The next morning, Anne laid against Casper's body, the sheets tangled between their legs and around their bodies. Casper's arm was around her waist but he was still asleep. Smiling, Anne simply watched him. In the last two days he'd been Regent, his face had become so tense and contorted from the pressure. Sleeping, however, Anne found he looked peaceful. In her heart of hearts, she knew they would not last. She must've always known that. Princess was never something she'd aspired to be like most other girls. She was a farmer's daughter, set to marry a farmer's son. The Prince's mistress was as high a place she could reach and now it seemed that had run its course as well.

That, by no means, meant she loved Casper any less. From the moment Casper had won her heart, she feared she would never have it for herself again. Now that she laid in his arms, probably days away from never seeing him again, she knew that was how it was to happen. She would forever be in love with the only man she could never have. Willing her emotions not to get the best of her, she curled up against Casper, her arm reaching across his body.

Once Casper had awoken as well, he peered down at her, a smile pulling at his lips. Anne had leaned up to accept his morning kisses but was surprised when he had kissed her more deeply than expected. Of course, she returned the affection but pulled back from him instantly when she heard the door to his room slam open. Holding the sheets up to her body, she stared in shock at the two Councilmen and two Knights who'd let themselves into the room.

"What are you doing?" Casper demanded as he sat up, the sheets falling from his chest to his waist. "Get out of my room!"

"Mistress Anne of Lancaster, you're under arrest for treason," one of the Councilmen declared simply.

"What?" Anne replied breathless, her arms still holding the sheets to her body. "No! I didn't do anything! Casper, no," Anne pleaded as she turned to him, one hand reaching to intertwine their fingers.

"Don't be ridiculous," Casper chided as he narrowed his eyes at the four. "You are not arresting her for anything. What possible charges could you have concocted already?"

"It is treason to impersonate a person of nobility," the councilmen replied.

"No," Anne breathed out as she continued to shake her head. "Charles?" she asked as she turned to him on the far side of the Councilmen. She'd expected to be removed from Court, but not quite so dramatically, nor so soon.

"I'm sorry," Charles replied, genuinely sympatric and apologetic. "There's nothing I can do, Anne."

"You may leave Court with your family immediately or face the consequences," the councilmen declared. Anne shut her eyes tightly, pushing a tear from her eyes before she turned to Casper.

"Get out," Casper said softer than before. He put an arm around Anne as she pressed herself against him. He could already feel the tears falling onto his skin.

"She'd not to be left alone at any time," the councilmen replied.

"Then wait outside," Casper said with a sigh before he turned to Anne. He pressed his lips to her forehead as he stroked her back. The councilmen may have wanted to argue, but Charles and the other Knight had already retreated from the room. After they'd all gone, Anne pulled back from Casper and he could see all the tears that had fallen down her face.

"Now do you believe me?"

"Yes," Casper answered hopelessly before he kissed her. He wiped away her tears before he threw back the covers to begin retrieving their clothes. When he looked back at her, she'd managed to stop crying but he could see the devastation as clear in her face as she could see it in his. "How much gold did you take?" he asked after he'd pulled on his pants and began to move to the other side of the room. He didn't notice how badly Anne wanted him to return to her for whatever little time they had left together.

"Enough," she answered softly as she slipped her dress on and sat on the edge of his bed. "Enough to buy horses in the village to get back home and maybe some food when we get there."

"Here," Casper said after he'd rifled through his desk to retrieve more gold coins she'd been unaware he had. Rather than argue with him anymore, she held out her hand and let him drop the coins into her palm. After she put them into her pocket, he pulled her to her and pressed their lips together , desperate to make time pass slower than it did. Neither were aware of how much time had actually passed but both heard the unmistakable sound of the door clicking as it opened.

"You don't want to give Council a reason to call in the rest of the Royal Guard, Your Grace," Charles warned in as gentle a tone as a warning could be in. Casper pulled from Anne reluctantly, their foreheads still together.

"Is my family ready?" Anne asked, willing her voice not to break.

"Yes," Charles answered. "I've arranged for transportation to the nearest village and for three horses for you to take once you get there."

"You didn't have to do that," Anne said softly as she pulled away from Casper to look to Charles. The Knight saw their hands were still joined by the fingertips.

"Of course I did," Charles replied with a smile. Anne returned the smile before she stepped towards the door, Casper following behind her slowly. Casper and Anne walked beside each other to the main gate of Court where Anne's parents, her sister, and Bradley were already waiting, the four more confused now than they had been when they'd arrived. Casper had no idea how Anne would explain to them what had happened. Before the pair reached them, Anne stopped walking and looked up at Casper.

"Please don't blame yourself, Casper," she pleaded as she pushed herself up to her toes and pressed their lips together. She felt his hands resting on her waist, his fingers digging into her flesh so as to keep a hold on her even as she pulled away and tried to step back.

"Wait," Casper said before she could get too far. Both saw the two Royal Guardsmen approaching her family who were probably the men Charles had chosen to escort them. "I have something for you," he said softly as he reached into his pocket. She stepped towards him when she saw the small black box he'd retrieved. Before she said anything, he opened it and pinched the diamond ring between two fingers to pull it from its resting place.

