Ƭhe next day, the castle was crowded with guests. They had all come to celebrate the beginning of summer. Most of the guests were royalty, nobles, or high-ranking military officers.

Ben was already beginning to feel nervous as he watched the guests arriving in fancy carriages and coaches. He stood on the balcony of the upstairs sitting room, looking down at the guests as they entered the castle. He had never liked celebrations like these unless his uncle came, but so far he hadn't seen him.

It was odd for his Uncle Luke to miss a royal celebration, but he was even more surprised that he hadn't come to his wedding. Of course, that had been planned at the last minute. Ben hadn't seen his uncle in years. He wanted a chance to set things right with him. But it would seem that he wouldn't get that chance, at least not on this evening.

He was glad that he would have Rey with him. At least he would have someone to talk to. All the royal guests ever talked about was official business, or they would compare their wealth. Each claiming to have the best palace, the most servants and guards. As the prince, he could top everyone but his parents in wealth and power, but such things meant little to him. Wasn't love, family, and friendship far more valuable? He had always believed so. Though he was a prince, he'd spent most of his life without the privileges of royalty, but he hadn't missed them. What he had missed was the love of his parents.

When he had almost lost those dearest to him, he had realized how truly valuable love was. If he could choose between all the riches that the world could offer and the love of just one person... Rey, he would choose her love without hesitation or regret. But her love wasn't something he could buy, if it was maybe gold wouldn't finally be valuable to him.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Rey. He couldn't stop the small gasp that escaped his lips at the sight of her. She wore an elegant blue gown, that fell to her ankles and had flared sleeves. The top half of her long brown hair was twisted and pulled into a bun, while the remainder hung loosely over her shoulders. She was so beautiful, he didn't understand how she seemed to grow more beautiful every time he looked at her.

She blushed as she noticed the way he was looking at her. Admiring her from head to toe, taking in every inch of her.

He swallowed hard and took a step towards her. "I have a gift for you," he whispered, pulling the necklace from beneath the collar of his tunic. He was nervous. Would she accept it this time? Would she see that he was giving it to her not to buy her love, but to express his own?

She smiled shyly at him, then lowered her head slightly so that he could place the necklace around her neck.

He removed the necklace and placed it around her neck, gently moving the strands of her hair that had been trapped beneath the leather cord. He smiled, unable to hide his happiness that she'd finally accepted his gift.

She looked down at the crystal, holding between her fingers and admiring it. The king and queen had given her several pieces of fancy jewelry. She had never really cared much for fancy jewelry or elegant gowns. But she liked the necklace he had given her, it was simple and rustic, a natural crystal tied to a leather cord. And he had made it himself, carried it for years waiting to give it to his future wife, it was a special gift. A gift that had come from his heart.

She felt guilty for rejecting it before. She knew that as the prince he could have offered her anything to try to buy her affection. But while this necklace was of little value in gold, it was very valuable to him... she knew that he had given it to her as a true sign of his affection.

"It's beautiful, thank you, Ben," she whispered.

A faint smile touched the corner of his lips.

"I'm sorry I didn't accept it before."

"It's alright. I understand why you didn't... why you didn't want any part of me," he whispered.

She stepped closer to him. "I do now," she whispered. "I will cherish it forever, I promise."

He smiled sadly. "You deserve better. It's not worth much."

"It is to me," she whispered.

He blushed, looking into her hazel eyes before his eyes flicked down to her lips.

"Are you ready?" she asked, growing nervous because of the way he was looking at her.

"As I'll ever be," he muttered after a long silence.

"Don't worry, I'll defend you this time, Ben, I promise," she looked into his eyes, speaking sincerely. "I'm sorry that I didn't last time."

"I'm glad that you're with me Rey," he whispered, then offered his arm to her so that he could escort her.

She timidly accepted, wrapping her arm around his. Then they walked down the hall together.

Ben looked at her. "You look beautiful this evening," he said softly.

She blushed fiercely. "Thank you."

"I mean... you're always beautiful to me, but I just wanted to tell you. I was too nervous to say it before," he stumbled over his words.

"Why?"

"You make me nervous," he whispered.

"I'm sorry," she answered, thinking that it was because of how she had treated him before.

"No, don't be. It's a good kind of nervousness. I've never felt like this about anyone before. I don't know how to show you how I feel," he said.

"I know how you feel," she admitted in a whisper.

He looked at her, hoping that she meant it the same way that he did. Hoping that she'd understood what he meant.

They walked down the stairs together, then took a deep breath as they entered the ballroom, where everyone had gathered.

King Han and Queen Leia sat on thrones at the end of the room. Ben and Rey approached the king and queen. They bowed their heads slightly in respect, Han and Leia returned the gesture. They moved away from the thrones so that the guests behind them could greet the king and queen.

As they walked through the ballroom, the nobles watched them in disapproval and whispered. Some because of the prince's treacherous past, they believed that he deserved death. Others because Rey was an orphan of the streets and wasn't worthy to be their princess, in their opinion. Some of the nobles had hoped that their daughters would be chosen to marry the prince.

Ben was certainly glad that his parents hadn't chosen them, it was exactly the reason he had never been in a romantic relationship before. All of the young ladies in the noble circles which he'd always been forced to be a part of were rude, selfish, and snobbish. Rey was more wonderful than he'd ever dreamed. She was kind and brave and generous. She might have been rude to him at first, but she had a good reason to be. And she'd forgiven him when he didn't deserve it, she'd even shown him that God would forgive him too.

