I was queen of Illéa and no one was more powerful than me. Except for my parents, apparently.

"Eadlyn, we said no," Mom insisted as I stood in their bedroom the night of my engagement. Dad was apparently grabbing some things from the study to look over and give the final seal of approval on before passing them off to me but Mom was getting ready for bed, meaning that I had her cornered.

"But I know for a fact that you and Dad did it!" I argued.

Mom frowned and paused in the activity of brushing her hair. "Who told you?"

"General Leger," I answered triumphantly. While it had been awkward to ask General Leger about whether or not my parents slept together when they were engaged, I needed to do it to build my case.

It was around midnight and everything was finally dying down in the palace. Eikko and I had a few interviews with reporters and then went through any marathon photo shoot with various combinations of the two of us and my family and friends. I even managed to rope Lady Brice – Aunt Brice – into a picture with my dad. I was able to eat the fastest dinner on record, consisting of a piece of celebratory cake and a few carrots, washed down by a glass of champagne. It was well past ten o'clock when everything slowed down long enough for Eikko and I to scratch our heads and ask ourselves the question, "What now?"

"I guess we go up to my room and get some sleep," I said to him. "We're going to have a long day tomorrow."

Dad, who had been walking a few paces ahead of us with an arm around Mom, stopped and turned to face us. "You will both get a full night of rest in your respective bedrooms," he said forcefully.

"What?" I snapped. It had only been hours ago when Daddy told me to marry Eikko and trust my heart and break the rules and on and on. Now he was trying to put restrictions on my love life?

"It's nonnegotiable, Eadlyn. Say goodnight here." With that he turned and continued walking up the steps to the third floor. I looked to Mom but she simply shook her head, following Dad upstairs.

My face flushed with embarrassment and I suddenly had a hard time maintaining eye contact with Eikko. "I'm sorry about that," I mumbled.

He smiled and put his hand on my face. "We'll have the rest of our lives to sleep in the same bed. If it means respecting your parents, I can make some sacrifices." We said goodnight there with the agreement that we were going to have a proper date at some point over the next couple days.

After getting myself ready for bed though, I realized that I was restless. I couldn't help but wonder if Dad was being just a little hypocritical in this decision. After all, they got engaged at my age and had no parents in the palace to enforce any rules. And the passion I could see between my parents wasn't something that suddenly manifested when they got married. It was something that was there from the very first kiss. Which, of course, led to a rather embarrassing phone call to General Leger, confirming that they had indeed slept together before they were even properly engaged. And that led me to standing in my mother's bedroom in nothing but my nightgown and robe, pleading my case.

She sighed and pressed her lips together. "We only slept together. It was completely innocent."

"And it would be the same for myself and Eikko." She scoffed and flicked the light off in the bathroom. Slowly she walked over to their bed and simply climbed in, lying down right in the middle. She always slept in the middle of the bed though, for as long as I could remember. "What? Do I not seem trustworthy?"

"You're forgetting that I was an eighteen-year-old girl at one time too."

"But you were married."

Her eyebrows rose like that should have been the obvious answer. "Exactly." She smoothed her hands over the heavy blue duvet and shook her head. "If your father finds out…"

My mouth fell open. "Is that a yes?"

"I didn't say yes," she told me in a measured voice, making it clear that she wasn't going to give me verbal permission but that she was going to let it slide. "But like I said, if your father finds out, I expect you to answer to him. And you'll need a better argument than what you provided me."

I blew a kiss to her and dashed to the door. "Love you Mom!" I called before ducking out. As I flew down the hall to the stairs leading to the second floor, Dad caught me outside the study.

"Your brother is on the phone," he said. That was enough to make me stop running. Eikko could wait for Ahren. I took the phone from Dad who grabbed the opportunity to ask me, "Where were you going?"

"Down to get a snack, I'm starving!" I whispered urgently to him, one hand over the receiver of the phone.

He nodded sympathetically. "Want me to send something up to your room for you?"

"No, I'll just go down after I talk to Ahren. Thanks Daddy," I said, offering a smile. "I mean, really, thank you. For all you did today." He kissed my forehead and strolled down the hall to his bedroom, his hands buried deep in his pockets.

