Everyone in the music room watched me silently as I explained my plan. "I need to talk to each Sofia alone, one at a time. Everyone else, go wait in the parlor, please." Looking to the Sofia in her purple dress, I took her hand. "You stay here with me. Other Sofia," I turned to the princess in her riding clothes, "Go with Aunt Tilly for now. I'll send for you in a minute."

The second Sofia nodded silently and followed her aunt, while the first Sofia squeezed my hand gently. A shiver ran up my spine when I remembered that the soft hand holding mine might not be the same hand that I held yesterday.

I stood in silence until everyone had left and Uncle Bartleby closed the door behind them. Once I was sure we were alone, I turned back to Sofia, who was looking up at me with her sparkling blue eyes. My head swam for a moment. This had better work.

I took a breath. "Sofia, do you love me?" I usually didn't ask her such blunt questions, but under the circumstances I was willing to embarrass her a little to discover which of them was my princess.

Almost without pause, she answered me. "Yes."

I had expected her to say it, but my stomach erupted in butterflies anyway. My princess loved me. But that wasn't enough. I knew that both of them would answer that question the same way, so I continued.

With one sweep, I pulled Sofia against me, wrapping both arms around her waist and leaning down until I was almost brushing her lips. "Then let's get out of here," I whispered. "Run away with me, somewhere no one will ever find us, where we can be together forever, away from all this."

Sofia's face lit up, and she leaned up and kissed me passionately. Mentally, I fought back the romantic fog that threatened to cloud my judgement as I kissed her back. When she finally separated from me, she was grinning up at me. "Oh, Hugo, that sounds wonderful. Of course I'll go with you! Let's leave right now!" She pulled on my hands to drag me out the door, but I stood still.

"I have to deal with the doppleganger first," I said. "Send her in here and I'll take care of her, then we can go." I leaned down and planted one more little kiss on her cheek for good measure, and the princess hurried out the door, her skirt bobbing with her steps.

As soon as I was alone, I wiped my mouth and shook my head to clear it. I still needed to concentrate. I couldn't know for sure which of them was my Sofia until I had talked to both of them, and I needed to ask exactly the same questions to both of them.

The next Sofia shuffled into the music room with an uncertain look on her face. I didn't speak until she had closed the door behind her, and I had held out my hand for her to approach me. When she had taken my hand, I looked down at her and asked her quietly, "Sofia, do you love me?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation this time. My heart skipped, but I continued as planned.

Just like I had with the other Sofia, I pulled her against me and asked her to run away with me, where no one would ever find us. This time, instead of beaming and leaning up to kiss me, Sofia frowned and pulled away from me.

"Run away?" she repeated. "But what about everything we have here?"

My stomach flipped, but I did my best to hide my reaction and keep going. Mentally I channeled my predecessors, all the Disney princes that had come before me. There was no time for a song, but I didn't sing much anyway. As romantically as I could, I knelt in front of her. "All I care about is you."

"What?" Sofia stared at me as if I'd lost my mind. "Do you have any idea what that would do to our families? What about Royal Prep, I haven't graduated! And the Olympics! Hugo, this is really irresponsible!"

With a satisfied nod, I stood back up. "All right, then. Come on." I took her hand and led her back to the parlor, where I called for everyone else to join us back in the music room. Once everyone was assembled, I stood facing them with the white music roll in my hand. The music roll that would make one of these princesses disappear.

"I know which is the doppleganger," I announced. One Sofia watched me nervously while the other smiled sweetly at me, relaxed and confident. Aunt Tilly watched silently from the background, with Uncle Bartleby standing just behind her, his hand on her shoulder.

My heart thudded in my chest, but I was sure. I stepped forward to the princesses, and handed the white music roll to the Sofia wearing the purple dress. "You."

The princess's face immediately dropped into an ugly scowl. "What?! How did you know it was me?" Now that her identity had been revealed, the copy of Sofia dropped the 'sweet princess' act and showed her true colors. She glared jealously at the real Sofia.

I smiled and crossed my arms over my chest. "Simple. The real Sofia always puts others before herself." I turned to the princess in the riding clothes, my true princess. "I asked both of you to run away with me. You agreed," I said to the false Sofia.

The rotten-hearted princess pouted. "Because I love you!"

I ignored her lies and looked back to the real Sofia. "But you, you refused me, and told me to my face how irresponsible that would be! And I've never known you to pull any punches, princess."

In the corner I heard Aunt Tilly stifle a laugh.

The fake Sofia huffed and went to the music box. "I never get to have any fun," she whined as she put the white roll into the music box. The ballerina began to twirl, and slowly the purple dress-wearing princess faded into a cloud of colorful sparkling magic.

For a minute, no one spoke. Then, quietly, Aunt Tilly said, "I'm very proud of you, Prince Hugo."

I turned to face her with a grin. Then Uncle Bartleby squeezed her shoulder, and the two of them followed Spruce back to the parlor, leaving me alone with my princess.

We smiled at each other for an instant, then Sofia collapsed into my arms with a relieved grin. "Oh, Hugo..."

My chest swelled and I held her tightly. "Sofia." Her sapphire eyes looked up at me.

I brushed an auburn curl out of her face. "I've never told you before…" My voice stuck in my throat. I swallowed and tried again. "…I love you."

A soft grin covered her face. "I love you, too."

And as I leaned down and kissed my princess, I finally understood why true love was worth singing about.