"Casper," Anne started but said nothing further when Casper looked up at her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Charles take a few steps away at the sight of the ring.

"Just take it, Anne," Casper replied, his voice so broken that she hadn't the heart to decline it. "It'll just drive me crazy if I keep it." That much, she knew was true. "I don't care what you do with it," he added as he held the ring out to her. When she met his gaze, she knew how much the ring had meant to him. She could almost see the unasked question that inevitably went with a diamond ring haunting him. No matter how badly she may have wanted to hear it, and no matter how desperately he wanted to ask it, both knew it wouldn't be in their future anymore.

"I love you," Anne said softly as she took the ring from his fingers and slipped it onto the ring finger of her left hand.

"You don't have to do that," Casper replied before he swallowed. His eyes were glued to the sight of Anne's hand wearing his ring. Only when she lifted the hand to touch his cheek and redirect his gaze to her eyes, did he managed to look away.

"Of course I do," she replied. She pressed her lips to his cheek and walked away before he could say anything in a vain attempt to guilt her into staying. She kept her gaze forward on her watching family, knowing that looking back, even for a second would destroy any strong will she had. It would destroy any weak will she had. Casper didn't turn to watch her either, his gaze fixed on the spot she stood just seconds ago.

"I'm sorry," Charles said after a long moment of silence. "I had no idea that-"

"Nobody did," Casper said before Charles could finish. By the time Casper turned to look to Anne, she was already on a horse by herself while one of the Guardsmen helped her sister secure the rest of her things onto the saddle of the horse she shared with Bradley. Within minutes, they rode away, but Charles did nothing to make Casper move from where he stood.

"How long have you had that ring?" Charles finally asked once the group was already a distance away.

"Months," Casper admitted as he turned away from the horses to meet Charles' gaze. "I wanted it to be perfect. I meant to ask after the wedding."

"Which one?"

"Both," Casper answered as he laughed at himself. "I tried to ask after Finn and Claudia's but I… I freaked out. And I never got a chance after her sister's wedding."

"I was married twice you know," Charles said as he touched Casper on the shoulder.

"How did you ask?"

"With my second wife, I planned it all out. Dinner with candles and musicians," Charles recalled, but even in his grief-riddled state, Casper could see some bitterness already beginning to form in Charles' gaze.

"What happened?"

"She said yes," Charles replied. "So I guess, not that well."

Casper couldn't stop the laugh that passed his lips. "Why did you marry her, then?"

"My mother wanted grandchildren so badly that she hounded me to get married," Charles explained, for the first time sounding like an actual human to Casper rather than the larger-than-life Commander who saved everybody's life on a daily basis.

"Didn't have kids with the first wife?"

Charles smiled as the Prince turned to look at him. "No, with my first wife, it was completely different."

"What happened with her?"

"She wasn't like any other girl. She was stubborn and impatient. She was always right. Even when she was wrong, I was even more wrong than she was. She knew what you were thinking before you did. She was perfect," Charles said as he turned to look at the disappearing spot that was Anne and her family. "We were seventeen. She grew up down the road from me. I used to throw mud at her in her best dress and she chased me and we fell into this stream in the spring when it flooded every year. The entire town had to come save us," Charles had rambled, his eyes still fixed on the where the road curved out of sight but Casper had a feeling he wasn't really looking at anything. "Anyway when we were seventeen, I joined the Royal Guards and back then, this was years ago when your step father was King, they held a huge celebration for the new guardsmen as they leave for training, so I'm with fifty other guys and she comes running into the procession, demanding that I marry her before I leave."

"She didn't," Casper replied and Charles turned to him finally. Casper couldn't actually think of a time he'd ever seen Charles smiling and laughing so genuinely.

"She threatened that if I left town not as her husband she would marry the first guy who talked to her. So we married right there in the middle of the parade and I didn't even have a ring or anything."

"What happened to her?"

"I left for training and got hurt two weeks in. The Commander of the Royal Guard then sent me home saying I could come back for the next cycle of training. When I got back, she moved in with me and my parents and she got pregnant really quickly. We were married for a year when she went into labor but uh… With Protocol, we didn't have what she needed to survive."

"I'm sorry," Casper replied, but Charles only shook his head.

"The point is that it doesn't matter how you tell her that she's the one you want to be with. If you're right and she's really the one you want, she won't care how you tell her. And she might beat you to it if she thinks you're sitting around twiddling your thumbs or something."

Both men laughed before Casper turned back to Court. Charles followed beside him. "She sounds like Attia, you know," Casper commented. Charles didn't respond, but when Casper looked too him, he saw the Commander nodding to himself.

"Maybe that's why I like her so much."

"What was her name?"

"Evelyn," Charles answered. Of all the years Casper had known Charles, he'd never heard the man say anything the way he said that name. "I named the baby girl Lily."

The silence that followed pounded on Casper until he finally asked another question, hoping he hadn't started to annoy the other man. "How did you keep going without her?"

"You won't have to find out, Casper," Charles replied as he turned and looked at the royal. "One way or another, I have a feeling you're going to get Anne back."