I should allow William to help with the preparations for the storm, but with things so…odd in the palace at the moment, I don’t dare allow him anywhere outside the west wing. I don’t really want to dare to leave the wing myself.

A similar storm happened here last summer. Rosvalia is known for having difficult winters—there is nothing new about that. But the strange weather that has been happening year round has left much of the country devastated. Our farms are nearly decimated and several cities have flooded to the point of having to be abandoned.

Of course, little of this makes the international news, even in a country as close to us geographically as Montovia. William’s country is lucky—they have mountains surrounding them on all sides, protecting them from the extreme weather. But because our country only has mountains on one side, the weather systems seem to hang over Rosvalia like clouds of death.

If I had my way, I’d open the palace to our people and allow them to use it as shelter. The west side of the palace has suffered little damage in the past storms as it faces the opposite direction as the wind. Sadly, it’s the eastern portion of the palace that has been nearly destroyed in each of the last three of these storms—and of course, that is the part of the palace that could house the most of our people.

Still, I go to the kitchens to have them begin preparing food. If nothing else, when the storm has passed, we can deliver soup and bread to the emergency shelters in the city. Because our infrastructure has suffered so greatly over the past few years, it might be weeks before many of our citizens have power in their homes again.

There is little else I can do—my parents will have taken shelter already in a safe part of the palace, away from the windows. My suite faces west—it won’t be a good place to take shelter, so I make my way back to warn William that he’ll need to leave as well.

The storm is moving quickly—I already hear windows shattering as I move through the corridor.

There’s a pang in my chest—William. I hope he didn’t decide to go back out onto the balcony. I didn’t want to tell him earlier, but we lost a staff member in the last storm when my parents sent him out to retrieve something. These winds are strong, beyond hurricane-strength.

My pace quickens as I hear another window shatter in a nearby room. The next sound I hear isn’t so much a shattering as a loud, crackling boom. Everything seems to happen at the same time—I hear the explosion, the lights go out instantly, and I tumble to the floor.

It isn’t until my back is flat against the tile of the hallway that I realize someone is on top of me.

And it only takes me a second to know it’s William. After the kiss we shared last night, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forget his scent—I know it immediately.

I shove him, but he doesn’t move. “Your Highness—”

“Princess, you can’t go back to the room. The window—”

“I know.” I shove him again and he rolls to my side. I struggle to right myself, unable to see anything in the pitch blackness of the corridor. “It’s exactly as it happened last time.”

“Then why did you leave? You should have at least found candles—”

“I thought the needs of Rosvalia were more important than finding candles. Though now that the electricity has gone out, it doesn’t seem nearly as important. I thought we’d have at least several hours before we lost power.”

He’s silent. “If this has happened before, there is really no excuse for not being prepared—”

“It has happened before. But these storms are recent occurrences. Each time they happen, we are assured that they won’t happen again. And yet, they seem to be happening more and more often.”

“Then people should move.” He chuckles. “Montovia isn’t such a bad place to live. And I’m sure our immigration policy—”

“I realize you believe you are hilarious, Your Highness. But now is not really the time for jokes.”

He’s silent for another moment. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” He pauses. “Is there anything we can do?”

“In the dark? In the middle of the corridor? I’d say it’s unlikely.”

He pulls out his phone and the light casts an eerie glow. “I have no signal. I thought I might call on my father and brother—”

“It’s difficult to get a good signal in this part of the palace, anyway, Your Highness. And people will all be trying to call their families now. If the palace is without power, the entire city is likely without power. And it’s difficult to say what the outlying communities are suffering now.”

“I’ll wait then.” He slides the phone back in his pocket. “So are we just to sit here? In the hallway?”

“It’s safer than any room on this side of the palace.” I sigh, leaning against the wall. “The storms usually pass quickly. The longest one lasted only six hours or so.”

“And that is your definition of quickly?” He chuckles. “I suppose I can think of a few things we might do to pass the time while we are waiting, then.”

I roll my eyes—it seems to be all I want to do around the man, but I’m almost glad it’s too dark for him to see anything. “You may think of whatever you wish, Your Highness.”

Another loud crash of shattering glass sounds in a nearby room. William slides his arm around my waist, pulling me to him—protecting me, I suppose.

I stiffen for a moment, tilting away from his touch before I freeze. It’s not…bad, being in his arms. There are worse places I can think of being at the moment. I lean myself against the wall again, allowing him to keep his hand on my lower back, but I definitely don’t nestle closer to him.

He seems to be as shocked as I am. We’re both silent for a long moment—he’s probably as surprised as I am that I’m allowing him to touch me at all.

William finally speaks after we settle into some sort of normalcy. “We could continue our game.”

“There was no game, Your Highness—”

“Our…conversation, then.” He pauses. “I believe it was your turn.”

I suppose we have nothing better to do while we wait, but I’m not certain I liked where our “conversation” had been going last night. “Fine.”

“Fine? Really?” He seems surprised that I’ve agreed.

And I’m not really sure why I have agreed, only that there’s something about the man. Something I can’t quite put my finger on yet. It’s odd, but I’m almost beginning to enjoy our arguments. “Yes, really. Unless you weren’t really asking—”

“Well, I did say I could think of many interesting ways we could pass the time. If you’d prefer—”

“I wouldn’t.”

He chuckles. “I would say that you seemed to enjoy our kiss last night as much as I did. Perhaps we could—”

“We can’t.”

“Well, we can. The fact that you don’t want to doesn’t mean we’re physically incapable of—”

“Your Highness, do you want to play or not?”

He’s silent. “So it is a game now?”

“No. It isn’t a game. You know what I meant.”

“Ah. So now I’m to read your mind?”

I resist the urge to turn and punch him in the stomach. “If you’d rather sit in silence for the next few hours, I’m amenable to that. Though I’d prefer it if you’d move across the corridor.”

He seems to consider my words. “So if I agree to play, even though it is not a game, I’m allowed to continue sitting next to you?”

“Yes.”

“With my arm where it is now?”

“Yes.”

He chuckles again. “I believe I can agree to these terms. What is your question, Princess?”

I let out a long breath—I actually do have a question for him. It’s one I’ve been wanting to ask him since this whole arrangement began. “My question to you, Your Highness, is…” I pause, thinking again that I may not really want the answer to this question at all. “Why would you give up your chance to experience love?”

He shifts next to me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean when you married me—you gave up your chance to experience love. Or did you believe you’d take a mistress? Find love with her?”

“I believe that was three questions, Princess.”

“And you haven’t answered any of them, Your Highness.”