“Is there hope for us?”

There was something about your look, so vulnerable and sincere, that made his breath catch in his throat.

"Hope?" he repeated the word slowly, taking your hands in his, staring into your glistening eyes. "Yer know full well we ain’t meant to be. An outlaw and a princess? A royal and a criminal?"

He smiled and brushed your cheeks gently. "It ain’t the stuff of fairytales."