James knew as soon as he opened Theo’s door that he was too late.

All the drawers were open and empty. The wardrobe stood gaping with naked hangers dangling from the rail. There was a solitary, almost empty, shower gel bottle discarded in the bottom of the bath.

Curled up in the centre on the four-poster bed was an extremely small-looking Bertie. He lifted his head as James came over to him, giving his tail a small wag. “Where did he go?” James asked the dog softly, scratching his head. A lump rose in James’s throat and his eyes burned.

How could things have gone so wrong so quickly? He had swung from such hope to such despair in a matter of half an hour.

Something glinted in the lamplight on the other side of the bed. James rubbed his eyes and walked around to investigate.

It was one of Theo’s crystal Converse trainers.

The lonely shoe was the final straw. James broke down, allowing the tears he’d been holding in to fall as he bent over and gingerly picked up the Converse, cradling it to his chest. Had Theo left it by accident? Or did he truly not care enough that he’d just not bothered to pick it up?

It had only been a few hours ago Theo had held the same shoe on the floor here with reverence. James had thought he’d loved them. Maybe he was wrong.

He just couldn’t work it out. He was sure Theo had said those things to his stepfather to try and hide their relationship and keep it from getting into the newspapers. But why would he still be so upset with James? Why had he fled the castle?

James had no doubt he had gone. He knew they had agreed that after tonight they would probably have to say goodbye. But not before morning. And not when James was going to beg Theo to do everything they could to keep seeing each other.

James was also seriously considering coming out, consequences be damned. He essentially had after all those people at the ball had heard him say ‘I love him!’ just now. But if Klara could do it, so could he. He had never even had the chance to tell Theo this, though. Had James done something wrong? Was there something he was missing here?

“What happened?”

He turned to see his sister at the door, Klara right behind her. They ran into the room on their heels, both taking in the dishevelled state of it.

“This is Theo’s bedroom?” Klara asked.

James sat heavily on the bed and wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand, the Converse still gripped in his other hand. He was so grateful to them both for coming after him and also accepting his declaration of love about Theo without pause. But it didn’t look like it meant much now. Bertie came and laid his head on James’s thigh.

“It was Theo’s room,” James said, stroking Bertie’s fur sadly. “I think I’m too late.”

Klara huffed, rolling her eyes and dropping to sit on the bed beside James, making the mattress jump. “This is not Romeo and Juliet,” she said, shaking her head. “He is not dead. So you are not too late.”

“Klara’s right,” Livy agreed, seating herself on the other side of Bertie on the bed and fixing James with a determined look. “Where would he have gone?”

James took a shaky breath and turned the sparkling shoe over in his hands. “Home?” he said. “I guess. Back to Essex. Maybe he’s getting the train.”

“Pardon me, Your Highnesses.” The three of them looked up to see Quintin standing in the doorway, his hands behind his back.

“Is everything all right, Quintin?” James asked. He felt awful that he had run out of the fundraiser. But he hoped his mother could man the fort in his and the princesses’ absence. If he was being brutally honest, he felt it was the least she could do for him right now.

Quintin inclined his head, which probably meant things were not okay. “Mr Patel has been in touch to say that he is currently delivering Mr Glass and Mrs Smith back to their home in Essex.” He licked his lips and took a breath. That was the closest Bodiam’s butler got to distressed. “Mr Patel was under the impression that Mr Glass was deeply troubled and thought you might like to know.”

“Oh, he wasn’t right, that boy Theo,” Peggy said, appearing at Quintin’s elbow. James wasn’t even surprised. When would he learn that he wasn’t alone in this? “What did you do, Jimmy?” she asked, the accusation clear in her voice. He knew he was in trouble when she called him Jimmy.

“I don’t know,” James cried miserably to all the people and the dog looking back at him. “I honestly don’t. Klara and I spoke,” he said, squeezing his new friend’s hand. “I was going to ask him to stay. Beg him. I…I hoped we could continue to see one another. To commit to a relationship and even, maybe…” he swallowed. If he couldn’t do it now, he might never manage it. “To come out,” he admitted. “I…I want Theo to be my boyfriend. But now he’s gone.”

