He had never seen such a beautiful summer night. The mist hung over the lake as if it was too scared to kiss the water, and the moon was bright and full. The air smelled crisp and clean, and the cool air settled on the nape of his neck.

He had never seen such beauty at a single point in time.

And she was staggeringly beautiful.

It wasn't that she just had a beautiful face; no, her entire being radiated a beauty that no other beautiful thing could ever hope to match.

She was caring; she was hopeful; she was brilliant.

She was genuine.

And whenever they crossed paths, he was struck by everything she was all at once, and every time he came across her, she took his breath away.

He had been known as quite the ladies' man, even among the palace. But ever since he met Mia…

He couldn't see any other woman, noble or otherwise.

And he was in love with her.

He knew it, of course, and he knew that one day, whether he liked it or not, he was going to tell her.

The two sat on the dampened grass, competing in a thumb war.

"Tell me your greatest desires," he said.

"Tell me a secret," she responded.

As he answered, "Isn't that the same?", he realized that it was not, indeed, the same thing.

"Almost," she said, as she tried to pin down his larger thumb with her significantly smaller one. "But anyone can see your desires. No one knows what's in your heart."

He wanted to keep it that way. One day, he would have to tell her that he loved her. Tonight, he would have to tell her that he wanted to be close to her again, this time just as Mia and Nicholas, as it once was.

But as for now, there were three things he could never tell her:

1. He'd once had a brother and a sister. He never knew what exactly had happened to them; he just knew that he blamed himself.

2. He read to escape the cruel reality of the world his life had become. Even at 21, he was still scared of his uncle. Even at 21, he remembered the words he had received from his uncle's maid: "Your mother has left, and your siblings are gone." Even at 21, his eyes blurred whenever he thought too long about his father.

3. He hadn't cried since the day his uncle had beaten him for it.

He had never wanted to hurt her. As his uncle pushed him to pursue the throne more and more, he also pushed Nicholas to hurt this incredible woman sitting before him. Nicholas had never wanted the throne. His uncle had always thirsted for power, and once Nicholas's father died, the plan was set forth into motion to take the crown once Queen Clarisse stepped down. His uncle had caused so much pain in not just Nicholas's life, but Mia's as well, and Nicholas was sick of his uncle creating more pain to add onto the hell that was now his life.

He had taken "Mia 101." After he had fallen in love, he realized that he truly knew nothing about Mia, and he needed to fix that fact. Without explanation, and against his common sense, he had grown to where he would do anything to please her. He had approached Joe and told him the entirety of the story, from the beginning until the present. Joe, though hesitant, agreed to tell Nicholas basic facts about Mia that could never be used against her. Her favorite color was soft pink, her favorite flowers were Baby's Breath, her favorite film was Breakfast at Tiffany's, her favorite actress was Audrey Hepburn, and her favorite dish was Bananas Foster.

He only fell further in love with her.

But as for now, she had just told him that she loved I Love Lucy reruns (which he could not dare blame her for) and sometimes she dreamed in black-and-white (something he knew absolutely nothing about, relative to her or otherwise).

He had never opened up to anyone after his father died and his mother left. His uncle had no knowledge that he had ever been scared of thunderstorms (he was still scared of them to this day), nor had his uncle known that he'd always wanted a yellow lab named Banjo. His uncle did, however, know of his numerous girlfriends and all the hearts he had broken. His uncle did know about the time that he had reached his breaking point and verbally abused their maid. His uncle did know about the instance in which he had nearly beaten the poor woman for simply asking for help in reaching the top shelf.

Nicholas tried to forget it.

Which is why he tried to dodge the question. "I used to pretend I was sick when I had a test in school." At Mia's "we all did that" response, he let out a humorless laugh and searched for something that did not involve him opening up. He knew he would have to tell her about his dark side, the side that he so desperately wished would die. But now was not the time. Not when she was just beginning to trust him.

"Sometimes, I pour chocolate milk in my cereal." Every single day throughout college, in fact.

"I," Mia said, her small thumb chasing his bigger one around, "am deathly afraid of jellyfish."

Just like he was deathly afraid of needles. The last time he'd gotten a shot for anything was when he was 17, and he hadn't gone back since.

It was his turn. "I haven't danced with you since your birthday."

She almost pinned down his thumb.

She looked at him and returned to the thumb war. "That's a fact, not a secret."

He smiled at her, internally thanking her for giving him that last push that he needed to tell her what, in fact, was the secret.

"Well, the secret is," he chuckled as Mia pinned down his thumb and smiled at him in victory, "I still want to."

That night, they shared much about each other. She told him what her favorite color was (soft pink), and admitted that she did not, indeed, love Andrew.

It was through these words that the bright, caring, genuine princess managed to slowly dismantle his carefully constructed walls. She discovered two of his greatest fears, and she smiled, not condescendingly, but rather out of understanding. He told her why he loved to cook and that he had originally planned on going to culinary school and becoming a chef; his uncle, however, had other plans and steered him towards politics. Despite the progress she had made in disassembling his facade, he still refused to tell her that it had never been his plan to steal the throne. He didn't tell her that his uncle was evil. He didn't tell her that the scars on his face had not come from riding accidents, like she believed, but rather they came from Viscount Mabrey himself. His uncle was a bad man, perhaps, but it didn't mean that there wasn't good left in him.

The two fell asleep around midnight. And when they woke up, and when Nicholas looked down at the beautifully innocent and caring princess, he just wished that he could wake up to her face every morning for the rest of his life.

But, as for now, he wasn't going to tell her.