Finally I lifted the phone to my ear and said, "Hello? Ahren?"

Instead of hearing Ahren though, Camille's squeal came through at a decibel only heard by bats. "The translator! Quel toupet! I was so sure you would choose Kile and then you pulled this. He's not bad looking, that's for sure."

"Camille, I think a simple congratulations would suffice," Ahren said to her kindly. "You're on speaker, Eady."

"I just can't believe it!" Camille breathed out.

I could practically hear Ahren rolling his eyes. There was some shuffling and the sound of a door closing and then Ahren saying, "Camille had to run out for something. It's just me."

"So?"

He chuckled softly. "So I wish I had taken the time to introduce myself to the guy more when I was home last. I'm not sure how I feel about my big sister being engaged to a guy I hardly know."

"He's really sweet," I assured him.

"Yeah?"

"And kind and generous and handsome and wonderful," I gushed. "I know it was sudden."

"You could say that," he teased. "The last thing I expected to wake up to this morning was news of you getting engaged. If I'd known I would have watched last night. But Eady, a constitutional monarchy?"

I rubbed my forehead, leaning against the door of the office. It was far too late for me to be thinking about the big changes being made to our country's government in the near future. "It has to be done, Ahren. And I thought you'd be happy. That's what you and Camille have."

"I am happy. It's just so…" He hesitated, looking for the right word.

"Sudden?"

"Yeah. When did you decide on all of that?"

"Honestly? About five minutes before announcing it."

He sighed and I knew he was shaking his head at me. "You're so much like Mom."

"Well if we're playing that game, you're just like Dad."

Another door opened in the background and I heard Camille's voice say something quietly that I couldn't quite catch. "I'll be right there, promise," he said to her in a reverent voice. "I have to go, Eady. And you should sleep anyway. Still doing New Year's in Paris?"

"I suppose. Is that really the next time we'll see each other?" I tried to mask the pain in my voice but the thought of going a whole six months without once laying eyes on Ahren felt like a death sentence.

"Not if you don't get married first," he said. My coronation was just a few days ago and I was still exhausted and I knew it wasn't even as crazy as my wedding would be. I had only been engaged for a few hours; my wedding itself was not on my mind yet.

"Well, maybe we'll just run away to France," I said. "You still owe me pictures, by the way. I want one of you and Camille to put on my desk."

"No problem." He groaned and I knew he was stretching behind his own desk. "I suppose Camille and I will have to stop in Illéa for a day or so for Dad's birthday. Maybe we'll get another surprise baby this year," he said, referencing Dad's twenty-ninth birthday where Mom accidentally announced to the whole world that she was pregnant with Osten.

"Maybe," I said even though we both knew that there was no way, not with Mom's health. "We'll see each other at some point in the next few months. Just promise to call at least once a week."

"The phone works both ways."

"Well, I'm queen and you're nothing more than a prince consort. I think you have more spare time than I have."

He laughed. "Ouch, already pulling rank. Alright, I'll call you once a week and at some point I need to sit down and actually talk to this Erik guy, okay? He needs to be reminded that even though I'm not there, I reserve my full right to exercise protective twin brother duties."

I rolled my eyes. Of course Ahren would still find it necessary to play the protective brother role from another continent. It wasn't like I had two other brothers here. "Okay Ahren. I'll talk to you next week? Maybe at a more decent hour for me?"

"Sure, sis. Congrats."

"Thanks. Love you."

"Love you too." I kept the phone pressed to my ear even after it disconnected, a ghost of a smile lingering. It seemed strange to think that just a few weeks ago, Ahren was the only one to bring me the most peace in life. Just thinking about Eikko and his now permanent presence in my life was enough to make my pounding heart almost stop altogether.

I left the phone sitting on my desk and pretty much ran the rest of the way down to the second floor. It took a few minutes for Eikko to answer his door but as soon as it was even partially opened I pushed my way through and crashed into him. "Eadlyn, what're you doing here?"

