My whole world shattered. Just like that, with just a few words, everything I knew exploded around me.

“What are you saying?”

I could hear myself saying the words, but I was barely aware of speaking them. And I almost lost it. Slowly, I could feel the walls closing in on me, my chest tightening and my breath getting harder to take. But then, Colette’s hand tightened in mine, holding me so tight. I turned, and when my eyes met hers, I fell right in.

And I felt whole.

I turned back to the king, meeting his eyes as he stared right at me.

“I believe I’m saying you’re my nephew, Mr. Cannon,” King Lucian said quietly. “You’re of Morningstar blood. Royal blood.”

I shook my head. “My parents weren’t royals, Your Highness.”

“Your father wasn’t, but your mother was. Either way, it doesn’t matter. You can choose to say you’re royal or not, I don’t think it changes anything.” He slowly nodded. “You’ve made a name and a fortune for yourself without resting on any laurels of others, or titles, or having a kingdom attached to your name. I think that's admirable.”

He turned his gaze to Colette and smiled.

“You’ve got a hell of a man here.” He grinned as he turned back to me. “Rourke, your mother—”

“With all due respect, Your Highness,” I closed my eyes, shaking my head. “How can you possibly think my mother—”

“Because you look exactly like her, son,” he said quietly. I watched as his wife, Jessica, slipped her hand into his, squeezing it tightly.

“It’s true,” she added, nodding at me. “Your mother and I were good friends growing up, and you’re the spitting image of her.”

“My sister left because of an arranged marriage,” Lucian sighed. He turned and glared at Monty. “There was someone else she loved — someone she wanted to be with more than she wanted to be ‘royal’ and forced to marry someone she didn’t love. So she left.”

His face looked pained as he glanced at the floor before he drew a deep breath and looked up at me.

“Our father was not a nice man, and not very forgiving. When she left our palace and the cruel man that had been ‘chosen’ for her, she was disowned. This is why I do not have forced or arranged marriages in my kingdom, and not with my daughters.”

“You’re throwing a ball this very night for your daughters to to find husbands, sire,” I muttered.

“And they will find who they choose,” he growled.

I nodded. “Fair enough.”

“She was mine!” Monty suddenly butted in, his voice shrill and his face scowling as he jabbed a finger at me.

“She was not yours to have,” Lucian growled before turning to one of his royal guards.

“Get him and his men out of my palace. Do yourself a favor and avoid my borders from now on, Prince Scott,” he hissed.

“I beg your pardon?”

Lucian’s face grew dark, and he drew himself up to his full, and still quite imposing height and build.

“You brought guns into a party I was throwing at my palace to celebrate love. You’re lucky I don’t have you thrown into prison, you little cretin,” he growled menacingly, making Monty shrink back.

“Show the prince the door,” he muttered to his guards. “And then show him the borders of our country.”

Monty was still screeching about something as the royal guard cuffed him and his men and dragged them down the hallway.

Lucian sighed and then turned back to us, a small smile crossing his face.

“We have a lot to talk about,” he said quietly, nodding at me. “God, I want to know everything about Lena.”

I smiled quietly, nodding. “Absolutely, sire.”

“But first, I think you two should go enjoy the ball.”

“I think the ball is over,” I said with a small chuckle, glancing up at the late hour on the clock upon the wall.

Lucian smiled, taking his wife’s hand. “Well, we’ll give you two some space either way. We’ll speak tomorrow I hope. I have so much I want to ask you about my sister.”

“You have my word, sire,” I said fiercely, crossing the hall and taking his hand. We shook firmly, eye to eye as I tried to process all of this.

I was royalty? Part of me reeled inside, realizing what that meant, and realizing that it also meant this man was my uncle — my own flesh and blood. But then, I also knew it didn’t change anything. It didn’t change who my parents had been, and what they’d meant to me. It didn’t change what they’d taught me, about the world, and life, and being a man. It didn’t change what I’d done for myself, without ever knowing I had royal blood in my lineage.

And it didn’t change a single fucking thing about what I felt for this woman standing next to me. It didn’t change me loving her with every single part of me at all.

