Six weeks later, Bridget’s grandfather, Edvard, summons her to tell her that her cousin Andreas is coming to stay at the palace. Andreas is next in line for the throne after Bridget. She has always hated Andreas, who questions a woman’s suitability to lead a country. Edvard also informs her that he wants her to marry a nobleman and have a family soon because his condition could quickly leave the country with no one in line for direct succession. Finally, Edvard tells Bridget that he has received an odd request from Rhys’s security agency. Although Rhys turned down Bridget’s offer to extend his contract a month earlier, he has since requested to become her permanent bodyguard in Eldorra.

Almost immediately after rejecting Bridget’s offer, Rhys realized that he made the wrong decision. He contemplates this misstep upon his return to Eldorra weeks later. He thinks of his conversation with his boss, Christian, who is confused as to why Rhys would want to move to a country that he hates. At the airport, a man named Andreas introduces himself to Rhys, but Rhys does not trust him and keeps his guard up. He seeks out Bridget as soon as he gets to the palace, and he meets her and her old friend and royal advisor, Mikaela.