CHAPTER 22 #3
We talked for another hour, about my mother, about Valdoria, about the life I might have had versus the life I'd actually lived. She told me stories about Catherine's childhood, showed me photos I'd never seen, gave me pieces of a history I'd been denied.
And slowly, painfully, I started to understand the desperation that had driven her lies. It didn't make them right. But it made them human.
"I should go," I said finally. "I have a lot to think about."
"What about the annulment papers?"
"I'll make my own decision about those. In my own time."
She nodded, accepting this. "One more thing, Betty. Before you go."
"What?"
"Call your parents. Your adoptive parents. Talk to them about all of this." She smiled sadly. "They raised you. They know you better than I ever will. If you need guidance about what to do, they're the ones who can help you."
The suggestion was so unexpected, so generous coming from someone who had every reason to be jealous of my parents. Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes.
"Thank you," I said.
"For what?"
"For acknowledging that they're my parents too. For not trying to replace them."
"I could never replace them, dear. They gave you twenty years I'll never get back." She touched my cheek gently. "I just want whatever time I have left."
I hugged her then, gentle with her obvious pain. She held onto me like I might disappear if she let go.
"I love you," she said. "I know I have no right to say that, but I do. I love you, and I'm so proud of who you've become."
Words caught in my throat, but I forced out, "I'm glad I got to meet you. To know you."
It wasn't "I love you back," but it was honest. And right now, honesty was more important than pretty words.
Captain Steiner was waiting outside, exactly where she'd said she'd be.
"Everything okay, Your Highness?"
"Define okay." I pulled out my phone. "I need to make a call before we head back. Is there somewhere private I can talk?"
She led me to a small sitting room down the hall. "Take all the time you need. I'll be outside."
I stared at my phone for a long moment before pulling up my parents' number. My father answered on the second ring.
"We were just talking about you. Your mother saw the news about, well, about everything. Are you okay?"
"Hi, Dad. Is Mom there? Can you put me on speaker?"
Rustling sounds, then my mother's voice: "Sweetie, what's wrong? You sound upset."
And just like that, I started crying. Not elegant royal tears, but ugly, gasping sobs that came from somewhere deep in my chest.
"I don't know what to do," I managed between sobs. "Everything is such a mess and I'm so confused and I just, I need help."
"Okay, honey. Start from the beginning. Tell us everything."
So I did. The permanent marriage lie, the sabotage attempts, the destroyed rooms, the threatening messages, Archie's annulment papers, the Grand Duchess's terminal illness, Viktor's suspected involvement, Anastasia's perfect princess act, all of it.
They listened without interrupting, letting me get it all out. When I finally ran out of words and tears, there was a long silence.
"That's a lot, kiddo," my father said.
"You think?" I laughed wetly. "So what do I do?"
"Well, first question," my mother said. "Do you love him? This prince of yours."
I stopped, really thinking about it. "I don't know. Maybe? I'm so angry at him for lying, but I also miss him when he's not around. And when I'm with him..." I struggled to find the words. "I can be myself. Like I don't have to perform or pretend or be someone I'm not."
"That's important," Dad said. "Being able to be yourself with someone."
"But is it enough? To build a whole life on?"
"That's not the right question, sweetie," Mom said. "The question is: do you want to build a life with him? Not can you, or should you, but do you want to?"
"I don't know."
"Then figure that out first," Dad said. "Forget about the politics and the alliance and what your grandmother wants or what the public thinks. Just ask yourself: if all of that went away, if it was just you and Archie without any of the royal stuff, would you want to be with him?"
I thought about Archie in the stables with Azzurra, gentle and patient and completely himself.
About the way he'd looked at me when I'd challenged him about the Peter deception, not angry but impressed.
About how he'd given me annulment papers because he valued my agency more than he valued keeping me.
About how my heart had jumped this morning when I thought I'd seen him in the Valdorian stables, and the disappointment I'd felt when it wasn't him.
"Yes," I said. "I think I would."
"Then there's your answer," Mom said.
"But what about the lying? What about the fact that he trapped me in a permanent marriage?"
"Those are real problems that need to be addressed," Dad said. "But the question isn't whether he's perfect. Nobody's perfect. The question is whether he's willing to work on those problems. To change and grow and do better."
"He gave me annulment papers. He's willing to lose everything to give me a choice."
"Then he's trying," she said. "Maybe he screwed up in the beginning. But he's trying to fix it now. The question is whether you're willing to let him try."
"What if he hurts me again?"
"He probably will," Dad said bluntly. "Not on purpose, but people make mistakes. The question is whether you trust him to care when he does hurt you. To apologize and make changes and not repeat the same mistakes over and over."
