Page 38 of Twisted Royals

A thankfully silent driver took me to Agafonza’s small airport, and I leapt from the car before it came to a full stop. Frowning when I didn’t see the jet, I jogged across the tarmac to the hangar and went inside to find my pilot on the phone deep in conversation.

After a moment he saw me and ended his call. He gave me an abrupt nod, then said, “Your flight plan to Texas has been denied. No flights originating in Agafonza are allowed entry into the United States until the twenty-sixth of August. There is also?—”

“Fine. Take me to Stockholm. I’ll catch a commercial flight.”

“Forgive me, Your Highness. I tried to call, but you didn’t answer.” He looked at his shoes instead of meeting my gaze. “I took the future princess and her father to Arlanda three hours ago. Mr. Lawton spoke to someone named Todd and asked for you to be placed on America’s no-fly list until that date.”

“And you just let them go?”

“She’s the future princess. I had no reason not to, and I didn’t hear the conversation until after they were off the helicopter.”

Rather than punching him in the face, I let out an ugly curse and tried to think. “What’s closest to eastern Texas?”

“Perhaps Matamoros in Mexico? It’s very close to the American border.”

“Then that’s where I want to go.”

Hours later, I stood on a bridge overlooking a narrow river dividing me from my woman, our wedding forgotten. It was quite impossible over the scent of a crowded desert city, but I swore I could smell her floral perfume.

The pilot had been right. I’d been refused entry at the American border crossing, courtesy of a man with far too much money and a brother in the United States Senate. In fact, I doubted she’d even speak to me until after my birthday.

I’d worked so hard to secure freedom for my people, and unless I went home and found another bride, it would all be for naught. None of it mattered though. Because of my carelessness and deceit, I’d lost something far more valuable.

Deciding to try to contact her, I retrieved my phone and sent another text, praying she’d answer.

To my surprise, she read it and I waited with bated breath while she typed.

A single image of a child’s building block with the letter B on it appeared, and the short line of text read, “B is for blocked.”

I laughed and put my phone in my pocket, then returned to my hotel to wait until I could cross the border on my birthday. Perhaps she’d be more amenable to marriage if I were no longer a prince.

CHAPTER 13

DAMARIS

“Hey, punkin, you gonna stay out here sulking all day?”

I ignored Daddy’s shout and cast my fishing lure back into the water, trying very hard not to think about the wedding that should have happened last weekend.

“Damaris, it’s the twenty-sixth. Thought you might want to ride into town with me for supper to celebrate.”

Some celebration. I supposed Russia had good reason for a party, now that they’d get to reclaim Agafonza. I doubted Savva would let that happen though. He’d have already found some other poor, clueless woman to marry, and I couldn’t blame him for it. He’d worked too hard to give up just because his unwilling baby mama did a runner. Maybe he’d stuffed Alivia into my wedding dress, although it would have been a few sizes too big.

I’d very carefully not looked to find out for sure. I refused to be in the same room with a television, much less a magazine or newspaper. My cell phone rested at the bottom of the pond I was fishing.

“I’d love to ride. You know, on a horse,” I snapped. Savva had taken that from me too. “It’s almost a hundred degrees in the shade, I feel like shit, and you won’t let me set the air conditioning below seventy-eight. Where else would I be?”

He sighed and eased himself down to sit next to me under the gnarled branches of a pecan tree. “Your mama used to sit under this tree when she was carrying you. Said it was the coolest spot on the ranch. Used that very same bamboo fishing pole too.”

Tears pricked my eyes, and I didn’t answer. Between finding out the man I was starting to love had played me for a danged fool and having to give up my dreams to have his baby, hearing about Mama was too much.

“Have you talked to Val?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Nope.”

“Sorry. I know you liked her.”

“Yeah, well, I like you better.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed me in a tight hug before rising to his feet. “If you change your mind, I’ll be in my office.”

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