The thrill of flight was like a tight, pulsing ball in Gloria’s gut, which expanded through her entire body and beyond as soon as the Reliant’s landing gear left the tarmac. Everything about the antique plane kicked ass, from the scent of old metal, oil, and electronics that filled her nostrils to the loud but distinct thrum of the engine.

“Reliants were transport and communications planes during World War II,” she explained to Mack through the headsets they both wore. He was seated behind Carl, which meant she could twist to face him, making eye contact as she spoke. “They’re American-built, but were used by both US and British airborne forces for non-combat missions. A lot like what I did flying the C-130J Hercules around the Mediterranean.”

Mack stared back at her, eyes wide, either in surprise over the knowledge she had at her fingertips or her revelation of the type of plane she’d flown, or maybe even because he wasn’t used to soaring above the world in a vehicle that felt more like a car in the air than a commercial airline.

“You flew C-130J’s?” Carl asked, though his attention was firmly on the Reliant’s controls and the vast expanse of sea and sky they were headed for.

“For three years,” Gloria said, nodding.

“Did you ever fly those fast jets that you see in all the movies?” Mack asked. “Like Top Gun?”

The old, hollow ache in Gloria’s stomach flared to life. But surprisingly, it wasn’t as sharp or gnawing as it always had been. “No.” She shook her head, then took a breath. “I applied for Number One Group, but was turned down three times.”

“Too bad,” Mack answered, the affectionate smile he wore showing that he had no idea just how hard those rejections had been for her or how she’d been eating her heart out over them.

But again, she didn’t feel the same sense of pressing defeat and sadness that she once had over those rejections. It was hard to let anything in her past get to her with the Reliant’s engine humming, sending vibrations through her that reminded her she was part of a long legacy of military pilots.

“Three times, eh?” Carl said, sending her a sympathetic sideways look. “Hard luck.”

He understood. And even though Gloria didn’t know Captain Carl Gustavson from a hole in the wall, something about his grey hair and the lines around his eyes, combined with the genuineness of his expression, gave her the sense that what she’d seen as the end of the world might just have been a bump in the road that sent her life in a different, better direction.

She sat back in her seat, staring out at the vastness of blue around her. They’d left the small island of Aegiria behind almost right off the bat and now sailed through sun-kissed skies. Just like she had the day she’d taken off in her Cessna—which wasn’t able to be recovered. Unlike that fateful day, the sea and skies filled her with a thrill of hope and promise instead of stretching around her like an unanswered question.

Maybe there was something magical in the waters of Aegiria. Maybe she’d hit her head harder than she’d thought in the crash. Or maybe the hand of fate had been at work in carrying her from what she’d thought was a crushing disappointment into a new horizon of possibility.

Mack touched her arm, shaking her out of her thoughts. His touch sent sparkles of need through her, but his expression was all business.

“Look out to the left,” he said, his voice far more electronic and distant than she wanted it to be through the headsets.

She turned to peer out the window beside her. “What am I looking at?” she asked.

The sea sparkled below them. There was just enough of a breeze to create small, choppy waves, which caught the sun. It was cliché to say the sunlight looked like diamonds, but that was far and away the best way she could think to explain it. Diamonds were awe-inspiring and full of mystery. They were valuable and beautiful. She was beginning to see that the ocean was all those things and more.

“From up here,” Mack went on, “you can see the lanes that commercial fishing boats use to reach fishing stocks.”

“Oh yeah?” She took another look. Sure enough, faint lines of ships of varying sizes made a broad line through the sparkling waters. “You said you used to work on a fishing boat.” She twisted to Mack.

He was glancing out over the sea with a wistful look. “Yeah, years ago, for an internship in college.” He pulled his eyes away from the sea to smile at her. “I wanted to go into fishing full-time.”

“I remember reading about you doing that,” Carl joined the conversation. “I always wondered why you didn’t keep at it.”

“Because I was told laboring on a fishing boat wasn’t an appropriate profession for a member of the royal family,” Mack said.

Carl’s shoulders moved and he shook his head as though making some sort of scoffing noise. Gloria couldn’t hear it over the noise of the engine, but she shared the sentiment. Her heart squeezed for him.

Mack glanced out over the boats and the water once more. “There’s a lot of pressure on the royal family,” he said. “In every country in Europe, what remains of the old royal families, the modern royals, are more figure heads and public relations ambassadors for their countries. Look at your British royals.” He turned to her.

Gloria grinned. She didn’t mind looking at Wills and Harry at all, but she didn’t think that’s what he meant, and it certainly wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

“They spend more time supporting charitable causes and standing as symbols than they do working with their hands, or even toiling in an office. And it was always going to be that way for them, from the day they were born.”

“True.” Gloria nodded.

“In Aegiria, it’s even worse, because the royal family still plays a major role in government.”

