Sven grimaced at the headline of the newspaper boasting of Prince Hendrik's return to Oost den Burg and the romantic photo of him proposing to Maia. He skimmed through the article growing angrier by the minute. The reporter completely disregarded his comments about their engagement being a farce. Even the local tabloids were gushing with the news and proudly displayed a recent picture of them kissing in Maia's houseboat.

"Not happy with the news?"

Sven looked up as a curvaceous woman with curly black hair, deep red lips and eyes the shade of the ocean slipped into the chair across from him. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I know you."

"You don't," she said, grinning as a waiter brought a tray of tea to the table. "At least not yet."

Sven scoffed. "Who are you?"

"I'm Saskia Everdene," she said, pouring herself a cup of tea. "Prince Jorien thought it would be good if you and I had a chat about your situation."

"And what's my situation?"

Saskia laughed softly. "Don't be coy, Mr. Fontein," she said, taking a sip of tea with her eyes full of mischief. "You need a certain little author to help bolster your menial career and I can help you."

Sven crosses his arms over his chest. "And how can you do that?"

"You want to expose them?" Saskia said, tapping her finger over the picture of Maia and Mateo in the paper. "I have plenty of information and the expertise to help you do that, but I'm not cheap."

Sven raised an eyebrow. "I'm intrigued, Miss Everdene. What expertise do you have?"

"Saskia is just fine." She slid a slip of paper across the table to him before she stood from the table. "It was nice meeting you, Sven."

"You too," Sven murmured as he turned over the piece of paper and a devilish grin curled over his lips.

I'm Prince Hendrik's ex. I'm the reason he left and I can make him do it again. Meet me at the old lighthouse at the edge of the city at 7pm. We'll talk payment for my services then.

Sven slipped the note in his pocket and poured himself another cup of tea. Saskia Everdene. He thought her name sounded familiar. She was the woman Mateo was head over heels for until the damaging news came out of his affairs and Saskia must've been the one who exposed him.

Prince Jorien had certainly done him a favor by sending Saskia his way and he'd pay anything to make sure Maia would come running to him for help when this faux engagement blew up in her face.

Maia flipped through a fashion magazine as she sat under a hair dryer and a smile tugged at her lips at Demetri and Mateo toking on a joint and chatting like old friends on the patio of Demetri's private studio.

She was a little nervous for them to meet, even though Demetri was a fan of their relationship and Mateo was pretty chill about her casual flings with Demetri, she was still worried they wouldn't like each other or there would be tension between them. Like there was when she and Sven were a couple, but she should've known that would never be the case with Mateo.

He was true to his word. He didn't judge her for what she was into and the way he was laughing with Demetri, he seemed to like him too, which was a relief since Demetri would be joining them for at least three months in Oost den Burg and she didn't need any extra drama plaguing her and Mateo.

"Maia and I have some catching up to do," Demetri said as he and Mateo walked back inside. "But I'll touch up that beard of yours when you come back."

"Where are you off to?" Maia said as Demetri tipped the dryer from her head.

"I'm just going to pick up a few things for tonight while you finish your beauty treatments," Mateo said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "Enjoy yourself, liefje."

"Make sure you check out that place I told you about," Demetri said with a mischievous gleam in his hazel eyes. "You'll definitely find what you're looking for."

"I will," Mateo said, patting Demetri on his shoulder. "Thanks for the tip."

"Any time."

Maia watched Mateo walk down the stairs of the studios and she raised an eyebrow as she looked up at Demetri. "Where did you send him?"

"Don't you worry about that." Demetri turned her chair around and a devilish grin tugged at his lips. "But I'm proud of you for telling him about us," he said, unrolling the curlers in her hair. "The bigger question is, have you told him about your little smut room?"

"Stop calling it my smut room," she huffed. "But yes, I showed it to him."

"You showed it to him? So soon?"

Maia chuckled and nodded. "It didn't take him long to figure out my bookshelf was a hidden door, especially when he has one himself."

"Mm, that doesn't surprise me at all. I told you he was a good match for you and that he's not a prude," Demetri said, brushing out her curls. "Now tell me what's really going on with you two."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play with me, Maia. How did you leave for Colorado three months ago and end up engaged to Prince Hendrik? What the fuck happened out there?"

Maia looked away from Demetri's inquisitive gaze in the mirror as she looked down at her engagement ring. "It's a long story."

"And we have plenty of time."

"Alright," she said, twisting her ring around her finger. "But this stays between you and me. The less people who know the truth about me and Mateo the better."

"Maia, I've been keeping your secrets safe for as long as we've known each other and this is no different."

"Thank you," she said, heaving a sigh before she told him how she and Mateo first met as neighbors and the first time they had any meaningful interactions was after Sven left her stranded at her cottage. She explained how she hired Mateo to be her muse because she was struggling to write her novel and how they ended up faking a relationship because Sven showed up out of the blue wanting to get back together with her.

