#wor.endplot

There was cause to celebrate. The deal that Matthias and Ivan had worked out for their countries had been accepted by their parents, Matthias having to do a little convincing on his end, and it seemed war had been reduced to just a rumor. But with all of the good news that had come his way he still knew there was one more mistake he had to rectify. Kat’s birthday had snuck up on him, come and gone while all the deals were being handled, and he had felt awful for missing even the dinner that night. Gift in one hand, a drink in the other, Matthias dodged a few people throwing around paint at the lake bash as he searched for his sister. Finding her by the shore, the Dutch prince took a seat next to her and gave her a sheepish smile. “I haven’t been a very good big brother with all of this going on. Well...I haven’t been a good one in a long time really. I’m so sorry I missed your birthday this year.”

Agreeing to meet Maggie at the beach party hadn’t been a hard choice to make. Their engagement was officially recognized in the Netherlands now, he’d just helped stop whatever downfalls that were coming out of the dispute between his country and another, and life was pretty nice at the moment. Only one issue lingered in the back of his mind these days but he couldn’t do much about it, not while stuck in such a remote location and wanting to keep it all a secret. Despite that, he was grinning as he made his way towards the shore where Maggie was standing, his arms snaking around her waist while he pressed his chest to her back and placed a light kiss to her cheek. “I would say ‘guess who’ but if anyone else is doing this these days we might have a problem.”

The lake party announcement had somehow sparked a little life back into Rosa after the events of the avalanche. She hadn’t been outside much so she was pleasantly surprised to find the weather was almost perfect for a day of fun in the sun. And what was even more perfect was that she got to spend some time with the people she cared about most, including the Scottish prince, one that she was currently trying to fight in the paint war that was going on. Paintbrush in hand, water balloon filled with pink in the other, She turned the corner around a tree and was able to cut Duncan off, the princess grinning broadly as she used the brush in hand to streak purple across his cheek. “Gotcha!” Before he could say anything she took off running in the opposite direction in hopes that retaliation would be a hard goal to meet but knew that it wouldn’t be hard for him to catch up.

The idea of the lake party had not appealed to him one bit. He hated it. He hated being around the water and he hated the people he cared about being around the water even more. Each time he looked out to the lake he could see the images that haunted him in his nightmares. So Gio did his best to focus on other things while he kept an eye out for the princess he was there to protect. The volleyball did well to distract him for a game or two before he found himself around the food and the bonfire nearby, the guard almost laughing when he spotted Rebekah. “I should have known I would find you near the food. Tell me, what’s the best the menu had to offer today?” Not that he wouldn’t try it all for himself. “I’m looking for something sweet at the moment.”