“Do you?” She hadn’t known that, and considering the way things were in the UK, it came as a huge surprise. “And the people are okay with that?”

“Sure,” Carl answered for Mack. “The royal family is conscientious in the way they look after the country and its people. We’re a small nation, and it doesn’t take much to look out for our interests.”

“And there is an elected parliament that works in tandem with the monarchy to govern,” Mack went on. “My brother Alek will inherit the crown someday, but all of us are supposed to serve as advisors and ministers.”

Gloria frowned. She glanced out at the seascape as Carl made a slight turn, then she faced Mack again. “So what are you minister of?”

“Nothing,” he answered. Judging by the look on his face, he wasn’t happy about that. “I think I mentioned my brother Arne is Minister of Culture, Kristoff and Viggo haven’t really settled down enough to take up a governmental position. I’m pretty sure Johan is just waiting for things to sort themselves out after the wedding before making a bid for some sort of cabinet position.”

“Why would he need to wait until after the wedding?” Gloria blinked, finding the inner workings of the Aegirian government fascinating. Antoine would have a thing or two to say about the whole thing if he were there having the conversation.

“There will be shifts once Mother is married,” Mack went on. “Traditionally, the monarch’s consort holds a high position in the inner circle. Aunt Marina has held the chief counselor position since my father died, but William will take over after the wedding.”

“Okay,” Gloria nodded slowly. “But that doesn’t explain why you’re not a minister of anything.”

Mack’s face pinched, and he glanced out the window. “I’m honestly not sure if I want that sort of position.”

“I find that hard to believe, based on what I know about you,” Gloria said. “Not that I know much. But I have a feeling, you know?”

Mack answered with a grateful smile. “Like I said, I wanted to be a fisherman. I love everything about the sea, about working with my hands to bring in the catch. Even though a lot of it is automated and done with high tech equipment these days. I loved the camaraderie of the ship.”

Gloria’s chest went tight. “Kind of like how I loved the fellowship of the military.”

Mack’s face lit up. “Yeah. It’s like that. You miss it so much when it’s gone.”

The two of them exchanged a look that was so thick with understanding that Gloria felt it in her bones. It stirred other, far more interesting feelings in her as well. She tried to push away the whisper that maybe there was such a thing as soulmates and love at first sight as being maudlin drivel, but the feeling stayed with her, lodged deep in her chest.

“Anyhow,” Mack went on, breaking the moment of connection with a significant look to Carl, reminding them that they weren’t alone. “I got really interested in the minutia of the fishing industry, which led me to researching a lot about the ecology of fish habitats and the way we’re damaging the environment with other commercial ventures, like deep-sea drilling, and even all the wind farms that have popped up, to a certain extent.”

“So you got interested in environmental issues?” She had to admire a man who cared about his planet.

Mack nodded. “I learned a lot from William too. Dr. Hayes,” he clarified. “Mother’s fiancé.”

“He’s an environmentalist?”

“Among other things. He knows more about the North and Baltic Seas than anyone who wasn’t born here has a right to know.”

Gloria grinned. Clearly, Mack held a lot of admiration for the man. “So back up a second.” She shook her head. “If you’re so interested in fishing and the environment and things like that, why not just become your country’s Environmental Minister, or something like that?”

“The position doesn’t exist,” Mack told her.

“Can’t you create it? You’re a prince, after all.”

She could see him sigh, even if the sound didn’t translate over the speakers. “I looked into it,” he said. “But I was shot down pretty fast.”

“Shot down?”

“I was told I wasn’t qualified, and that I needed more experience in government before I could launch an enterprise like that.”

Gloria felt Mack’s frustration with the whole thing based on the seriousness of his expression alone. “So what do you do now?”

“Not much,” he answered with an ironic twist to his mouth. “I assist Mother with administrative work, when she needs me. I’ve tried to stay on top of fishing and environmental issues as well, but something always comes up to yank my attention away from it. This wedding, for example.”

The plane made a sudden, steep turn, which cut the conversation short. Gloria straightened in her chair, facing front again. She loved the swoop in her stomach that came from a sharp turn, but it conjured up a little too much of the crash a few days before, considering how suddenly it came.

“Sorry,” Carl said with an apologetic grin, even though he kept his eyes straight ahead. “I just spotted something I wanted to get a closer look at.”

“What kind of something?” Mack asked. He’d shifted to gaze out the window at the sea below.

“Ahead a couple miles,” Carl said. “What do you think that is on the right?”

Gloria leaned forward, squinting out the front window. The sea was far less cluttered where they’d flown to. They’d gotten well away from land, shipping routes, and wind farms as she and Mack had talked. One quick check of the controls told her they’d flown northeast, well out into the Baltic and away from land.

“It’s an oil rig,” Mack answered right away, although there was a note of hesitation in his voice. “I didn’t realize there was one out here.”

