I nearly spill it on myself, my hand is shaking so hard.

There it is on the cover of Sweden’s Hänt Extra.

A picture of Maggie with a bottle of wine in her hand, raised in the air, tits hanging out of her shirt. Her hair is a bit lighter and it’s obviously taken in New York and probably yanked from her Facebook page.

The headline says “The Secret is Out! Prince Viktor Has Fallen in Love with an American Party Girl” and the little headlines underneath say “Her Tragic Past” and “The King and Queen Disapprove” with little cut-outs of my parents’ heads looking distraught.

It won’t let me scroll through the article and read it unless I buy a subscription and like hell I’m going to support this vile piece of shit journalism. But I have to know what it says about her, if it says anything about the kids.

I call for Nick who appears dressed and ready to go in a few minutes.

“Listen,” I tell him. “Something has happened. Are you able to go to the nearest store and get me a copy of this?” I show him the screen.

His eyes widen. “Of course.” Then he shakes his head. “We tried so hard to be careful, sir.”

“I know you did, Nick, this isn’t your fault. I knew this would happen sooner or later, I just didn’t want it to happen with the kids arriving today and everything.”

He nods. “Should we make extra precautions in case there is a mob at the airport?”

“Maybe have a decoy car ahead of us, just in case. It can’t hurt.” I pause. “But please, keep it to yourself for now. Maggie doesn’t know.”

“She doesn’t know? Pardon me sir, but you have to tell her. She has to know exactly what she’s getting into. It could be dangerous otherwise.”

I sigh, running my hands down my face. “I know. I know. Okay. I’ll go tell her now.”

“Good,” he says. “I’ll get the paper.”

He takes off and I gather up the courage to wake up Maggie with bad news. I pour her a cup of coffee and cream to soften the blow, then grab a small bottle of vodka from the cupboard, just in case she needs it softened a little bit more.

But by the time I open the door to the bedroom, she’s already awake

She’s sitting up in bed, staring at her phone.

She looks up at me and I know she knows. Her face is drawn and pale, her eyes red, her expression contorted.

“What is this?” she whispers. “Did you see this?”

I sigh and slowly walk toward her with the coffee, not sure how to handle this.

“I made you coffee,” I say.

“Did you see this!?” Her words roar out of her.

I swallow my heart. I nod. “I just did this morning.”

“How did this happen? How?”

“There was a snitch at the dinner party, that’s our best guess.”

“Our? Who is our?”

This is going to hurt.

“That’s what my father told me.”

Her eyes blaze. “When did he tell you?” she says through gritted teeth.

“Yesterday.”

Boom. The realization explodes in her eyes.

“You knew about this since yesterday? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know, I don’t know. I guess I wanted… I saw how happy you were and –“

“Oh fuck my happiness!” she yells. “Did you read this thing!?”

“Did you? I just sent Nick out to get a copy.”

“Oh fuck, he knows now too? I guess the whole world does. I used Google translate on the cover so I know exactly the kind of shit that’s going to be inside there, and my god, Viktor, the picture! I was at a dorm party! This makes me look like the biggest piece of trash!”

“It’s going to be okay,” I say, putting down the coffee by her.

“It’s going to be okay?” she repeats bitterly. “Fuck that! And fuck your coffee!” She hits the cup and it goes flying across the room where it smashes on the hardwood floors. “That’s just you trying to butter me up, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

I’ve never seen Maggie like this before. Uncontrollable and angry as hell. I guess anyone would be in this situation.

I take in a deep, steadying breath and ignore the shattered porcelain. “I came up here to tell you. To prepare you.”

“Oh god.” She puts her head in her hands, her dark hair falling over her face. “Oh god,” she mumbles. “All of my life is for the world to see now. They know. They know.”

“It’s…”

“Don’t you dare tell me it’s going to be okay,” she says, her head snapping up. “You have no idea what this feels like.”

I balk at that. “I have some idea,” I tell her sharply. “I grew up in this role, maybe not as it is now, but I saw firsthand what it did to my brother. I know the dangers, okay.”

“Then how come you can tell me that it’s going to be all right,” she cries out, throwing out her arm.

