It’s taken me a few days to realize that I missed Easter Sunday with my family. In fact, it took mom calling me and telling me that I missed it.

She told me all about how they were so worried; how they prayed for Ben at mass. She said that everyone in church offered a prayer; not just for Ben but for both our countries. It made me feel a little better, but not a lot.

And now this? This is making my mood even worse.

“I wish I could be there,” Ben says as I tug on the blazer Garret just handed me. He’s lounging in bed, on his laptop watching a movie.

I snort, “Trust me, I’d rather be here, watching a movie with you.”

He grins mischievously. “You can always ditch my father.”

“I heard that!” Victor’s voice calls out from the bathroom. It makes me giggle—the first giggle in days.

He walks out of the bathroom, straightening his suit as he does. “Alright, let’s get this show on the road before they start without us. I want to see those bastards go running like the little dipshits they are.”

Hearing him say that raises my eyebrows. Although, it’s nice to see his human side again. For a while there he was all King and no almost-father-in-law.

At the mention of the rebels, I see Ben’s face turn bright red. I can tell he’s not forgiving them anytime soon—maybe he never will. I probably won’t. I’m not one for forgiving. If only my uncle realized that. He’s been trying to contact me from inside prison ever since he got in. Needless to say, my secretary has been ignoring every message from his lawyers.

“I’ll call you,” I promised him last night that I would. I might even put him on speaker phone for a more realistic feel. “As soon as something happens, okay?”

He just sits there and pouts. “Yeah, fine.”

With another roll of my eyes, I kiss him lightly on the cheek. As I go to walk out the door he says, “Anna.”

I turn back around, once again getting the full view of him in the huge hospital bed. Even he looks tiny in it.

“I love you.”

I can’t fight the smile that twitches at the corners of my lips. “I love you, too,” I reply back confidently.

And for the first time in my life I can finally admit that I love someone—someone other than my family; my fiancé.

The word finally begins to sink in as we drive to the palace for the second time this weekend. Fiancé. I’m engaged. I have to remind myself every once in a while. This is one of those ‘whiles.’

I twirl the emerald ring on my left ring finger—quite a habit I’ve acquired. I also tend to stare at it a lot. Though, there’s nothing wrong with that, especially since it’s worth more than my house and came from the crown of a King. That reminds me, I’ll have to tell the Historical Club back home about it when I get the chance. Amy Lee, their president would love to see it; talk my ear off about the history of it.

Damnit I miss school. I never thought I’d say it but I am… I miss school. I don’t want to keep doing these trips back and forth; across the Atlantic every couple of weeks. I want to be back home, doing regular homework, seeing my friends, going to all the springtime events in town… I want to sit in the ice cream shop and laugh with the girls about the latest gossip; ride my bike around town and just say hello to everyone. I feel like I’ve been neglecting the people I’ve known for my entire life. They must feel terrible.

“Ann,” Victor snaps me from my day dreaming. We move quickly from the garage and through various hallways until we’re in a meeting room.

It looks just like those rooms they show on the history channel; a situation room like President Obama has. Except, instead of the United States eagle and crest on the right wall there’s the royal crest of Victor’s family, and the flag of Vladesvya.

The sound of people rising from their seats makes me peek around Victor’s tall form. I can see that the long table in the middle of the room is mostly full. Men in suits and a few women in blazers nod respectfully, bow or curtsey to Victor.

Then, I move into the room and they have to do it all over again. It must get quite annoying after a while I imagine.

“Alright, let’s get this show on the road.” I recognize that voice. That’s my general. General Hawken. He’s standing next to Victor’s various heads of the military.

Gabe guides me to one of the two seats at the end of the table. I sit down next to Victor, trying to be as dainty as possible. You wouldn’t believe I was a dancer from the way I clumsily lowered myself into the stiff meeting room chair.

I should have insisted on wearing pants.

“The operation will begin in exactly two minutes. You are right on time, Your Majesty,” Victor’s general smiles—but it’s not a normal smile. It’s definitely a nervous one.

I fidget in my seat—and imagine Winnie yelling at me for it. There’s a camera guy and a photographer in the far corner of the room, and I just know they’re focusing their lenses squarely on me. That’s why I’m getting the jitters. Ever since that little panic attack at the airport just the thought of cameras makes my palms clammy.

I just don’t understand how they managed to trigger an attack. I was fine until now. Although, I guess it was about time I broke. There was so much going on; so much stress. It’s a miracle I didn’t break down sooner.

“Going live in three… two… one,” the general says quietly. Suddenly, the huge flat screen TV—and two smaller ones—at the other end of the room comes alive with static. Eventually, we get three clear night vision views of… well I’m not sure what. All I know is, they’re probably from cameras mounted on top of soldiers’ helmets.