"Mom gave me unofficial permission to come down here. Goodness, I still can't get over how embarrassing that was," I groaned, letting my forehead rest against his chest. He chuckled and hugged me tight, shutting his door quietly. "I'm exhausted though so can we please get some sleep?" I started pulling him toward his bed but he hesitated. "What?"

"Henri's next door. I still feel guilty about this," he said, waving a finger between the two of us. "Can we go up to your room?"

I shook my head. "Kile is right down the hall. Not that it's a big deal but my parents would also be sleeping right across from us."

A mischievous smile crawled across Eikko's lips. "Sleeping," he repeated.

"They should be," I said, cringing. There were many late nights where I would be returning from the study and pass by their bedroom, damning Gregory Illéa for not making the palace walls thicker. Although I knew that Mom's heart was still healing so the probability of them being awake at all hours of the night were relatively slim for the coming weeks.

"Well then where do we go, Your Majesty?" he asked.

I could see the answer in his eyes. With a whole lot of other emotions. "Do you have any candles in your bathroom? Grab as many as you can carry," I instructed when he nodded. I scooped a few candles myself and a box of matches and then slipped inside the secret passage across the hall from his room. I led him for a few minutes down the dark passageway, occasionally hearing his feet trip up in the unfamiliar corridor. Finally we reached the spot we were just a few nights prior and we both got to work setting up the candles.

"I didn't grab any blankets or pillows," he realized, looking incredibly guilty, like he had somehow let me down.

"We don't need them," I told him, sitting down on the floor and pulling him down to sit across from me.

Eikko sat down with his legs crossed in front of him, our finger twisted together dangling between us. He was staring at me but not in a way that was unsettling. I stared right back, feeling like I was seconds away from drowning in his blue eyes. "Today was crazy, right? That's not every day for you?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Today was exceptionally crazy. I just can't believe that yesterday I was saying goodbye to you forever and now…"

"And now we're getting married?" he finished for me.

"Yeah," I breathed out, squeezing his hand. "I just feel like too much has been going right lately. Aside from the obvious drama of Marid, ascending was a dream come true. My mom is alive. Ahren is happy in France. And I get to have you, which is more than I ever let myself dream about. I can't help but wonder whether I really deserve all of this."

"Eadlyn," he said softly, sliding closer to put his hand on my face. "Even queens deserve happily ever afters. Probably you more than any other queen. Honestly, I think it's the happily ever afters that get you through this job. Just look at your parents. Could you imagine one of them going through all of this without the other?"

Dad's despair as he clutched General Leger like a life raft was too fresh in my mind. With what I had been learning about their Selection, I really couldn't imagine how they got their happily ever after but they did and I truly couldn't see them in any other way. "I guess I'll need to get you a meeting with the palace decorating team to start discussing your suite upstairs."

"My suite? I have my own room?" he asked me in disbelief.

"There are perks to being the queen's fiancé, you know."

"Well, we need to get you a ring, don't we?"

I smiled and looked down at his ring on my right hand. "Or…" I slid the ring off and handed it to him. "We could use this one."

His face broke into one of the largest smiles I had ever seen on him as he took the ring from me. "You're a queen though. You deserve a big diamond or sapphire or something besides an old heirloom."

"It's not the ring that matters to me; just the meaning behind it. You said yourself that this ring is for your wife so let your future wife wear it as her engagement ring."

"So controlling," he said sarcastically. He held the ring between his fingers, studying it for a few moments before meeting my eyes again. "You know, this whole experience and these past few days have been a fairytale enough. I don't need to make a big speech because I already know you love me. Today was just an example of how much you love me and I technically already agreed to tell you, so what I'm trying to say is that all I really need to do is put this ring on your finger."

"You don't need to give me a speech. You said yes; that's all I need."

He smirked and spun the ring around. "I know Hale made you this promise at the beginning of the Selection but it's not a bad notion. I want to spend every day from now on showing you how much I love you and cherish you." He slid the ring on my finger and I giggled. I giggled. That's what being around Eikko did to me.

"How did your parents take it?" I asked, knowing that he had gone to call them while I sorted things out with advisers.

