Nolan splashed his face with cold water and looked at himself in the mirror.

The hangover had him groggy, and his reflection was blurry.

His skin was pale and greasy. He could even smell the sour smell of alcohol sweating out of his skin.

Wake up, he told himself, rubbing his eyes to get them to focus. They were puffy, with dark purple circles underneath.

Nolan gave himself a hard slap across the face, to force himself to his senses.

It helped sober him up.

A fast, hot shower helped a little, too.

He needed a shave but didn’t have time to call for an attendant come and do a proper job of it for him.

Going a little too fast with the straight razor, he wound up nicking himself right in the center of his throat. It bled more than he expected and took a while to stop.

And now he was definitely late for whatever appointment was waiting for him.

He looked down at the white towels he’d used to soak up all the bright red blood. And started thinking about Yena.

His own blood smelled like metal. Like most blood Nolan had ever come in contact with.

Yena’s blood, though, smelled like strawberries. And tasted like sweet, sugary candy.

And then he started thinking about the scent of her skin, too… he put his hands on the sink and closed his eyes, remembering the way she smelled…

Just thinking about her was starting to get him turned on.

He shook his head at himself. Splashed his face with cold water again. Had to slap himself across the face again, too.

He got changed into a clean suit as fast as he could, tying the tie very carefully, needing to be gentle with his throat still. He hoped it would not start bleeding again in the middle of his meeting.

When his coffee had cooled down enough, he chugged it down in one big gulp. It made his stomach gurgle, but he needed the energy.

“Your mother is waiting for you,” the secretary told Nolan when he finally emerged from his office, looking like himself again.

He thanked his secretary… not so much for the information. For what he’d had done for Nolan this morning.

“It’s nothing, Your Highness,” he replied.

Then Nolan was on his way… taking deep breaths and bracing himself what his mother might have for him today.

“Don’t make me explain to you why I am doing this.” Luna was staring out the window again, speaking to Nolan with her back turned to him.

He noticed that she was spinning her diamond engagement ring around on her finger again. Fidgeting. It was strange to see the queen looking… nervous.

It made Nolan nervous.

“And what is it that you’re doing?” Nolan asked, wanting to speed things along. It was bright in the queen’s tower, with big windows on every wall. And he still had a splitting headache.

“Before I tell you my plan, you should know that I’ve already spoken to the King about it. And he has given his… permission… to go forward with it.”

Nolan took a slow, careful sip from a hot cup of coffee that a maid had just brought him.

Luna started to pace the room slowly.

“To be clear,” she said, “neither of us wants you to divorce your wife. But if we must follow through with this very stupid arrangement you and Yena want… then I will be the one to control the situation.”

Nolan couldn’t blame his parents for thinking he was stupid.

They were all in agreement about that.

“But it seems like some of the damage is already done. And if you and Yena can’t reconcile and she feels she has to leave the palace… we will permit you to have a trial separation.”

“A trial separation?”

“Yes… a short-term arrangement only. Before you even think about turning in those divorce papers.”

Nolan thought about Yena’s school semester. It was coming up soon.

“How short-term? How long do you want her to stay before she can leave for…”

He didn’t want to finish the sentence.

The human world. It sounded so crushingly far away, when he thought about her being there and him being here, with a whole ocean between them.

“I’ll decide that later,” Luna said, giving Nolan a stern look.

He knew better than to challenge his mother. Especially when she was in the kind of mood she was in, and he was in the state that he was in.

“Okay,” he said. “And where do you propose we move Yena for this separation period?”

“She can return to home, to stay with her family.”

Thinking of Yena back with her adoptive mother Tina gave Nolan a good feeling. Like she’d be loved there. She’d be without Nolan, but have someone else to look out for her.

But then he remembered…

Her brother would be there too.

Thinking about Evan did not give Nolan good feelings. Suddenly he was picturing the two of them together…

He felt his heart start racing and took a breath to slow it down.

“Can you do this, son?” Luna asked. Her face was concerned.

“Yes. Of course.”

“Good.” She seemed relieved to be close to the end of this conversation.

And Nolan was relieved, too…

Because he didn’t want to turn in the divorce forms anyway. He hadn’t even been able to bring himself to sign them yet. He was grateful that he was being given a reason to delay the process.

“Talk to her soon,” Luna said. “My team will call the mother late tonight. It would be best if Yena told her family about the plan herself, before the palace contacts them.”

“I’ll talk to her right away.” Nolan rose to stand.

Luna gave him a slow nod, to show this was what she wanted him to do.

He thanked her and then turned to leave. He pressed the gold button that made the elevator doors open and took half a step inside, but then—

“Nolan?”

He stopped and turned back.

Luna was looking at him with a strange expression.

“Please don’t mistake this arrangement,” she said, “for approval.”

Nolan took a step back toward his mother, letting the elevator doors slide closed behind him again.

“I still believe that letting Yena leave your side is a very dangerous mistake.”

He could tell that Luna was very serious about this. Serious, and also… she looked kind of scared, too.

“I know you do,” Nolan said, trying to sound very respectful. “Maybe it was a mistake… But it’s too late to take it back.”

“It is not too late. You could fix this if you wanted to.”

“How?”

“Tell her not to go. Tell her you need her here. She will obey you.”

That was probably true.

Yena was faithful and loyal to him. If Nolan pled with her to stay and fulfill her duty to him, she would do it.

But he just couldn’t do that to her.

That was the whole point of all this.

To test Yena… see if she’d stay with him of her own free will if was really what she wanted most…

And if not, he loved her enough to let her go.

“I can’t command Yena to stay,” Nolan finally said. “I just can’t.”

Luna was quiet. She met Nolan’s eyes and he really thought that it looked like she understood.

But then she said, “Yes. You can. Tell her to stay.”