"That's the problem!I'm not, I can't."She gestured helplessly."She speaks five languages and breeds champion horses and curtsies like she was born doing it.And I make coffee and barely passed community college and I've been here three weeks and I still can't remember half the rules."
"I don’t care."
"Yes, you do.You lit up talking to her.You never talk to me like that.About horses and bloodlines and things you have in common.The two of you come from the same world.You and I are nothing alike."She wiped at her tears angrily.
"You're wrong."
"I saw it, Archie.I saw you connect with her over something you love.Something I can't give you because I don't know anything about breeding programs or competition standards or whatever the hell you were discussing."
"Anastasia is easy to talk to about horses because horses are all we have in common.It's safe.Superficial.I can be enthusiastic about bloodlines because it doesn't matter if I bore her or say the wrong thing."
"That doesn't make sense.”
"With you, everything matters.Every word, every gesture, every conversation.Because you're not some visiting princess I'm making polite conversation with.You're the woman I'm in love with, the woman whose opinion actually affects me."I ran a hand through my hair."I'm careful with you because I care what you think.Because I don’t want to say the wrong thing and have you pull away even further."
She was staring at me now, tears still on her cheeks but her attention fully focused.
"I don't love Anastasia," I continued."I don't want Anastasia.She's beautiful and knowledgeable and perfectly trained, and I don't care.Because she's not you."
"She'd be a better princess."
"I don't want a better princess.I want you.But I don’t want you forced to accept this marriage."I pulled a folder from my jacket, the documents Lord Renaud had sent over an hour ago."Which is why I'm giving you this."
"What is it?"
"Annulment papers.Legal documentation that would dissolve our marriage and release you from all obligations to Solmarina and to me."
Her mouth opened.Closed."What?"
"You were right about the permanent marriage being a betrayal.I took away your choice, your agency, your ability to decide your own future.This gives it back."I handed her the folder."If you want to leave, really leave, not just the palace but the marriage itself, you can.These documents make it possible."
She opened the folder with shaking hands, scanning the legal text."This would end the alliance."
"Probably."
"Viktor would push for the Russian option.For Anastasia."
"Let him try.I'll fight him and anyone else who wants to align Solmarina with Russia."I met her eyes."I'd rather have no alliance than the wrong one.And I'd rather lose you to your own choice than keep you trapped in a marriage you never truly consented to."
"But you need this alliance."
"The political situation will have to be resolved some other way.Betty, I'm not asking you to stay for the alliance.I'm not asking you to stay for duty or politics or any of that.I'm giving you the option to leave so that if you choose to stay, it's because you want to.Because you choose me, not because you're trapped with me."
She was crying again, but differently this time."Why?"
"Because I love you.Because you deserve to have choices.Because taking away your agency was wrong, and I can't undo it, but I can give you this."I took a breath."If you sign these papers, the marriage ends.You're free to go back to America, or to stay in Valdoria with your grandmother and get to know the country you were stolen from.You'd still be a Valdorian princess, that's your birthright, no one can take that away.But you wouldn't be bound to me or to Solmarina."
"The Grand Duchess threatened my parents if I didn’t marry you."
"I've already arranged for their protection.No charges will be brought against Bob and Linda Montclair.I'll use every resource I have to guarantee their safety, regardless of what you decide about our marriage."I shifted closer."They raised you, loved you, gave you the childhood you should have had with your birth parents.They deserve protection, not prosecution."
Betty stared at the documents, tears dripping onto the pages."If I leave, Viktor wins.Anastasia becomes the solution."
"No.If you leave, you win.You get your life back, your choices back, your future back."I reached over to brush a tear from her cheek."And for what it's worth, I will never, never, align with Russia.No matter how beautiful Anastasia is, no matter how qualified, no matter how much pressure Viktor applies.I'd rather Solmarina stand alone than partner with a regime I fundamentally oppose."
"Maybe she’s just a pawn."
"And maybe she isn’t.Viktor brought Anastasia here thinking he could make you feel inadequate, make you want to leave so he could position her as the better option."I smiled without humor."What he didn't count on was me loving you enough to give you the freedom to go."
