"Anna told me," I responded quietly.

He cocked his head to the side, looking confused. "Anna knows I've been cheating at cards?" he asked. "Damn, that girl is perceptive."

I stared at him for a moment. "What?" I finally managed to ask.

His expression grew even more confused. "What?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you cheating on Anna!" I exclaimed.

"Cheating on Anna?" he repeated. "I've never cheated on Anna!"

I squinted at him. "You haven't?"

"No, of course not!" he replied. "God, Ella. You know how much I love that girl. I have never been—and I will never be—unfaithful to her."

There was something in the tone of his voice, something so resolute and so honest, that I believed him immediately. In fact, I almost felt silly for ever doubting him in the first place.

"Well," I said, "be that as it may, she still thinks you're cheating on her. Can you explain why you've been so distant lately? That's what gave her the idea in the first place."

He ducked his head, looking slightly embarrassed. "If I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone? Especially not Anna?"

I nodded. "Yes, I promise."

"I want to ask her to marry me," he said.

I waited for him to continue. But he just stared at me, as if waiting for me to give my opinion. "James," I finally said, "correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you're supposed to ignore the girl you want to marry."

"I'm not ignoring her," he said. "It's just that every time I'm near her, I can barely keep the proposal to myself. I just want to ask her to marry me right then and there. But, Ella, I want the proposal to be really special. I have it all planned out. If I'm being distant, it's only because I'm afraid that if I spend too much time with her, I'll end up just blurting it out."

"Oh," was all I managed to say.

He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. "I can't believe she thought I was being unfaithful," he muttered. "After all I've done, she still doesn't trust me."

"It was a logical conclusion," I said.

His eyes snapped back open and he turned to look at me. "It would be a logical conclusion if I were someone like Edmund!" he hissed. "But I'm nothing like him."

The malice in his voice surprised me. I knew that he'd been critical of Edmund's behavior in the past, but I'd never heard him sound like this.

"Edmund's changed," I said, suddenly feeling defensive of my husband. "He hasn't cheated on me in quite a while actually."

James's lip curled. "Oh, yes," he said. "He's really proven himself to be husband of the year, hasn't he? I particularly admired the way he completely ignored out of spite you while you were pregnant with his child. I can only hope to one day be as good a husband as he is."

I opened my mouth to reply, but James cut me off. "Don't you dare try to defend him, Ella! I don't know how many times you need to be told you deserve better until it sinks in and you leave his pathetic ass, so I'll tell you again just in case. He cheated on you on your honeymoon. He cheated on you on your birthday. He cheated on you with one of your own ladies-in-waiting. And he refused to acknowledge your existence while you carried his child inside of you."

I didn't say anything.

James stood up, his blue eyes flashing with anger. "You can do better, Ella. Remember that."

I watched as he stormed out of the room, then stood up as well, following him out into the corridor. "I need something to drink!" he snapped at a young maid who happened to be passing by.

It was the first time I'd ever heard him give a servant an order without saying please. The girl shrunk back, clearly scared of him. It was perhaps the first time James had ever garnered fear from somebody.

James disappeared around the corner. I glanced at the maid who looked close to tears.

"What's wrong?" I asked kindly.

She sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "I don't know where he went, Your Majesty," she whimpered. "How can I get him a drink?"

"It's fine," I said. "I'll take care of it. Just go back to whatever you were doing."

She bit her lip nervously, but didn't move.

"Can I help you with something else?" I asked.

"I don't want to get fired," she murmured.

"Why in the world would you get fired?" I replied.

"Because, Your Majesty," she said, "what if he never gets his drink and then has me fired. I just started working here a couple days ago. My mama will be so disappointed in me if I lose my job so soon."

"What's your name, dear?" I asked.

"Maddie," she replied slowly, looking at me suspiciously as if I might use the information against her somehow.

"Okay, Maddie," I said. "I promise you that James will not have you fired. Though it may not have seemed like it just then, he is an exceptionally kind-hearted man. I never know anyone raised in such a privileged lifestyle to treat servants as well as he does. He's just…having an off day."

