When I see myself in a big, white dress, I almost don’t recognize the girl in the mirror.

“I look really good,” I say, genuinely surprised.

Britta laughs. “I know. It’s almost hard to believe.”

I give her a look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, you know. You’re just a commoner, and yet now you look like a princess.” She lifts and gently drops my veil. “You look gorgeous.

I smile at her and shake my head. Britta was not happy when she found out about my arrangement with Nolan. Actually, she straight up freaked out, accused me of some pretty awful things. But a couple days later, she came and apologized to me, and we worked it out.

I don’t think she’s happy about the situation, but she’s at least accepting it and still willing to be my friend. I mean, I’m going to be a member of the family that she practically worships, so I guess she’s probably being a little self-serving, but still. It’s nice to have my friend back.

Especially on a day like today.

“I thought this would be a bigger deal,” I say to her.

“No, not here in Polovia,” she answers. “The royal weddings are always tiny and closed to the public. Only the castle staff and the family are present.”

“Why the castle staff?”

She shrugs. “It’s an old tradition. Story goes that there was once an unpopular king marrying his third wife. He was afraid the people would revolt, but he invited the castle peasants to the wedding, and that helped to win them over. Now it’s something of a tradition.”

I smile and nod. There’s always some ancient explanation for things here. And I can’t help but notice that she called those people “castle peasants,” although I don’t point that out.

There’s a knock at the door and my steward opens it. “Nearly ready?” Thomas asks.

“Yes,” I say to him, turning toward the door. “How do I look?”

He doesn’t even smile. He never does. “Perfect, princess.”

I grin at Britta and she gives me a look. Thomas pushes open the door and gestures for me to follow. “Right this way.”

“Good luck,” Britta says, kissing my cheek. “I’ll be nearby.”

I take a deep breath. “Thanks. It’s going to go great.”

She nods and I go to follow Thomas. But I get about three steps before I stumble over the train of my dress, nearly ripping it.

Thomas and Britta both help me. “I’m okay!” I say, shaking my head. “Just nerves, that’s all.”

Thomas frowns at me and looks like he wants to say something very judgmental, although he always looks like that. He snaps his finger and a female steward comes in. She lifts up the train of my dress.

“Thank you,” I say to her, and we all file out after Thomas. He leads the way through the side hallways and toward the castle chapel.

I didn’t know there was going to be a ceremony, but I should have guessed. This is the royal family, after all. Especially in a conservative nation like Polovia, they have to follow traditions, and a marriage ceremony is as traditional as it gets.

This is not how I pictured my wedding day. I woke up this morning after having a dream about Nolan. In it, he went down on me again, but this time I was sitting on the throne in front of the entire nation. I was so embarrassed, but I still kind of liked it.

I was flushed when I woke up. That was when Nolan burst into my bedroom, told me that we were doing the ceremony in a few hours, and told me to get my butt out of bed or else. I was way too frazzled from my dream to do anything but obey him.

Fortunately, they let me invite Britta to help me out. I don’t know what I would have done without her. I’m practically barely staying on my feet at this point from sheer nervousness, but she’s been there with me the whole morning, helping me get ready, trying to keep me calm. I don’t know why Britta decided to help me out, but I’m so happy that she did. She changed my life in so many different ways.

I follow Thomas and we stop just outside of the chapel doors. The female steward stays a couple of feet behind me, and I want to make some joke to her, mostly because I’m so nervous, but I know it won’t go over. I’ve never seen a steward smile, much less laugh. The female stewards are even meaner than the males, if that’s even possible. There are fewer female stewards, and I guess they feel like they have to work twice as hard to compete with the men, which is pretty much true in a nation like Polovia, where gender roles are rigidly defined.

We stand there for a moment, and I have no clue what we’re waiting for. After what feels like an eternity, Thomas lifts up a cane with an eagle’s head at the top and bangs it against the large wooden door. The noise echoes through the stone hall and I feel like it vibrates my very bones.

Slowly, the doors open. My heart is beating so fast I can’t hear anything else but its slamming as Thomas takes a few steps forward into the room.

I follow him, head buzzing. It’s a fairly large chapel, and the whole castle is there. It’s a few hundred people, everyone dressed in their finest clothing. Lords and Ladies mingle with the common staffers, which is nice, but I’m scared shitless so it doesn’t matter to me who sits where in this moment.

