Through a crack in the hospital room’s thick curtains, Alex surveyed the situation in the street two floors below. News vans, photographers, and journalists swarmed the parking lot. Beyond them, people held signs wishing King Angelo a speedy recovery. The authorities had erected a blockade around the drive and entrance to the hospital to ensure those needing to get inside could do so.

“Anything new out there?” Bianca asked.

Alex dropped the curtain. “No. They are like flies swarming a carcass.”

His mother, from where she stood next to her husband’s bed, frowned. “Alex. For shame.”

“Not the citizens wishing well, Mother,” Alex corrected. “The journalists.”

“Many of them are well-meaning and honest,” she said. “Not all are from the tabloids.”

Alex inclined his head in agreement, remembering his promise to himself to have no spats. They were not worth it and would only serve to further stress his father.

“How are you feeling, Father?” he asked.

Angelo blinked. “About the same.”

Feeling Bianca’s attention on him, Alex caught her gaze. She sat in a chair against the wall. Her face was passive, giving nothing away. Was she silently telling him to watch it, to make sure to say nothing upsetting?

That was the last thing he intended to do. Unfortunately, his track record did say otherwise.

“Alex,” Bianca said, “come with me to get some coffee.” Not waiting for his response, she went for the door. Alex followed, bypassing the two security guards posted outside of the room.

Instead of going to the cafeteria, Bianca walked to the end of the hall and took a right. There was a small alcove with two cushioned chairs and some potted plants. Folding her arms, she sat down.

Alex stayed still and said nothing. It was mostly what he had been doing since arriving in Belmonte the night before.

“What are you planning on doing?” Bianca looked up.

“What do you mean?”

“Mother and I talked about this.” A pained look crossed her face. “She expects, after this new turn of events, for you to stay here.”

Alex sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. “Of course she does. Why would she expect otherwise?”

Alex hated the bitterness in his voice, but he had not been home for even twenty-four hours and already he tired of nodding and pretending to agree to everything his mother said. He knew he needed to be a better son, to remember that her husband had suffered a stroke and she was under a great deal of stress, but, as always, Alex’s relationship with his mother tested him.

“I have a life in New York,” Alex said. “A business. A foundation. A girlfriend.”

It had almost been too difficult to say the last part. Alex missed Paisley so terribly his chest ached. What made it worse was not knowing when he would see her again. Though his father was stable, Alex wanted to make sure he stayed in Belmonte for as long as his family needed his support.

How could something he wanted to do simultaneously cause him such pain?

“What does Paisley think of all this?” Bianca asked quietly.

Alex looked at her. “Of the stroke? What do you—”

“No. Of what might happen next.”

Alex stiffened. “Father will be fine. He should be walking soon. You heard the doctor.”

“That doesn’t mean he’ll start back where he left off.”

Alex swallowed. “He loves leading Belmonte.”

“I know, but he’s always talking about how the country needs more progress. Someone younger to lead it.”

Alex turned his back to his sister and ran his palm over his mouth. He did not have the words.

“All I’m saying, Alex, is you should be prepared to accept the crown sooner than you always thought.”

He shut his eyes. “Trust me. I have always had that reality on my mind.”

It was a lie. Since the day he’d left for college in New York, Alex had done everything possible to forget the destiny he ran from. He had worn many masks. Hardworking student. Partying trust fund baby. Enterprising business owner. Philanthropic millionaire.

Behind all those masks, though, the truth persisted. He had ignored it for so long, but time had caught up with him. He could play any role he wished, but at the end of the day only one identity remained: he was a prince who would one day become a king.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he checked its screen. Paisley had texted a bit since he’d left New York, only asking how his father was doing and wishing everyone well.

Alex’s throat burned. Even after the rude way his parents had treated her, she still showed concern for them.

What would she say if he asked her to stay by his side through the rest of his life? To wear his ring and be his queen?

Only twenty-four hours ago he had believed she might one day warm up to the thought. Getting the call about the stroke had changed his perspective, however. It had shaken him awake from a dream and tossed all his useless positivity into the gutter. Life as a royal was not the endless extravagance some imagined it to be. It meant living every moment with duty at the forefront.

Sweet, adventurous Paisley. She valued her freedom so much.

He could not even imagine her saying yes to letting that go. She had been so resistant to even having someone famous in her world. To think of her embracing the lifestyle of a royal was laughable.

Alex put the phone away. “We should go back in there.”

Bianca rose to her feet and glided past him without a word. Alex wondered if she were annoyed with him, but he pushed the thought away. Even if she were, it would not matter much to her compared to everything else happening. Very few people were as skilled as her at putting their emotions last.

At the siblings’ approach, the security guards bowed. Bianca went right into their father’s room, Alex close on her heels.

“Tell them now,” Camila was saying. At the sound of her children’s steps, she fell silent and looked over her shoulder at them. She had pulled a chair close to her husband’s bedside, and her brows pinched together slightly as she looked Bianca and Alex over. “Did you not go for coffee?”

Alex looked at Bianca.

“We tried it,” Bianca said. “It was horrible. Hospital coffee, you know. But can I send for anything for either of you?”

“No,” Angelo said, and the room became still. His voice was strained, and it clearly took some effort for him to speak. “Sit down.”

Bianca and Alex obeyed, taking seats in the chairs at the end of the bed. Their father’s bed was already inclined, and he sat with pillows propped behind him. His dark eyes zeroed in on Alex.

All at once, everything in Alex twisted up tight.

