There's some light commotion outside and I think I hear Dr. Cullen yell something. Then there are some thundering steps in the hallway getting louder and louder until they stop, right outside the room, followed by a bang against the door. Someone loudly curses before it slams open.

Edward stands on the other side looking disheveled and out of breath. His eyes widened once he saw me and his entire body seemed to relax as he let out a sigh in relief. His eyes scan my body, taking in the fading bruises on my arms and legs. Most of my cuts have healed except for the particularly deep ones, which I was sure I would have for the rest of my life, but a majority of my injuries faded during the week I was out.

Neither of us say anything, taking each other in before I finally speak up.

"Hi," I give him a nervous smile. Really, Bella? You haven't seen him since he saved you and that's what you come up with? I want to mentally face palm myself but it's not like I can take the words back.

Now that I'm getting a good look at him in the bright light of the hospital room, he looks terrible, like he hasn't slept in days. The bags under his eyes are too dark and his eyes lacked that brightness I'd come to know. Honestly, he looks miserable.

He still hasn't said anything, but then he starts to shake his head. "I-I didn't…I didn't know if you'd wake up and-" he suddenly stops talking, his eyes filling with tears as he blinks to keep them from falling. His breathing speeds up, and I was afraid he might start hyperventilating. I feel my heart squeeze seeing the pain in his eyes.

I hold a hand out and gesture to the seat next to me. He makes a beeline for it, sitting down and tightly gripping one of my hands like a lifeline, pressing it to his lips as he inhales a choppy breath. He closes his eyes, and his hand shakes in mine.

"I am so sorry, princess. I am so so sorry," he keeps mumbling these words into my hand, his head down. I feel a wetness as his tears hit my arm.

Instinctively I reach over with my other hand to try to comfort him, but it tugs on my IV, causing a sharp pinch. I inhale sharply, and Edward's face snaps up as he tries to figure out what's wrong.

"I pulled on my IV," I explain. "I was just trying to comfort you and I pulled too hard."

"Damn it, Bella. You need to just rest." His eyes meet mine, and hold an emotion I can't quite decipher. "Knowing you're here and safe is comfort enough for me."

I furrow my brows, pulling my hand back from his. "Am I?" I question. "Safe?" Nobody ever gave me a straight answer and even if they did I don't know if I would believe them.

"Of course!" Edward almost seems offended that I would ask such a thing.

"Masen-"

"Edward," he immediately cuts me off. "You call me Edward."

"Edward…how am I supposed to know that? I don't know what's true and what's a lie. I'm in some strange place with all these people and I'm trying to sort out what happened. I'm still….I'm…" I try to explain what I'm feeling, the internal conflict between my head and my heart. "Was any of it real?" It's the question that had been on my mind since the day I found out.

Edward freezes, his eyes widening as he gives me an incredulous look like he's waiting for me to tell him I'm kidding or something. He seems to be studying me for a second before he reaches into his pocket, pulling out a golden pocket watch. On the front is a crest engraved into it. I recognize it as the Ruthenian royal family's crest.

"My father gave this to me on my 18th birthday. He has one from his father, and his father has one from his and his father. It's a tradition. When he gave it to me, my father showed me the inside of his and it had a picture of my mom and us. He told me that one day, when I find the person who means more to me than anything in this world, I would put a picture of them in here so I would always have them with me."

He presses the small button at the top and it pops open. He carefully pulls out something green and brown. I squint, leaning forward slightly to get a closer look at the object between his fingers.

"Is that a moldy flower?" I wrinkle my nose.

He smiles gently and holds it up between us. "It's the flower you gave me that first morning. The first thing you ever gave me. I remember you were so excited, and there was just something about seeing the joy you had in giving me this simple little thing that tugged at my heart. And I think it's been yours ever since. I tried to press it but I don't think I did it right," he frowns, twirling the disgusting flower.

I let out a light laugh that was half crying, and I quickly attempt to wipe my tears. "I don't know if that's sweet or gross."

His cheeks flush pink and he looks down at his shoes. "I'm hoping for the former," he mumbles. His embarrassment about the whole situation was endearing.

"I can't believe you kept that." The fact that he had, meant something. It had to, right? It was a silly little flower. A now moldy flower. Even if Edward had given it to me, I probably would have thrown it out if it was in that condition.

He then turns the locket around to show me the inside and I gasp.

"Where did you get that picture?" Inside of the pocket watch was a photo of me that I knew came from my room. I kept it in a frame on my desk, along with a few others. It was a photo of when I was given one of the royal crowns for my 18th birthday and Jasper had been there to snap the photo. This particular photo happened to be one where the crown started to slip off my head and I barely caught it, smiling sheepishly at the camera as the crown sits askew on my head.

