Hey guys! I can't believe I'm at Chapter 50, that's crazy! So I finally figured out how long this story will be. I'm aiming for 63 chapters with an epilogue so we're getting pretty close to the end! Huge thanks to my amazing reviewers for sticking with me! XOStarbrightXO, Miss Kaydence, wolfofstark, Cookiedoodles168, and BookishLifeandCoffee. You're all the best!

London stood in front of the mirror in her small apartment and applied a final coat of mascara to her already long lashes. She reached a hand up and made sure her hair hadn't escaped from its messy bun. She found a stray strand and used a bobby pin to fix it before applying a coat of lipstick. London looked over her reflection again, making sure her makeup was perfect before she reevaluated her outfit. She was wearing a pair of leggings with a maroon shirt and jean jacket. She had put on a long necklace and finished the look with ankle boots. London debated changing her boots again but decided against it. She'd already gone through five outfits before settling on this one.

"How do I look?" she asked Charming, her now half-grown border collie, "Do you think Brandon will like it?"

The dog cocked his head before running over to her, knowing she was talking to him. London bent down and rubbed his ears, careful to keep his fur off of her leggings.

"You've grown so much, buddy," she lamented, "I missed all of it."

Charming looked at her with his sweet puppy eyes and she smiled, "I wish I could stay here with you, but Brandon and I are going to lunch and then he's going to meet my friends. I'll be back later tonight though. Maybe we can watch a movie like last night."

Charming wagged his tail at her and London smiled again, thinking of the previous night. Brandon had come over and it had been just the two of them. They'd ordered pizza from her favorite place and just watched movies until he had to leave. It was hard to believe this was his fifth day in Calgary and that soon he would have to leave. It felt like he had just arrived and there were still so many things London wanted to do with him.

London sighed as Charming laid down by her feet. She reached out and gave him one last stroke before standing up and going to the kitchen. She had ten minutes until Brandon would get there and she wanted a cup of coffee first. London plugged in the machine and got out a cup when she heard Charming start to bark.

She went back to the living room and saw the dog standing by the door, barking furiously.

"What is it?" she asked him, "Is Brandon early?"

A knock sounded at the door as she got there and London opened it. The smile fell from her face as she saw who it was.

"What do you want?" she demanded, crossing her arms and staring down her father.

"Is it so bad for me to want to visit my daughter?" he asked.

"No, but when your daughter has been home for six weeks and this is the first time you reach out to her it's pretty bad."

"London, don't be hostile," her step-mother Cassee spoke from her place beside London's dad, "we just wanted to see you."

"Did you want to see me or just get to meet Brandon and maybe have Danika's picture taken with him?" she pointed to her loathed half-sister who was dressed way too nicely for a casual visit, "You've had six weeks to come visit me since I've been here. Do you really expect me to think it's a coincidence that you show up while Brandon is here and not in two days when he'll be gone? I'm not stupid and I'm not a little kid so you can stop treating me like I am."

"Honey, that's not what we're doing," her father said, "it's just been so long since any of us have seen you, we just wanted to stop by."

While she longed for the words to be true, she knew they weren't. Her father and step-family only cared about themselves and they weren't above manipulating her to better their position. If they could meet Brandon, London had no doubt they would be asking him for favors and invitations to royal events, and with his generous nature he would give them whatever they asked for.

"Yeah, right," she responded to her father, "I don't believe that for a minute so you can either tell me what you really want or get away from my home."

Cassee spoke up, a sympathetic look on her face, "London, I know we haven't always gotten along, but we are family. Are you really going to throw us out?"

Anger flared in London and she practically spat the next words, "What would you know about being a family? My family ended when you started sleeping with my father! All you've ever done for family is break it up. First you separated my mom and my dad then you drove a wedge between my dad and me. If I wasn't Selected and you couldn't exploit that then I know you wouldn't be here right now."

"London that is not true. I've always treated you like a daughter and Danika has treated you like a sister. The only person who split up this family is you. You've always hated us but now you have a chance to make up for that. You could help get Danika some exposure and an acquaintance with the royal family and maybe then we'll actually want to put up with your disrespectful attitude and have you in our house."

