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The very first thing that happened when we got back to the cottage was me being surrounded by my family. Since the admission, neither Kai nor I really spoke of the admission, other than to agree to discuss it again tonight, and that I wanted to get the drawings framed to put up in the lounge — our favourite room in the cottage.

My dad's been running around serving up tea and cake for everyone while Annie sorted out the washing – despite Kai reminding her that we have maids for that – and Patrick sat opposite me and laughed at my stupid self, after of course, making me go through the doctor's notes with him so he knows they didn't miss anything.

The three of them left and stayed in a little outhouse the king and queen offered them as a guest house for the next few days while I rest and recover – something Kai mentioned maybe asking his parents to have as my family's second home so they can stay whenever they please, especially after the baby is born. 

They've been gone for half an hour now, and I've been put on strict bed rest for at least two days by the doctor, which to him meant I could slowly and not very often change rooms but not go out for engagements or anything too strenuous. They said not to even exercise for twenty-four hours, and then after that, a small slow walk is appropriate.

Perfect, then, for sitting and watching TV while the chef downstairs is cooking my favourite meal – steak and chips with corn on the cob. While I think it's weird for one of the best chefs in the country to cook such a simple meal, I'm already salivating at the thought of it. Apparently, there's a cheesecake after, along with my dad's birthday cake.

The news is just filled with photos of Kai and me leaving the hospital, a photo of us both before we went into the museum earlier. Luckily, no one caught me on the floor, and the media respected – for once – when they took me into the ambulance and there are no photos of that.

Kai walks in holding a glass of something sparkling. "Obviously, this is alcohol-free, but it's sparkling white wine."

"Kai, you don't have to go to this much trouble, honestly! I'm happy sitting here watching Disney films and eating my steak!"

He grins and passes me the glass.

"But thank you," I add. "Despite the awkward fall, I think it's been a good birthday."

He chuckles and sits down beside me with a glass of what looks like whiskey. "Then I'm pleased. Dinner should be ready in around half an hour." He shows me the bottle of wine, which has a big zero on it to prove it's without alcohol.

I nod and take a sip of the drink. There's definitely a sweeter taste which would lend to the idea it's got no alcohol in it. It tastes expensive, though, and is light. "This is amazing."

He smiles. "Good. If you want to, ready to, I want to discuss earlier and where we go from here. I would say our relationship, but we're already engaged, so—" He stops with an awkward laugh.

I chuckle and sip my drink. "Go figure. But yeah, I'm ready to talk about it. I... those drawings you did? Best birthday present ever. I just want to know why you did them?"

He sips his drink. "Like I said, for me, this has been love at first sight. But it's taken me a long time to sort of prepare to tell you because I know this situation hasn't been the best thing for you. My way of telling you has been sharing my art with you. No one really knows about it beyond my family, so it's an intimate thing for me. I drew you not long after the night we had together – the one of you in the blue dress. It might sound cheesy, but yeah. I kept them and once we'd sort of started getting along better, I came up with the idea."

"You're really talented," I mention.

"Thank you."

I put my drink down on the table beside me before turning to face him. "It's not cheesy at all, by the way. I have nothing like that, so to be given this is... really an honour."

He shrugs. "I guess it's the only way I know how to deal with things like this is by presenting something and then talking about it. But my point of this has been: I'm in love with you, but I also don't want to push you into something if you're still angry or if you don't love me back or whatever, you know?"

I grab his hand in mine, the weight of the engagement ring pressing into his skin, but neither of us moves to rotate it. Weirdly, the way this connects us feels heavy in a good way. "I kinda—with what happened to me with Brayden, though at the time, I never understood it. It's taken me a while to unpack it. I think I'm still going through it in a way. For me, when I realised I was in love with you, it was during the ball. In a way, I've felt it for a while, and to be honest, I can't pinpoint it because everything in my mind has been so... confused."

He glances down at our hands. "Confused?"

I nod. "It's everything: Brayden's cheating, that night we had, the pregnancy, the becoming a royal thing, realising I love you and also realising that Brayden's actions were toxic, and I think I'd class it as abuse. I'm still dealing with that in a small way, but everything has happened at once, and it's been a lot for me."

"I can see that," he says. He's saying it with a smile on his face, wondering if it's okay to joke about. It is, so I laugh.