"Emmet brought it back for me. He knew I'd want a picture of you, something I could look at in case I'd never be able to see you in person again. Not that I had any intentions of that," he clarifies. "I was always going to come back for you, Princess."

I want to keep telling myself that he's lying. It would be easier than taking the risk to open myself back up to the possibility of heartbreak. Nobody has ever cared this much for me, not since my mother died, and I don't know how much longer I can deny it. Not when in my heart I know the truth.

But there are still some answers that were missing.

"I need to know what happened, Edward," I say.

He grabs my hand again. I don't even think he's aware he's done it as he rubs circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. "I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"I know Jasper was the one that let it slip that you were in the castle to my father but, how did you end up being accused of killing Maria, after I…found out?"

"It's all kind of a blur actually," Edward admits. "I remember trying to figure out a way to get you to come with me, even though I knew there was a slim chance you even wanted to see me. I was about to try to go see you again a few hours after I slipped the note but then guards showed up at my door and cuffed me and threw a cloth over my head. I didn't really get an explanation of what was going on until I was in the jail."

"Why didn't you defend yourself during the trial?" I wasn't even sure you could really call it that. They seemed really keen on having an execution, regardless of whether he was innocent or not.

He squeezes his eyes shut and I immediately want to take back the question. It's not like it's really the most important thing anyway. I heard what Rosalie had said and I wanted to hear it from him but not if it was going to cause him unnecessary pain.

"You don't have to answer that," I tell him.

He shakes his head. "No. I promised you I would tell you anything you wanted." Edward looks so broken in that moment that I have to do something.

"When I was down there," I start in a small voice. "I would read your note over and over and even though I wanted to hate you, that note was one of the only things that kept me hoping."

Edward listens to every word and once I'm done, he exhales a shaky breath, kissing my wrist.

"I didn't defend myself because I had truly given up. Nothing seemed to matter anymore. What was it all for if I lost you?" He says. "But I wasn't going to show them that they had won. It wasn't until I heard you, saw you again that some sense was knocked back into me. I was of no use to you dead. You saved me, angel."

"You saved me first," I tell him, truthfully. "So then what? After we went to the border."

Edward doesn't respond so I look back over at him. His face is pained again and I wait to see what he wants to say.

"I should have fought for you," he says, his eyes shining. "When you found out. I should have fought harder for you."

"But you didn't," I say. I'm sure it didn't help that I ran out of there at the first opportunity.

"I couldn't. Not at the time. I was alone in a foreign kingdom and I needed to get my bearings if I was going to get you out of there safely. I'm so sorry I took so long Princess. That's something I'll never forgive myself for," he says. "I tried to figure out if there would be a way to get back inside, to you, without being caught. But I knew I wouldn't stand a chance once I was, without some kind of backup," he explains."So I had to return here. Emmet met me right outside your border and it took us about three days to make it back here. And then we started to strategize."

"Strategize?" About how to take over Alynthia?

"About how to get you out. Well, Dad strategized. I wanted to turn right back, swords drawn, and Emmet pretty much spent the whole time holding me back. I'm not proud to admit that I lost my head for a while there until Rosalie slapped some sense into me."

"She did?" I raise my brows, surprised how she had accomplished that.

Edward nods. "She said that I was no used to you losing my temper at every suggestion and the sooner I focused the sooner we could get to you."

"You knew I was in that dungeon?" I'm surprised how they were able to get that kind of information. As far as I knew, Emmet was the only inside man, but I wasn't thrown in there until after he left too.

"No," Edward says. "We didn't know anything about that. But I wasn't going to let you marry that asshole."

"Which one?" I joke, feeling relaxed enough to do so again and wanting to cut some of the tension between us.

Edward snorts and I can see some of the stress leaving his shoulders. "Alright, you," he pokes my shoulder and I can't help giggle.

"So you weren't going to let me marry Jacob. Your plan was to, what? Kidnap me?"

"Yes," Edward nods with full confidence. "Although I was sure you would come with me after I groveled. Rosalie said it's a right of passage."

"I very much would like to see this groveling," I muse.

"Right now?" Edward's eyes go comically wide.

"Hm," I pretend to think. "Maybe later. So how did you get in? And how did you know where I was?"

"Did Rosalie tell you everything?" He asks. I'm not sure what exactly everything entailed but she did give me quite a bit of information so I nod.

