The next morning, I eagerly got dressed in a royal blue long sleeve shirt and a pair of dark leggings.

I took a look in the mirror, taking a deep breath. This was the last time I was going to be able to go out as a free woman. Tomorrow, I was going to be officially engaged to some stranger, destined to be the queen of Ruthenia and Adarlan.

I gave my shirt a tug, before heading out.

Masen was already waiting for me inside the announcement booth. He was leaning against one of the posts, wearing a nice dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. And can I just say, he looked hot.

No, Bella! You are engaged!

I pushed those thoughts out of my head as I walked up to him.

As soon as he saw me walking towards him, his face lit up, his eyes widening.

"Hi." I looked up at him with a smile.

Masen blinked a couple of times before shaking his head.

"H-hi. You look really nice. I like this color on you," he gently traced my sleeve.

"Thanks. You too," I told him.

"So," I changed the subject, needing to talk about something else. "We're going over to the Ruthenia side today?"

"Yeah, I guess that's where all the rides and stuff are. The food was on the Adarlan side," he explained.

"Sounds great. Lead the way."

"How do you feel about heights?" Masen asked as we started walking.

"I don't have any particular adversity to them," I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"Well, then. This is one of my favorite rides," Masen pointed up to the giant ferris wheel. He quickly paid for two tickets and led me over to the short line.

Within minutes we were being escorted into one of the pods.

"I feel like I'm a bird," I marveled as I saw the ground getting farther and farther away.

"What?" Masen gave me an amused look.

"Well, this is what birds get to see every day. You know, when they fly?" I explained.

"I love getting to hear what you're thinking. It's fascinating," Masen's face told me he was sincere.

"Thanks," I blushed before turning back to the window.

"It's crazy that in a few weeks this is all going to be one kingdom."

"Yeah."

I looked at Masen who had gone quiet.

"You okay?"

"I'm just thinking about what you just said. You know, the royal marriage. I heard the prince and princess haven't even met each other yet. I mean who's to say they won't completely hate each other or something?"

I was speechless. He seemed upset over something that had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with me. If anyone should be upset, it was me.

"Yeah, but it's their birthright, I guess. The one downside of being a royal. They've probably already accepted it themselves, since it's been planned their whole lives," I shrugged.

"I'm assuming," I quickly added when I saw Masen looking at me funny.

"But I bet they wish it wasn't like that sometime. That they could love and be with whoever they wanted," he looked at me, his green eyes burning with intensity.

I felt myself shifting closer to him, not being able to control myself. For a second, I thought we might even end up kissing, but luckily for me, the ride stopped just in time.

"I hope you both enjoyed the ride," the attendant opened our pod to let us out.

"Um...I-" Masen started to speak.

"Dude!" I turned around to see a dark haired guy waving his hand towards Masen. Behind him were a blonde haired girl and guy and a short dark haired girl.

Masen's face panicked as he placed a hand on my lower back to guide me in the opposite direction.

"I think those people-" I pointed back towards the group.

"Oh, brother dearest!" A high pitched musical voice was coming up behind us. Despite Masen pushing me forward, I looked back to see the dark haired girl struggling to get closer.

Eventually Masen must have given up because he stopped walking and waited for them to catch up.

"Brother…? Masen, Is that your sister?" I looked between Masen and the group of strangers confused.

"Masen?" The dark haired guy looked over at Masen, confused. Masen nodded his head as if he was trying to tell him something.

"Okay...Masen. Are you going to introduce us to your friend?" The dark haired girl looked at me with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Bella," I stuck my hand out. Everyone seemed a little surprised when I did so. The blonde girl even looked at me in disgust.

"Bella? Like short for Isabella?" the dark haired girl whispered to me, shaking my hand.

"Uh, yeah." I didn't know why she was whispering.

"Huh. Interesting," the girl looked lost in thought.

"Jasper," the blonde boy gave me a small smile. "And this is my fiance, Alice," he put his arm around the dark haired girl's waist.

"I'm Emmet, and this is Rosalie, the wife," the dark haired guy gave me a huge goofy grin.

"I'm sorry. Do you not know who we are?" Rosalie narrowed her eyes, looking both confused and slightly offended.

"Masen mentioned he had two sisters but I didn't know your names," I explained.

"No, I mean, you don't recognize us?" Rosalie looked annoyed at this point.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "Should I? Have we met before?"

"Is she joking? I'm literally the-"

"Hey, Rose, I think we should let them enjoy their date, don't you think?" Alice looked at her.

"Oh, this isn't a date," I told them. I didn't tell them the part about how I was engaged.

"Of course it's not," Rose gave Masen a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Especially since you're getting officially engaged this weekend."

"Rosalie," Masen growled. My heart sank as I learned he was engaged. I mean, yeah, I was kind of a hypocrite since I was too but it didn't make it hurt any less.

"What? I wouldn't want little Bella to get her hopes up. After all, this whole festival is to celebrate your engagement."

"Rosalie!" Emmet scolded.

"What?" I froze. His engagement? But that would mean…

My eyes widened as I came to the realization.

Masen must have noticed because he turned to me, grabbing my arm.

"Bella," he pleaded as my eyes met his.

"You're getting...And this is your...But that means you're…"

"The prince. Soon to be king of both Ruthenia and Adarlan. Isn't that just great?" Rosalie gave me a fake smile.

"Oh my god," I put my hand over my heart to try to slow my breathing.

"Bella, please," Masen tried again, but my mind was already looking for a way to escape.

"I-I'm sorry. I have to...I have to go," I gave him an apologetic look. "It was great to meet you guys," I tell everyone else, who, except Rosalie, looked completely and utterly confused.

"Great, Rose. You scared her off!" I heard Emmet tell her.

"It's better that way. Did you really think this was going to end well? They're not from the same world."

"The world is smaller than you think," Alice told them.

"Bella! Wait!"

"What are you doing?" Jasper told Masen, but I guess he must have ignored him.

I walked as quickly as I could in the direction of Adarlan, bobbing and weaving around people as I heard Masen's voice get closer.

"Bella," I felt him grab my hand. Everything in my body was telling me to keep going. To ignore him. But I didn't.

"Don't," I said, turning to face him.

"Look, I can explain-"

I shook my head, stopping him. I couldn't do this right now.

"I really have to go."

And then I don't really know what came over me but I got up on my tip toes and I kissed him.

Masen froze in shock, before starting to kiss me back. I immediately felt that spark. The one I had read about in so many of my books. It made my entire body feel both at home and on fire at the same time.

And then as quickly as it happened, it ended as I pulled away.

Masen and I both stared at each other in shock, processing what just happened, but before he could say anything I turned and ran.

I only stopped when I was sure he wasn't behind me. I stopped and leaned against a pole to catch my breath.

Masen, the boy who I had just spent the last two days with, the boy who I had been desperately trying not to fall for, was who I was engaged to?

But it made no sense. The prince's name was Edward. So did that mean Masen-er, Edward, had lied to me about his name? If so, what else did he lie about?