Victor leans over and whispers, “They’re inside the abandoned complex the rebels are using as a base camp.”

I nod, and with newfound understanding I try to decipher the live feed. It’s easier said than done, though.

It’s silence until someone smashes a door down and all of a sudden there’s yelling; screaming; orders being shouted; guns firing; boots stomping.

I do more than flinch. The very sound of guns now makes me jump in fear. That’s just what I do.

Victor glances over at me for only a second. I force myself to keep looking, at the people falling to the ground and the flashes of gun fire going off like strobe lights. I see mayhem; hear mayhem. My instinct to fidget in my seat is too strong to resist. I bet that camera guy is having the time of his life watching me squirm right now.

Finally, silence; the unnerving kind.

Everyone is standing up now, leaning towards the TV anxiously—even me and Victor, though I don’t remember when I stood up. I bite at my bottom lip nervously, watching as the feeds light up. Lights have been turned on.

“Operation Green Eagle successfully carried out. Targets taken into custody. Over.”

The room erupts in cheers. My heart falls from my throat and back into my chest. I sigh with relief. My heart, which was seconds away from bursting out of my ribcage, finally calms down to a quiet, steady rhythm again.

Victor pulls me into a hug, which I gladly return.

We can feel safe again—well, at least safer than we have felt for the past couple of months.

It’s something to celebrate, really.

He releases me from the hug and shakes hands with the guy beside him. The guy beside me reaches out for a shake, too. It’s a bit awkward, but I shake his hand.

He says, “It must be a great feeling; knowing those guys are going to be behind bars once and for all.”

I nod, but am interrupted as I’m about to comment on it. Another man has stepped into the picture, and wants to shake my hand, too.

Victor calls Ben and puts him on speaker phone. I can still hear his army buddies in the background, cheering and whistling. Everyone is trying to talk to him, me and Victor at once. It's more than overwhelming, it's completely insane.

What the hell. Are these politicians just like the fangirls I meet at the local mall? By the time I’m done shaking hands and acting like I care what they have to say about new policies an hour has passed. Gabe and Kassy have to physically drag me away from the hoard of politicians surrounding me. Victor is the only one that slyly creeps away like a true King.

I should ask him to give me lessons on slipping away discreetly from conversations I don’t want to be in.

“Your Majesty, Your Highness,” Victor’s head advisor pops seemingly out of nowhere, bowing his head curtly. “There’s something… um… something has come up, sir.”

I can feel Victor roll his eyes. I don’t even have to look to know he’s doing it… because I’m doing it too.

“What now?” He asks, sounding more agitated than usual.

The advisor clears his throat, “Ah, I think you should see it to believe it.”

I look up at Victor, who creases his brow in confusion. Instead of answering, he just nods and motions for the flustered advisor to lead the way.

And down the winding corridors and hallways we go… until, finally our little brigade arrive at a pair of double doors.

“They arrived this morning, fresh off the plane from Switzerland. They were transported from the Chirnovian Royal Palace to here so that... well, they wanted to see you both... and the Crown Prince.”

But who the hell is he talking about?

Someone gasps as the doors open before Victor and I. I hear scuffling of shoes and bustling of people moving around. What comes into view is… confusing.

It’s a… family… two people my parent’s age and two kids my age… I think. A boy and a girl, that could easily be twins. Their blonde hair looks so similar to mine. I bet they're a few more distant family members. Either way, they're all standing there staring at me and Victor like we’re aliens with five heads.

That’s okay, because I’m probably staring at them the very same way. I have no clue who they are.

“My god,” Victor mumbles. “I never thought I would see you again.”

I look over at him in confusion, with my eyebrows raised. He doesn’t answer my puzzled expression though, he just rushes forward and clasps the shoulder of the random man in front of him.

“Thank god you’re alright, I thought you were dead!” Victor exclaims, exchanging the customary kiss on each cheek that we Chirnovians and Vladesvyan royals do (a custom I only learned of after three months of being royal--thanks to Winnie forgetting to tell me).

Meanwhile, the woman is getting a little teary-eyed… and she’s still staring at me.

“AnnaMaria, oh you’ve grown so much,” she rambles off in Slovek.

Clearing my throat, I try to be as polite as possible when asking, “Um… I… I’m sorry… who are you?”

Winnie would slap me right about now.

What can I say? I blurt out word vomit when I’m confused.

Victor turns around, grinning from ear to ear and says, “Anna, there is one secret that we’ve been keeping from you… we feared that they would never come back because of Dmitry… so we've been safeguarding them ever since... well... you know...”

