Still Here

Claire Bennett has built a life on structure, control, and staying exactly where she's needed without ever asking for more, and Prince Theodore Hale has spent his life doing much the same. When their worlds collide, nothing about it is meant to last — not the conversations, not the quiet understanding that forms between them, and certainly not the way he keeps coming back. But Theo doesn't manage what grows between them; he chooses it, even when it complicates everything, even when the past resurfaces, even when the cost becomes visible to the entire world. This isn't about obligation or expectation or the Crown. It's about what remains when control is no longer enough, and who is still there when it would be easier to leave.