Royal Jester

Epilogue Part 2. Anastasia

Warning: 17+ content after third cut

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Ana didn't know what she was expecting when Mason called it a nice dinner, but it certainly wasn't this.

She knew he had his moments (everyone did), but she'd never been somewhere so intimate and beautiful before; it was breathtaking.

Even more surprising though was that he'd invited a whole group of people to dine with them. She'd anticipated that Josh and Carly would be there - and had even been looking forward to seeing them again - but she hadn't thought he'd go so far to invite her siblings.

"It took so fucking long to find a way to contact those two," Mason said, nodding in the direction of Jeremy and Seth as he pulled out Ana's chair.

The princess was speechless as she stared up at him; it had been so long since she was able to meet her brother in person and to see him just there felt surreal. She wasn't sure if Mason was even aware of how grateful she was.

"Thank you," she whispered to him when he sat down beside her and he gave her a soft smile, so warm and full of emotion that it made her mouth feel dry.

The table was already full of food, she noticed with a cursory glance, but it seemed that everyone had been waiting for them to arrive before eating. "Do you think mom would be upset if I just had a little sip of wine?" Ana rolled her eyes at Lili's question, reaching forward to pick up her own glass of wine.

"I'm not entirely sure about her, but the king would kill you so-," Ana shrugged.

"Your damn funeral," Mason finished.

Ana giggled. She felt Mason's hand grip her thigh at the noise and glanced down to rest her hand on his. "You were drinking at my age," Lili grumbled.

The elder sister raised an eyebrow, "Without parental supervision?"

"I do have parental supervision," Lil argued and Ana's eyebrows furrowed. She pointed at Mason's mom sitting just across from her, "See? She's a parent, and she's supervising."

Said woman laughed, "Don't bring me into this. I never said I condoned an underage girl drinking."

The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted any further complaints from the young princess, and Ana adjusted slightly to look at Josh. "I'm pretty sure we're here to celebrate a certain graduate's achievements." He grinned at Ana, lifting his drink slightly in her direction. "Congratulations Anastasia."

Despite how they'd known each other for the better part of what was almost four years, Josh and Carly refused to call Ana anything but Anastasia. She wasn't exactly sure why as they blatantly ignored her whenever she asked but she'd just accepted it at this point.

"Congratulations baby," she heard Mason say from beside her and turned to smile at him. She leaned over slightly to kiss his cheek then, instinctively squeezing his hand when he angled his head just right so her mouth would catch his.

"I can't believe you actually did it."

Ana pulled away from her boyfriend, her face feeling warmer than usual as she focused on Jeremy. "I said I would, didn't I?"

"Still," Seth suddenly said. "There were so many things going on, and so much that could've prevented you from graduating." While Ana had definitely gotten closer to her brother's boyfriend within these past years, she was a bit surprised by his addition to the conversation. "And yet here you are, here you both are." He paused, "It's very admirable."

Everyone at the table knew what had happened with Charleigh, maybe not to the full extent but they were all well aware of how difficult it was for Mason and Ana to be together afterwards. And how even more challenging it was for Ana to continue attending the university.