Hanna enters into the house a sassy look on her face.

"Two days," she sighs, "from your wedding date, and this happens," She throws down the paper in front of me. It's the official newspaper for the region. Across the front pages is photos of Cas and I; one of us holding each other's hands, another one of us turning in shock to the camera. 

"Who Is She?" I read aloud, pursing my lips at the title, "In small town Ardeena, the mysterious shadow romance strikes again!" The letters cried. 

"Well, it is a local newspaper," Hanna chuckled, sitting next to me, "open it up, there's a full page display," 

"Oh boy," I huff, shuffling open the pages. And there it is. Cas and I, spread across the pages. There's a throwback to the Burbank swarm last week. Cas and I running across the sidewalk, me in the car. There's also a photo of Lena and I from yesterday, escaping the swarm. I look at it with extra scrutiny. My hair is streaming out, I'm looking like I'm on a catwalk. 

Woah, I actually don't look too bad, I thought to myself, kind of stylish. My skirt is folding out and my lips slightly parted. I'm looking away, likely to Lena and we're moving quickly.

The final photo is the most interesting. I'm just about to enter into the car. My hand is on the door and I'm looking directly into the soul of the photographer. I let my finger run across the print. I look fierce, like I've won a battle despite running away. 

I may look delicate, it seems to look, but I will screw you over if needed.

"You look like a boss," Hanna scoffs.

"Yeah, not too bad," I murmured, reading through the lowdowns. There's small interviews with workers and people who were there to witness. One called me a local. Another talked about the tourism for the town. Two sightings of a royal in a single week! The excitement was fierce. How fantastic that our tiny, little town, be host to the crown prince!

There was talk of this and that, of interview with the prince. Of the new visitors from local areas, hoping to catch a glimpse. 

"The palace is hoping to remain quiet," Cas had mentioned while on the phone last night. 

His apologies had been less frequent, I'd noticed. It seems that this would become a common occurrence. This just seemed to be the new norm that I had to get used to. 

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, they're hoping that it can just be dismissed as something else," He sighed, "there's a petition going around for more information on you. It seems that it'll make it to parliament,"

"What does that mean?" I murmured. 

"Once it reaches a hundred thousand signatures. That's when it has to be addressed. We'll figure out the game plan before then though," My stomach dropped. People were that interested to know that they'd made a petition for an official response?

It took me a little while to come to terms with it. 

In my spare time, I watched the petition tick upwards. It'd reached fifty thousand signatures only a few moments ago. I bit my lip anxiously at that.

"I saw that too," Hanna nodded to the petition in my hand, "there's a lot of support for you to keep your secrecy though," 

"Well that's good to hear," I mumbled.

"I wonder if a counter-petition has been launched," Hanna chuckled, drifting to the kitchen to pick up some of Mum's homemade buttermilk cookies, "that'd be nice if there was, restore my faith in humanity and all that,"

"You should make one," I chuckled, "help me out here,"

Hanna rolled her eyes, finishing off the last of the cookie. 

"Anyway, it's time for your Hen's Day!" She beamed. This was something that'd been collaborated between Hanna, Lena, Klara and Mum. A final little celebration before the big day, "are you excited?!"

"I have no idea what's about to happen," I chuckled, "but I'm ready to go!"

So we'd loaded up the car. On the way, Hanna mourned the fact that she was unable to do the outing that she'd originally intended. She made vague illusions to parties and clubbing. Silently, I was thankful for the security restrictions. 

"It's better this way," She sniffed, Klara to my right, and Hanna in the front seat. It felt weird being relegated to the back seat, but it was one of those things that I'd just have to get used to, "oh well, your wedding is going to be fantastic, I can't believe you didn't let me have free rein!" 

She was a little cut about that too. 

"You were my boots on the ground," I reminded her, "I wouldn't have been able to do it without you,"

Hanna seemed happy with that, settling into her seat. While Pat had been collaborating from the palace, Hanna had been the one to visit each vendor in person. Both of them were incredibly essential to the running of everything.

