I’m out of place in the palace. It’s not like the little gardener’s cottage is my home or anything, but it seems a lot more comfortable than trying to find any comfort in the stuffy palace.

The truth is, I’m out of place in this country. I’ve probably worn a path on the floor of the cottage as I paced this afternoon to come up with that brilliant conclusion.

Andrew will be here soon. If I’m sure of anything, it’s that he’ll know where to find me once his meeting is over.

And then what? I’ve gone over every possible response he’ll have to me trying to do what was right for his country. He’ll argue with me—he’ll tell me we don’t have to give up. That we’ll figure out a way to work this out.

But the only outcome for that choice is war.

He might have come to his senses during the meeting with that asshole, King Max. Maybe he’ll come here and tell me I was right. That the only way through this is for us to part ways.

Not going to happen.

The only outcome I can come up with where this works out for the two of us—the only thing I can hope for—is that somehow, some way, Andrew and King Max have come up with some sort of compromise.

But that seems even less likely than Andrew changing his mind about our engagement.

I pace for what seems like forever before the door finally opens. Andrew doesn’t even knock—he walks in and sits down in the living room of the small house without saying a word, placing his head in his hands.

I turn to him with a frown. “I take it the meeting didn’t go the way you hoped?”

He shakes his head, not lifting it from his palms. “It hasn’t concluded. We’ve reached no agreement. No compromise. No understanding.”

“It doesn’t seem like King Maximilian has any of those words in his vocabulary. You can’t really be surprised.”

“I’m not. That is the problem.” He finally lifts his head from his hands, turning his gaze to mine. “You shouldn’t have spoken during the meeting. If the topic of a marriage to Justine hadn’t come up—”

“Then he would have brought it up. You can’t really believe that I was the one who gave him that idea, can you? He’d been talking about how you had humiliated her the entire time I was in there. It was only a matter of time before he made the offer to you.”

“I still believe I can come up with a solution that will be fair for us all. And that includes you, Victoria.” He pats the seat next to him, inviting me to sit.

But I stay where I am. “I wish you would just own this, Andrew. It isn’t as though we didn’t both see it coming. There’s no way out. There’s nothing else for us to do.”

“You could stay in Montovia. Just as we had discussed before. I’ll make sure you have a fine home in the city. A job of your choosing. And I will see you as often as I am able. It will be difficult, yes, but we can make it work—”

“Andrew.” My voice is a little sharper than I had intended. “I think I’ve already told you—in this very cottage, no less—that I will not be your mistress. I don’t care if your wife approves or even encourages it.” I let out a long breath. “You know, I spent the afternoon thinking I wasn’t good enough for you. But the truth is, I’m too good for this. I deserve more.”

His head drops into his hands again.

I take a few steps closer to him. “Look, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this. I know you have, too. I know we would both love for this to work out, but I think we both need to admit that sometimes…things just don’t. Sometimes, no matter how much you want something, it just isn’t meant to be. What you have going on in your life is so much bigger than the two of us. There’s just no way—”

“There is always a way, Victoria.” He lifts his gaze to mine again. “Always.”

I shake my head. “Not this time. This time, you have to suck it up and do what you were born to do. You have to do what you’ve been telling me since I met you is your one and true responsibility. You have to do what’s right for Montovia. And in this case, the only thing you can do to fix this is to marry Justine.”

“I refuse to accept that, as I’ve already stated on too many occasions for me to count. And even if I did accept it, it’s not as though she would have me now. It’s not as though I can undo the damage I’ve already caused her.”

I nod. “You’ll have to make it up to her. And you’ll have to do it on a grand scale—something huge and probably on a national stage. She still might not forgive you, Andrew. She might never forgive you. But she will marry you. She’s just like you—she’ll do what’s right for her country.”

“Will you stay, then? Will you stay and assist me?” The hopeful look in his eyes makes the knife in my heart twist on itself.

“Please don’t ask me to do that, Andrew. I…I don’t want to have to refuse you. And I can’t imagine being a part of it—not like this.”

“I…I know.” His frown deepens and he gives his head another shake. “I’m a desperate man, Victoria. I…I can’t let you go. Not yet.”

“Andrew.” My eyes squeeze shut for a moment before I look back over at him. “We need to end this. I know it hurts—my pain is at least as bad as yours. I wish you would see that. I wish you could feel how much it’s killing me right now—I can only imagine it’s at least as bad for you. But I can’t keep doing this to myself.”

“I need…” He rakes a hand through his hair. His eyes are wild now, darting around the room, almost in desperation. “I need one more night with you. Agree to that, at the very least.”

“No.” I shake my head. “Believe me, Andrew, I would love nothing more than for you to hold me one last time. To be with you one last time—”

“Then we should be together one more time, Victoria. We owe it to ourselves to have one last night together.”

“To what end, though? It’s going to hurt just as much if I leave now as it will if I leave in the morning. And honestly, it’s probably going to hurt me more. I can’t do that to myself, Andrew. I can’t keep doing any of this to myself—especially these one last time things. I’m worth more.”

He nods before he finally stands up, fishing around in his pants pocket. “It’s true. You are worth more. You’re worth the world to me, Victoria. More than the world. And I would give up everything to be with you. Everything I have, everything I am…” He pulls his clasped hand out of his pocket. It’s pretty obvious he’s holding something in his palm as his hand extends in front of him. “I love you. More than words can express. But I think this will help to show you exactly how I feel.”

He walks toward me, pulling my hand into his before he slips the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen over my finger.

My breath hitches in my chest and all I can do is shake my head for a few moments as I stare down at the thing. The stone—I think it’s a pearl—changes color with even the slightest movement and it’s difficult to look away from it.

“It was my great-grandmother’s. It… I knew it was for you. The moment you accepted my proposal this morning, I could think of no other ring I wanted you to wear. No other symbol of my undying love for you—”

I stare at the ring, almost mesmerized by its beauty. But after a few moments, I’m able to snap myself out of my trance, lifting my gaze to his as I pull my hand. I slide the ring off my finger and place it back in his hand, closing his fingers around it. “I can’t, Andrew.”

“But you can. You must.” His breaths are shallow, almost ragged. “Even…even if we don’t marry, I want you to have it. I want you to wear it always as a symbol of my love for you.”

“No.” I shake my head again as I take a few steps back, pulling away from him. “I can’t, Andrew. And it isn’t fair for you to ask me. You really… You really want me to wear your ring…forever? So that I can’t be with anyone else, is that it?”

“Victoria, how can you even think of being with someone else? We’ve just been engaged. I realize this is complicated and that things are not going the way we expected. But I’m not going to suddenly forget you, just because I’ve been forced into a corner. I don’t understand how you—”

“The double standard. That’s what this is—and you are completely blind to it. Still. After all this time. You will be with Justine. You will have babies with her. You will be sharing a bed with her for the rest of your life. But you want me to wait? For what? When exactly will it be my turn, Andrew? After your first child is born? Your second? You think you want this thing with me now, but what happens when…?” My voice cracks as tears fill my eyes.

Andrew’s eyes are shining, too, but I doubt he would ever admit they are filled with tears of his own. “What happens when what, Victoria?”

A single tear slides down my cheek and I swipe at it with the back of my wrist. “What happens when you realize you love her?”