The first thing Angelica had done that morning when she arrived, before she even went to her mother’s rooms to say good morning, was to order her things moved out of the main building to the Harem, a small palace on the far corner of the fortress which jutted out and sat suspended thousands of feet over a teal-and-turquoise lake, which served the purpose it was named for.

The Al-Andalus Palace was a massive quadrangular medieval Islamic fortress made of gigantic alabaster stones, with a rounded tower on each corner except for the one containing the Harem palace.

Sprawled over the few square miles which were reasonably plain on Aragon, it still reflected the splendor attained by the Arab independent kingdoms established in the Iberian Peninsula during the second half of the 11th century. Its main Moorish style and the few additions which were done over the centuries very much preserved.

Angelica was suddenly very glad for the Arab male habit of that period of keeping a harem and being neurotic enough to keep said harem far, far away from the main building, on the other side of the fortress.

She needed time and space. She needed to be alone—when possible. Not something very doable in a palace where she not only worked, but also lived with her family—a very informal and noisy one at that, as all Latin families were.

With Celipa’s help, she selected a few employees who would not be missed to be part of her permanent staff of trusted people.

The move didn’t require a lot on her end. As she went over her schedule and read the most urgent papers, Celipa organized a staff to pack and transfer everything.

There was not much that needed to be done. She had no furnishings to move over since she didn’t own any. Furnishings always came with the residence, although she could move them around if she really wished. All she had to do was inform the royal estates minister the pieces she wanted and ask for them to be transferred. But even as she felt tempted to take her desk, she didn’t really want to take anything with her. Sure, she would be using the furniture in the small palace, but she wanted it to be a new start in every way.

But her personal belongings and her own collection of books? Those went with her. As did her rather ominous stack of work.

The idea hadn’t pleased Anchela much, but she accepted it graciously. Maria thought the idea was fabulous and she was already getting ideas in her head to do the same.

As for Valantín, he just shrugged, but something in his eyes told Angelica they would be having a conversation very soon.

With Celipa a few steps behind, Angelica nodded to the two palace guards standing outside the entrance of the Harem, descended the three large marble steps, and crossed the tranquil courtyard garden with its fragrant orange trees already in blossom.

The loud, liquid song of a late nightingale filled the air, and the courtyard, bathed in the last rays of the setting sun, was a golden place.

Or a golden cage, depending on the point of view.

For the women who had been imprisoned in the Harem, for certain it had been a prison.

And for her…she was not sure yet.

Her gaze scanned the area. Somewhere, hidden under the rocks of the Harem riad were the secret tunnels that led to a discreet exit a few miles from the palace. She recalled her father telling her mother it was an emergency escape route in case the palace fortress was ever breached but she didn’t knew exactly where it was.

If maybe—just maybe—Ludwig came to visit, perhaps they could use the underground passage to meet. Not that she would have high hopes of that. He’s a womanizer and he’s probably already with another woman.

The image of a voluptuous woman kissing six and a half feet of a gorgeous, naked, aroused Ludwig appeared in her mind. The picture hung there, bold as the lamps illuminating her path to the main palace and it twisted her insides into knots and made her want to kill someone.

I’m not jealous. She tried to convince herself of that, but as new images of other sexual positions appeared, him making love to a faceless woman, saying dirty words in her ear, she failed.

She stopped dead in her tracks. She was not simply jealous, she was madly so.

He had been an amazing lover, and even more so, exquisite to explore. The hot texture of his flesh, the size of his cock; the feel of him amazed her. Just thinking about it made her blush furiously in embarrassment and desire.

Stop that, Angelica. You have more serious problems to—

“Are you coming, or do I need to find an American to lasso you?”

Angelica’s head snapped up. Maria was waving frantically at her from the side entrance of the main building. Where does she get these ideas? “I don’t think they all know how to lasso, Hermanita.”

“I don’t care. I’ll find one to lasso myself.” As soon as Angelica stepped inside the palace, Maria pulled her into an empty room, closing the door in Celipa’s face. “Now, let’s talk.”

When their mother said the same phrase it filled Angelica with a sense of dread. She was always scrambling, asking herself what she’d done wrong that time. But with Maria, it was different. She knew only that they would discuss things she couldn’t normally share with anyone else.

“I want to hear everything.”

The girl is incorrigible. “It was…interesting.”

“Oh, please. If it was just interesting, you wouldn’t have stayed for a week there.” Unlike their more soft-spoken, diplomatic brother, Maria Quitéria was straight-ahead, flinty and opinionated like nobody she knew. “Among other things.”

“Hmm.” Amused, Maria Quitéria sat on the arm of a wide armchair.

There were probably several things she shouldn’t share with her easily impressionable young sister, but she needed to tell someone and Maria was her best friend. Angelica recalled the night of the Romani wedding and the absolute magic that had seemed to fill the air. And she couldn’t help the dreamy smile that opened on her face. “It was amazing.”

“Excellent.” Maria almost squealed, her dark eyes filled with wonder and contentment. “When will you see him again?”

“I probably won’t.”

“Oh.” Maria blinked, disappointed. “How very modern.”

“But that’s the reason I chose him. I knew I could have a lovely tryst with him, and then I wouldn’t have to see him again.”

“Really.” Maria looked up at her in startled amazement. “What were you thinking?”