“Another secret?” I ask in disbelief.

The man beside Victor chuckles as he says, “A secret no more… it is nice to finally meet my niece.”

My jaw automatically drops. “Neice?”

Oh dear god I knew it.; more long lost family members coming out of the woodworks. I’ve already experienced my mother’s family; her sisters and their families coming out of hiding. Lady Kerrington is one of them. They were great, but it’s so overwhelming…

“Yes, AnnaMaria. I am your father’s youngest brother.”

My heart plummets into my stomach. The man’s wife pipes up happily, “We are one set of your godparents.”

And here I thought I only had the Scandinavians as godparents. I do have actual ones. And these aren’t from my mother’s semi-royal side. These… these people are part of my family’s legacy. My legacy. My family.

“Holy crap,” I blurt out, causing even the three kids to laugh. How could they just not tell me my dad had another brother? I should be mad at them, but right now I feel strangley... happy.

“AnnaMaria, I would like to introduce you to your biological godparents and cousins; Prince Piotr and his wife, Princess Beata the Duke and Duchess of Kasikolvek—Prince Michal and Princess Aniella.”

A surge of warmth seems to rush through me. I finally feel like I’m not alone, biological-family-wise. Why didn’t they tell me sooner?

“Oh my god, why didn’t you tell me?” I ask, rushing forward and throwing my arms around the guy. I don’t care where he’s been. He’s here now. My actual uncle is here.

“Well, when your psychotic older brother goes on a bloody rampage and kills your other older brother you really can’t risk your location being found out,” my uncle (I can’t believe I just said that in a biological sense) says grimly. “We’ve been hiding in Switzerland ever since your father and mother passed—and you left… ever since the fall of the country. Victor here has been helping us--we were reluctant at first. You know, given the conflicts our families have had in the past... but he's kept us alive... alive so that we could see you again someday.”

Wow. I didn’t realize Dmitry had gone that far… trying to kill everyone he should love? That's beyond my comprehension.

“You mean, he threatened you?” I ask, pulling away from him to hug my aunt.

My heart sinks as he answers, “Yes. Many times. So, we left… but now that you’re back…”

I hear his voice catch and see he’s getting emotional. Then, I realize I am, too. As I hug my newfound cousins a sort of happy-sadness settles over me. I feel tears stinging my eyes, but they’re tears of joy. This is literally a miracle. They could have simply stayed in Switzerland. They didn’t have to come back. But they did… dare I say… for me?

“We’re ready to claim our titles and positions back,” my uncle says proudly. “We are very excited to get back onto the royal circuit, you know… and Michal and Aniella are too. We’ll be able to take on some of the royal workload—we were pros at it back in the good old days; full time working royals, you know!”

That makes me genuinely happy. Victor told me just last night that the more people in the royal family the better. That means less stress on the main members. I’m so grateful for these people, I could hug them all day long.

“So, enough about us… how is Benjamin doing?”

I raise my eyebrows in shock as Victor starts a full-blown conversation about Ben’s recovery with him.

Meanwhile, my aunt and cousins waste no time asking how I am.

“You have to tell us everything! All about your life in America and everything you do! We have so much to catch up on!” Aniella smiles and rocks back and forth excitedly.

“Uh, yeah—yeah I know,” I can’t help but laugh. It’s a good kind of laugh. It’s one of those chuckles that only happens when I’m really, really happy.

Okay. So maybe things can only go uphill from here.

It’s like everything is piecing itself back together—slowly but surely. I just know that soon my country will be back to normal; back to the way it was when mom and dad were in power. My royal family is no longer broken. They’re coming back, and they’re actually happy to come back. They want to see me and participate in events.

They probably want to rebuild this monarchy as much as Victor, Ben, my mom’s family and I do.

And that’s great… because we’re going to need all the help we can get to rebuild the Chirnovian Royal Family’s reputation.

@HRHPrincessAnna: Things are looking up.

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Hey hey heyyyy guys so the fall semester is crazy already but I’ve been finding time in the wee hours of the morning to keep writing and editing this story. It’s what gets me through the day; knowing that I have a story that I can get lost in.

It also helps that I have such amazing readers! :) you guys are all so supportive and I cannot thank you enough. So, thank you AGAIN and again and again <3

I hope you’re still enjoying it! Let me know what you think about Anna’s newfound family members, what you think should happen next etc.

Here’s a good question for all of you who have read the entire first book and these first few chapters of this book: Who is your favorite supporting character? (pick anyone but Ben or Anna) I would love to hear your opinions!

Thanks again, and don’t forget to vote & comment my lovelies! See you in the next chapter ;) xx