Eikko smile. "Obviously they were a little surprised but once I told them that I had no idea it was coming either, they were excited. They want to meet you. Which reminds me…is there a possibility that the future prince consort could get a few days at home?"

"If you take security," I told him. "Why?"

"I need to sort some things out. Go get some more clothes." I started to remind me him? that he would be getting his clothes tailored from now on but he stopped me. "There are just some loose ends to tie up before I can really make myself permanent here. I need to sell my apartment, get clothes, say goodbye to some friends…"

"And then you and your parents can come here," I told him. "We can get your parents a house outside the city like my dad did for Grandma. Then they can be close."

For the first time, Eikko actually frowned. He was truly perplexed. "I don't think they'd want to move here."

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't they want to move here?"

"Because they have their own lives back at home. They have jobs and friends and a community."

I shook my head. "Eikko, I didn't mean that they should just drop everything."

"What are they going to do here though, Eadlyn? They're happy where they are. They were ready for me to leave home and have a job and everything. I'm not a kid and I don't rely on them."

"What are you implying?" I asked in a sharp voice, drawing away from him. A small part of my mind just kept repeating stop, stop, stop, don't ruin this moment and this day. Don't fight, not tonight.

He huffed and ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't mean it like that."

For the first time since meeting Eikko, I could see the age difference. I could see the differences in life experience. In that moment, we weren't just Eadlyn and Eikko. We were Eadlyn the princess and Eikko the commoner. But surely we weren't the only ones who had this problem. Mom came from a much more troubled background than Eikko; she must to have had more culture shock. "I don't want to fight," I whispered.

"Me neither," he answered in a low voice. "I'll talk to my parents. It was wrong of me to assume that they would have no interest in coming here. They very well could."

"And you wouldn't mind? Them remaining in Kent while you're here?"

He shrugged and leaned back on one of his hands. "I don't need my parents the same way you do. And I don't mean that as an insult at all. I lead a different life than my parents. I'm actually a little jealous of how close you are to your mom and dad."

"Well, we'll see how jealous you are when we're married and they're still living right down the hall from us," I said sardonically, cringing at the thought. "When do you think you'd like to go?"

"Soon. The sooner I leave, the sooner I come back," he said, kissing the back of my hand. I detested the thought of him leaving when the country was somewhat precarious and the peoples' attitudes toward us were still to be determined but I knew that General Leger would send only the best men with him.

"I can't argue with that," I said, leaning forward to kiss him lightly. Still unnerved by our minor argument though, I pulled away quickly. "When you get back, we should do something fun. Like a fun date."

He smiled again, his eyes lighting up to their normal enthusiasm. "Okay. Any ideas?"

"I'll think of something," I promised. I leaned against his shoulder. Slowly he slid to the ground and I rested my head over his heart, listening to it pound through my ear. The sound of his heart was one of the most precious sounds in the world to me. Aside from my mother humming or Ahren's laugh, I could never feel more grounded than I did while listening to his heartbeat, strong and healthy under my cheek.

The Great Room was back to just being filled with my family the next morning. Except this time, there was an extra seat set at the head table. Henri explained that he would leave before breakfast, not wanting to disturb us and just looking to go back to his family and his kitchen. I made Eikko translate to him that he really did have to make our wedding cake, as a direct order from his queen. Kile was eating breakfast with his family separately, no doubt enjoying his last few days with them before leaving.

Eikko and I walked hand-in-hand into the Great Room and sat down across from my parents, Osten and Kaden at either end. I tried to cover up how sore my neck and back were from sleeping on the hard ground all night and I could see from the circles under Eikko's eyes that he didn't sleep very well either but we shared a secret smile with each other as we sat down.

Mom winked at me as she cut into the tart in front of her, making me blush. Dad glanced up from his eggs, looking carefully between myself and Eikko. "I hope you're both well-rested," Mom said. "Things are going to be getting pretty intense from here on out. Gavril will want to start getting things ironed out for the wedding."

"I have some ideas for your constitutional monarchy," Dad said. "That is, if you are willing to accept my input."

"Of course," I agreed. My elbow bumped Eikko's as we both reached for waffles. I drew my hand back and he plopped two on my plate, passing me the syrup and butter. "What were you thinking?"

