No, she would not understand. A peasant worried about where to build his home with his wife, what to feed his family, how to dress his children, how to educate them. A royal, on the other hand, worried about how to balance the contradiction of a nation, managed trade-offs in order to gain the upper hand in every trade agreement and treaties, maintained the satisfaction of his subjects and allies, and most of all protected the interest of his people. A peasant may settle with the approval of his family or his neighbor, but the crown prince had more people to please or appease than that. 

It was tempting to start reasoning against her beliefs, but Luke did not take the bait. The freedom that their little charade made him feel was more precious than a battle of wits he otherwise craved. It was a price he was not willing to pay. Therefore, the prince kept slowly threading the water while wondering if the spa had a cellar somewhere or if the staff would tell him that they had only tea for their guests. 

As he braced himself for the cold before he was about to rise to a shallow part of the pool, Luke felt arms pulling him back, stopping his brave advance. Startled and confused, it took him a moment to realize who it was. Her voice was soft, almost hesitating, but whatever spell the late hour had cast upon her pushed her to continue. “I am,” he admitted with a sigh. 

And just like that the illusion that he was a different man and she was his equal shattered. Standing in the middle of the pool were the betrothed couple, both sober, but Luke would rather not be. At least if he was a little drunk he would have something else to blame for the sudden fluttering in his chest, for the thoughts that swam in his head, and for turning around to face her instead of walking away. “You’re making it difficult for me to make the right choices.” Her body pressed against his was the last straw. His possessiveness brought him to the women’s bath despite all the warning lights going off in his head. He undid his robe knowing that if he took a dip in the warm water with her, he would not get out with with his sanity intact. Rhiane was a temptation he was not supposed to give in to, but the more time they spent together, the more they learned about each other, the more he felt himself being drawn closer and closer into the flame. 

Just like his lips as he leaned in. It was his turn to snake an arm around her. He pulled her against him as he touched her lips with his urgently. The kiss was unlike the one they shared in the morning. The night brought firmness that the tentativeness of that morning lacked. As if he was already sure that it was what he wanted as well, not because his mother told him so, or that he did not want to hurt her feelings. He wanted her even when he should not.

“I don’t know what to do with you.” His breathing was labored when he briefly pulled away.

Because she would not be his queen. Like the others before her, she would die before her children were old enough to remember her face. 

Luke pressed a kiss on her forehead wondering how he ended being caught up in a mess of emotions with a farmer girl right in the middle of it. “You make me so mad right at the same time I want to just pull you aside and kiss you. Don’t ever wear those clothes again and stop fighting my battles for me, because you don’t need to prove anything.” It was not that he did not see the wisdom in what she did, but she was looking at it only from the point of view of a commoner. Politics and the world stage were shoved to the backseat as the common people rejoiced the face and the voice, they hoped they would finally have in the palace – a hope that finally the people in power would see and hear their pleas. But politics and the global community were as important as the hope of the people. Power was maintained by the kings and queens by striking a careful balance between their people’s happiness and the happiness of those whose support kept the crown on their heads.

But before she could rebut, he leaned in again for another kiss. She was correct right from the very start – he had ill intentions when he entered the pool for the women.