"Wake up," whispered a voice.

I snuggled deeper into my husband's chest. His hand clenched tighter around my waist.

"I think it's your turn," he groaned.

"It was my turn yesterday," I let out a loud yawn.

"Mommy! Daddy! I hear a boy in Cece's room," said Angelo, our six year old urged us to get up.

We both immediately shot up running to her room. Cecelia was casually brushing her golden hair on her vanity chair and sitting on her window's ledge was the orphaned boy I had found on the streets when Angelo was only three. He had robbed a local market, one of the many times he had done so. He was almost notorious. He was great at escaping. He had escaped the clutches of almost anyone that had tried to catch him, I was one of the few that had managed to catch him. I did not catch him to punish him as he first thought. No, I had seen potential in him. The boy had skill, I was amazed by his agility and quick thinking. I asked him if he wanted to train to join the guard where he would be provided a place to sleep and food every day. He agreed. The boy was a protege. A natural expert on the field. But he was still a trouble maker. Always causing mayhem around the castle. He would not listen to anyone, not even me or Mathew and we were the royal family. The only person he listened to was our daughter Cecelia. She was his only friend.

"Dear god, Jasper get down from that ledge! How did you even get up here, you could have hurt yourself," I gasped, my motherly side coming out. This boy was always finding the most dangerous ways of doing something and doing it.

"Jasper?" Angelo heard his name and came running in from behind me. He thought Jasper was the most astounding person in the world. He was his role model which worried me.

Angelo ran to Jasper, clutching his legs in a hug. Jasper ran his hands through Angelo's hair, ruffling them up. "Hey little guy."

"Jasper," Mathew's voice sounded beside me. It was his scary calm voice. Mathew believed that Jasper was trying to seduce our daughter. I believed that Cecelia was the only person Jasper trusted. She was his only friend. I related to him. I knew what it felt like not to really fit in or trust anyone.

He nodded his head with a playful smile on his face. "Your highness."

"What are you doing in my daughter's room so early in the morning?" He continued. I lay my hand on my husband's arm giving him a light squeeze reminding him to say calm.

"Well," he leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms in front of him giving of a very laid back expression. "I wanted to show Cece something."

I noticed Mathew's jaw clench at the nickname. "What. Do. You. Want. To. Show. Her?"

"I obviously cannot tell you, it's a surprise," he winked in Cecelia's direction who giggled.

Mathew was fuming now. He was about to step forward but I grabbed his arm with both of mine.

"Okay, you two kids have fun, but please Jasper can you keep the trouble making to a minimum today?" I asked.

Jasper mocked being shocked by putting a hand to his chest and gasped. "Me and trouble? Impossible."

Both Cecelia and Angelo were laughing.

Mathew was still furious. "Honey, I really think that--"

I stopped my husband motioning for the kids to get going. "Hurry up and don't stay long. And please exit through the door and not the window."

"Can I go with them mommy?" asked Angelo with his puppy dog eyes.

"No honey, your cousin Kenji is coming over to play with you," I reminded him. This seemed to cheer him up.

Jasper and Cecelia hurried out of the room hand in hand. Mathew looked like he was about to faint at the sight.

"What did you do that for?" Mathew asked looking like I just stabbed him in the back. "You let them get away!"

"They're just kids Mathew, Jasper only gives you a poor illusion to play with your mind. He does it all to rile you up. You make it easy for him with your over bearing father role," I told him. Jasper was a trouble maker, you give him a reaction and he will keep doing it.

Mathew still looked angry and hurt.

"Hey," I turned his chin so that he would look at me. "Are you really going to stay mad at me?"

He didn't answer. He just pouted.

"How about I make it up to you?" I asked in an open tone.

His eyebrows shot up in excitement. "What do you have in mind?"

I ran my thumb along his lips. "I guess I will leave that to you."

His eyes turned darker in what I knew as desire over the years. Before he could answer I gave a small smirk before turning. "Angelo honey, it's bath time. Get your clothes ready. Cousin Kenji will be here soon."

Mathew grabbed my arm before I could get too far. "Where do you think you're going?"

I could see all his worry for Cecelia was gone and replaced with new feelings. "Angelo needs a bath, Gabriel will be bringing his son over soon. Grace wanted to visit with the girls but her and Rafael have guests coming over from a foreign kingdom."

"You..." he gave me a look of disbelief. "I sort of hate you."

I smiled at our little inside joke we have shared over the years. I discovered quickly that it was our way of saying I love you.

"I sort of hate you too," I laughed.

Mathew stared at me for a moment. I could see the wheels clicking behind his eyes.

"Angelo," Mathew called out. "Tell Madam Margot to give you your bath. Mommy is a little busy right now."

"Okay daddy," he said before skipping away going to find his nanny.

I raised my brows at him, of course he was going to find a way around it. "Oh? What is mommy busy with?"

His eyes narrowed into slits before a smirk creeped on to his lips. Before I knew it he had lifted me off my feet and threw me over his shoulder. I let out a surprised yelp.

"Let me down!" I said embarrassed as Mathew was walking us back to our room.

"Nope," he said popping the "p" sound.

This was no way royalty should be acting. There were a lot of rules for the royal family. I struggled to learn them when I was engaged to Mathew, even after we got married I still struggled. Mathew changed a lot of rules to make me happy like allowing me to wear pants which drove the court mad.

Finally getting to our room, Mathew set me down before attacking my lips in a passionate kiss. We pulled back for a brief moment to catch our breaths.

"I hate you so much right now," I said in between breaths.

"Good," Mathew smirked. "Because I hate you just as much."

"Good," I said before reattaching our lips.

There were many ways of saying I love you, Mathew and I were learning how to say all of them. From hating everything about him to not being able to live without him, it was crazy how things had changed. I wouldn't have it any other way.

The end!

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Woo!! It's over! Thank you to everyone that supported this book from the beginning! I see you all and noticed your names voting and commenting! I do appreciate it all!

Now I have got a treat: I will be writing a story about Jasper and Cecelia as a third book. It is called The Rejected. It's a more lighter story and is very fun to write. I will be publishing it at the start of next week so stay tuned!

The next chapter is Gabriel's story, it will only be one part but long in comparison to my other parts. I also have some great ideas for future stories so hit that follow button to stay updated when they come out!

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