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“Your happiness is pretty contagious,” Beau grinned.

I grinned back at him from my spot on the sofa where I was waiting patiently for Ashton to arrive. He’d been a lot busier these past few days and I’d barely gotten a chance to see him this week.

Beau was working on a research project and keeping me company until Ashton got here.

Today was finally the day I’d been waiting for. I couldn’t contain my excitement as I thought about getting to meet my biological mother. I still couldn’t remember anything about her, and nervousness was beginning to seep into my belly, but I didn’t regret my choice.

I glanced at my phone for the millionth time. It was still just a bit after twelve in the afternoon.

Be patient, Elizabeth, I chided myself. Ashton still had a few more minutes to get here.

I resisted the urge to check the time again and idly wondered what our reunion would be like. Was she excited to find out that I wanted to see her? Or had she completely moved on with her life? Did she miss me? Did she feel as nervous as I did right now?

It had been more than a decade ago since we’d last seen each other. Maybe seeing her again in person would stir the recesses of my memory. I still didn’t know how I would explain this to my adoptive parents.

I was only allowed to meet my mom after agreeing to date Ashton and get royal training as his betrothed. That meant that I had to keep everything a secret, including this. I’d stuck to my end of the deal.

After all of this, I would be able to end the betrothal with Ashton… maybe.

A light blush rose to my cheeks when I thought about him. Lately, I couldn’t seem to get him out of my mind. I felt like I liked him even though I wasn’t sure if I should.

The doors swung open and a happy smile subconsciously found its way to my face as Ashton stepped into the room. He looked good. He always looked good. His eyes quickly found me and I tried to wipe the smile off my face but it was too late.

He smirked as he came over to me. “Missed me that much?”

“Shut it, Ashton,” I said, pretending to scowl.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, as I stood up and tucked a few stubborn strands of hair behind my ear.

“I don’t know,” I confessed. “I’m excited about this… but I’m so nervous too. It’s been so long for both of us. It’s such a miracle for me to know that she’s alive.”

He smiled beside me. “I’m glad. I know you’ve been waiting on this day for a while.”

“Was I that obvious?” I asked as he took my hand in his and led me out of the room. I waved goodbye to Beau with my free hand.

I looked down at our intertwined fingers and happiness overflowed in me. Tingles shot up my arm and judging by the look in his eyes, he could feel it too. I moved in a bit closer to him.

“I could tell,” he answered my question from earlier. “Sometimes I can tell what you’re thinking and at other times I have no clue,” he frowned.

“I’m glad,” I mused. “If you had the ability to read my mind, I don’t know what I’d do.”

We made our way up to the second floor.

“It would be useful,” he sighed. “With everything that’s going on... I want to know what you’re thinking.”

That prompted me into silence. I knew what he was curious about. He wanted to know whether I would end the betrothal in a few weeks. I winced at the thought of making him sad. Things were different now… Ashton and I didn’t harbor a mutual hate for each other anymore.

He was still annoyingly arrogant and a bit of a jerk, but those qualities didn’t seem as bad as they did a few months ago. I’d come to warm up to him after we’d spent so much time together.Marriage still seemed like a brooding ultimatum though, especially since we weren’t even dating.

“Forget about it,” he said quickly, as my brows furrowed in thought.

He shot me a reassuring smile as we stopped outside the office.

“Today’s about you.”

I smiled up at him and entered the room as he pushed the glossy doors open.

The king and queen greeted us as we came in. My eyes raked over every inch of the large room before I focused my attention back on them. It was empty. There was no sign of my mother anywhere. It was just us. I tried to swallow my disappointment at the thought that maybe she’d decided not to come see me after all.

Ashton and I sat across from the king and queen and I could see the happiness in her eyes at seeing us together.

“Good afternoon, your majesties,” I greeted them.

“Good afternoon, Elizabeth,” the queen smiled.

She looked so regal just sitting there. Madame Lucille really had her work cut out for her trying to turn me into a proper princess.

The king smiled politely, but I tried not to focus on him too much. The manipulative gleam in his eyes was getting on top of my nerves. I was still jarred after what he’d done to Ashton.

“It’s so nice for both of you to be here today,” he began. He motioned to the tea cups on the table in front of us. “Please, help yourselves.”

I nodded and gracefully picked up the cup and saucer the way Madame Lucille had insisted. The queen smiled to herself.

“You have done well to abide by my rules,” the king said after a moment. “You have been training to succeed the queen and Madame Lucille is pleased with your efforts.”

I raised an eyebrow. She was? She didn’t show that she felt that way in our classes. Most times she made me feel like I was doing everything wrong and that every issue plaguing the world was somehow my fault.

