I take a step back. I feel like something is grabbing ahold of my throat.

“No, no. Not like that.” She shakes her head, and I can still see the tears there. “I mean regretful at some of the distance that’s grown between us over the years. He wants to fix that. He said he wants to make us a close family again, like when we were young.”

I smile at that. Karim talked to me about how he and his sister lost that closeness when his parents died. He took over the throne when she was still so young. I could see the regret in his eyes as he told me the story. I told him it wasn’t too late.

“I like the sound of that. I love my sisters, but they are a lot older than me, and they would’ve agreed with the stylist about the dress.”

“Well, you’ve got yourself a new sister now.”

That really makes my eyes water. After Karim finally let me crawl out of bed yesterday, everything went into full swing, and the one person, besides him, who helped me the most was his sister. When she got news of the wedding she was blowing up the phone asking me everything from here to the moon to get the ball rolling. She really pulled most of this together and never once did she say one of my ideas was silly. In fact, when I said something about a cotton-candy machine she asked what my favorite colors were and made sure there would be enough cotton-candy machines to make them all.

“Where do you live?” I ask. We hadn’t gotten the chance to talk much about anything other than the wedding yesterday. I knew she didn’t live here.

“With my grandma a few hours from here. Karim actually asked me to come back home.”

“Oh, that would be so nice,” I admit. I’ve only gotten to know her a little, and what I know, I already love.

“That won’t be happening.” We both turn at the sound of a man’s voice. Standing in the doorway is a tall, broad man with dark hair. He’s in a suit but looks a little disheveled. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why didn’t you tell me you left the country?” His words are tight, and I can tell he’s fighting to keep them calm.

“Carlos.” Heavenly stands from the chair, rolling her eyes. “I’m fine. I took a guard, and it’s my freaking brother’s wedding. Of course I was coming.”

“You didn’t tell me,” he says in disbelief.

“Yeah, well, that’s because you had one of those stupid dinner things to go to.” She puts her hand on her hip. “Finally find a wife?” Her response is short, and I can’t stop myself from glancing back and forth between the two of them.

Carlos’s whole body goes rigid. He takes a deep breath as if controlling himself. “I didn’t go to the dinner.” He says, a little calmer this time. “I was worried when you weren’t at the castle all day yesterday.”

“I was helping my new sister plan a wedding and finding a dress myself.” She runs her hands down her body as if trying to make sure the dress is still nicely in place. It’s dark green and hugs her everywhere. It makes her red hair really pop. She’s so beautiful.

“I’ll accompany you tonight,” he tells her, but she scrunches her face as if she isn’t sure she likes that idea.

“Carlos, I don’t need a protector tonight. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Besides, there will be lots of eligible women here who would love to catch your eye tonight.”

Carlos runs his hand through his hair, clearly frustrated.

“Stop it with the picking a wife shit. I hear it enough from my mother. You’ll go with me and act as my date. Neither of us is looking for anyone. Now put something on to cover yourself.”

Heavenly laughs, clearly not going obey.

“I think I’m going to go check on something.” I slip past Carlos, leaving the two of them to argue. I don’t know what the heck is going on. They almost seem like brother or sister with the way they’re fighting, but I can feel some other type of tension in the room.

I make my way down the hall and stop when I hear Karim’s voice. A guard is standing outside the door. I step towards it, and he bows his head, stepping out of my way. I crack it open and peek inside and see him sitting at his desk, a phone pressed to his ear.

I slip into the room, heading straight for him. His eyes meet mine and widen. He pushes back his chair, and I do my best to crawl into his lap with the dress I have on. I bury my face in his neck, relaxing into him. I’m shocked we got so much done for this wedding, because it seemed like every time we were more than twenty minutes apart we would go looking for the other and end up like this.

“Get it done. My queen and I are leaving tonight,” he snaps, and I hear the phone drop down onto the desk.

“I thought it was bad luck to see the bride in her wedding dress?”

“I don’t think you’d ever let anything bad happen to us,” I mumble into his neck, enjoying the smell of him. His arms wrap around me tightly.

“I would never let anything happen to my little princess.” He kisses the top of my head. “You look beautiful. This is going to be the fastest wedding and reception anyone has ever seen. But I’ll make sure you dance.”

I pull back and look at him, smiling. “You’re more perfect than any fairy tale I’ve ever read.”

“I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure that holds true for you, my queen,” he says, and his mouth takes mine.

Chapter 12

Karim

“Where are we going?” Giselle asks excitedly, bouncing in the airline seat.