CHAPTER 1 Natalie’s heart lifted with every bounce of the carriage. Not that there were many of those—it was the most luxurious carriage she’d ever ridden in. “I suppose this seems slow to you,” her companion said, glancing out the window at the spring sunshine bathing the passing fields, her face at odds with the cheery scene. Natalie examined the face of the golden-haired princess across from her and concluded that she looked concerned. Curiosity instantly flooded her. They were heading to a royal court for a social visit which was sure to mean a succession of parties, balls, picnics, and every other delightful diversion. What possible cause did Princess Rose have for despondency? “A carriage is considerably slower than riding the wind,” Natalie acknowledged, her eyes on the princess rather than the view. “But it’s also a lot less cold.” A surprised chuckle escaped Rose. “I never thought about that aspect. Why is nothing ever as delightful as it looks from the outside?” Natalie’s brows rose. “Really? So far this experience is proving far better than I hoped.” She let her attention wander out the window, her mouth curving upward again. After three long years of waiting, she was finally on her way to Lanover and Prince Leo. “Better?” Rose’s doubtful tone sent Natalie’s eyes snapping back to the other girl. When Natalie had arrived in Arcadia, traveling in style on the wind with Queen Gwendolyn of the mountain kingdom, she had ostensibly come to visit Charlotte. And Natalie had been genuinely pleased to see her old friend—now officially crown princess of Arcadia thanks to her marriage to Rose’s older brother. But Natalie’s focus had been finding a means to continue on to Lanover. Her parents had promised her a visit to Arcadia when she turned eighteen, but Natalie’s true goal had always been Lanover. The discovery that King Max and Queen Alyssa were about to send their daughter on a visit to the southern kingdom had been the best possible news. Natalie had hoped to join a traveling merchant caravan or similar for the journey, but traveling in a royal carriage in company with a princess was a far superior option. She had been a little surprised at the Arcadian king and queen’s ready invitation for their new acquaintance to join their daughter, however, and now she was more curious than ever. Was something going on that Natalie didn’t yet understand? At the Arcadian court, Rose had seemed friendly, cheerful, and confident. Natalie leaned forward. “Is something wrong?” she asked. “You can tell me, if you like. I’m a very reliable secret-keeper.” She gave Rose what she hoped was a confidence-inspiring smile. Rose smiled back. “Queen Gwendolyn spoke of you in glowing terms, so I’m sure you’re very reliable.” Natalie wrinkled her nose. She didn’t want to be unreliable, of course, but of all the possible traits to be known by… Rose must have understood the emotion behind Natalie’s expression because she laughed. “Queen Gwendolyn was telling me about the rebellion three years ago when your kingdom overthrew the usurper queen and restored Queen Gwendolyn to the throne. She said you played a crucial role. Is that true? You must have only been fourteen or fifteen back then. Did they really let you help?” Natalie sighed. “Back then they did.” Her brows drew together. “Not with any enthusiasm, mind you. They just didn’t have a lot of options.” Resentment flooded her thoughts. “I was the one to seek out the rebels at court in the first place, and yet they still kept trying to cut me out of everything!” “Surely they only wanted to protect you?” Rose protested. Natalie shrugged. “Of course. They insisted on seeing me as a child. But I wasn’t the one constantly getting myself injured or captured or…” She shook herself, pushing aside the old injustices. “Never mind all that.” If she kept talking, she would end up having to explain about her brother, and she had no desire for Baden to ruin her mood. He had done enough damage already. Rose also sank back against her seat, her own brief animation fading. As her earlier despondence returned, she sighed. “The last time something that exciting happened in Arcadia, I was only six years old, and no one told me anything until it was all over.” Natalie gave her a sympathetic look. No one could understand Rose’s frustration better than Natalie. Ever since the end of the rebellion, her parents had relentlessly shut her out of all excitement, despite Natalie being sixteen, not six. They hadn’t cared that, after taking part in such dramatic events, it had been torturous to find herself shut out of the court and everything that mattered. But Rose already had what Natalie wanted—she was a royal, guaranteed to remain in the middle of everything that was happening across the kingdoms. And she was even on her first solo royal visit. If her issue was that she was longing for adventure, shouldn’t she be more excited? Rose’s parents had even acquiesced with her request that they not send any older courtiers with her. Other than Natalie, only Rose’s maids followed in the second carriage. Even the troop of guards who rode beside them would turn back once they reached the border, handing responsibility for the carriage to the Lanoverian honor guard who would be waiting there. Which, Natalie reflected, might be the reason the king and queen had been so pleased to discover a companion their daughter would accept. But it didn’t give any insight into the princess’s attitude. She had been allowed to have her own way with the visit to Lanover, so what was left to distress her? Rose looked at her, hesitated, and then spoke, the words bursting out of her. “When my brother turned eighteen, he went