“There are plenty of drilling operations in the Baltic,” Gloria said. She’d flown over more than her fair share in the last few weeks while wandering aimlessly. All the same, she pulled out her cell phone, opened the Notes app, and made a quick note of the coordinates as they flew over.

“It could be an old, abandoned rig,” Carl said, straightening out the plane’s flight path. “There are as many out of commission rigs out here as there are active ones these days, it seems.”

“That’s probably it,” Mack said. But when Gloria turned to get another look at him, his expression was pinched and thoughtful.

“What is it?” she asked.

He shook his head, loosening his shoulders and smiling again. “It’s just the fisherman in me worrying about things.” When she continued to stare, he went on with, “The thirstier we get for oil, the more the oceans suffer. There are serious concerns that some fish species could become extinct in the not-so-distant future because their habitats are being destroyed.”

“And you think the oil rigs are to blame?”

“They play a major role in the problems, yes,” he said. “When they’re not operated correctly.”

“There’s so much I don’t know.” Gloria sighed, looking ahead once more. The world was an infinitely complicated place. The more she learned, the less she felt like she knew about it.

“Time to head home,” Carl said before steering the plane in a wide arch.

Gloria spent the rest of the flight gazing out the window, taking in the beauty of the ocean. A thrill passed through her as they grew closer and closer to the vast island of Aegiria. It felt like approaching home, even though she’d only spent a few days there. The entire island had a peaceful, almost timeless feel to it. She could believe that anything was possible there.

They landed, and Carl taxied the plane back toward the hanger.

“Thanks so much,” she told both men as he cut the engine and they removed their headsets. “That was fantastic. Next time, I get to fly,” she added for Carl with a wink.

“I look forward to seeing what you can do,” he said. “Mack tells me your skills are impressive.”

She laughed. “Mack has only ever seen me crash.”

“And here you are,” Mack said. “Walking on your own power, more or less in one piece, only days after that crash.”

“I should get you to come in and talk to my pilots about what to do in an emergency situation,” Carl added.

Gloria sucked in a breath, smiling. “Honestly, I’d love to do that.”

“Really?” Carl’s smile widened. “We’ll arrange it. How long will you be here?”

Gloria glanced to Mack. That was a good question. Part of her argued that she should go home to England and get her life back on track, but another part of her whispered that the track she should be on was the one right in front of her.

“I’ll be here until I get kicked out of the palace,” she said.

Carl laughed. “We’ll be in touch, then.”

They said their goodbyes, and Mack walked her back to the parking lot and his BMW.

“It was pretty impressive watching you up there,” he said as they reached the car.

She laughed. “I wasn’t doing anything. Carl was the one showing off his skills.”

“But I could see just how much you love it. I could tell that you wanted to be in the pilot’s seat.”

“You’re right about that,” she said, tilting her head down just a bit and glancing at him through her lashes.

“There was something I kept wanting to do the whole time we were up there,” Mack went on.

“What?” she asked.

“This.”

He stepped toward her, sliding his arms around her waist and tugging her close. She gasped as their bodies made contact. It was just the encouragement Mack must have needed. He slanted his mouth over hers, kissing her with heat and purpose. His scent surrounded her, and the warmth of his body enveloped her. She closed her arms around his shoulders as he explored her mouth with his lips and tongue. He felt so right in her embrace. She instantly wanted more. The swooping feeling that tugged at her insides in all the right places was a thousand times more exciting than the thrill of flight.

“Yes, please,” she sighed when he finally leaned back a fraction.

“Really?” His expression brightened. “I thought I was taking a serious risk there.”

“It’s a risk well worth taking,” she said. “I’ve wanted to kiss you almost right from the start.”

A short, deep laugh bubbled up from his chest. “I kind of wish I’d put the moves on you earlier now.”

“Me too.”

She leaned into him, brushing his lips with hers, then opening her mouth for another searing kiss. Her body begged her to go for more as she stroked one hand over the hard muscles of his back. The uncanny sense of peace and belonging that didn’t make any sense to her narrowed its focus as they stood there in the summer afternoon heat, kissing. She wanted to be with Mack. He was the source of all the hope for the future that suddenly filled her.

“I’ve got something else to show you,” he said, breathless, his arms still around her.

Her face flooded with heat. “I bet you do.”

He laughed again. It was quickly becoming her favorite sound. She was disappointed when he pulled away from her, took her hand and led her to the passenger door of his car.

“Something besides that,” he said, holding the door for her. “But I won’t rule that out,” he added with a devilish flicker of his eyebrow.

Gloria sank into his car, her heart soaring and her body alive in so many ways. All of the questions she’d had while sailing above the sea, the fish, and the oil rigs floated out of her mind. She couldn’t wait to see where he would take her next.