She nodded. "Thank you, Your Majesty," she said, before scampering away.

I continued walking down the corridor, pausing when I heard Anna's voice coming from around the corner.

"Oh, hello, James," I heard her say warily, having obviously just come across him while walking.

I knew that I should just turn around and go back the way I came, but curiosity got the better of me and I stayed put.

"Hello, Anna," he said. "Where are you off to?"

"To bed," she replied. "And you?"

The tones of their voices were both filled with stilted politeness. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought they were nothing more than distant acquaintances.

"The same," he said.

"Well, goodnight then," she said, and I heard her begin to walk away.

"Sweet dreams, Anna," he murmured.

I wondered why he didn't just tell her the truth right then. She needed to know that he wasn't being unfaithful.

"Sweet dreams," she whispered back. She had stopped walking, but I could hear the sadness in her voice.

Tell her, James!

"My dreams are always sweet when I dream of you," he said quietly.

"Oh, James," she sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Marry me," he replied.

Well, so much for his perfectly planned proposal.

"What?" she gasped, clearly caught off guard.

"Marry me," he repeated. "I know you think that I've been unfaithful, but that's the farthest thing from the truth. My heart belongs to you and only you forever. Just tell me that yours belongs to me, as well. Tell me you'll be my wife."

She was silent for a moment and my heart sped up. "Yes," she finally replied, her voice breathless. "Yes, of course I'll marry you, James."

"You will?" he asked. It was only two words, but they were filled with so much disbelief and relief and pure joy.

"Yes," she said again, sounding as if she had started to cry. "Yes, James. My heart is yours."

Realizing that I had probably overstayed my welcome and that I should disappear before they noticed that I had been standing just around the corner the entire time, I turned to leave. I was unable to keep from grinning as I made my way up to my room. This was definitely not how I had foreseen the evening ending, but I was glad that it had.

Edmund made the announcement that the kingdom was going to war on a warm spring day. The sun continued to shine brightly as terrified mothers clutched their sons, praying that they would not be the first drafted. Birds chirped as brave young men held their heads high and headed off to enlist.

It was a Friday, so I went into work as I always did. Henry was staring out the window, stone-faced, when I walked into the shop. I approached him cautiously, not sure what kind of mood he was going to be in. He didn't say anything to me. He didn't even look at me. But when I wrapped my arms around him, he didn't push me away. He pulled me in closer and I buried my face in his chest, my tears soaking into his shirt. His lips brushed against the top of my head and I wove my fingers through the soft hair at the nape of his neck and wished there was some way that I could never let go.

"Ella," he murmured, pulling away slightly. His face was inches from mine, so close I could count the freckles on his nose. I was once again reminded of how young he was, only a couple months older than me, not yet twenty-one. Much too young to die.

"Henry," I said, an idea popping into my head. "Close up the shop. We're going to do something fun today."

Maybe he would be shipped off to some foreign country next week. Maybe I would never see him again. But right now he was right here with me and I was going to take full advantage of that.

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards for a brief second. "Like what?" he asked.

I wasn't sure if he was just humoring me or was genuinely willing to do as I suggested, but I continued anyway. "I don't know, Henry. Whatever you want. What do you like to do?"

He contemplated my question for a moment. "Have you ever been to the waterfall?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No."

I'd barely been anywhere, even here in the kingdom. I'd spent most of my life stuck in my stepmother's house, only allowed to leave to go the market. And even now, most of my time was spent at the castle. There were so many things I'd never seen, so many places I'd never been.

"It's beautiful there," he said. "You'd love it."

"Then let's go," I said. "We can take some food and have a picnic. It'll be fun."

"You're just trying to cheer me up," he said.

"Yes, I am," I said. "Is it working?"

He finally allowed a smile to spread across his face. "Maybe," he said, his green eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Let's go to the market and pick up some food," I suggested, grabbing his hand and entwining his fingers with mine.

I knew that everybody there would stare at us, whispering amongst themselves about how the queen and her shopkeeper were at it again, but for once, I truly didn't care.