****

When the hallway emptied, and after I’d gotten another firm handshake from Lucian and warm hug from Jessica, I took Colette’s hand and led her away. We walked the hallways, laughing about what’d just happened, and kissing each other, and just loving being in each other’s company until we found ourselves by a door to a balcony. I led her through, out to the stone terrace draped in roses that looked over the countryside below with the moon shining down.

“Dance with me,” I murmured into her ear, spinning her slowly in my arms.

“Rourke, all of this, I mean, Lucian being your uncle—”

“None of it matters,” I said quietly, taking her hands in mine and leaning down to kiss her. “What sort of lineage I have, or what percentage of ‘royal’ blood I’ve got in these veins doesn’t change a damn thing, Princess.”

“Good,” she said quietly, biting her lip.

“All I want is you as my bride, and by my side, for the rest of time.”

I pulled her close, kissing her fiercely and feeling her melt into me.

“You know,” she said, grinning as she looked up at me. “Technically, you never asked.”

I frowned. “I know, and I hate how it was so ‘arranged’ like that. I wish I could change that.”

And just like that, I shook my head, realizing I could.

In one move, I turned, plucked a rose from the vines creeping over the balcony of the terrace, and then turned back as I dropped to my knee in front of Colette.

Her jaw dropped.

“Marry me, Princess,” I said quietly, my pulse roaring in my ears. Fuck, what was I, nervous?

And for one frozen second, I was. For the first time in my life, I truly felt doubt, and for one whole second, she left me hanging like that. But then, slowly, the grin crept over her face, the spark flashed in her eyes, and the whole damn world shone a little brighter as the only word I ever needed to hear tumbled from her lips.

“Yes!” she gasped. “A thousand times, yes!”

She shrieked as I stood and scooped her into my arms, spinning her around and burying my face in her neck as we twirled under the moonlight. My lips moved to hers, and I kissed her with every single thing I had, until time sort of disappeared.

“This better not…” she blushed as she pulled away from me.

“What?”

“I just mean, I like what we have, and just because I’m your wife, I don’t want it to mean I can’t be—”

“You still want to be my naughty girl, don’t you?” I growled into her ear, making her gasp.

“Yes,” she whispered back, trembling against me.

“Good,” I groaned, my hands sliding over her. “Because even when you’re my wife, you’ll always be my naughty, bad little girl.”

She gasped, kissing me hungrily. And then we just kept kissing. We melted into each other, hands sliding over bodies, tongues melding together, and our breaths becoming one.

“I don’t want to wait anymore,” she moaned into my lips. “I don’t care about waiting, I just want you. I want you, and I want you to have all of me, now.”

I groaned, my cock throbbing rock hard against her as my hands slid to her ass. I ground against her, making her whimper as she felt every thick inch of my cock pulsing against her.

Suddenly, I knew what we’d do. She was right. The hell with waiting for this big elaborate wedding for me to finally claim all of her. We could do whatever we wanted. Hell, I supposed I was a prince now, after all, right? And weren’t princes doing whatever the fuck they wanted all the time?

“I have an idea,” I growled into her ear. She gasped as I whirled, my hand grabbing hers as I yanked her back though the doors and down the palace hallways.

Colette laughed as she ran after me, the sound making my heart swell up so damn big.

“Where are we going?”

We dashed around a corner and suddenly came to a screeching halt as we almost tumbled right into Queen Jessica and four very pissed looking guards who quickly surrounded her.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” she chuckled, tapping the guards on the shoulder. “This is…” She laughed. “Well, this is my nephew, actually.” She smiled at Colette and me as she stepped past her guards.

“Your Highness,” I bowed quickly, my blood roaring in my ears at what I knew I was about to do.

“Guess we’re not at ‘Aunt Jessica’ yet, are we?” She winked at me, making me chuckle. “What can I do for you, Rourke?”

“I need to know where your chapel is.”

Colette gasped next to me, making my heart swell even bigger as I reached out and took her hand.

It was time to make this princess my Queen.