“I don’t want the money,” Yena said, “because I don’t regret marrying you.”

“What does that have to do with it?”

“Everything.” She frowned at him, like he didn’t understand. “I don’t want you to think I only married you for the money.”

He sighed and said, “I know, Yena. I know you believe that.”

“It’s true,” she said. “I know things started off strange between us, but I married you because I wanted you all along. And then… I loved you, too, Nolan.”

She looked like she was shaking. Nolan wanted to reach out and hold her, but it wouldn’t have been right.

“I’m willing go back to my regular life now,” she said, “without you feeling like you have to compensate me for anything. You don’t owe me. I wanted to be here with you all this time.”

Nolan felt tears start to well in his eyes.

He didn’t dare blink, for fear they would fall. He waited until Yena looked away before wiping his eyes dry with his hand, hoping she didn’t see.

It might’ve been the first time in his life that he was about to cry in front of another person…

But no, he’d come close with Yena another time. When he watched her interview with Alaster and Cindy, and he had felt sad for the old man and also so grateful and so much love for the princess, all at once.

Nolan took a breath and focused, trying to keep a hold of himself.

“Please,” he said, “at least let me to pay for your school tuition. I won’t make you take anything else if you don’t want it, but I made you a promise that I would support your dream. Please let me do something… don’t make me a liar.”

She thought it over. Nolan was having trouble holding in his emotions, but he waited patiently.

“Alright,” she said. “That’s fine. As long as you know, well, those things I told you…”

Nolan nodded and rose to stand. Yena stood up too, and looked up at him.

Her eyes looked sad and pleading.

“Can I give you one kiss goodbye?” he asked.

Yena did a very small nod.

Then he moved toward her, and his hands just found their way to her waist. He bent his face to hers, and their lips touched.

It was a spark of magic, like always. It made him feel hot and cold at once, and like he never wanted to stop.

Nolan lost himself in the feeling and kissed her deeply.

But then he had to tear himself away, feeling already like his wolf wanted more of her…

They shared one last, intense look. And then he turned and walked away.

YENA

“Don’t you feel it? This is where you belong, Yena…”

It was Lily’s voice talking to me, while Nolan kissed me goodbye.

He was making me melt, and that woke her up.

“You can’t leave him!”

But I don’t have any choice, I told her.

“You do, though! Just tell him you want to stay.”

I can’t… he doesn’t love me.

“Yes he does,” Lily insisted. “Can’t you feel it? This magic is rare…”

Suddenly, Nolan pulled his lips away from mine, and for only a moment, we locked eyes.

He was making this too hard. I found myself aching for him. Wishing he hadn’t kissed me, or maybe that he would never stop.

His touch had given me one last little electric jolt… and a reminder of the incredible connection I was walking away from.

It made it even harder to say goodbye.

Lily was whining and crying. “Don’t say goodbye, then! Don’t leave him!”

I didn’t have the energy to keep arguing with her.

She wasn’t saying anything she hadn’t said before. Things I’d started to believe, but now I knew weren’t true. Nolan didn’t love me, and everyone else could see that was true.

Almost as soon as his lips and hands were off me, Nolan spun around and walked away, and then he was just gone. His smell lingered in the air.

Lily went quiet.

It almost felt like… she left.

And I felt emptier than I ever had before.

Packing my own clothes felt impossible, and I found myself wishing I had invited Tina over to help me with it, after all.

It wasn’t that I needed help putting stuff in boxes. What I was struggling with, was deciding what to keep.

I didn’t realize I’d picked up so much stuff while I’d been living here.

My closet was full of dresses, jackets, nightgowns, lingerie, shoes, jewelry. And I loved it all. I’d gotten used to having nice things, by now.

In a way, I was embarrassed of myself, spinning around and looking at all my lavish things.

How had I gotten so spoiled?

Was this really who I had become?

It helped to think about that, actually. It made me want to get back home and try to remember who it was I used to be.

There was nothing in my closet that I really wanted to let go of. But as I started to pick up a few things, and thought about whether I’d ever really wear them again, once I was no longer a princess…

I realized it might be easier than I thought, to sort out what to take and what to leave.

Because so much of it reminded me of Nolan.

There were gifts from Nolan – lots of those.

And then all the things that I had worn on our many dates.

And things that I bought in the human world when we were on our honeymoon.

That was my rule for packing, then – I wasn’t going to take anything with me that made me think too much about the prince.

It made the packing easy, because almost everything did.

My parents’ house was small and modest, and my bedroom there was tiny. I really could only bring with me the essentials.

My least fancy clothes, my toiletries, my books, and all the stuff for my design projects that I’d already packed up. I piled it on the bed and looked it over, making sure it was everything I needed.

It really was. I finally felt ready to leave.

I texted Tina to tell her I was going to be home tonight. I’d be leaving soon and would let her know when I was on the way.

She responded right away.

You never said what kind of cookies you want!

I laughed.

Chocolate chip, I wrote back. Sent it and smiled, imagining the smell I’d meet when I set foot in the house, with fresh cookies coming out of the oven.

I called the deaconess and told her to get a car ready. And to send some servants to help carry my things out.

I touched my neck and realized I was still wearing the gold necklace that Nolan had given me.

My rule… I wasn’t going to take anything that reminded me too much of him.

I took the necklace off and put it away in the dressing room, in the box it came in.

And then I had to go. I grabbed my purse and went to leave.

Turning to the door, though, I saw the way was blocked. The deaconess was standing there in the doorway.