This, just... wow! 
 Five hundred stars! 
 Alex stole my heart at his wedding to Rinda. He was so fiercely protective of her even before the wedding. (You will understand better if you read the story.) Even though Rinda is too stuck up and smothering in her own problems to notice. 
 "The blow never came. I squeezed an eye open to see Aleksandr's large, strong hand grasping my father's forearm, inches from my face. 
 "You may be king," Aleksandr said in an even voice. "But that will be my wife and I will not tolerate you harming her." 
 Good grief, in mere seconds he became one of my favorite male leads. Easily in my top 5. My top 3 to be exact... 
 He called Rinda out so fast I had whiplash. 
 "I think you're so very unpleasant because you're afraid of letting people get to know the real you." 
 Rinda was an annoying twit in the beginning. Her attitude and mannerism was awful, but for the life of me I couldn't hate her. Her callousness was justified. She grew, though. Her character developed into a queen worthy of the title. 
 Rinda struggles with her magic Birthright and feels as though it is useless. It takes Alek seeing her using her gift and being shocked and amazed by her for her to see the lies her father planted into her head. 
 But Alek.... He saw so much beauty. 
 I can't even get enough of his confessions! 
 "Because when I am with you, I am happy. And when I am not with you, I am nothing." 
 Rinda had her own moments, where her inner beauty shone for all to see. She realized how much her gift of luck could help people and she fell hard for the man she didn't even know was a king. 
 "I did marry someone that treats me like a princess," ... "Someone that protects me through the night, forgoing his own sleep. Someone that thinks of me first. Someone that tries to make me smile when I want to scream. Someone that makes me smile despite myself. That's you, Alek. I love you, and I want to be your wife." 
 I've never even heard of King Thrushbeard, but you can be assured... I'll be looking up this fairytale. Jill Myles..... You delivered an utterly beautiful tale. Thank you for sharing this piece of your heart!