As we walk forward, I spot Nolan standing up near the altar. The priest is there in his vestments, and the king and queen are sitting on their thrones off to the side. As we approach, the king stands and walks directly toward us.

Thomas stops and steps aside, bowing slightly, as the king walks directly to me.

“Who comes here, dressed in white?” the king says in his booming, deep voice. He looks a lot like Nolan, and I realize suddenly that this is the first time I’ve seen him in person.

The whole room is staring at me, and I have no clue what to say, when suddenly I hear the female steward behind me whisper.

“A princess, looking for her prince.”

I take a breath and repeat that phrase. “A princess, looking for her prince.”

The hall is silent for a second, hanging on bated breath. The king appraises me and finally smiles very slightly.

“Come then, princess, in good health and good character. Enter into our family with my blessing and the blessing of the house of Leitner, may it continue ever into eternity.”

With that, the king turns and walks back to his seat. Once he’s seated, Thomas steps back in front of me and we walk up to the altar.

Nolan grins at me as I stand in front of him. “Good job,” he whispers to me.

“Thanks,” I say, but the priest gives me a dirty look and begins the ceremony in Polovian.

It’s a short and simple ceremony. I don’t know what they’re saying, but we exchange rings, and eventually Nolan kisses me, a chaste and appropriate kiss compared to the other kisses we’ve shared. When that’s done, we turn and the crowd cheers as we walk back down the aisle.

Once back out in the hallway, Nolan pulls me against him. “You did great,” he says, grinning his head off.

“I feel like I’m going to pass out,” I admit. “Why didn’t you warn me about this?”

“I didn’t want you to worry. I made sure that they did the bare minimum to make this legit.”

“Still.” I sigh, shaking my head. “That was one hell of a surprise.”

He just shrugs, a smirk on his face. “What did you think of it?”

“It was nice and simple. Plus, I didn’t understand a word of it.”

“The part with my father, that’s the first time that was said in English.”

“Really?” I ask, a little surprised.

“Really. He wasn’t too happy when they told him he had to do it in your language.” Nolan laughs and pulls me against him. “Too fucking bad, I said.” He kisses me more deeply, the sort of kiss I’m used to from him.

We break apart as the crowd begins to filter out of the chapel. I stand beside Nolan as we greet people, shaking hands and smiling. He introduces me to practically everyone, and very quickly one person blends into another. I don’t remember a single name that he told me. At one point, I know I saw Britta, and we exchanged a quick hello before she got ushered away.

After that, we’re lead into the main great room. Tables are lined up, heaped high with food and drink, and I recognize this part of the wedding. Like every wedding, this is the fun part.

Nolan and I have the seats of honor at the head of the table on a little raised platform. I actually liked it up there, because fewer people can accost us. Mostly Nolan talks about those present, goes into detail about the very complicated family I just married into. He talks about the feuds, the betrayals, the friendships, and the enemies.

“Mostly, we want to kill each other,” he says to me, filling my wine glass again. “Been that way forever.”

“Isn’t that most royal families?” I ask.

“Sure,” he admits. “At least in the middle ages it was. Modern royal families aren’t like ours, though.”

“How so?” I ask.

“Ours still plays political games. Most royals live in countries that aren’t actual monarchies anymore. They don’t have real power. But here, my family has all the control, and people are constantly jockeying for position around my father.”

I glance over to where the king and queen are seated, directly in the center of the table. People are constantly coming up to them, speaking into their ears. The king looks miserable, but the queen smiles and laughs and says hello to everyone that comes up to them.

“It must have been hard to grow up in a family like that,” I say.

“It was,” he admits. “But they mostly sheltered us as kids. I didn’t see all the bloodshed until I got older.”

“Is that why you left?” I ask him, treading carefully.

“Yes,” he says slowly. “That and my relationship with my father drove me away. I didn’t want to play the games or to become the man my father so desperately wanted me to become. I wanted to be my own person. And so I had to leave if that was going to happen.”

“And did it?” I ask him softly.

He smirks at me, tips my chin up toward him, and kisses me softly. “What do you think?” he asks.