“I will make this brief,” Angelo said. “I will be abdicating the throne.”

Alex inhaled sharply. “You will recover, Father.”

“No.” He shook his head once. “Not to the state that I was in before.” Camila put her hand on his shoulder, and there was a long pause. “This day was always coming, and it appears it has arrived much faster than we expected. Alex, your time has come.”

The three other people in the room all looked at Alex, and he felt the walls pressing in tight around him. He knew this was his duty, his destiny since birth. And yet everything in him screamed that he must not follow through with it. There had to be another way.

Bianca gave him an encouraging look.

“I believe in you, Alex,” Angelo said. “The counsel does, as well. You are ready for this.”

Alex bowed his head low. “Father, your words honor me. However… I fear you and the counsel are incorrect. I am not ready for the crown.”

“You must be,” Camila cried. “There is no other way.”

“You truly believe I am capable of this, Mother?” Alex challenged.

She paled. “As I just said, there is no other choice.”

“Is there not?” Alex asked. His parents looked at him like he had gone mad, but Alex could not hold his tongue. With a life he had not chosen closing in on him, it felt he had one last chance to speak his mind. Even if he lost in the end, at least he could say he had done that.

“I would be a terrible king,” Alex said.

Angelo closed his eyes, and Alex saw that he had pained his father. But though that had not been his aim, he could not deny the truth.

“That is not correct,” Bianca said. “You started your own company. You are on the board of an amazing organization.”

“And I avoid publicity like the plague,” Alex added.

“Which you will stop,” Camila snapped. Her nostrils flared. “I expect this behavior from you any other time, Alessandro, but today? You will give your father another stroke if you—”

Angelo held his hand up for silence, and in an instant the room became deathly quiet. “You have more to say?” he asked Alex.

Alex’s ears rang. Now this he had not expected. “Thank you.” He cleared his throat. “I understand the law declaring the throne goes to the first-born male has been in effect for over a thousand years, but it is rather antiquated. Father, you speak of taking Belmonte into the new era, but how can we do that when we still have outmoded, sexist laws?”

Next to Alex, Bianca inhaled sharply. He kept his gaze on their father, waiting for a reaction.

Angelo blinked several times, his eyes locked on Alex. “I assume you have a suggestion for remedying this outmoded practice?”

Alex’s heart raced. “Yes. Give Bianca the throne. If she wants it.”

Bianca’s mouth fell open, and she pressed her fingers to her chest.

“Goodness,” Camila said. “That completely disrupts everything. And it is not up to your father to change that law, you know that. He would have to go to parliament.”

“And can he not?” Alex asked.

Camila looked to her husband, the expression on her face matching Bianca’s. A sense of shock filled the room.

“Is this what you two were discussing out there?” Camila asked.

Alex and Bianca looked at each other, and she slowly shook her head. “N--no. Not at all.” Her attention pierced Alex. “Why did you not mention this to me?”

“I did not allow myself to consider it as a real possibility,” Alex said honestly. “Until now,” he added. When the other option became unbearable.

“Bianca?” Angelo looked at his daughter. “What do you think?”

Bianca licked her lips. “Father, are you genuinely saying… would you be supporting me if I agreed to this?”

Alex’s heart filled with light.

“You want to be Queen?” Angelo asked.

Bianca’s gaze shimmered, and she looked solemnly at her father. “Yes. But only if you believe that I am capable.”

“You are more than capable,” Alex said. Though it was not his turn to speak, he could not hold back.

Bianca smiled at him. “Thank you.”

Camila cleared her throat. “Alex, do not shower compliments on your sister in order to get out of your responsibilities.”

“I am not,” Alex said. “I mean it. Bianca is good at being a princess. The people love her. Not only in Belmonte, but the world around. Imagine the kind of queen she will be.”

Bianca’s cheeks colored. “I only want to do good any way that I can.”

Angelo made a noise of agreement. “Which is exactly why you would be a grand queen.”

Alex’s heart skittered. “You will do it then? Present a bill to parliament to change the law?”

“Do not push him, Alex,” Camila said.

“I am fine,” Angelo said. “Yes. I will present the bill.”

Alex grinned wide. “It will pass.”

Camila sighed. “Yes. I suppose it will, considering the members voting on it.” She looked Bianca up and down. “This is what you truly want?”

Bianca’s eyes filled with tears. “Yes.”

Alex smiled even bigger. Only a few brief times, and always in passing, had Bianca mentioned how unfair the current law handing the crown over to only sons was. He had suspected she wanted to be queen, but being who she was, she would have never demanded the law be changed for her.

“Bianca is the oldest,” Alex said. “And that means she should inherit the crown. We know by now that men and women are equal.”

“Yes.” Camila smiled slightly, surprising Alex. “We do know that, do we not? You will make a wonderful queen, Bianca. I know we will be very proud.”

“And you?” Angelo asked.

It took a moment for Alex to realize his father spoke to him. “Me, Father?”

“You will return to New York and carry on?” Camila asked.

The very thought made Alex want to sing. If parliament passed the bill—which they were all certain would happen—he could go back to NYC. He could resume life as he had before, working at Mythos, tending to the Brighter World Fund, and spending time with Paisley.

And yet how could he go back to the routine when everything had almost changed so suddenly? He had always been grateful for what he had, but now Alex understood how easily the best could be taken away. At any moment, everything could turn on its head.

He had been praying all along for God’s guidance, and he felt that he had finally got his answers.

Yes, he would go back to New York… but he planned on incorporating a major change.