"How long is it?" I asked curiously, watching the outskirts of Ardeena whirl past. 

"You'll find out once we get there!" Hanna huffed. 

Lena merged onto the main road, it was another fifty minutes of travel before she pulled off the  road. I instantly noticed that it was more of an upper-class area. The trees were of a more, exotic nature and had been cared for a little more thoroughly. The car pulled up in front of two, beautifully intricate gates. 

"We're here!" She cheered. 

I blinked in awe as the gates opened automatically and we moved down the driveway. The main building was made of an intricate, wooden getup. An ornate statue spurted water into a fountain. The hedges were trimmed to the leaf. 

"It's time for a day spa!" Hanna cheered as we pulled up at the front. 

We all hopped out, slowly walking into the lobby. The ceiling reached high, large windows stretched across the walls. 

"Woah," I let out a gasp. I'd gotten my nails done for formal. At one point, I'd even done an at-home spa kit with my friends for one of her birthdays. But aside from that, there wasn't much pampering done in my life. This though, this was a whole, other level.

"Isn't this awesome?!" Hanna cheered. 

"This is pretty cool," I nodded. Lena, who'd parked the car and returned to us, went and gently spoke with the lobbyist. Even Klara seemed impressed, gathering us in for a photo. 

"This is sick," She grinned, "all the girls are going to be jealous," 

Hanna beamed, clearly satisfied with herself.

...

Turns out it'd been a mineral day spa. We'd spent enough time in the tubs until our fingers were wrinkly. The view of the spas overlooked a snaking river that cut through the mountains. 

"This is great," I mumbled, letting myself float in the water. 

"Almost worth the paps and the newspapers?" Hanna joked, sipping at a soda. 

I sat up, thinking to myself, spending too much time on the thought.

"It's a close trade," I shrugged. 

"What are you going to do once you have to start doing tv interviews?" She chuckled.

"Hope the day never comes!" I lightly splashed her with some of the water.

Then we moved into an hour long, deep tissue massage. I didn't know one's body could be bent so many ways.

"Watch out!" Klara joked to the masseuse, "she's getting married tomorrow, don't push her too hard," 

There was a chuckle among everyone around. Then it was time for a pedicure. As we sat back and relaxed, a manicure and facial.

"This is peak luxury," I chuckled to Hanna as I nibbled on a strawberry.

"Uh huh," Hanna looked like she was almost asleep, I tried not to chuckle.

I settled back in my seat, the stylist moving to the other hand. My thoughts turned to Cas. How was he going? I knew that he was to be a part of some of the security briefings for tomorrow. Aside from that, he'd mostly be keeping to himself. Would him and Vlad go to a nearby town for drinks? One or two for the night before. 

I thought happily to myself. Marrying the man I loved tomorrow. What a novel idea! I'd been waiting my entire life for tomorrow. All the conversations with Mum. All the dreams about what it would be like. All the hours spent drifting through wedding tags on the internet, and watching the windows of the bridal shops slowly transform form season to season.

Everything that I'd been dreaming for, would come to reality tomorrow. 

I breathed out, my stomach fluttering. Was it everything that I was expecting? Of course not. It wasn't at the time that I expected or with whom I'd always expected that it would be. But I had no complaint. In fact, I was incredibly grateful. How exciting, truly beyond the man of my dreams. 

And this life together- that would be a wild one. But I promised to be with him. I could do that. To help him, to serve him. To be a shoulder to cry on, for arms to hold him at night. I could do it. To continue fighting against the world with him, each and every day. Or to simply walk with him. For that's what I think love is; persistence and resilience.

Love and adoration would fade or crack under the pressures of the world. There would be times to fight. Times to scream. Times that we wouldn't want to speak to one another at all. It would be hard, and I was willing to endure it all.

You can still leave if you can't do it, a part of me whispered. I banished the thought completely, embarrassed at its assumption. Of course I wanted to be with the man I loved. The man that I almost gave my life for. The man that I would willingly give my life for, each and every day. 

We'd love one another; today, tomorrow and until both of us ceased.