Marid picked up instantly. “What did you just do?” he screamed.
“I uninvited you from any participation in my reign.”
“Do you realize how stupid that was?”
“What I realized was that something perfectly normal completely horrified you a few weeks ago. It makes sense now. Why would you want power in anyone’s hands but yours?”
“If you think this will be the last you’ve heard from me—”
“Indeed I do. For my ear is now closer to my people, so I have no need of you. Good-bye, sir.”
I smiled, positively blissful, now knowing this very important thing: my country could never be taken from me now; I’d happily given it away. My people wanted happiness as much as I did, and I was sure we were all done with people trying to live our lives for us.
“Eadlyn!” Lady Brice called, rushing in to me. “You brilliant, brilliant girl!”
“You’ll do it, right?”
“Do what?”
“Be prime minister. It’s just until we have elections, but still.”
She chuckled. “I’m not sure I’m the best person for the job. Besides, there are—”
“Come on, Aunt Brice.”
For a split second she looked absolutely horrified. Then her eyes swam with tears. “I never thought I’d get to hear those words.”
I reached for her, embracing this woman who’d become one of my greatest confidantes. It was strange because, even though I’d never lost her, holding her now felt a lot like getting something back. Like when Ahren came for the coronation.
“Oh, my goodness, I have to call Ahren!” I exclaimed.
“We’ll add that to the list of things to do. Get engaged, check. Change the country, check. What’s next on the agenda?”
I looked across the room, watching my father shake Eikko’s hand and Mom reach up to kiss his cheek.
“Changing my life.”
EPILOGUE
IT’S A FUNNY THING TO be the product of a fairy-tale romance. It’s another thing to think you might find one yourself. You can read the stories and watch the movies, and you can think you know how it’s all supposed to unfold.
But the truth is, love is as much fate as it is planning, as much a beauty as it is a disaster.
Finding a prince might mean kissing a lot of frogs. Or kicking a lot of frogs out of your house. Falling might mean running headfirst into something you always wanted. Or dipping your toe into something you’ve been scared of your whole life. Happily ever after could be waiting in a field a mile wide. Or a window as narrow as seven minutes.