I run the silky blindfold through my fingers, biting my lip at how Ella is going to react to all of this.

She’ll never have seen it coming.

Literally.

“Close your eyes,” I tell her, standing right behind her.

“They’re closed,” she says as I bring the blindfold around her face and tie it behind her eyes.

“You can’t see out?”

“Not a thing,” she says.

“Perfect.” I grab her by the shoulders and turn her around. “God, you look sexy with that on.”

She grins, her cheeks making the blindfold rise. “I told you I was up for anything.”

“Okay, now I’m going to put you in the car.”

She flinches. “Okay. Wait. I thought you had a surprise for me?”

“Yeah, but you need to get in the car, so I can take you there. Come on.” I take her hand and lead her out of the parlor room and through the front door that Einar is holding open for us. I exchange a knowing look with him and he actually smiles in return.

It’s been three months since Ella and I had our first major fight, three months since my father nearly died in front of my eyes. Three months since both Ella and I have started to carve out a bright new life for ourselves.

Even though the shit with Heidi was crazy, it served its purpose. It brought us closer together, to know that even if something that destructive is dropped on our lap, we love each other enough to navigate through it. Our marriage might be new, it might have developed under unconventional circumstances, but it’s ours to mold and to keep. We may be young, and we may make mistakes, but we’re in it all together to the very end.

As for Heidi, well the last I heard she moved up north to Trondheim after a bout of psychological treatment. I don’t ask the prime minister about her often because she’s honestly just a speck inside my brain, but when I do, it also subtly reminds him that I’m not someone to be trifled with. Not even a little.

My father pulled through and had a kidney transplant just the other week. He’s back in the hospital over that, but he’s in great spirits and we’re all hoping this means he’ll make a full recovery. I’m just fucking lucky that I was able to tell him all the things I meant to tell him.

Of course, being my father, he said he already knew how much I loved him. I’m glad I’m not that hard to read. Sometimes being an open book is a blessing.

But I’m trying not to be an open book today, not with the surprise I have planned for Ella.

I help Ella down the stairs and get her in the backseat. Ottar and Lady Jane get in as well, but they don’t say anything. The point is for her to think we’re going alone.

Only half way through the drive into Oslo, Ella starts sniffing the air.

“I smell herring.”

Oh shit.

I think she’s gotten enhanced sense from the blindness.

Jane is wide-eyed in a who me? expression even though Ella can’t see it.

“Herring and Old Spice.”

Now Jane and I are looking at Ottar. He shrugs.

“Oh wait, now I smell…what is that…bullshit and lies?” Ella reaches out for me and manages to smack my thigh. “You told me we were going somewhere alone.”

“I had a change of heart. Just don’t lift up the blindfold, you’ll spoil everything.”

“Ottar, Jane,” she says. “That’s you, right?”

Jane tries to stay quiet, shaking her head but then bursts out laughing. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I had lunch right before, even though you said not to Magnus.”

I’m running a finger across my lips, telling her to zip it.

“Why couldn’t she have lunch?” Ella asks. “Magnus, where are you taking me?”

“You know, the best part of this whole experience is the thrill of the unknown.”

“Oh my god, you’re not making me do skydiving are you, because I will murder you, I swear I will.”

“Calm down, will ya? You’re so untrusting.”

“Because I’m married to someone who probably thinks blindfolding someone and pushing them out of an airplane is a good time.”

“That’s not what’s really happening, is it?” Jane whispers.

I give her a look to shut up. “No. It’s not. Okay, how about we all sit in silence until the ride is over.”

“Agreed,” Einar says from the driver’s seat. “You people never shut up. No offense, sir.”

“None taken.” I always knew one day Einar would snap.

The silence is short-lived because before long we’re pulling up alongside Oslo’s harbor. Even though it’s April, it’s still fairly cold out and the harbor is pretty quiet, just a few tall ships and fishing boats.

I help Ella out of the car and lead her down along the cobblestones of the harbor’s edge, past the Nobel Peace Prize Museum. Seagulls cry out and whirl above our heads.

“We’re by the ocean,” she says, breathing in deep with a smile on her face. “Ahh. It smells like spring.” She pauses. “Are we going sailing?”

It’s at this point I know that I’ll have to take the blindfold off.

I glance down at the docks below us.

Right there at the end of the dock is a black inflatable-hull boat, about twenty-feet long, with rows of seats and storage compartments at the back, as well as a giant propeller motor that must weigh a ton.

“Are you ready?” I ask her, positioning her so that she’s facing the water and the boat. “Just keep in mind if you step forward any more, you’re going to tumble into the sea.”

She stiffens. “What?”

“Relax,” I tell her, slipping one arm around her waist. “I’ve got you.” With my other hand I pull loose the blindfold and it’s swept away by the breeze. Damn it. I could have used that later.

She doesn’t know where to look for a minute and then she gasps, probably because she’s on the edge about ten feet above the docks. I hold her back against me so she’s not going anywhere and wait for her to really see it.

When she does, she gasps.

“Oh my god!’

“Surprise!” I tell her, kissing her cheek. “There’s your first official boat.”

The boat has the logo of her environmental organization at the front of the ship—Ocean Crusaders. At the back of the boat, there’s the actual name of the vessel.

Princess Planet.

She bursts out laughing when she sees it. “You didn’t!”

I grin at her, so happy this is her reaction. “I did.”

She turns around to stare at me with wide, awestruck eyes. “Magnus. I can’t believe you did this.”

I’d been planning on doing it for a while. Ella just stared up her organization and while she’s knee-deep in sorting everything out and hiring people and figuring out the next plan of action, I wanted to show her how much I support her goals and her dreams. She’s out to make a difference in the world, and I’ll do everything I can to help her do that, personally and politically as well.

“I know you’re just getting it off the ground and probably won’t need a boat for a little while longer but when you do, whether you’re going to go free Willy or yell at tourists for getting too close to endangered rocks or something, this is your vessel.”

“Congratulations,” Jane says, clapping. “Now, do we get to go on it?”

I raise my hand. “I’m driving.”

“Oh, hell no,” Ottar says. “Einar should drive.”

“Actually, I’m driving,” Ella says, holding her hand out for the key.

“Is that so?” I ask while I reach into my pocket and pull it out.

“It’s my boat,” she says smartly. I place it on her hand and she snatches it up with a grin. “This will be the closest I’ll get to your adrenaline sports, Magnus, mark my words.”

We’ll see about that, I think, following her down the gangplank to the docks.

“Hey, does sex count as an adrenaline sport?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “Honestly, Magnus.”

“Yeah, honestly Magnus,” Jane adds.

I sigh.