traveling alone and got into all sorts of trouble. We didn’t even know if he was alive! But I’ve always been a dutiful, obedient, perfect princess.” “Is that a problem?” Natalie asked cautiously. “Even I have my limits!” Rose declared. “I’m not obediently trotting off to Lanover to marry Crown Prince Leo like everyone wants!” “That’s good,” Natalie said matter-of-factly, “since I intend to marry him myself.” Rose blinked at her. “You’re going to marry Prince Leo?” Natalie cocked her head to the side. “Why not? Your mother was a commoner before she married your father, and so was Charlotte before she married your brother.” “I didn’t mean…” Rose shook her head. “I just had no idea you’d been to Lanover before! Or has Leo visited the mountain kingdom? I had no idea he was already in love.” She looked lighter and happier than she had moments before. “Oh, Leo and I have never met,” Natalie said. “But I’m going to be a queen one day, like Charlotte.” During the rebellion, Natalie had been just as central to what was happening as Charlotte, and only a few short years lay between their ages. But no one had told Charlotte to forget about rebellions and go back to a boring, ordinary life. Why was that? Because Charlotte had become a royal. She had made herself too important to be shut out. And now that Natalie was eighteen and no longer confined to the mountain kingdom, there was no reason she couldn’t do the same. Her spirits rose. If everyone was busy planning a wedding between Rose and Leo, then they obviously weren’t planning one between him and anyone else. And if Rose didn’t want Leo for herself, after all, then Natalie’s path was clear. Across from her, Rose had stiffened. “Are you serious? You asked to accompany me to Lanover because you want to trick Prince Leo into marrying you so that you can become a princess?” “A queen,” Natalie corrected her absentmindedly, before realizing the depths of the other girl’s indignation. “That’s outrageous!” Rose cried. “I would never have done as you asked and requested to have you accompany me if I’d known you were going to Lanover with…with mercenary motives! I may not have met Prince Leo before, but I won’t let you trick him!” “Who said anything about tricking!?” Natalie tried to keep a lid on her temper. It had gotten her into trouble before, since it usually burned hot, if short. “It’s not as if I have an enchanted object on hand to force him to fall in love with me. I’m just giving him the chance to get to know me. If he falls in love with me on his own, then fair’s fair. I don’t see what’s wrong with that. And I’m not mercenary at all. I have no particular interest in gold. I didn’t pick Lanover because it’s the wealthiest kingdom. It was the only one that had a crown prince the right age.” “The only one that…” Rose sputtered, her sentence trailing off and her eyes enormous as she regarded Natalie. “What’s the matter now?” Natalie asked, indignant. Rose’s condemnation abruptly melted into a fit of the giggles. “You…You’re…” She couldn’t get a full sentence out, so Natalie was forced to watch her in silence as she got herself under control. “You might not be mercenary for money, but you’re certainly pursuing Prince Leo for his rank,” she finally said, when she could speak steadily again. “You can’t deny that.” Natalie considered the matter. “That’s true. But it’s not as if I want the rank so I can live a rich, easy life, or have people bowing to me all the time.” “Why do you want it, then?” Rose demanded. “I want to matter,” Natalie exclaimed, her earlier resentment sparking a torrent of words. “Or, at least, I want to do things that matter. Is that such a terrible thing? During the rebellion, my actions helped to change everything—not just for me but for my whole kingdom. It was incredible!” She deflated. “But I’m just a commoner girl, so it was easy for them to exile me after their desperate need was over.” “Exile?” Rose stared at her, startled out of her anger. “Queen Gwendolyn brought you to Arcadia herself! She seemed genuinely fond of you.” “It wasn’t Gwen who barred me from court,” Natalie said, fair as always. “She even argued my case to my parents. But they were convinced that the best thing for me was to go back to an ordinary life and forget about everything that had happened.” She scowled out at the unoffending view. “Perhaps,” Rose said, sounding like she was once again smothering a laugh, “they were concerned about your obsession with becoming royal. Or is that a newer goal?” Natalie looked across at her, smiling reluctantly. “The idea may have occurred to me back then, yes. But it started as a momentary dream, fueled by beautiful dresses and the excitement of the moment. It was only later that I realized that becoming royal was the only way to ensure no one could shut me out again.” Natalie’s declaration that she would marry Prince Leo one day had been the smallest of her parents’ reasons for excluding her from court, but Natalie had no desire to explain the largest. She had played no part in her older brother Baden’s betrayal, and it was unjust of her parents to punish her for his crimes. He had been truly exiled—banished from the mountain kingdom—and Natalie hadn’t seen him in three years. Usually she didn’t even like to think about him. He had lost his place in their family when he chose to turn against them all. But her parents had been convinced that Natalie’s presence at court was an unwelcome reminder of her brother’s role in the rebellion. Even though Natalie had successfully completed the task assigned to the two of them on her own—assembling the crucial assistance that had turned the tide—she couldn’t escape the shadow of her