Before I can answer, the band starts playing, and people move over onto the dance floor. Nolan turns to watch, a smile on his face. I have to admit, I like that smile. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile like that, so happy and carefree. He’s usually so much more guarded and secretive, but right now, I feel like he’s being himself without any hesitation. It’s the most attractive I think he’s ever been to me.

I lean back and watch the festivities with him. I don’t know what most of the people around me are saying, and there are some customs that I don’t understand. For example, some stewards are walking around with enormous goblets, and people keep dropping pennies into it.

“What is that?” I ask Nolan at some point.

“They’re collecting good wishes for us,” he answers. “Each penny is a wish, and the more you collect, the happier you’ll be. Or some shit like that.” He grins and sips his drink.

There are other things that I don’t recognize. Some of the food is traditional Polovian, and although delicious, it’s not something I normally see. There’s another tradition where the men keep tying blue ribbons around women’s arms and pulling them onto the dance floor, but when I asked Nolan about that one, he just grinned at me and didn’t respond.

The evening quickly progresses, and it’s almost overwhelming, but I have to admit that I’m having a good time. I haven’t had actual, simple fun since the night Nolan took me to the party with his other noble friends. I spot Ryan, Scotty, and Jessie in the crowd, but only Jessie stops by to say hello, and only very briefly. I wish she would stay and talk to me and act friendly like she did when we first met, but tonight she’s a little more reserved, which confuses me.

Slowly though, I start to see the shape of the room. It all circles around the king and the queen, with the queen acting as the conduit between people and her husband. People jockey to be close to him, to speak to him, and to win his favor. But beyond that, there are other little fights happening all over, and although I don’t understand most of it, I feel like I’m slowly starting to get what people mean when they talk about court politics.

By the time I finish my second glass of wine, it’s late, and some of the guests are starting to filter out. I didn’t even notice that it somehow went from early evening to after midnight. It felt like it passed in the blink of an eye, and I feel like I wish I had more time to sit here and try and figure out what the heck I’ve gotten myself into.

But before I can worry too much about it, Nolan leans over and whispers in my ear. “There’s one more tradition, princess, and I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

I look at him with a slight frown. “What is it?” I ask him.

“You’ll see.” He pulls back and grins then stands up. He raises his hands in the air and suddenly the stewards lining the walls begin to loudly ring bells. The band stops playing and everyone stops what they’re doing, including the king and the queen, although the king looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here.

Slowly, the party stops moving, and all eyes are locked on Nolan. He grins down at me and lowers his hands. He starts to speak in Polovian, but the gist is basically he’s thanking everyone for coming, or at least that’s what I think.

Then he mentions my name and holds out his hand. I take it and stand next to him. The whole room applauds.

“They’re cheering for you, princess,” he says. “Now here comes the part you’re going to love.”

Suddenly he reaches back and literally sweeps me off my feet. The crowd goes wild as he heaves me into his arms, carrying me without any issue at all. I wrap my arms around his neck, eyes wide.

“Warn me next time,” I hiss to him.

“More fun this way,” he says, laughing as he carries me across the room.

The men begin to chant something in Polovian, which I don’t understand. The women with ribbons tied to their arms remove the ribbons, ball them up, and throw them at us. Most of the ribbons drop harmlessly to the floor in cascades of blue velvet, but some of them land on my body, making the whole crowd cheer the women who threw the ribbons.

I’m laughing as we cross the room and finally make it out of the main banquet hall. Nolan puts me down on my feet and collects the ribbons that fell on my body.

“Good luck,” he says, handing them to me.

I take the ribbons from him. “What were they saying?” I ask.

He grins and takes my hand, dragging me back toward our room. He’s walking fast, so I have to hurry to keep up.

“They were chanting an old Polovian thing, something everyone does at every wedding,” he says.

“But what was it?”

We reach the door to our rooms and he pulls me against him. “You sure you want to know?”

“Yes,” I whisper back.

“They were telling me to bring you back to my room and fuck you until you’re pregnant.”

I stare up at him, my eyes wide. “Really?”

“Yes,” he says, and leans closer to me. “And I hate to disappoint the people.”

A thrill runs down my spine as he pulls me tighter against him and kisses me full and deep.