"My anger was never really with you. You opening your mouth is annoying, and I'd got my head around raising this baby alone with a choice, but it is what it is. Somewhere deep down, I think I'd already accepted that at some point, somehow, your family would find out. It just became the easiest thing to be annoyed with, and deal with in my mind. Really, I got over that point pretty quickly." I sigh and sip my drink. "Honestly, I think my problem has been that I've been too wrapped up in not letting myself be vulnerable, and to me, vulnerability is being honest with people and putting my heart out there because of Brayden. It's sort of taken me all of this to react to it. Sounds stupid, and I'm sorry for being a cow to you."

He chuckles. "Peach, you've done no such thing. I understand it completely."

Our hands stay tangled together, but we both fall silent.

"I'm not looking for an answer right now, but I want to know you'll think about where we go from here—"

A smile forms on my mouth. "Kai, that's a stupid expectation of me, because I think we both know where this is going, don't you?"

We finally look at each other, and sparks ignite in the space between us. I sit forward and inch closer to him while he shifts until there's only a slither of space between us. The air between us is sparking and shooting stars, and as his breath beats down on my face, there's only one thing I care about: feeling his lips on mine.

It's strange because Kai and I have slept together twice – well, multiple times on two separate occasions – so we've obviously kissed and a lot more, we've been exposed to each other and know what we feel, taste and smell like, but this has many feelings to it. This is sort of new and exciting, and finally less forbidden. Despite never really being forbidden, it felt like it was the last time we kissed. Our faces finally magnetise together as if this is how it's always meant to be.

He smells like whiskey and tastes like relief. There's a slight undertone of mint to him when his tongue opens my mouth, and though I've never been a whiskey fan, it's suddenly the best hint I've ever tasted. His hands wrap around my neck, securing me gently to the spot, and he deepens the kiss. I wrap my arms around his neck like a scarf; comforting and warm.

My skin prickles with every passing second we're flushed together, and as he lowers me beneath him on the sofa. The tiny bump is between us, but somehow we still fit together like two pieces of a jigsaw finally being put together to finish the whole photo.

"Peach," Kai whispers.

"This is how we got here in the first place," I joke.

"And this is how it's meant to be, right?"

I nod. "We can keep doing this for a long time, I think."

He chuckles. "Oh, you think? Well, Princess Peach, we're engaged. Hate to break it to you, but you're kinda stuck with me now."

"Lucky, then, that I decided a while ago that you're the one I want to be stuck with."

He grins like the cat that got the cream, and those hazel eyes sparkle like autumn sunshine. "Funny that because I knocked you up—"

"And you ruined the moment. Well done, Kai." I end up laughing so hard that when our foreheads touch, we both move with it.

"Your Highnesses—" The butler opens the door. "Oh, um, dinner is ready for you both downstairs."

Kai sits up slower than I would've expected, but then he's the prince in this house, and the leader, so he can do whatever he wants. The butlers have to remain without judgement. As far as they're concerned, the story that Kai and I have been seeing each other and are genuinely in a relationship is true, anyway, just that we have separate rooms.

Well, now I think it might actually be a reality.

"We will be there in a minute," Kai says.

The butler nods and walks out, closing the door behind him.

"That'll give him something to talk about," Kai says.

I snort and giggle. "They think we're together, anyway!"

"Right, but no one's seen us like this before. So tongues will start wagging. As much as I want this to turn into a moment of passion, the food really will go cold and get ruined. There are rumours of a second pudding with peaches in it."

I arch an eyebrow. "You know what? If you don't buy me a whole punnet of peaches for my birthday, I am going to be so disappointed."

He stands up and wrinkles his nose. "Well, now don't I feel like the fool? But when you least suspect it, you'll be waking up in your bed surrounded by peaches."

"Oh, so I'm staying in my bed now, am I?"

He stops short, a smirk gracing his lips. "You're just full of surprises."

"Sometimes, a big bed can get awfully lonely, especially on your birthday. However, if you want to wake me up to peaches, I'm sure I can stay—"

"No, no, don't you worry. Wouldn't want to ruin your birthday or this new found confidence you've come home with."

I grin and open the door. "Now I want that steak because falling down stairs can really make you hungry."

"Your wish is my command, Your Highness."

I roll my eyes. "Not yet. June the ninth, however, is another story."

Kai doesn't answer, but I can see the grin as big as anything on his face.

─── ♔♔♔ ───

"You know I'm meant to be on bed rest, right?" I tease as he sits on my bed with me. "Which means I'm not supposed to be exerting myself or getting worked up."

Kai raises his eyebrows. "Excuse me, Peach, but I've done nothing apart from entering your bedroom." He pours us both a glass of alcohol-free sparkling wine and then sits beside me again on the bed.

