“Mr. Stone, we assure you, the Princess isn’t backing down from this fight. She’s in this to the bitter end,” I say into the phone, tightening my fingers around it. If I screw this up there’s not many more people we can turn to. Gladrell left us in a mess of a situation, and now it’s vital we secure the support of someone willing to finance the rebellion.

“This isn’t easy,” the man on the other side of the line, Andrew Stone, responds. “The Queen’s men aren’t making it easy to move money around. And I need some assurances you are who you say,” he continues, and Nicholas just offers me a nod. He’s sitting across from me, listening in to my conversation, and his expression reflects the worry that I’m feeling right now.

“It’s dangerous but we...” I take a deep breath, mustering the courage to tell him what we can do. “We can set up a meeting with the Princess. We’ll send word once we’re ready.”

“I’ll be waiting,” he replies, finishing the call. When his voice is replaced by the steady tone of the line, Nicholas gives me two thumbs up.

“The line was secure,” he tells me with a confident smile. “And it seems that Mr. Stone is willing to go through with this.”

“Yeah, but I don’t like the fact that we’ll have to put Snow at risk. Taking her out of here, at a time like this...it’s too risky.”

“It is,” he agrees. “But it’s a risk we’ll have to take. If we just sit on our asses, soon enough it’ll be too late. We gotta move fast, or else there’s going to be a civil war.”

“I know, I know...” I sigh, closing my eyes for a second. Andrew Stone is one of the wealthiest men in the country, and with his money backing us up...well, it definitely makes things easier. More than that, he’s a personal friend of the King, and he was one of the first men to publicly raise his voice against Moira’s coup. Lucky for us, he figured out pretty quickly that he needed to keep his mouth shut, or else he’d be rotting in a cell right now.

“Well, we gotta tell her. It’s her call,” Nicholas insists, and I open my eyes and look back at him. With a nod, I go up to my feet.

“Let’s do it then,” I say, marching out of the communications room, a knot in my throat. With Nicholas trailing after me, we hurry down the maze of corridors, making our way toward Snow’s chambers. Once there, I stop in front of the massive metal double doors, thick enough to protect anyone inside from the blast of an explosion, and press the button on the intercom.

“Yes?” Comes her voice, and I feel a shiver go up my spine. Jesus, even her voice sounds like perfection.

“We need to talk to you, Snow,” I tell her, my finger still on the intercom. A second later, I hear the giant locks inside the door rattling, and the doors slide open. Stepping inside her chambers with Nicholas behind me, I feel my heart starting to race as I see her; she’s wearing a nightgown, one that hugs her perfect curves so perfectly that my cock starts hardening.

“Did something happen?” she asks us, moving toward us. Pressing a button on the wall, next to her bed, she forces the doors to start closing behind Nicholas and I. As I hear them turn on their hinges, I have to use all of my mental strength to stop my cock from ripping a hole in my pants.

“We managed to contact Andrew Stone,” Nicholas tells her, and I’m glad that he's taking the lead right now. My cock is stealing all blood flow from my brain, and I doubt I’d be able to put together a coherent sentence.

“I’ve heard of him,” she nods, a lock of her silky hair falling from her ear. “He’s always been a good friend of my father.”

“Well, he’s willing to finance us,” I finally manage to say, my heart racing at a thousand miles per hour. Fuck, why did she have to be wearing that nightgown tonight? “But he wants to meet you first. He wants to be sure of our commitment and—"

“I’ll do it,” she replies, cutting me short. Beautiful as ever, the expression on her face is one of determination. For a girl raised inside the walls of the palace, she’s becoming someone as brave as the seven of us.

“It’s going to be dangerous, Snow, and—" Nicholas insists, but she just shakes her head.

“I know. But I’ll have you by my side,” she smiles. “Besides, I don’t want Gladrell to be the reason we fail at this.”

“Yeah, Gladrell,” I sigh, reaching for the pocket inside my jacket. I take a folded envelope from the inside and push it into Snow’s hands. “We’ve been going through all of the communications going in and out of the palace, and we caught an email from Gladrell. Apparently, he was the one who convinced Moira to move against your father.”

“But if he was in this from the start...” she whispers, clutching the envelope against her chest. “Why would he help me escape the palace?”

“He wanted to keep you as a bargaining chip, in case Moira backstabbed him,” I tell her. “We didn’t let that happen,” I continue, taking one step toward her and smiling. Unable to help myself, I raise my hand and brush away that lock of hair, tucking it over her ear.

“No, you didn’t,” she whispers, looking from me to Nicholas. “And I’d be lost without you...”

“No...” Nicholas breathes out, closing in on her. “We’d be the ones lost without you.”

“But we’re not lost anymore, are we?” she replies, lowering her voice into a seductive breeze. Grabbing us by our shirts, she then goes on tiptoes and brushes her lips against Nicholas’. Turning to me, she kisses me softly and then smiles. “We’ve found each other...and now I want to do all the things I was never supposed to.”

What can I do? You can’t disobey an order coming straight from the fairest of them all.