UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
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The next morning, Nikolai rose early, a pit of despair in his gut. His attempts last night to find a number for the hostel had failed. Every laptop, computer, and phone had either been removed, or access to it locked down.
A breakfast tray was delivered to his rooms. Apparently, he was under house arrest.
He didn’t know if he should direct his anger at his parents or Visar and his mastermind of security experts. They must be nervous he’d sneak off again or try to get Becca to spring him out of his palace prison. They weren’t far off the truth.
Today he would track down a computer, but first he needed to shave before his mother sent someone in with a straight-edge blade to do it for him. Nikolai looked in the mirror. Not much he could do about his black eye.
As he lathered shaving cream on his face, Alexi burst in.
“You’re back!” She barreled across the room and into his arms. “When did you get home?”
“Late last night. Careful or you’ll be covered in foam.” He hugged his sister and realized how much he’d missed her.
“I don’t care. You should have woke me up.” She sat at the dressing table beside him.
Nikolai looked closer. He couldn’t possibly be seeing a pink sparkling piercing. “Did you pierce your nose?”
“Do you like it?” She beamed with pride over her sparkly nose stud.
“How did—”
“Well, you weren’t the only one having fun. A few days ago, I snuck out of the opening of the new opera. You were supposed to be there, so I had to go. Thanks for that! Mother was distracted with Lady Peregrine. I said I was going to the ladies’ room, but instead I ran to the mall.”
“Alexi! I read online about you taking off. Are you crazy?”
“It was only for a couple of hours, but it was totally worth it. I figured Mother and Father should know I won’t be any easier.” She grinned.
“You shouldn’t have.” He laughed and ran the razor over his cheek, creating a clean path on his face.
“I had to! They are so out of touch. They need some tough love.”
He rinsed away the hair and watched as a bit of his freedom swirled down the drain. “My escape didn’t seem to change anything. Maybe you’ll have better luck. I’m surprised Father hasn’t demanded you take it out.”
Alexi giggled. “He did, but I refused.”
“And he and Mother let you get away with it?”
“When I said I wouldn’t take it out, they took away my phone, my computer, all my electronics. Life has been pretty quiet, but it’s so worth it. I haven’t had to go to any official events because Mother doesn’t want anyone to see my piercing.”
Nikolai couldn’t believe his sister. “I think you’re gutsier than I am.”
“And look at your face! You’ve got a black eye.”
He swiped off another section of beard.
“Did that happen when you got mugged?”
“It was my friend who was mugged, but yeah, that’s when it happened. How did you know about that?”
“The only way I could find out what you’ve been doing is to have my maid sneak the papers in. So was your trip as wild as the papers say?”
“Other than the last day, when Visar publicly dragged me away, it was great.” His thoughts turned to Becca, and he worried all over again.
“And who is the girl? She’s so pretty. Everyone wanted to know how you met. Are you going to see her again?”
“Her name is Becca, and she’s American. Fate kept putting us in each other’s path. I realized that she was someone I was supposed to know.” He smiled at the memory of all the times he ran into Becca.
“And you really like her?”
“Yeah. I do. But now she’s stuck in Prague by herself. Her bag was stolen, she has no money or passport, and she’s supposed to fly home out of Nuremberg tomorrow.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I need to get in touch with her. I had her number, but I lost it along with my phone. I need to make sure she’s okay.”
“Just call the place where you were staying. She’ll be there one more day, right?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do, but every phone and computer around here has mysteriously disappeared.” He finished shaving.
“Your rooms, too?”
“Maybe I can get Dmitri to track down her number for me.”
Alexi shot him a troubled look.
“What?”
“Dmitri was fired when Father found out he gave you money. Apparently loyalty is only useful if you are the one in charge. Loyalty to you or me is considered treason,” she said.
“This place is screwed up. I don’t know if I can stand staying.”
He wiped his face with a towel. But then he realized he might not be staying, he might be transferred to the military sooner than later.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got more plans for Mother and Father. They think they can decide how I live my life, but they’re wrong,” Alexi said with a grin.
Becca patted her back pocket again to make sure her new passport was still safe. At this point, she couldn’t relax about losing it until she was on the plane back home. She’d collected the cash that Dylan wired. Funny how having a passport and cash could wipe away a lot of her worries. Now all she had to do was wait until tomorrow morning when she could board a train for Nuremberg. She had a full, empty day ahead of her.
She followed the familiar route she and Nikolai took yesterday and came upon the horrible spot where he’d been taken. Was he okay? Was he back home?
With a heavy heart she turned a corner and caught her breath.
Before her stood the bridge with all the love locks. Was it only yesterday that they were here together?
She approached the locks with trepidation, as she feared their lock wouldn’t be there. But, after a quick look, she found it right where they’d secured it, nestled snug against the others. She reached up and touched the lock, willing Nikolai to appear.