Those words were too much for London and she felt her composure snap, "My disrespectful attitude? I think you need to look in the mirror before you accuse me of that. You're the one trespassing in my house and insulting me, and right now I've had enough of it. All of you need to get out, now! I chose to leave your house and the only thing keeping me away is my disgust with you."

Cassee stared at her stepdaughter dumbfounded. For the first time in her life she was at a loss for words and London felt a surge of pleasure that she had been the one to do it.

Before she could continue yelling at Cassee, Brandon appeared in the hallway.

His eyes lit up when he saw her and he quickened his pace, "Hey, London."

All three members of London's family spun to face him, looking shocked at his sudden appearance. London saw Danika sizing him up, comparing this teenager wearing a hoodie and jeans to the polished prince she had always seen on the Report.

Brandon didn't seem to notice her family there he was so focused on London, "Sorry I'm early, the drive over here didn't take as long as it did last night."

He was only a few yards away when he noticed the people crowding the small hallway.

"Hello," he said politely to them before turning back to London, "I didn't realize you had company, I can come back later if you want."

"It's fine," she reassured him, shooting a sharp look at her family, "they were just leaving." London grabbed his hand and attempted to pull him down the hallway and shut her apartment door at the same time.

Danika used London's distraction and stepped forward into Brandon's line of sight, "Hi, I'm Danika, London's sister," she said brightly. It was the most enthusiastic London had ever heard the girl and it was also completely fake.

Brandon shook her hand with a smile, "I didn't know London had a sister, she never mentioned you before."

"We're half-sisters," London clarified, still trying to pull Brandon away from Danika, "and I didn't mention her because she doesn't matter."

"London, don't say that," her father chastised, stepping forward so that he could meet Brandon too, "I'm London's father."

"We really don't have time for this," London insisted, "Brandon and I have reservations and we're going to be late."

"It's alright, London, we'll just be a little late. It doesn't matter," Brandon told her.

"It matters to me," she exclaimed, frustrated.

Brandon turned to her, surprised by her tone, "Okay, we can go. It's really not a big deal." When he saw that London hadn't changed her mind he looked at her family again, "It was nice meeting you, I hope I'll see you again soon."

Not if I can help it London thought as she finally managed to pull Brandon away and get him down the stairs.

When they got outside Brandon asked, "Why didn't you want me to meet your family?"

London sighed, not wanting to have to explain, "I want you to meet my friends, they're more important."

"Really?"

London nodded, "My family and I don't get along. You already knew I was legally emancipated so I don't live with them. Before the Selection things weren't great, but now they're awful. Today is the first time they've tried to contact me since I've been home. Do you know how long they've had? They didn't care about seeing me, but as soon as they learned you were here they wanted to have a reunion. It just makes me really mad. I don't want them to use you so I don't want you to be around them."

Brandon took in her words with a thoughtful expression. His family was so close it was hard for him to picture a situation like London's, "That makes sense," he finally said, "I hope someday you'll have a family that you're comfortable being with."

"Me too," she admitted.

They strolled along the sidewalk some more until London pulled Brandon into a small cafe. She ordered a latte and he got a hot chocolate then they continued on their way.

"I need a lot of caffeine to get through this day," she told Brandon, "especially after dealing with my family."

"This afternoon will be easier," he reassured her.

London gave him a skeptical look, "I don't know. I love my friends but they're always super judgmental about my boyfriends. They never like anyone I date so I'm worried about what they'll think about you. I want them to like you."

Brandon smiled cheekily, "I'm sure they'll love me."

"They've hated all my previous boyfriends," she told him.

"So?" Brandon scoffed, "It's not my fault you dated a bunch of losers before you met me."

London playfully smacked him on the arm but smiled, "I guess that would be my fault."

"Good thing you'll finally have someone your friends will approve of then."

"What would I do without you?" London asked.

"I really don't know," Brandon smiled and pulled her closer.

London leaned against him and thought the same thing. Ever since Brandon had come into her life she had felt that he was meant to stay there, and after spending so much time with him she really wasn't sure what she would do if he left.

"Excuse me?" Serenity asked slowly, her voice cold.

"Your Highness, perhaps you should calm down a bit. You shouldn't be getting worked up in your condition," one of the many male advisors attempted to cool Serenity's burning anger but she wasn't letting him.