Angelica sighed and leaned back on the sofa, looking up at the intricate work on the wooden ceiling. “That I wanted a moment of fun and freedom, that’s what.”

“Well, you certainly had that. Are you afraid of being pregnant?”

“Of course not. I’m on birth control.” She expected that sort of reaction from the men in her life, like her brother, but not her sister.

“When will you see him again?”

“I’ve answered that question already.” She didn’t mean for it to come out so brash and she added, “You need to understand something, Hermanita. He’s a ladies’ man.”

“Who might have fallen for you just as much as you fell for him.”

What? “I didn’t fall for him.” Angelica laughed. “Besides, he’s a businessman whose life is in a different country.”

Maria’s face folded in a frown and her shoulders slumped. “But if it is meant to be, it will work itself out.”

“No, Maria, it won’t. I am a princess of a country that needs me. He’s a man who deeply adores his own. It’s one of the things I—” She almost said a word she wasn’t ready to utter. Never. She never wanted to utter that simple word. “It’s easy to respect the man for it. But at the end of the day, we have two very different lives and we will remain separate.”

“But…”

“It’ll remain as it is.” Angelica shook her head. “A lovely vacation that has no place in reality.”

She didn’t want to admit to herself just how much that hurt.

After dinner, Valantín, Maria, and Anchela lounged along with Angelica in what they called the family parlor. The first floor was mostly from the renaissance period, with its much more familiar European style and a mix of formal portraits hanging on the walls and family photos on the grand-piano.

Logs snapped and flamed in the big stone fireplace. Sancha, Anchela’s Shetland sheepdog curled in front of it and Angelica sat next to her with the sheepdog’s puppies.

They were sitting around as they might have sat, talked, and sipped wine on any other evening.

But it was not another normal evening. Her brother and her mother looked less strained than they did when she had entered the palace, but they were still stealing side glances at her.

She’d been gone only a few days, but it felt like a welcome homecoming and at the same time like a melancholy end to something that hadn’t lasted nearly long enough.

Leaving Ludwig there, sleeping between the tangled sheets, gloriously naked, was the hardest thing Angelica had ever done.

Her country needed her. She could not have ignored it any longer. Calling on the hard resolution that had once come so naturally like air to her lungs, she had re-gathered her things, and walked out the door, leaving Ludwig and her freedom behind.

She didn’t know if she would ever see him again. With her schedule, it was unlikely to happen soon. She certainly wouldn’t have any time to entertain him. Not the way he needed.

One puppy nosed her hand wanting her to continue to scratch behind his ears. Cute little things, demanding attention and care, demanding love.

And that she could give them. A simple thing, an ordinary thing, and something that reminded her she’d never imagined how kids with Abelardo would’ve been. But she could see Ludwig’s children—not with her, of course—a boy and a girl with his electric blue eyes and the same white-blond hair he had when he was a kid.

“I’m going to walk this very busy mom and put these always hungry babies to rest.” Valantín laid a hand over Anchela’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly. “Angelica, why don’t you give me a hand getting them setup?”

“Ah…sure.”

She settled the puppy she’d been coddling next to its siblings and followed her brother into the kitchen.

But instead of putting the collar and leash on Sancha, Valantín leaned against the kitchen counter, crossing his arms over his chest. “I want a minute with you.”

“I figured.” She guessed he’d want to talk to her and for her to look up at his face. That was a thing he would do, demanding her explicit attention, especially when he felt she’s erred in some way. This time would be about Ludwig. She really didn’t know if that was his intention, but it certainly felt like that, so she continued to look down at her hands. “I’m fine, Valantín. I’m old enough to make grown-up decisions without consulting my big brother, so—”

“Just stop.”

She stopped and sighed. Resigned, she looked at him expectantly, but ready to resume at any second.

“We’re all being very careful to talk about…what happened these last few days. And that’s fine, but now it’s just you and me. And for the sake of our country, I need to know where you stand. What’s going on with you, Angelica?”

“Nothing.” She’d gone to a wedding and took a few days off. If she spent time with a man while she was away, that was her business. “I’m here, I’ve been briefed on recent activity, and I’m working on a plan to help raise the morale and confidence of those who support us, while at the same time, proving that our detractors are wrong about us.”

“I’m glad to hear all that because it sounds like just what you should be doing right now. But—”

“But nothing. I had a few days away. It was fun. Now it’s over. And I’m doing what I should be doing. So, nothing about my brief experiment with freedom needs to be discussed.”

A knock at the door interrupted whatever Valantín was going to say.

“Go away,” he commanded. Then feeling that was rude, he added, “I need a moment alone with my little sister.” He looked at Angelica as he spoke the last words, reminding her of his seniority. To his disbelief, the door swung up and he was about to return to rudeness as the more effective approach.

“Then I better come in, since I’m your little sister,” Maria said, as she entered the room and smiled up at him.

“I was talking about my other little sister,” he said, trying to sound stern and serious.

“But you didn’t specify. Besides, I want to talk to Angelica, too.”

Valantín gave up. “Fine. You two talk then.” He looked at Angelica. “We’ll finish this later. I’ll take Sancha out by myself.”

When Valantín left the room, Angelica sat down on the chair. “Phew. Thanks for that.”

“I’ll put it down on your account.” Maria winked at Angelica mischievously. “Besides, it’s always a pleasure to goad Valantín.”