She turned to scan the tourists and passersby. No Nikolai. She sighed. He wasn’t there now and never would be again.
The next morning, Becca was up and out of the hostel early. She said a silent good-bye to Prague and the memories, both good and bad.
A quick cab ride to the train station felt like a luxury after navigating the streets by herself. Upon arrival, she hoisted both her and Nikolai’s backpacks over her shoulders. She refused to leave his things behind.
The station bustled with rush hour activity as people hurried to their trains. She gazed up at the lofty dome and stained-glass windows. Art Nouveau, Nikolai would have said about the beautiful building.
It took her a while to find the right ticket counter where her prepaid ticket waited, thanks to Dylan. Even though the clerk told her where to find her train, the woman spoke fast and with a heavy accent. Becca missed having Nikolai there to translate.
She approached people who looked American to ask for help, and once on board, she asked a young couple next to her if she was indeed on the right train.
The trip to Nuremberg consisted of staring out the window for two hours and missing Nikolai. As much as she wanted to go home, how was she supposed to go back to her old life now that she’d spent the most exciting week of her life with a royal prince who made her feel special and important? She really wanted to be Cinderella, where her prince would come find her, but she’d left no glass slipper, and this was reality.
For all she knew he would be entering the Mondovian military any day. She sighed and leaned her forehead against the window as the train rumbled on.
Upon arrival at the Nuremberg train station, she followed the mobs of passengers into the main terminal and easily found the ticket machine. She was relieved it had instructions in English, but she couldn’t get her euros to fit in the slot of the bill feeder and wondered if she’d picked a broken machine.
“Here, you need to hit enter to confirm your order before it will accept your money,” said an impatient man behind her.
She felt like an idiot. “Thank you. I figured it must be something easy.”
Becca picked a forward train car so she could be one of the first off the train and into the airport. She lowered the heavy packs to the floor and settled in for the twenty-minute ride.
Travel days sucked. Every few minutes the train made a stop. She carefully tracked the progress on the map posted above the door. Just a few more stops and she’d be there. She readied her bags. Her nerves started to fray. She was so over international travel.
Finally she arrived at the airport and had to walk forever before arriving at the ticketing area. Luckily, everyone else seemed to be heading in that direction, so there was no chance to mess this up.
The line for check-in was long. She looked at her phone again. She had little over an hour to get through it. Then a text came in from Dylan: Where are you? I’m waiting at the gate.
She texted him back. Stuck in line.
Each minute dragged like ten as she watched the line crawl at a snail’s pace. Finally she received her boarding pass.
Becca headed for security only to discover a sea of glum passengers waiting to make it through the line.
Dylan texted again to say they started boarding the plane and to hurry up.
Becca texted back: I’m in the line from hell. She started biting the inside of her lip.
Finally after an eternity, Becca passed through. She grabbed her belongings and checked the direction signs for her gate. Gate 44, all the way at the end concourse.
Unbelievable!
She looked at her phone. Dylan had texted that they called for final boarding.
Becca ran, dodging passengers, strollers, and small children. The two packs bounced heavily against her back. With each gate she passed, her fear grew to a full-out panic. What if they left without her? She couldn’t bear being stranded in Europe one more day.
She spied her gate. Out of breath, she pushed on, rounding the corner to find the waiting area empty, except for Dylan and two scowling airline employees.
“Becca!”
One look at her brother and she started to cry.
“Dylan, I was so afraid you were going to leave.”
“Of course I waited. Come on.” He guided her to the gangway and handed over his boarding pass. “I wasn’t about to leave you behind. These women aren’t too happy about it. For a minute there, I thought they were going to close the doors on us.”
“Thank you,” she said to the annoyed clerk as she wiped away her tears.
Once seated, the doors closed, and the flight attendants recited the safety talk.
“Don’t look so miserable. You made it,” Dylan said.
“I know. It’s just, now that we’re leaving, it guarantees even more that I’ll never see Nikolai again. I’ll probably never even talk to him either.”
She tried not to cry, but fat tears of defeat rolled down her face.
“It’s a vacation romance, Becca. Give yourself two days back home, and he’ll be no more than a great memory. You’ll meet lots of guys at Northwestern.”
“This is different. I loved Nikolai.”
Dylan raised his eyebrows.
“I know. I’m a fool. It doesn’t matter how we felt for each other. I could never end up with a guy like him.”
“Why not? You’re just as good as he is.”
But she knew better. “Our lives are totally different. He’s destined to become king and serve his country. I’m just an ordinary girl from the United States trying to figure out my life.”
“Becca, don’t think that way.”
“Whatever. It’s over. Just like a fairy tale, only without a happy ending. It was more of an Aesop’s fable where all the stories are evil and horrible.”
“He said he’d find you.”
“And how will he do that? All my info was on his phone, which I now have.” She leaned her head back against the seat.
“Stop acting so negative. He must have some secret service that he can put on it.”
Becca hoped Dylan was right.