulated, because they had been destroying the natural beauty of the country. Polovia still has a strong wood industry, it’s just not stripping out every single tree in sight anymore.

There are still wide paths where the trees never grew back, and we’re trying to help that. Each tree we plant is a natural, local tree, so it’ll work in this environment. I wish Nolan had picked a little less work-intensive job, but I guess that’s okay.

At least the press is being good. The paparazzi are here, but they’re not mobbing us. We’re letting them take as many pictures as they want, and we did some interviews earlier in the day, and they’re not being a bunch of total assholes for once. In fact, they’re being downright polite.

“Check this out,” Nolan says, gripping a tree in both hands. “Does this look familiar?”

I groan. “Are you making a penis joke?”

“Yes, yes, I am,” he says seriously. “I’m bigger, right?” He holds the easily –three-foot-tall tree up next to him.

“Yes, you’re much bigger,” I say, laughing. “I like when you have to unroll it.”

He makes a face. “It’s really uncomfortable keeping it caged up all day.”

“Why hide it though? You should flaunt it. Make the country really talk.”

He laughs and drops the tree into its hole, covers it with dirt, and comes over to help me dig.

“I know this isn’t fun,” he says. We alternate digging the hole together. “But we’re getting our faces out there in a positive way.”

“I know,” I say, sighing. “I don’t mean to complain.”

He grins at me. “You’re not complaining. I just don’t want you to murder anyone.”

I give him a playful push and he kisses me. Several cameras go off and I blush a little bit.

“Whoops,” he says.

“Kiss again!” one of the paparazzi calls out. “I missed it!”

Nolan grins and grabs me, pulling me against him. I drop my shovel and put my hands on his chest as he kisses me full and deep, a chill running down my spine. I know it’s just for the cameras, and I can hear them clicking away, but it feels so good.

He breaks off slowly and grins at me. “My, my, princess,” he says softly. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d guess that you liked that.”

I smack him playfully on the chest. “Get back to work,” I say, and pick up my shovel again.

The day passes pretty easily, although we really are doing some serious digging. I plant close to twenty trees, and Nolan probably does twice that amount. The press wanders off as soon as we’re finished, and the volunteers all thank us profusely for bringing awareness to their cause.

Frankly, when it’s all over with, I feel good. I’m glad we got involved with that. I haven’t had many opportunities to donate my time to important causes because I’ve had to work my whole life. But now that money isn’t an issue, I realize that I can help other people.

Nolan takes me by the hand and we walk away from the volunteers that are packing up the vans and trucks. We pause in the shade of a nearby tree, this one fully grown, and Nolan leans up against the trunk.

“You did good today,” he says to me.

“Thanks.” I lean next to him, our shoulders touching.

“I don’t think it’s always going to be this simple, though,” he says softly.

I turn my head toward him. “Why do you say that?”

“I’ve been gathering allies,” he says slowly. “Putting out feelers. Bribing where I have to. But I’m getting a lot of resistance.”

“Why?” I ask him, genuinely surprised. “It seems like everyone hates Julian and his agenda. Why are people supporting it?”

“He has blackmail on them for sure. But I think they’re just afraid of change.”

“You have to show them a better way then,” I say, surprised by my own serious intensity.

He smiles at me. “I know, Hazel. I’m going to.”

I watch him for a moment and I’m surprised that I care so much. I like Polovia a lot, but it’s not my home. I don’t understand its culture or its customs or its politics, so a lot of this seems foreign and strange to me. And yet now that I’m a part of the royal family, I find myself caring a great deal about this country.

And the more Nolan shows me, the more I find to love. Take this charity, for example. Big industry was destroying Polovia’s resources and natural beauty for years, but the people came together and stopped them. Now young people are going one step further and actively trying to put things back together. People are volunteering their time, money, and effort to plant these trees. Most of the people will never see this forest again, unless they come to visit one day in the future, but it’s not like they all live around here.

The youth of this country is full of surprises like that, and I think Nolan can sense that there’s a change coming. The young are tired of the failing policies of the old. People want a change, and Nolan wants to be that change.

I reach out and take his hand. I want to explain that to him, make him understand that I see what’s happening. But before I can say it, a familiar face appears, walking toward us.

“Is that Thomas?” I ask Nolan.

He looks sharply in the direction I’m pointing. “Yes,” he says, releasing my hand and pushing off the tree. “Come on.”

He stalks out toward Thomas. We meet him halfway, and he bows slightly to both of us.

“Sir, I have news,” he says.

“How did you find me?”

“You didn’t make it a secret that you would be here,” he says, frowning.

Nolan smiles at that. “Okay then. What’s the news?”

“I have a piece of information that I felt is important enough to bring myself,” he says slowly, glancing at me. “Sir, may I talk freely?”

Nolan waves at him. “You can say whatever in front of Hazel.”

Thomas nods quickly. “Of course, sir.”

“What’s the news?”

“I found a man… an old friend of Lord Eder’s. He claims to know something about Lord Eder, but will only give the information up for a large sum of money.”

“How much?” Nolan asks.

“Half a million American dollars.”

Nolan laughs. “Fine. Give me his address, I’ll pay him.”

“Very well, sir.” Thomas hands Nolan a slip of paper with an address written on it. “The man’s name is Micah Hassel. You’ll find him here. And sir, I should warn you. Micah is rather… strange.”

Nolan puts his hand on Thomas’s shoulder. “If he has something good, I don’t care if he’s insane.”

“Of course.” Thomas bows slightly again and Nolan’s hand drops.

“You did a good job. Thank you for this.”

Thomas hesitates for a second. “I only hope that this will prove where my, ah, loyalties lie.”

Nolan smirks at him. “Of course.”

He bows again and quickly turns away. He walks back to the cars and disappears into the crowd of volunteers.

“Creepy guy,” I say.

“Yeah,” Nolan agrees. “But if he has what I think he has… I don’t care how creepy he is.”

“We’re really following this up?” I ask him.

“Absolutely. Can’t pass up this sort of opportunity. I had Thomas follow Julian a few days ago, and I’m guessing this is a part of that assignment.”

I nod, surprised and impressed. I knew that Nolan was starting to make moves against Julian, but this is very smart. He obviously knows what he’s doing.

“Let’s go,” he says, taking my hand. I follow him over to the parking lot and we get into his car.

For the first time since this started, I feel like we might have a chance. Nolan has a plan and he’s motivated. He’s doing the real work. I just have to give in and trust him.

And let him get me pregnant.