"And everything got out of hand because Sven is friends with Mateo's sister in law," Maia said, shaking her head. "She told his father about us and then announced that we're engaged because he wants Mateo to be king instead of his brother."

"I knew there was more to the story than you just randomly getting engaged to Prince Hendrik," Demetri said, plaiting a few braids on the side of her head. "And only you could find yourself wrapped up in some drama like your novels."

"It's not like I wanted this to happen," she huffed. "Hell, I only found out Mateo was a prince after Sven ran his mouth."

"I don't blame him for keeping it a secret. I remember when all that stuff came out about his affairs. I would've run away and changed my name too," he said, running his fingers through her hair with moisturizer. "So, if you didn't want any of this to happen, why are you with him?"

Maia's heart thumped. "That's not what I meant. I want to be with Mateo and I want to help him," she said, squeezing her hands together. "I just wish we could do all of this on our own terms."

"Why can't you?"

Maia raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know much about Oost den Burg or the royal family, but if he's going to be king, why can't you two do things the way you want?" Demetri said, taking off the cloak around her. "Take things slow, go on dates." He leaned into her ear. "Fall in love with the scandalous Prince Charming you've always been looking for."

"We've already talked about taking things slow." Maia laughed softly. "But it's kind of hard when everyone already thinks we're in love and we're both pretty eager to fuck each other."

"Mm, I kind of thought that." Demetri chuckled, leaning away from her. "Sex is one thing and you should have plenty of it, but giving yourselves the space to fall in love is another. Who cares what people think. That ring he gave you doesn't mean anything unless you want it to."

Maia nodded, twisting the ring around her finger again. "It doesn't mean much to me. It's not like he proposed because he wanted to."

"Do you want him to?"

"I don't know." Maia shrugged. "But right now, I'm happy to go along with this if it's going to help him. I feel like I owe it to him because Sven got us into this mess and I need to do this to keep my public image intact too."

"I know this is the last thing you want to hear, but Sven's done you a favor."

Maia scoffed. "What?"

Demetri raised an eyebrow. "If he didn't come meddling in your life again, would you have acted on those feelings you were hiding for your neighbor you didn't know was a prince?"

"I –" Maia said before she sighed and shook her head. "No. I would've kept him at arm's length because I didn't want to fall for him like I did with Sven."

"Of course not, but Maia, you deserve someone like Prince Hendrik," he said, taking her hand. "You deserve someone who wants to be with you." He pressed a kiss over her knuckles. "Just the way you are."

Maia giggled. "I thought that was you, Dem."

"Nah, that was never me. You know I love you as you are, but I love everyone that way," he said, helping her out of the chair. "And you deserve someone who only has eyes for you."

"Well if you believe all the rumors about Mateo, he has eyes for everyone like you," Maia said as Demetri led her across the studio to the open wardrobe of dresses, pantsuits and tops on display.

"Prince Hendrik may be into many things and I definitely believe the rumors about him," Demetri said, looking over his shoulder at her and smirking. "But you're the only one on his mind."

"And how would you know that?" Maia said, raising her eyebrow. "You just met him today."

"Yeah but it was the look in his eyes and the way he looked at you," Demetri said, shaking his head. "He's not in the market for anyone else, unless you're involved."

A blush burned over Maia's cheeks. "If you say so."

"Oh I do and I'm going to make sure while I'm on retainer as your stylist, that Sven doesn't ruin the happily ever after you always write about," he said, booping her nose. "So you can figure out for yourself if Prince Hendrik is the one you want to live it with."

A laugh burst from her lips as she wrapped her arms around Demetri's waist. "I'm glad you're coming with me. I think Faye knew I'd need you there."

"I am too and Faye always knows best," he said, kissing her head. "But you're going to be fine and you're going to make an excellent Princess after I hook you up with my designs."

"Oh yes!" Maia beamed, leaning away from him. "Show me what you've designed for me!" she said, bouncing over to the wardrobe to run her fingers over the exquisite fabrics while Demetri gushed over the lavish designs he put together for her.

Demetri was right.

She did deserve someone like Mateo who liked her for her. Someone who wanted her to be herself and not be ashamed of her desires.

A smile tugged at her lips as Demetri helped her into a silk crimson evening gown that hugged her hourglass figure. She would have no fears and feel no shame when she and Mateo decided to explore their desires and when she got to Oost den Burg, she was going to step into her role as a future Princess knowing the man on her arm wanted nothing but her. No ulterior motives, no need for her to boost his career, but he simply wanted to be with her.

A/N: Ooo...drama and intrigue is brewing in Oost den Burg 😬 Not sure what Sven and Saskia are planning but it's not very good that Jorien sent her to him.

Love me some Demetri and all of his truth bombs about Maia and Mateo! I'm definitely thinking of writing a chapter or two from his perspective...maybe. I know I need to do a bit more description of him at the moment, but I'll get to that in a Mateo chapter....Kind of want to know where Demetri sent Mateo though....🤔😈