We finished dinner and pudding not long ago; Kai had the same dinner as I did. Steak, corn on the cob and chips, and then for pudding a vanilla cheesecake with peaches on top. He then put candles on my dad's carrot cake so I could blow them out, but I'm so full and bloated, I'll save the cake for tomorrow.

"We both know how this is going to end," I mention.

"And how is that?"

I sip my drink, hiding my smirk from him before answering. "Well, you're going to ask how I feel about us, and then I'll say something like 'I think we could be an official couple, but first you have to date me.'" I put my glass on the bedside table. "To which, you'll agree, and then we'll consummate our newfound official and not fake relationship with a make-out session and sleep in the same bed tonight."

"You're not meant to be getting worked up, Peach," he reminds me.

I arch an eyebrow. "They don't call it slow and steady for nothing, right?"

My mind is fully aware I've never, ever been this bold before, but something about the day has made me fully confident. Or maybe it's because I finally know Kai feels the same, so there's not much to lose here.

He moves until he's basically over me, mouth inches away from mine. "You are meant to be on bed rest. But here is what will happen: I will ask you to be more than my fake but not fake wife, you will agree. Then, we will kiss until there is nothing in your eyes but stars, and then I will show you just how much I love you. Tonight, we will sleep in this bed, but I'd like you to choose which bedroom from tomorrow shall be ours."

I blink as he kisses my forehead. This is a softer, sweeter and yet more dominating side to Kai, and I'm loving it. On our first night together, he was gentle and sharing but definitely had a dominating and rough side, which came out, but I think his real self is coming out now; it certainly has the past few weeks.

A smile graces my face as his eyes meet mine. I thought I felt fire and desire that one night, and then again when we kissed after the twelve-week scan, but this is something else. There's something sparking and fiery in his eyes that reminds me of all the best things about Christmas and autumn, fireworks and surprises. Knowing this has been bubbling away between us for, well, three months now, and finally being able to act on it is the best thing in the world.

"Then you'd better kiss me and seal the deal," I whisper.

"My pleasure."

Kai's mouth instantly finds mine, and his hands work their fiery magic across my skin. Somehow, I'm not as nervous as I thought I'd be. Despite the night we had together when we conceived this child being absolute magic, this moment as we take each other's clothes off without abandon is like fireworks and magic together. 

Somehow, any anger, resentment, or confusion over being forced into this life dissipates as our kisses get more and more desperate, and our hands explore each other in this new light. Before, passion was the name of the game, but right now, this is a night full of love and unfamiliar territory, and it's never felt so good, or right.

─── ♔♔♔ ───

The clock reads one in the morning as I shift in Kai's arms. He kisses my hair as our naked bodies tighten around each other. Somehow, this feels like it's always been this way and is meant to be this way forever.

My mind knows that's a total cliché, and I'm okay with that.

"How was that for a birthday?" Kai whispers.

I chuckle. "It was all right. The start was rocky, but the afternoon and evening were pretty good."

He snorts and tightens his grip around my waist. "Sounds about right. I know this isn't how a conventional relationship starts and all, but I think we've got it pretty perfect."

I nod. The smell of the night we've just had – wine, sex and that familiar minty smell that belongs to Kai – is making me sleepy. The comfort is seeping in and making me sleepy.

"What're we doing tomorrow?" I ask, trying not to fall asleep just yet. This feels perfect, and somehow, I don't want this moment to end, even if the fairy tale is meant to last forever.

"Staying around here. There's a local coffee shop I'm taking you to. Yes, you can have a drink, but it's one of those where they've employed homeless people to train them up within the company. I commissioned the charity, and it's a sort of check-in thing."

I yawn. "That's amazing—"

There's a hard knock on the door.

"What the—"

"Prince Kai?" It's one of the butlers who stays awake in the little security annexe. If he's here, knocking on the door, it means something bad is happening. They're in a separate house outside literally to be security – not that much happens on the grounds – and to take in important calls between the palace and us.

"I will be there in two seconds!" Kai calls. He jumps out of bed and throws on clothes.

Following suit, I pull my pyjamas on and stand from the bed as Kai opens to see the butler come in.

"What's going on?"

"Two things. It's the palace press – they've been tipped off about a media interview by Mila's ex-boyfriend. He's gone for an interview in the papers tomorrow, and set to appear on breakfast TV about it," the butler says.

I sigh and let out a groan. It sounds like a wrangled bird or something. "Brayden."

"Fuck," Kai mutters. "What's the second thing?"

"There's been an accident with your sister, Lucy, and her family." 

─── ♔♔♔ ───