Chapter One

Eva

Below me, the busy streets are lined with cars so small they look like toys. Miniature people try to hold their umbrellas against the strong wind. Beyond it all, a vast horizon of skyscrapers stretches outward, the grey sky speckled with flakes of snow.

I take a deep breath and step off the edge.

My heart leaps in my chest, and for a moment, I feel like I’m flying.

Then, my heels click on the glass bottom floor. I stare down at the city bustling beneath my feet and place my hands on the glass wall. I wish it really could disappear, and I could soar through the city.

I turn around and smirk at my brother. “I told you. It’s not scary.”

Daniel—who’s not afraid of anything—leaps from the solid floor to the glass box I’m in, suspended over 100 floors above the ground. “Come on,” he says, poking my side. “You’re terrified!”

I step out further into the glass box, just to prove him wrong…even though my legs are shaking, and my stomach flip-flops every time I look down at my heels. “I’m not afraid of anything, big brother.”

Daniel puts his nose right to the glass. “Just wait ‘til we ride the Centennial Wheel at Navy Pier tomorrow! You won’t be saying that when we’re at the top.”

I sigh. I’ve been in Chicago for a week already, and my half-brother’s taken it upon himself to show me every must-see attraction in the city. But to Daniel, even the run-down pizza parlour on the corner of his street is a must-see. Today, it was the Skydeck, with its towering architecture and crystal-clear glass box that juts over the city. Yesterday, it was the Art Institute and Millennium Park, and the day before that, it was the Shedd Aquarium. When Daniel’s at school, his mother’s been kind enough to take over the tour guide act, even though I insisted I would be happy to come to his high school with him and see what a real American school is like. Or what any school is like, really. I’ve had a private tutor since I was two years old.

“But look, Eva,” Daniel says, pointing outward. “This is the tallest building in the western hemisphere! You can see four states from up here.”

“You do know,” I say, “if you climb to the tallest tower in our castle, you can see five different countries.”

Daniel gives a dry laugh. “Sure, but knowing Lyle Worthing happens to be the duke of one of those countries really spoils the view.”

I smile. I know Daniel’s just trying to be a good host, but I haven’t had a moment of relaxation since I arrived. When Mama agreed to let me have two weeks off of royal-duty in November to visit Chicago, I was so excited. Two weeks without responsibility, expectations, or having my every move scrutinized! Two weeks where I could just be a normal teen.

But instead of Mama watching my every move, now it’s Daniel. He won’t let me go anywhere without him or his mother, and he seems intent on keeping me away from anything a normal teenager would do. I think my big brother has forgotten I already have a bodyguard.

“So what’s our plan after we see across four states?” I raise a brow.

“Well,” Daniel says, running a hand through his slick black hair, “I’ve gotta go to hockey practice, so I was thinking I could drop you off at home and Ma could take you to—”

“I’ll come and watch your practice!”

He scoffs. “No, it’s super boring. I’ll drop you off.”

“Won’t Madison be there?”

“Yeah, but she’ll be working, doing her trainer-stuff. And Al will be in the practice.”

Daniel has just listed my only other two friends in Chicago. “Dwayne can keep me company.” I nod in the direction of my bodyguard, standing off to the side, watching us from a pair of thick black sunglasses.

A muscle feathers in his jaw as Daniel considers. He may have shown me every attraction in Chicago twice, but the one thing I haven’t seen is what Daniel’s life is really like. I haven’t met any of his friends—at least, I haven’t spent any time with them. I did meet a few of his teammates when they came to Eldonia last summer, but I hadn’t had the chance to really get to know them. Besides a couple dinners with his girlfriend Madison, and walking around Grant Park with his teammates, Hayden and Alice, I haven’t talked to a single person our own age.

He’s kept me so busy, it’s almost like he’s purposely trying to keep me away from his teammates.

I smile sweetly and decide to appeal to the one thing that will always get him—his love of hockey. “Oh, come on, Dan-Dan! This is your last season playing for the Falcons. I want to watch as much as I can!”

“You can come watch me next year when I get drafted to the NHL.”

I bump his elbow. “If you get drafted.”

His eyes look down and his smile falls. Oh no, why did I tease him about that? “Dan-Dan, I’m only joking. Of course, you’ll get drafted.”

“Maybe,” he says, looking away. “This is the last year Hayden, Tyler, Alice and I will all be playing together. This is our last chance to win the whole thing.”

I loop my arm through his and lean my head on his shoulder. “That’s why you should let me watch your practice tonight. I want to see the four musketeers all playing together!”

“Okay, fine,” he says. “You can come to practice. But after that, we’ve got Friday night mass with Ma.”

I stand on my tip-toes and give him a kiss on the cheek. “Whatever you say, Dan-Dan.”

He rolls his eyes and heads back toward the solid floor, taunting Dwayne to try and step on the glass.

I take one last look at the sprawling city of Chicago. This place is so different from my home country of Eldonia. Compared to the quaint little houses, the cobblestone streets, and the antique buildings, I feel like I’m in a different world.

And in this world, no one knows who I am. I could just be another girl. Not a princess. Not a queen.

My gaze shifts to the glass, where I see my reflection staring back at me, transparent as a ghost. I can see the reflection of the strangers behind me, too, passing through my body, completely unaware.

The thought makes me feel light, free. Maybe for one more week, I can be like a ghost, not leaving a trace.

I turn on my heels and walk toward Daniel. “Let’s go meet the team!”

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