Henry was right. The waterfall was beautiful. It was hidden deep in woods and ran into a large creek. It was big enough to stand under and behind it was a cave-like opening, which was where we spread out a blanket and ate our lunch. The water still lightly sprayed against us as we ate, but it was a humid day and it felt nice.

Henry's mood grew more and more cheerful throughout the meal. He laughed loudly when I attempted to make jokes and even cracked a few of his own. A couple times, I looked up from my food and caught him staring at me, his eyes smoldering with something that looked an awful lot like desire. He smirked when I blushed and ducked my head, trying to hide my embarrassment.

After we head finished eating, he playfully chased me out of the cavern. I stood under the waterfall, my eyes closed and my head tilted upwards. The water poured down on me, soaking through my dress. I threw my hands up in the air and let it rain down on me. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw Henry standing a few feet away, his blond hair flat against his forehead, grinning at me.

And suddenly, in that moment, I knew.

But I quickly pushed the thought aside and grinned right back at him. I held out my hand, wiggling my fingers. "Come on!" I called, over the roar of the water. "Let's go exploring."

He took my hand and we began to wade through the creek. Sharp rocks jabbed into the bottom of my bare feet. The hot sun beat down on the back of my neck, ruining the milky white skin I was expected to always have. Once I lost my footing on a particularly slippery rock and tumbled down, taking Henry with me. But I hadn't been this happy in a long, long time. Probably not since I had found out I was pregnant.

We traipsed back into town that evening, still soaking wet and laughing a bit too loudly. It was lucky that there was hardly anybody around because the kingdom would probably collectively explode from excitement at the thought of all the delicious scandal we continued to provide.

We decided to stop by Henry's shop first, so that I could dry of completely and attempt to make myself look a bit more presentable before heading back to the castle. But as we drew closer to the shop, we began to hear loud voices and when we turned the corner and the shop came into view, we could see a large crowd of men gathered outside the door.

I turned to look at Henry. His face had gone pale.

"Henry, what's going on?" I asked.

"Shhh," he hissed, grabbing my hand and yanking me back around the corner and out of sight of the shop.

"Tell me what's going on!" I insisted.

He shook his head, muttering something under his breath and looking furious.

"Henry!" I snapped.

"Ella," he said, his voice low. "I need to go take care of something. Promise me that you'll stay right here. Do not move from this spot until I return for you."

"Henry—"

"Promise me!"

"Fine," I whispered. "I promise."

He nodded once and then turned to leave, but I grabbed his arm. "Wait," I said. "At least tell me if you're in some kind of danger, Henry."

He shook his head. "No, Ella. I don't think so."

"Am I in some kind of danger?" I asked quietly.

He looked at me for a moment and then shrugged helplessly. "I don't know," he finally said. "But I think that perhaps you might be. So I need you to stay here. Remember that you promised me you would."

"Well then I need you to make me a promise as well, Henry," I said.

"And what is that?" he asked.

"Promise me you won't do anything foolish. I don't want you to get hurt trying to protect me or something."

He gave me a strange look. "Ella, don't you know?"

I shook my head, confused. "Know what?"

"I would die for you," he murmured. "You need only ask."

For a moment, I swear my heart stopped beating entirely. I stared at him in shock, unable to speak. "I would never ask that," I finally managed to say.

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I'd do it anyway."

I watched as he disappeared around the corner, feeling more helpless than I ever had in my life. Who were those men outside his shop? What did they want? How did they concern me? Would they hurt him?

I sat down on a small bench.

And I waited.

I can't believe y'all thought James would cheat on Anna! That would be some serious character assassination!

So the bad news is that this chapter ended on another cliff-hanger, a pretty intense one at that. The good news is that this was a really quick update! Like I'm actually surprised that I pulled this off. I shouldn't have; I have a lot of homework that I could have been doing instead. But I wrote this chapter instead for you, my dear readers, mainly because I didn't want you falsely believing that James was a cheating jerk for any longer than necessary.

Don't forget to review!