brother’s actions. In fairness, her parents had been seeking to protect her as much as to protect their family’s position at court. They didn’t want her exposed to the vitriol of the court in Baden’s place. Not everyone had felt that banishment was sufficient punishment for a traitor. But whatever her parents’ intentions, their actions had sentenced Natalie to three endless, tedious years of watching the happenings of the kingdom from afar. And if she hadn’t fled the mountains, she might still be in that position despite having turned eighteen. Gwen viewed Natalie with affection, but she had already assembled her court, and there was no empty place for Natalie to fill. But Lanover was different. They had yet to fill the position of crown princess, and there was no reason Natalie shouldn’t be the one to step into that role. In Lanover, she could make a place for herself—a place that would always be at the center of everything that mattered. “There must have been a lot of work needed to rebuild the mountain kingdom after the old queen’s brutal rule,” Rose said, her tone sympathetic. “I can understand why it was hard to be excluded from that after being central to the rebellion. But that’s hardly poor Prince Leo’s fault!” “You say that as if I intend to mistreat him!” Natalie protested. “I have every intention of being a delightful wife. You’re supposed to love someone for who they are, and Prince Leo’s rank is an integral part of who he is—as well as his future. It would be more of a disaster for him to marry someone unsuited or unwilling to one day be queen than to marry someone who wants that role. His place in the royal family is his whole future.” She regarded Rose curiously. “Wouldn’t you consider your rank to be an integral part of you?” “Yes, I suppose so,” Rose murmured, not meeting Natalie’s eyes. “Exactly,” Natalie said, satisfied. “How many girls throughout history have taken one look at a good-looking young man and decided on the spot to fall in love with him? I don’t see how this is any different.” “I suppose it’s true that people do that.” Rose sounded unconvinced. “But how many of them delude themselves in the process, only to rue that decision later? What if you don’t actually like Prince Leo when you meet him?” Natalie scoffed at that possibility. “The chances of that seem small. He’s sure to be good-looking for a start—the Lanoverian royal family is famed for their beauty. And aren’t princes trained to be both charming and responsible? I’m sure he’ll be delightful.” “But what if he’s arrogant and entitled? He is a crown prince, after all.” “So is your brother,” Natalie countered, naming the only other crown prince she’d ever met. “And he’s never seemed arrogant. From what I’ve seen, he’s kind, charming, and honorable. I’m sure Leo will be the same.” “Don’t tell me you have a misguided affection for Harry!” Rose sounded horrified, and Natalie reciprocated the feeling. “For Prince Henry? No! He’s married! And too old, besides. Leo, on the other hand, is only a year or so older than me.” Her voice turned dreamy. “It’s perfect.” “But what if you don’t like him?” Rose asked, apparently unwilling to enter into Natalie’s delight. “What if he laughs at all the wrong things, and you find everything he says boring?” Natalie couldn’t help picturing the awful possibility. The Lanoverian royal family were supposed to be both delightful and intelligent, but every family had an odd one out. “Then it will all have been for nothing,” she said in a small voice. But she couldn’t believe it was true. It couldn’t be! “But I’m sure he’ll be perfectly charming!” She spoke the words with conviction, as if she could make them true with her determination. “Even if you do fall in love with him, what if he doesn’t fall in love with you?” Rose watched her with narrowed eyes. “You won’t be the first girl to show interest in him.” “But none of those girls are me.” How many of them had taken down a monarchy at fourteen? Natalie had been called plenty of things in her eighteen years, but no one had ever said she was boring. “I suppose there isn’t anything wrong with you making the attempt,” Rose finally conceded. “As long as you won’t pursue a match unless there turn out to be real feelings on both sides.” She grimaced. “That’s what my parents are hoping will happen with me, after all. It’s almost exactly the same, in fact.” “You see!” Natalie cried, triumphant. Now Rose was understanding. “Far too many people fail at what they want in life because they don’t make the effort to go out and get it. Like in my kingdom. Everyone suffered under that usurper for far too long because all the adults dithered instead of taking back the kingdom.” “You say it like it’s that easy!” Rose exclaimed. Natalie shrugged. “I never said it was easy. But if you truly want something, you have to be prepared to sacrifice for it. And dithering in the meantime won’t get you anywhere.” She made a scornful sound in her throat. “So what’s your plan?” Rose asked, finally shedding the last signs of condemnation. “I’ll have to see the lay of the land first.” Natalie wished she had a better answer, but despite the many hours she’d spent thinking about the future, it was hard to make plans when she knew so little about the regular operation of the Lanoverian court. “I expect my biggest issue will be getting enough time with Prince Leo. He may be closely guarded.” She stared into the distance as she pictured the potential obstacles. “Whereas I, on the other hand…” Rose sighed. But a moment later, her whole demeanor changed. She leaned toward Natalie, her eyes alight. “What if we swapped?” ...
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