Peggy scoffed. “Didn’t you track him down once already?” she replied. “You know where he lives. If it didn’t bother you to drive over there last time, why would it now?”

“He has my driver,” James replied automatically.

Peggy laughed. “There are other cars in the world,” she said pointedly.

James bit his lip. Of course she was right. But… “What if he doesn’t want to see me?”

“Then you leave again,” Livy said. “But you’ll at least have a chance to ask him why he left, why he’s so upset. Right? At the moment, you don’t know what’s going on.”

James nodded. If there was anything he could do to try and make this right, he would do it. It was imperative that Theo understood James was willing to do whatever it took to keep him by his side.

If that was what Theo wanted.

If not…James would have to let him go.

“You think I should go to him,” James asked his friends. “Now?”

Livy sighed. “Have you never watched a movie ever? Yes!” she cried. “You need to go make a big romantic gesture and win your man back!”

“What about security?” James asked. “I’ll never make it past Dave.” He didn’t really want an audience for this.

A smile twitched at Quintin’s mouth. “I shall find an appropriate way to distract Mr Mills, Sir.” James didn’t want to know.

James bit his lip and looked down at Bertie. His ears had perked up and his tail was wagging so hard it was batting Livy’s arm. He seemed to think this was a good plan.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” James said slowly. He brought his gaze up to meet his sister’s. Then he glanced at Klara, Quintin and Peggy. They all wore hopeful expressions. “He’s already rejected me once. If…if he does it again, well, I’ll just know for sure. But he might not. We could still save this.”

“Exactly,” said Klara, bouncing on the bed, her sapphire eyes sparkling in the lamplight. “You must be true to your heart, James. For England!” She emphasised her point by punching his arm. For someone so delicate looking, she packed quite a wallop.

James couldn’t help but laugh as he rubbed his arm. Because as terrified as he was, he was also happy. By committing to this, by going to Theo and declaring his love and his desperate desire to stay together, he knew he was making a choice to change the trajectory of the Royal Family forever. This could have global consequences.

And James was going to do it anyway.

Because Theo was worth it.

Also, the global consequences didn’t necessarily have to be bad. It could potentially improve the lives of LGBT people all over the world. Maybe some countries might even relax their homophobic laws. James could only hope.

He felt wobbly with so many emotions, but the grin had settled onto his face and wasn’t leaving any time soon.

“All right,” he said with a nod. Bertie jumped to his feet. “I need to get to Essex. Fast. Whose driver can I commandeer?” He would drive himself if he could get a hold of a car he was insured for. But it would probably be quicker to get someone to chauffeur him at this stage. As glad as he was that Manjeet was looking after Theo at this moment, James also needed someone he could trust.

Peggy laughed, already pulling a set of keys out of her pocket. “Come on, trouble,” she said. “You need someone willing to push the speed limits as far as possible.”

James blinked at her. “Are you volunteering to drive me?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yes,” she said. “Why, you got a better offer? I’ve never had a point on my licence, I’ll have you know.”

James held up his hands in defence. “No, no, it’s not that at all,” he assured her. “It’s just…well, don’t you drive a tiny old Mini?”

Quintin sighed. “She does, Your Highness,” he said. “One with a Union Jack painted on the roof.”

Peggy grinned. “Subtlety never was my strong suit, Sir.”

For half a second, James wondered what on earth the optics of him squeezing himself into a car like that would look like if the press even got a sniff of it. Then he realised they were way beyond that.

“The hour for subtlety is over,” James declared, getting to his feet. He looked at Livy. “It’s time for that big romantic gesture.”

Peggy cheered, Klara clapped, Bertie chased his tail around once and barked, and Quintin nodded. That was as excited as he got. James found himself pulled into a hug by his sister.

“I’m proud of you,” Livy said, making the lump in James’s throat feel even bigger. She leaned back and looked at him. “He’d be a fool to let you go.”

James shook his head. “I was the fool to ever even think about letting him go.”

Livy beamed at him. “It sounds like you idiots belong together, in that case.”

James kissed her cheek and squeezed her tightly.

He couldn’t agree more.