"Well, we couldn't send the whole cavalry," he says. "We aren't ready to launch our takeover quite yet, so this was going to have to be a covert mission. Some of the council didn't even want us to go, but I overruled them. And then they questioned my intentions so Dad stepped in and gave the authority for a go ahead. But only Emmet and I were to go into the castle and everyone else had to wait at the edge of the forest."

I squeeze his hand for him to continue and he squeezes back.

"For someone who's so concerned with keeping their power, security outside of the castle was actually pretty low," Edward comments. And now that I thought about it, I never saw very many guards outside. "It wasn't hard to sneak in. Emmet took me through the 'Fun Zone,'" he rolls his eyes. "But when we got to your room, you weren't there."

"How did you know I was in the dungeon? I didn't even know it existed."

"That was actually the most surprising part. It was actually your brother who told us where you were."

"Jasper?" I sit up in shock, tugging on my IV again. "Ow."

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"I'm fine," I brush off his concerns. "How did you get Jasper to tell you where I was without him ratting you out?"

"I didn't have to do anything," Edward says, looking just as confused as me. "He caught me in your room, and I thought I was going to have to kill him or something to keep him quiet. Sorry, Princess," he adds.

"He would have brought that on himself," I say. I love Jasper and of course I care about him, but I don't know if I could forgive him so easily. And yet I was considering forgiving Edward. What did that say about me?

"Well he tried to hit you and that alone would have been enough of a reason for me. But he…wanted to help. Apparently he heard your father talking about how he killed Maria because she wasn't 'agreeable' enough. Whatever bullshit that means. And how because of you he can't pin the blame on me and her family was demanding answers. He told us where you were and how to get there. He even called away the guards so I could get to you undetected. He made sure to clarify that he wasn't doing any of this for our sake. It was for you."

I didn't really know what to feel about what he's just said. I couldn't believe that my brother, who had watched our father hurt me without stopping him, was the one who also helped save me.

"You lost so much blood, and you weren't waking up," Edward starts shaking again. "And I thought…I-"

"Edward," I place a hand on his cheek. "Look at me. I'm here. You saved me. You got me out. You did that."

He places his hand over mine. "Bella, tell me what he did to you. Alice could try to infer some things examining you medically, but there's still some blanks."

"There's not too much to tell," I tell him, trying to recount all of it. "It was the same thing every day. I'd be down there alone. There was no heat, which didn't bother me too much during the day, but at night…And then once a day, my father would come down, try to teach me a lesson about being disobedient. He'd hit me, push me, and use that awful knife. The guards would bring me food and water, but every day, there was less and less. Father only started avoiding my face that last week because he didn't want anyone asking questions at the wedding."

"Week?" Edward looks like he's trying to figure something out. Then his face turns deadly. "How long were you down there?"

I take a deep breath, looking down at my hands. "Two weeks. He lured me down there the day you left."

Edward stands, pacing to the other side of the room. "Fuck!" He shouts. He keeps mumbling curse words and "two weeks" and other things I can't quite make out as he tugs at his hair looking absolutely furious.

"Edward. Edward!" I call out, trying to get his attention.

"Two weeks!" He whirls around but his anger isn't directed at me. "You were down there for two weeks. He hurt you for two more weeks because I didn't-fuck!" He turns away from me again.

"Edward, you couldn't have known," I tell him, but he still won't face me. "Edward, look at me, or so help me god, I will go back to calling you Masen," I say, hoping to get some kind of reaction, any reaction from him.

It works, sort of, and he turns around, and all the anger is gone. His face is filled with shame and regret, and he looks heartbroken. He had to know I don't blame him for my father's actions.

"You risked everything to save me. If anyone found you at the castle they would have killed you. You would have lost your family, your kingdom. Why? Why would you risk everything for me?" I ask him, hoping he'd give me some clarity as to what was going on inside of his head.

Edward looks at me like I was hit in the head one too many times. He marches right back into the chair and gently cradles my face, and his green eyes shine bright with intensity.

"Princess, you are my everything. I don't know when I fell in love with you, maybe it was when you started dancing in the rain even though you were definitely going to get a cold, or when you told me about all of your hopes and dreams and none of them were about you. Or maybe it was love at first sight and it just took me too long to admit to myself. All I know is that I can't imagine a life where I don't spend the rest of it proving to you how much I love you. I failed you, more times than I can count but never again. Please trust me when I say that I will never lie to you ever again. I will never deceive you. I would give up my entire kingdom in a second if it meant I could spend even just one second with you."

He gently wipes the tears that start to flow down my cheeks. He gently kisses the top of my head and whispers against my hair.

"I would burn the world for you."

And this time, I believe him.