"I like the idea of town halls but they would need to be redone…reformatted. As queen, it's too dangerous to put you in a room full of disgruntled citizens, no matter what the atmosphere is in the country."

I nodded in agreement. "Kile had some ideas about that as well, actually. He talked about redesigning the Throne Room into more of an attending room where people could come in one by one and voice their concerns."

"Exactly!" Dad said enthusiastically. "I was thinking that with thirty-five provinces, we could designate three per month, with the one month holding two being a month of your choosing. Your mother and I used to do something similar after the dissolution of the castes; we brought in specific citizens and told them in the Throne Room that they were casteless and let them choose their jobs. It worked quite well but as the workload increased and concerns decreased, the necessity for those meetings diminished."

"You know, Dad, I'm looking for people to offer input on the constitution we're drafting. I know you and Mom are supposed to be taking time off work, technically, but I would really like to have you two included. You've always been good at giving voices to the voiceless," I said to them.

Mom pressed a hand to her mouth and looked at Dad, pleading for him to agree. "Love, we should really consider. Perhaps with your health we should just go ahead and take that time off we've been discussing."

"Maxon?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm helping with this constitution," she said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

Dad sighed and relented. Kaden piped up from the other end of the table. "You know, Eadlyn, I can do some reading into the United States Constitution. Find out what it really contained and read it through maybe. Then I can help you get a clearer idea of what you should have in yours."

"I really like the sound of that Kaden. Thank you," I told him earnestly.

"I can help too!" Osten exclaimed, making us all groan.

"What are you going to do, honey?" Mom asked, her eyes sparkling.

Osten considered for a few moments and then nodded, as if deciding something in his mind. "I can be the scribe!"

We all laughed loudly, none of us following the rules of table decorum whatsoever. "He does have the best handwriting of the whole family," I informed Eikko under my breath, making him laugh even more.

Mom addressed Eikko. "I wish I could tell you, Erik, that not every meal in our home surrounds matters of diplomacy but I would be lying if I did," she told him.

Eikko waved a hand at her. "It's quite alright, Your Majesty. It's refreshing, really. It's my opportunity to get caught up on everything I'll be helping my future wife with." He lifted my hand to his lips as Osten pretended to gag on his scrambled eggs.

"Osten," Mom said in a warning voice. She turned back to Eikko. "Seeing that my husband and I won't be taking to retirement completely over the coming months, perhaps he could help you get acquainted to everything? That way Eadlyn can stay focused on the present issues at hand."

"I would love to do it," Dad assured him.

I met Eikko's eyes, silently urging him to take the offer. After all, I learned from my father. He was an excellent and patient teacher and that would only be amplified now that he wouldn't be actively working while teaching. "Sure. I mean, yes, Your Majesty."

"Honestly, Erik, call me America," Mom told him, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that quite yet," he admitted bashfully.

"Mrs. Schreave?"

He nodded. "Yes. That's much better."

A butler entered with the day's papers on a tray, going in my father's direction but faltering when I waved at him to stop. "Sorry Daddy. You're working on the constitution but that's it. No more morning papers to fret over," I told him.

"Damn," he muttered. He looked to the butler. "Travers, you heard your queen. Take those papers back. Give them to General Leger; he could always use some more reading material." Mom shook her head at Dad.

I glanced at my watch and sighed. "I should get going. I'm sure I have quite a bit of damage control to see to today," I announced to the table. "Dad, can I leave Eikko in your care?"

"Of course. We'll take excellent care of your fiancé. We'll take him on the full tour of the palace, show him all of the best secrets and all of the places of your most embarrassing moments," Dad promised.

"Great. Sounds like a plan." I kissed Eikko on the cheek, my lips lingering a few moments longer than necessary. "I'll get everything arranged for your trip. Do you still want to leave tonight?" He nodded, squeezing my knee under the table. "Two nights, okay? Not a second longer."

"Not a second longer," he confirmed.

I pulled away from him and walked out of the Great Room, still smiling and remembering the feeling of his lips on mine, going headfirst into the future that was awaiting me.