"Don't tell me about my condition," she snapped, "I think everyone in this room is aware that I'm pregnant. If you're worried about me being worked up, then perhaps you shouldn't keep information this important from me."

The advisors looked at each other, none of them quite sure what to say to calm down the princess. It was her first meeting alone with them, King James having trusted her to run it while he attended another meeting in a conference room down the hall.

"Princess Serenity," a different advisor started, "we aren't trying to offend you. All of us here have known about the developments for a while, we just assumed you had been informed. We thought Prince Matthew had told you-"

"Prince Matthew didn't tell me any information about the rebels. He was overly worried about what it would do to me, but he was wrong. I want a full briefing on my desk in the morning so that I am not blindsided by information about them again. Is that understood?"

The advisors all nodded and Serenity saw one of them write down a note, hopefully about the briefing.

Serenity took back control of the meeting by clearing her throat. Every eye turned to her and she spoke, "I will review all the information for tomorrow but for now I want a condensed version of what is pertinent to this meeting."

Nobody spoke but Serenity remained silent, waiting. Finally, one of the few other women in the room looked up and met Serenity's eyes. The princess gestured at the advisor and the short woman stood up.

"A few months ago we discovered a trail from African bank accounts leading us to a few provinces, all on the eastern side of the country. Investigating this we found out that the African government has been funding several accounts that were under pseudonyms. These accounts led us to houses in Hansport, Clermont, Kent, and Midston. We believe that these houses are some of the bases for the rebel cause."

Serenity was silent, letting the information soak in. Finally, she spoke, "So would one of you please tell me why exactly we haven't done anything with this information? If we had attacked these houses when we first found out about them my husband would still be alive!"

"Prince Matthew was the one who gave the order to wait. He wanted to be absolutely certain these were the right houses before he attacked."

Serenity's throat was thick but she pushed the words out, "Matthew has been dead for months now. Why has nothing been done in that time?"

"Your Highness, we were reluctant to go forward with this after the attack that took the Crown Prince's life. If we mess this up we could incur the wrath of the rebels even more, and it would be dangerous for this country to lose another member of the royal family, especially you since you are carrying the heir."

Serenity nodded and said, "Are you certain that these houses are rebel bases?"

The advisors nodded but still looked uncertain.

"We are going to make sure this is where the rebels are and then we are going to destroy these houses to make sure the rebels do not interfere with the country anymore. Is that understood?"

When she had met every advisor's eyes and seen them nod she continued speaking, "Are you positive that the African Union is the one funding them?"

"That is one of the few things we are sure about. The accounts link directly back to the African government."

Serenity sighed, "And we can't confront them about that, can we?"

"No, Your Highness," the woman who had been bold spoke up again, "funding the rebels is an act of war against Illéa. If we accuse the Africans it will lead to a war. We can't expose them unless we are willing to go to war over it."

Serenity looked down and absently ran a hand over her belly. Did she want to leave her child with a country that was indebted and torn apart by war? Would she be able to live with herself if she did that?

"Have there been any new developments with the Colonies of the South? Have they invaded our borders yet?"

A male advisor shuffled through his papers and answered her, "Not yet. They have come closer but we have increased the guards along our Southern borders. It is our belief that they will not invade until the rebels are close to gaining power in Illéa. Until then we think they will stay away."

"So all of our problems are because of the rebels," Serenity stated, "if we can stop them then our international and many of our domestic problems would disappear."

"Essentially yes."

"Then we're going to stop them," Serenity said it with such certainty that none of the advisors could contradict her, even though they'd been trying for years to stop the rebels.

"How do you propose we do that, Your Highness?" an advisor asked, almost mocking her.

Serenity shot him an icy glare as she answered, "You know the location of their bases. We just need to confirm them, once we do that we can send in the army and hit them with everything we have."

"Your Highness, we cannot use the army, we are not at war."

"We are at war, we have been. The rebels started this war when they killed my husband, the future king. They started it and we are going to end it. I'll speak with the generals and we'll send in spies to these bases. As soon as these are confirmed as their headquarters we will attack them. The rebels have terrorized this country for long enough and it's time for their reign to come to an end."