I know I have no right to ask anything of her, but I refuse to walk away from her again. If I have to camp outside her door all night, I’ll do it.

And Justine must see that determination in my eyes, because she gives a shake of her head, sighing.

“You’re not going to leave me alone, are you?” she says.

“I’m not planning on it.” I take another step, closing the last of the distance between us. “Not until we have a chance to talk.”

She glances over her shoulder, and I’m not sure whether she’s afraid of being overhead or whether she’s looking for an escape route.

“Please, Justine,” I say, reaching out and curling my hand around her cheek. “I just want to talk.”

She frowns, but the uncertainty is plain on her face. I raise my other hand, cupping both sides of her face and lifting her gaze up to mine. I want her to see how serious I am. That this isn’t some sort of trick or game.

Finally, she gives a single nod. “Just a talk.”

She pulls out of my grip, turning away from me. I can tell by the stiffness of her stance that she’s aware of my gaze on her.

She looks more beautiful than ever, I find myself thinking. My memories of her didn’t do her enough justice. Even though it’s been six weeks or so since the last time I saw her, I feel like I’m seeing her again for the first time. She’s traded the formal clothes she wore back home for something more casual and American, and it suits her. Her hair is tied back in a ponytail, but that only serves to emphasize her round cheekbones and the long column of her neck. I resist the urge to lean forward and kiss her beneath the ear, even though I know how sensitive she is there.

I continue to hold my tongue as I look around her dormitory. I’d have thought she’d opt to find larger, more comfortable lodgings while she was here, but apparently she decided to stay in the normal student housing. Her entire dormitory is far smaller than the sitting room we’d shared in our suite in her palace, and the furniture is far less luxurious, but it has a certain homey feel to it. And I suppose I can’t blame her for wanting to escape anything that reminded her of her life back home.

She’s still refusing to turn and look at me. I suppose I should just start, then.

“I made a mistake,” I tell her again. “I thought I was doing the right thing, annulling our marriage, but…” I take another look around the room. “Justine, are you happy here?”

She doesn’t turn. “You lost the right to ask me that question when you signed those papers. I might have forgiven you for the first time you signed a contract concerning me without consulting me about it, but to do it twice…”

“I don’t deserve your forgiveness, I understand that. But I did it for the right reasons, Justine. You have to believe me. I thought… I thought it was the only way you could be free of all of this, free of your father and family and everything that entailed.”

She gives a short, wry laugh. “That’s what you said the first time this happened—that you signed my father’s contract for the right reasons. For the good our both of our countries. To allow your brother to marry the love of his life. Very noble reasons.” She pauses. “And maybe I’m an idiot, but I think you honestly did believe you were making the right choice, in the grand scheme of things. But that doesn’t change things between us. You were the one who kept saying that love was a choice, William. You were the one who said we could choose to be together and trust each other or not. And yet at the first sign of true adversity, you chose to set those considerations aside.”

“I did.”

My honest admission must startle her, because she spins, and her eyes find mine, searching. “So which is it? Did you make a mistake or did you make the right decision? Because you’re contradicting yourself, you know.”

I step toward her slowly. “It’s possible I made the right decision for our countries. But I didn’t make the right one for me. And I’m still trying to decide if I made the right one for you.” I glace around her room again. “This is what you always wanted, isn’t it? To continue your studies? To forget about Rosvalia and your family and make a new life for yourself?” I spread my arms. “You’re free to do whatever you like here. To pursue your passion. To live free of the petty politics that run our lives back home. To choose who you marry for yourself, and not because someone else decided it was politically advantageous.” I allow myself a half-smile. “They say if you love something you should let it go, and that’s exactly what I tried to do, except…well, it turns out I’m more selfish than I thought. I’ve had enough of making decisions for other people. I love you, Justine. I love you more today than I did when we parted. And I’m not sure that feeling will ever go away. I know we only had a short time together, but I find it harder and harder to imagine a life without you by my side. I don’t care what our fathers say—I want to spend my life with you.” My gaze locks on hers again. “If you want that, too.”

She’s silent for a long time—so long that my stomach starts to sink. I’ve laid my heart out on the line, banking on the fact that she might feel the same way as I do, but now I’m suddenly unsure.

After a moment, she shakes her head again. “It’s not that simple. We can’t just pick up where we left off as if none of this ever happened.”

“Why not? Who’s to stop us?”

“Our fathers, for one. But—”

“Screw our fathers. This concerns us and us alone.” I close the last of the distance between us until I’m right in front of her again. Grabbing her hand, I drop down to my knees. “I’ll beg you if I have to, Justine. Give me another chance. Give us another chance. I fucked up, I admit that, but I intend to do everything in my power to make up for it. I won’t spend another day pretending I’m all right with things the way they are, or that I don’t regret every moment of every day that I agreed to end our marriage.”

She tries to pull her hand out of mine, but the effort is feeble and unconvincing. Still, her uncertainty is plain. In her eyes I see all the pain I caused her—the sting of betrayal. I’m not sure I can ever come back from that.

“I beg you,” I say again, lowering my face over her hand. “I know I have no right to do so, but I’m not being honest with myself if I refuse to try. You’re everything I ever wanted, Justine. And maybe, once, I thought that was a choice, but it certainly doesn’t feel like one now. It feels like an irrevocable truth, something that’s part of me. Something that will never change no matter how many lonely nights pass. There will always be you, and only you, in my heart.”

I brush my lips across the back of her knuckles, and when I lift my head again, I see tears in her eyes.

“It’s not that simple,” she says again. “So much has changed—”

“And much will continue to change. But I want to face those changes by your side.”

She gives a jerk of her head. “You broke my heart, William. I… How can I trust you after that? How can I trust anyone after the way everything ended? If there’s one thing this life has taught me, it’s that I can’t trust anyone in this world not to hurt me. I can’t trust anyone but myself.”

Her criticism is fair, but it still stings. “I promise I’ll do everything I can to restore your trust in me, Justine.”

“It might not be enough, not now.” She tugs at her fingers again, and this time she manages to pull them away. “Things have changed. You have no idea how much.”

“Then tell me,” I say.

She opens her mouth, then pauses and closes it again. “I know how this ends, William, and it’s only in heartache.”

I stand up again. “I refuse to let it.”

She gives another sigh, and I know this conversation isn’t going well for me. “William—”

“Let’s go out,” I say abruptly. “You don’t have to decide anything now. Just go out with me. Tell me about your life here. Even if you decide you never want to see me again, then at least I’ll know you’re safe and happy here.” It won’t be enough, not by a long shot, but it will be something, at least.

She looks as if she means to refuse, but then she surprises me by saying, “If it would make you feel better—”

“It would. It would mean the world to me.” I capture her fingers again and bring them to my lips.

By the end of tonight, I intend to put all of her objections to rest. One way or another, I’m not returning to Europe again without her by my side.