She didn’t need Connor finding out any earlier than he absolutely had to. Maybe it was selfish, but she wanted as much time as possible with him before he knew.

She didn’t think he would look at her the same way once he learned what she’d done.

“Press announcement?” Teddy glanced down at their hands, and his eyes widened. “Should I bring you a ring?”

“You could pick one out from the Crown Jewels collection and give it to me at the press conference,” Beatrice offered, and managed a smile.

Teddy nodded. Normally when the heir to the throne proposed, he brought his fiancée a ring from the royal vault. Except that every heir to the throne up till now had been a man.

Beatrice had considered bringing Teddy a ring today, but honestly, she hadn’t been able to face the thought of going down to the vault to pick one out. It would make all of this feel too sharply real.

“That sounds great. I’ll call my parents now with the good news, but don’t worry, I’ll swear them to secrecy,” Teddy replied.

Beatrice nodded her thanks. She had to force herself not to reach up to her lips, where that unfamiliar kiss still lingered, now grown cold.

Beatrice paced across her room with all the caged panic of a jungle cat. It was almost midnight, and Connor still wasn’t here.

She knew she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, not after what had happened today. She kept envisioning the way Teddy had knelt before her like a medieval knight, swearing to forever bind his life to hers. It was too much, far too fast, and her heart simply couldn’t keep up.

Before she could second-guess herself, Beatrice had pulled an old college sweatshirt over her pajamas. She ducked out of her suite and started soundlessly across the palace: down a series of hallways, then up another flight of stairs. The marble floor pushed the cold up through the soles of her slippers.

She only had to knock at Connor’s room once before the door cracked open.

His eyes widened when he saw her standing there. He reached for her arm to quickly pull her inside, then shut the door behind them.

“What are you doing here?” he whispered, looking as if he would rather shout at her for her recklessness.

“I just …” She swallowed. “You didn’t come, and I needed to see you.”

“How did you even know which room was mine?”

“I looked it up. Top security clearance.” She tried to sound flippant, but she knew he heard the tremor in her voice.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

She blinked back her tears, looking around the room as she took a moment to collect herself.

It was small but very tidy, the narrow bed made with crisp military precision. On a wooden dresser stood a series of framed photographs: Connor and his family at a theme park; Connor and his sister as small children, their arms thrown around a golden retriever puppy. And then, to Beatrice’s surprise, a picture of her and Connor from her Harvard graduation. She barely remembered taking that photo.

“We need to replace this. You’re not even looking into the camera,” she informed him.

“I would,” Connor said carefully, “but this is the only picture of you and me.”

Oh. Beatrice’s mind flew to all the photos people had taken of her and Teddy—hundreds, maybe thousands of them—in magazines, all over the internet. She hated herself a little, for not taking more pictures with Connor while she had the chance.

“What’s going on?” he asked again. “Do you want to talk about it?”

When she didn’t answer, he put a hand on the small of her back, as if to steer her out the door. “Then you really need to leave.”

Beatrice stubbornly shook her head. “You’ve been in my room plenty of times. Why should this be any different?”

“Because my reputation doesn’t matter, and yours does.”

At the rough edge to his voice, the light that burned in those eyes, some tether deep within Beatrice snapped.

Just this morning she and Teddy had agreed to get married. Though it had felt more to Beatrice like a political alliance than anything romantic. She remembered their kiss, so remote and chaste, and shivered.

Other girls got to marry for love. Beatrice might not be free to make that choice, but she still deserved to experience love—real love, in all its heat and passion—at least once before she signed her life away.

If she couldn’t have a future with Connor, then she would have to live fully in what little time she did have.

“I’m not leaving.” Beatrice yanked her sweatshirt over her head and took a step forward. “I came because … I wanted …” She swallowed and tried again. “If you’re going to break your vow, I figured you should break it all the way.”

Connor’s expression faltered, his eyes raking over her pale, drawn features. He took a shuddering breath and set his hands on her shoulders. “I want you more than anything, Bee. Believe me. But this …” He glanced down at her with hesitation. “It doesn’t feel right. You seem too upset to make this kind of decision. Are you sure you’re okay?”

No. My dad is dying, and I’m going to marry Teddy Eaton, when I really just wish that it could be you instead.

Beatrice was trembling. The shaking began in her hands, spreading up her arms and down her legs so that her whole body was suddenly quivering. She pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes, her breath coming in short gasps. Her spine curled inward, her shoulders hunched—