"I'm not sure what I should do," I admitted. "Should I stay or go? What if I choose wrong?"
"Sweetie, there is no wrong choice here," she said gently.
"There's the choice to stay and work on a marriage with someone you care about.
Or there's the choice to leave and build a different life.
Both are valid. Both have risks and rewards.
The only wrong choice would be staying out of obligation when you don't actually want to be there. "
"How do I know what I want?"
"You already know," Dad said. "You've known since you called us. You just needed permission to admit it."
He was right. I did know.
I'd known when I'd texted Archie asking for transport to Valdoria, and he'd arranged it without questions. When I'd heard my grandmother's desperate plea and felt sympathy instead of just anger. When Captain Steiner had told me Archie was different with me, more himself.
When I'd mistaken a stable hand for Peter and felt my heart leap with hope.
"I want to stay," I said out loud, testing the words. "I want to stay and fight Viktor and figure out this marriage and learn to be a princess. Not because I have to. Because I want to."
"Then that's what you do," she said.
"Even though it's scary?"
"Especially because it's scary. The best things in life usually are."
"What if it doesn't work out?"
"Then you'll figure something else out," he said. "You're resourceful, Betty. You always have been. You landed in a foreign country three weeks ago knowing nothing about royalty, and you've managed. You'll manage this too."
"We love you, kiddo," she added. "Whatever you decide, wherever you end up, we're proud of you."
"I love you guys too. Thank you for, for everything. For raising me, for supporting me, for helping me figure this out."
"That's what parents do," Dad said simply. "Now go tell that prince of yours he's a lucky man."
After we hung up, I sat in the quiet sitting room for a long time, just breathing. Letting the decision settle into my bones, becoming real.
I was going to stay.
Not for the alliance, not for the Grand Duchess, not because I was trapped.
Because I wanted to.
Because somewhere in the past three weeks, I'd started building a life here. I had friends in Petra and Captain Steiner and Chef Marcello. I had a role that actually mattered, work that made a difference. I had a grandmother who was dying but who loved me fiercely in the time she had left.
And I had Archie. Complicated, lying, thoughtful, horse-loving Archie who'd given me a choice when he could have kept me trapped.
I pulled out the annulment papers and looked at them one last time. Then I tore them into pieces, letting the scraps fall into the trash bin.
No going back now.
Captain Steiner looked up when I emerged from the sitting room. "Ready to head back, Your Highness?"
"Actually, I'd like to make one more stop before we go. Can we visit the stables?"
She checked her watch. "We have time. The jet's not scheduled to leave for another two hours."
The Valdorian stables were older than Solmarina's, built into the hillside with stone walls that had been standing for centuries. The smell of horses and hay was the same anywhere in the world, comforting and familiar.
I walked down the main corridor, looking at the beautiful animals in their stalls. Thoroughbreds, mostly, with a few local breeds I didn't recognize. All of them well-cared-for and clearly valued.
Movement at the far end of the barn caught my eye. Someone in jeans and a dark shirt, moving with easy confidence around a grey mare. My heart jumped.
Peter.
No. Archie. Here in Valdoria somehow, checking on horses like he always did when he needed to think.
I started walking faster, already planning what I'd say. That I'd decided to stay. That I'd torn up the papers. That I wanted to try,
The person turned around.
Not Archie. Just a groom, probably in his twenties, with similar build and coloring but completely different features.
The disappointment hit me like a physical blow.
I missed him. Missed Peter, who was really Archie, who was really just the man I'd somehow started falling for despite all the reasons I shouldn't.
That was my answer, wasn't it? The fact that I'd hoped to see him here, in a completely different country, because some part of me wanted him nearby even when I was upset and confused and trying to make impossible decisions.
I turned and walked back to where Captain Steiner was waiting.
"Everything okay, Your Highness?"
"Yeah." I smiled despite the disappointment. "I just needed to check something. I'm ready to go back now."
"To Solmarina?"
"To Archie."
On the flight back, I pulled out my phone and typed a message: On my way back. Need to talk to you. Are you free tonight?
His response was immediate: I'll clear my schedule. Are you okay?
I'm good. Better than good, actually. I'll explain when I see you.
I'll be waiting.
Three simple words, but they made my heart do something complicated in my chest.
I leaned back in my seat and watched the clouds pass below us, feeling lighter than I had in days. I'd made my choice. I was going back to Solmarina, back to the palace, back to the complicated mess of royal life and sabotage plots and learning which fork to use.
Back to Archie.
And this time, I was choosing it. All of it.
Even the scary parts. Especially the scary parts.
Because the best things in life usually were.