“Because I choose to believe that!” I yell at her. “I knew this was going to be hard on you, hard on them, hard on us but I chose to believe that it was worth it. I chose to believe that we would be able to deal with it. And I’m choosing now to think that this is a test that we’ll pass and that it’s going to be all right.”

“A test. This isn’t a test. This is just…it’s just…” she trails off and looks away at the broken coffee up. “Fuck. How am I going to deal with this? I hate that the world knows everything about me now. I hate it. It’s so gross, it’s icky, I’m…ashamed.”

“Maggie, please,” I say softly, her words are breaking my heart. I come over to the bed and wrap my arms around her. “I made a mistake and I should have told you. For what it’s worth, my father gave me the information to protect us and I know he would stop them if he could but he can’t. You’re fair game and it’s unfortunate but it’s the reality now. Maybe they’ll grow bored of you eventually but for now, you’re new and exciting and sadly, I’ve been such a bachelor all these years that I think they’re just excited that I’ve finally found someone to love.”

She snorts into my arms and I can’t tell if she’s laughing or crying.

I place my hand on the back of her hair and hold her tight. “We knew this wouldn’t be easy but we’re just going to have to take each day as it comes and remember why you’re here. And if there is any silver lining here, it’s that now the worst part is over.”

“Do you really believe that?” she mumbles.

“I know that I was expecting this day. And yes, maybe this matched my expectations because, I know, it’s horrible, but at least the waiting is over. The suspense. You know?”

“So diplomatic,” she says after a few beats. “Spoken like a true prince.”

I sigh and pull back enough to cup her face in my hands. “We’re going to be okay because we’re two pretty amazing people if I do say so myself. We can do this. You have to believe me and you have to try.”

She swallows hard, wincing. “I hate that they know everything, Viktor,” she whispers. “Everything I’ve tried to hide.”

“Everything you’ve had no reason to hide. Being poor isn’t a crime. Having a big family in a small town isn’t a crime. Having a blue-collar job isn’t a crime. The only crime here is that your parents were murdered but that’s a tragedy that you’ve all faced head on and come out stronger for it. There is absolutely nothing for you to be ashamed of in the life that you have lived. You should be proud. I’m proud. I’m terribly proud of you, Maggie.”

Now tears spill out of her eyes and onto my hands. I kiss the sweet salt of her tears and then place a kiss on her forehead. “Maybe this is what it takes for you to believe it but whatever truth they’re saying is a truth you need to own,” I murmur against her skin. “You’re Maggie Mayhem McPherson and the world isn’t going to forget you.”

At that she laughs, a soft, fluttery little laugh and I know she’s pulling in her reserves and trying to be strong.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispers.

“For what?”

She looks over at the coffee. “For breaking that. I bet it was a priceless heirloom from the 1600s or something.”

“I think it’s just IKEA.”

She nods. Smiles. “Of course it is.”

“Now I know that this isn’t the best start to the day but let’s not forget the big picture here. The fact that Pike, April, Rosemary, Thyme and Callum are in the air right now, on their way here. That’s something worth concentrating our energy on.”

She nods and I can see her wrestling with wanting to be excited and wanting to fret over the evil tabloids. “Is it going to be safe to get them?”

“I think so,” I say. “We’ll have a decoy limo just in case but this story just broke. It will take a few days and a few more tabloids and newspapers, unfortunately, before people start recognizing you. If we’re lucky, they might not even recognize the kids at all.”

Of course it was impossible to say how that luck would turn out.

* * *

***

* * *

“Herdy schmerdy bork bork!” Callum yells as he zooms around the kitchen and out into the hallways, running at the speed of light with a wooden spoon in his hand. He must have grabbed it off the counter when I wasn’t looking.

I exchange a look with Bodi who is trying not to laugh.

“He’s doing an impression of the Swedish Chef,” I explain.

“I gathered that much, sir,” Bodi says, eyes twinkling. “Very enthusiastic young child.”

“He’s something all right,” I comment.

Pike snorts.

I look over at him as he leans against the counter scrolling through his phone, a glass of the aquavit we got for him in his other hand. “You can say that again,” Pike says, not looking up. “I’ve had to take care of him for the last two weeks. Just be glad you don’t have a tricycle in this place because he’ll be re-enacting scenes from The Omen pretty quickly.”