The next morning, early, Mia woke to find her mother asleep in a chair next to her bed. As Mia got out of bed, Helen stirred, and woke.

"Good morning." Helen yawned.

"Morning." Mia replied. Nothing was good so far about this morning. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, but it had already been ruined.

"What happened between you and Tim last night?" Helen asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why is he asleep on the fire escape?" Helen nodded towards the window. Mia dashed to the window and drew back the curtain. It was true--Tim was asleep on her fire escape!

"We were talking about our secrets..." Mia slowly returned to her bed and sank onto it. "He revealed that he's a prince of Bamarre, the adjoining country to Frell..."

"Your grandmother would be thrilled." Helen interjected. Mia nodded.

"And," Mia dropped the bomb, "Tim asked me to marry him."

"What?" Helen asked. "He asked you to marry him? Seriously?"

"He didn't ask you first?" Mia asked.

"No." Helen shook her head. "He probably figured that I would say yes. He would be right, but I don't think he knows you're a princess. We've kept that particular secret rather well."

"Yeah. I had to tell him no, of course." Mia's eyes welled up with fresh tears now.

"Oh, sweetie. That's why he's asleep on the fire escape, huh?"

"Yes. He followed me home, and then he climbed the fire escape, and tapped on my window. I went to the window, but didn't open it. And then he told me that he loved me."

"Oh, Mia. What did you do?"

"I told him that I love him and that I can't marry him. I told him that it was killing me, which it was, because I was trying to figure out a way to break the curse."

"What are you going to do now? The boy's on your fire escape."

"I don't know." Mia shrugged. "I guess I'll follow his lead. Maybe he'll give up and leave."

"He's been head over heels in love with you for ages, you've been dating him for almost ten months, it's almost Christmas, and you suddenly break up with him after he asks you to marry him. He's not going to give up so easily."

"What should I do?"

"There's only one thing you can do, Mia." Helen told her daughter, rising from the chair and walking out of the room. "Tell him the truth."

"Okay." Mia nodded. She took a deep breath, and crossed her room to the window. She opened it, and Tim stirred.

"Oh," he said. "I'll leave if you want me to, Mia, but give me one more chance."

"I have something to tell you." she said.

"Okay." he nodded. "What is it?"

"I'm going to tell you two things and you have to promise not to say anything, okay?" she looked him straight in the eyes. He nodded.

"Okay, first: I am the crown princess of Frell."

"Wha--" Tim began to ask something, but she silenced him. He nodded for her to continue.

"Secondly--" she took a long breath and closed her eyes. She braced her hands against the window frame for good measure. "When I was a baby--" the curse began to squeze at her lungs and she felt dizzy. "A witch put a real curse on me..." she managed. She took another deep breath. "It was the curse of obedience. I have to do everything and anything anyone orders me to do." Mia opened her eyes, and the last thing she saw was Tim, looking at her in shock.

"Mia!" Tim's voice came from far away to pull Mia out of the haze she was in. She slowly came to.

"What happened?" she asked. He shook his head. He wasn't quite sure what had happened. "Order me to do something."

"Sit up." he commanded. Mia waited for the sick sensation of the curse, but it never came.

"Tell me to do something else."

"Clap your hands." he commanded her. Mia's hands lay disobediently at her sides, and she grinned. She was finally free!

"I'm going to tell you the craziest story you've ever heard. You may not believe it, but it's why I refused your offer of marriage last night." And Mia told him the whole story, from beginning to end.

"Wow." he said, when she'd finished.

"So that's why I couldn't say yes. I didn't want to endanger anyone."

"I understand that now." he nodded. "But now that you're free, would you consider being my wife?"

"Yes!" she grinned, and they joyfully went downstairs to tell Helen.

The following June, the day after graduation, the couple flew to Bamarre to be married, and they lived happily ever after.

THE END

I hope you have enjoyed this story! Thanks for reading and reviewing!