“You have also been going out with Ashton,” he continued. “Therefore, it was my intention to uphold my end of the deal. However, we have run into a bit of an issue.”

“Oh?” I asked a little breathlessly.

“She has refused to come here willingly,” he sighed. “I considered bringing her here by force, but I didn’t want to make you upset by that.”

That felt like a slap to the face. So my mother didn’t want to see me after all… I sighed, and looked down at my hands that were clasped tightly in my lap.

“May I try contacting her personally?” I asked. “Maybe if her daughter requests to see her, she might change her mind.”

There was silence, and the king’s green eyes gleamed. He placed his cup down with a dismayed sigh.

“Daughter?”

“Yes… I am her daughter, aren’t I?”

“I think you are mistaken, Elizabeth,” he said, moving closer to me. “I was not referring to your mother.”

I inclined my head, sure that my confusion was engraved on my face. “Excuse me?”

“The deal that we made… I was referring to your mother’s sister,” he explained. “Your aunt.”

Say what now?

The queen glanced over at him, but quickly masked her confusion. Ashton folded his arms beside me as he waited for a more in depth explanation. I was glad that I wasn’t the only one who was shocked by this. He had to have made some mistake.

“If I remember correctly,” I started slowly, “You said that I could ask my mother about my biological father.”

“I told you that your mother refused to say who the father was, but she might have an idea. The 'she' I was referring to was her sister, Dorothy.”

I stared at him flabbergasted. “But you said she was in another kingdom… and that she wasn’t the one driving the car that night.”

“Her sister, is in another kingdom. And your mother, Isabelle, was not the one driving the car that night. It was a chauffeur that she had hired.”

“So where is my mother?” I asked, my voice was barely above a whisper now.

“We’ve been through this, dear,” he said. “Your mother is dead.”

I sucked in a breath of air. My face paled and I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the king’s steely own.

What?

The way he had talked made it sound like he’d been referring to my mother. I bit my lips and ran a sweaty palm along my dress.

“You deliberately made it sound like her mother was alive!” Ashton growled. He scoffed. “You really do know how to f*ck people up.”

“Ashton, language!” his mom reprimanded.

She turned to me, her eyes softening. I could see that she was genuinely hurt by her husband’s half-truths.

I stared at the ground and my vision blurred as the harsh reality hit me. My mother was really gone. All my hopes had been cruelly dashed to pieces by this startling revelation.

“I really wanted to see her,” I choked, blinking back the tears.

Having her refuse to see me would have hurt, but at least I would have known that she was alive somewhere. I gripped the edge of the sofa and Ashton slid over to me. He placed his hand on top of mine with a sigh.

My expectations had soared through the roof. I had even argued with my adoptive parents. That night I’d been really upset and I thought they’d been lying to me about my mom. After cooling off in my room and thinking about it, I’d felt sorry about what I said to them. I’d called Noah and talking to him helped me to cheer up.

I couldn’t explain everything to him, but I didn’t have to because somehow Noah just understood without words.

Well, now it turned out that the king was the one who’d been lying this entire time. I didn’t understand why he was doing this. I’d gone along with everything he’d wanted!

I exhaled slowly, and tried to swallow the large lump that had formed in my throat.

It hurt.

It hurt a lot more than the first time hearing that she wasn’t alive, because this time I was grateful for the miracle that we’d both escaped the accident alive. I had been happy. It felt surreally unfair to suddenly have that stripped away.

I pressed my hands to my face, trying to drag myself out of the sadness that was engulfing me; this new sense of loss.

“Are you absolutely positive?” I murmured, wincing at the fact that I would probably get an answer that I wouldn’t want to hear.

“Yes,” the king said, rising to his feet.

“Did they find a body?”

Why was I pressing this so much? Why couldn’t I just accept this?

“Elizabeth, I was at the scene, remember?” he sighed, sitting beside me. “I saw the aftermath.”

I sniffed and Ashton ran his thumb over the back of my hand, the way I always did when he was upset. It made me relax a little. I just needed a moment to get my thoughts together.

I didn’t want to start crying, because I didn’t know when I’d be able to stop. Maybe eventually, when it fully hit me, I’d give way to sadness. But not here… not now and not in front of the king.

It was devastating to think that he’d purposely lured me into making the deal with him, knowing that we had been agreeing to two completely different things. I was angry.

I was angry with myself for being so damn naïve.

I blinked away the last of my tears and gave Ashton a grateful nod. His touch was gentle, but his eyes held a burning intensity directed at the king.

“Let me shed some light on your mother’s passing,” the king said, standing up again.

We followed his movements suspiciously with unrelenting stares. Ashton moved closer to me with an aura of protectiveness.

“You see, I was responsible for her death.”

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