Page 86 of Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra)

When she finally got to the altar, everyone sat down. Nico and Kat spoke briefly and quietly to each other, the love and exhilaration of the moment evident on their faces.

As I sat through a ceremony that was sometimes in English but mostly in other languages, I watched Rafe. Would that be us? Did I want that to be us?

I did. I wanted to marry him. I wanted all of this with him. I wanted a life, a family, a forever with him. It didn’t matter that he was from here and I was from Iowa. That he was a prince and I was a college student. We would find a way to work it out.

After a bunch of standing and kneeling, they were finally pronounced husband and wife. The entire church erupted into applause and cheering as they marched down the aisle together, waving to everyone. The noise from the crowd outside the church was even louder when they opened the doors, and there were bells ringing and sounds of celebration. Rafe escorted Violetta down the aisle, and he waited outside for me.

I threw myself into his arms, kissing him hard. “What was that for?” he asked.

“For being you.”

The reception was loud and teeming with people. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had that much fun. Despite generally hating dancing, I decided I didn’t care what anyone else thought about my moves and spent the night with Rafe and his family out on the dance floor.

I was shocked when Rafe had the DJ put on a country song, and asked me to teach everyone the steps to a line dance. I did it, and I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched all of his family, including the new bride and groom, trying to do the Tush Push.

But Nico and Kat didn’t stick around for long. They said their goodbyes and left quickly, their eyes full of longing, anticipation, and joy.

Rafe’s arm went around my waist. That could be us.

The rest of the time in Monterra seemed to fly by. That might have been because I spent a lot of it making out with Rafe. As always, Rafe’s family was so kind and generous with me that I found myself not wanting to leave.

After Kat left for her honeymoon, Lemon had teased me relentlessly about being under Rafe’s thrall. I told her I wasn’t.

“So you’re saying you’re not in love with him? That you’re not kissing on him every chance you get?”

What could I say to that that would be true without admitting anything?

“See how you’re not responding? Total thrall.”

Obviously, I wanted to get back to Aunt Sylvia and Whitney and my horse and my dog, but there was something special about being in Monterra, too. I didn’t want to leave. There were people I loved here, as well.

When our time was finished and we flew back to Iowa, we held hands as Rafe drove back to the farmhouse from the airport. It was dark out, and the full moon illuminated the snow beneath it. “I’m excited to get home, but I am not excited to see Brooke. She’s going to be even madder at me now that I won’t run the blood drive.”

He kissed the back of my hand. “What brought out your inner rebel?”

“You did.” I put my head against the seat, watching his profile. “You’re also the one who made me consider why I always say yes. I think it goes back to when I went to live with Aunt Sylvia. John-Paul had spent my entire childhood telling me how wicked I was. Obedience was the first thing he ever drilled into me. So when Aunt Sylvia rescued me, I wanted to make her happy. I wanted to be the perfect child. Some part of me was afraid that if I didn’t do everything she said, she’d send me back. I know she wouldn’t have, but little kids aren’t always rational. And I think it stuck.”

“What did?”

“I really do like helping people. I like making people happy. But what stuck was the obedience thing. Feeling like I had to be good and say yes every time someone asked for help, even if I didn’t want to or didn’t have the time.”

He glanced at me. “Let’s continue the streak. What is something you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t because you wanted to be good?”

His bare chest flashed into my mind, and I was grateful his eyes were on the road so he wouldn’t notice how my cheeks burned. “It’s going to sound stupid. But I always wanted to climb the water tower.”

“Let’s do it then.” I gave him directions, and his SUV had no problem handling the snow-covered dirt road out to the tower. He called his guards and told them not to follow us, and that he would see them back in town.

Climbing the water tower was something the seniors always did on ditch day. I was the dork who stayed in class, studying, while all my classmates were off enjoying themselves.

We got out, and I showed him the hole in the chain-link fence that we could climb through. “Is this legal?” he asked.

“Probably not,” I said as I started to climb. The rungs were a little slippery, but my rubber-soled boots did a good job of clinging to the metal.

When we were halfway up, Rafe called up to me, “This wasn’t quite what I had in mind when I pictured this.”

“Are you afraid of heights?”

“No, just very aware of my own mortality and that unlike my character inWorld of Warcraft, I can’t fall a hundred feet and survive.”

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