I returned to the palace with the engagement ring in my coat pocket. I smiled at Vlad and Pooka. "Wish me luck, Vlad," I said, calmly.

"Luck? Why, Dimitri, my boy?" Vlad asked.

"I have to talk to Anastasia—before the party," I said, calmer than before.

He nodded and said, "You better hurry."

I nodded and soon found Anastasia talking to her grandmother about me.

"He's not there," Marie said.

"I know," Anastasia replied. "Wait, who's not there, Grandmama?"

"A remarkable young man who risked his life to save us and reunite us," she replied.

Anastasia shrugged and said, "He's probably too busy spending his reward money as fast as he can."

Her grandmother shook her head and said, "He didn't take the money."

"Are you happy returning to the world of fancy dresses and jewels and palaces?" Marie asked.

Anastasia nodded and said, "Yes. I've found you."

"Yes, you did find me, and you will always have me, but will it be enough?" the older woman asked.

I fingered the box with the ring in it. Marie was trying to get Anastasia to realize who she loved—me.

Anastasia hesitated and her grandmother soon entered the party.

Then Anastasia asked, "Grandmama, what do you mean?" She soon saw that her grandmother had joined the party.

I walked over to her and said, "Your Highness, may I have a word with you?"

"Dimitri?" she asked, shocked. "You didn't leave Paris!"

I hugged her and said, "Anastasia, I have a question for you."

She nodded and, pulling the box with the ring out of my pocket, I opened it, and asked, "Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov, will you marry me?"

She looked at me and said, "Yes, Dimitri, I will marry you."

I kissed her and, after we parted, she asked, "Dimitri, why didn't you take the money?"

"Because, I realized when I'd hurt you, how much it hurt me, and it hurt me because I love you, Anastasia," I replied.

"I love you, too, Dimitri," she replied, taking my hand.

I squeezed her hand and she suddenly asked, "How do we tell Grandmama that we're getting married?"

I smiled and said, "I might as tell you now—I wouldn't take the money. Then she asked me what I did want and I said she couldn't give what I wanted to me. Then she asked if I loved you and I realized I've loved since we first met—you were about four and I was six. So I told her I did and how long I'd loved you. Your grandmother only wants you to be happy, Anya."

"Anastasia," she corrected.

I rolled my eyes and said, "I will continue to call you Anya as my special nickname for you."

She nodded and said, "I hope she won't get mad at me."

I held out my hand and said, "Ready to tell all the nobility of your engagement, my princess?"

She nodded and we joined the celebration.

After we entered the room, I discretely nodded to Marie.

Marie calmly nodded and stepping forward, said, "My friends, thank you all for coming to help me welcome home my granddaughter, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov. We will also celebrate her engagement to Dimitri—the bravest person to serve the Romanov family—a warrior disguised as a mere kitchen boy."

I smiled—that was new.

Anastasia leaned over to me and asked, "How does she already know that we're engaged?"

I looked at her and said, "I think she saw the ring on your finger."

Someone called, "But Your Majesty, you've wondered ten years about your granddaughter and now you get her back and you're letting her get married?"

Marie took a deep breath and said, "I trust Dimitri with Anastasia. He saved her and me the night of the siege and he's saved her countless other times. He is the only man I would feel safe entrusting the care of my granddaughter to, when I'm gone."

Anastasia nodded and then asked, "Dimitri, really, what happened when you were talking to Grandmama?"

"Well, what I told you earlier," I began. "Then she said that she wanted your happiness and that she thought you'd be happy if we—meaning you and me—were together and I realized that walking out of your life forever would only hurt you—and me—more than anything else. So I had to be part of your life somehow."

She hugged me and said, "I'll ask Grandmama later."

I nodded and took her hand, squeezing it firmly.