Put in the same place, he doubted that any of the noblewomen would have forgiven him. Unless of course, it was because they wanted the throne, but that wouldn't be genuine forgiveness or love.

A chubby nobleman stepped in front of them. "I see you've returned, Prince Ben. I will never know why your parents welcomed you back with open arms," he said.

"Because they still love him," Rey replied before Ben had a chance to speak. "And he has given them no cause to regret it."

"Yet," he replied, coldly.

"Well, I'm sure that they already regret inviting you to this celebration," Rey answered sharply, then she turned to walk away. "Let's go, Ben."

He smiled, a bit surprised by her snappy response, then he turned to follow her.

"Thank you, Rey," he said softly.

She nodded. "I told you that I would stand up for you this time. I don't want anyone talking to my husband that way."

He couldn't stop himself from smiling, she actually did care about him.

Then they went over to the buffet table and began to snack on fruit and pieces of toast, enjoying the brief solitude from the crowd. They didn't say anything, but it was a companionable silence. They were both surprised by how much they enjoyed just standing next to each other.

But it wouldn't last long as their quiet moment together was interrupted by three snobbish noblewomen. One of them was old and wrinkled with grey hair. The other two were young and beautiful, but something about their attitudes made them ugly beneath the skin.

They smiled and curtsied to Ben. "Good evening your majesty," they said, in a tone that was almost too friendly.

"Good evening," he replied evenly, as he watched them suspiciously. He had met them before, the older woman was their mother, a baroness named Tilda, and she had tried to convince his parents to let him marry one of her daughters years ago.

He was glad that they didn't agree because if they did, he would have run away for sure. At the time he had been too young to get married, but Baroness Tilda had wanted his parents to promise his hand in marriage to one of her daughters. Being only a boy at the time, the mention of marriage had made him feel very uncomfortable, even now their presence filled him with a certain amount of unease.

One of the younger women, Ann turned to look at Rey. "There's been many rumors across the kingdom about you. A servant for the prince's bride." The jealousy was obvious in her voice.

"A filthy street girl as the princess of Alderaan," said Baroness Tilda.

Rey looked down, unable to meet their judgmental glares.

Ben shot the three women an angry look that silenced most, but they weren't even looking at him.

"That beautiful gown and those jewels may make you look like one of us...like a princess," she continued. "But you will always be a filthy servant girl. You may be queen one day, but you will always be below us."

Rey stiffened at her harsh words.

Ben had become tired of hearing these snobs speak to his wife this way, they had no right. He wanted to slap all three of them in the face, but his father had always told him that it wasn't right to hit a girl. As much as he disliked them, he refrained himself. He clenched his hands into tight fists and took a deep breath to calm himself before he spoke.

"That's no way to speak to your future queen," he said sternly.

Baroness Tilda quickly closed her mouth, but the younger women didn't notice the warning in his tone.

"Beautiful? That gown is hideous, it's so simple it's more fit for a peasant than a princess," said Ann.

"I heard that the marriage was arranged. Not surprising, why else would a prince marry a servant girl? He would never marry you if he had a choice," Ann's sister, Becca said coldly.

Ben could tell that they were jealous, and not over him...they were jealous because she would rule the kingdom one day, and they wouldn't. They were jealous because his parents chose Rey over them, they thought themselves better than her because she was poor and a peasant and they were wealthy and had come from a family of high status. But that was far from the truth, Rey was far kinder than them...than anyone he'd ever met. She was the most wonderful person he knew.

Rey looked away. Deep down she knew it was true, if he had a choice he never would have married her. He would have married a wealthy woman of noble birth, such as one of the baroness's daughters.

"That's not true," Ben replied. "If I could marry any girl in the world, I would choose Rey. I would marry her of my own free will. I would marry her even if my parents forbid it and I had to run away to be with her, if I had to give up the throne to be with her, I would gladly do it."

Rey looked at him surprised. "You would?"

He nodded, his eyes full of honesty and sincerity. "If you would have me."

She didn't reply, she only stared into his eyes. There was a part of her deep down that wanted to say that she would. After all, he was willing to give up so much to be with her.

He reached out his hand to her and led her onto the dance floor so that they could get away from the snobbish women.

He held her hand in his and wrapped his free arm around her waist.

She gasped softly as she felt her heart flutter at each simple, gentle touch that he gave her. She slowly moved her free hand to his shoulder. She looked up into his onyx eyes, as they began to dance slowly across the ballroom floor.

Ben leaned closer to her and breathed into her ear. "Remind me to tell my parents not to invite them next time."

"Ben..." she whispered, thinking he was taking this too far.

"They have no right to speak to you that way. You are their princess, they are not royalty, they're just rich... technically I could have them arrested for treason. Besides, I doubt my parents will ever invite them to anything if I tell them what they said to you."

She looked at him doubtfully.

"They love you, Rey, they love you like their own daughter," he smiled slightly. "There's a reason they chose you, and not someone else."

Rey nodded thoughtfully.

"Don't listen to them, " his eyes scanned her body. "This dress looks beautiful on you. Blue really looks nice with your hair." He reached up and ran his fingers through her hair.

Rey blushed fiercely at his tender actions. The way he looked at her always made her feel beautiful, even though she'd never considered herself to be very pretty.

She looked into his eyes for several moments as they danced. "Did you mean that?" she whispered.

"What?"

"The things you told them."

He leaned down closer to her, his lips only centimeters from her ear. "Every word," he breathed rubbing her back gently. "I love you, Rey. I don't want to be with anyone else...just you."

She didn't answer, but he felt her squeeze his hand gently. Then she leaned her head on his shoulder and pulled him closer to her.