Page 14 of The Wanted Prince

“Did you hear someone?” said Mother. Her shadow spun on the path. “I thought I heard voices.”

“What, by the pond?”

I pushed Alessandro back through the trees. He stumbled, then ran, and I should have let him. Should have stood and waited while Mother passed by. Instead, I ran after him, down the deer trail. We ran from the party, through the green summer woods, fallen branches snagging the hem of my dress. A near-laugh burst out of me, an odd, strangled sound. Hadn’t I been dreaming of running away? But not like this, headlong, through our ancestral woods.

“My car’s up ahead,” said Alessandro. He slowed, coming up on the old forest road. I stepped out ahead of him and blinked nervously.

“Well, there’s a car here, but I don’t think it’s yours.”

“A little brown hatchback with a crooked taillight?”

I nodded. “That’s it.”

“Yeah, it’s a rental. All I could get without showing ID. The premium they charged for it was more than it’s worth.” Alessandro peered past me, then took my hand. We ran for the hatchback and piled in the front. It had a musty smell, like stale bread and dust. Alessandro pulled his hat off and flopped back in his seat.

“Sorry,” he said.

“This isn’t your fault.”

“I shouldn’t have come here.” He thumped his hands on the wheel. “I wanted to call, but I don’t have your number. And I thought if you heard, you might feel obliged to come forward. I need you to know, you don’t have to do that.”

“What if we went back and just told your father? He’d keep my name out of it. He wouldn’t want the scandal.”

Alessandro huffed laughter. “The walls have ears in the palace. That’s why I’m here. Any day, any minute, the theft’s going to leak. I didn’t want you to hear it from anyone else.”

I frowned out the window, down the tunnel of trees. We were safe here for now, on this private road. But we couldn’t sit here forever.

“So, what’s your next move?”

Alessandro clenched his fists, then let them unfurl. “I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t go home. Or anywhere public. I’m too recognizable. Did you know there’s an app?”

I laughed. “An app?”

“Yeah, it’s… PrinceTracker. It has our whole schedules, at least what’s made public. Then people take pictures. Upload sightings.” He pulled out his phone and tapped on the screen. “Carlo’s at home right now. Dom’s at the health club. The official word on me is that I’m at the palace, but somebody’s pinned me at Fountain Plaza. And that’s true. I drove through there, getting to you.”

I tapped on the pin and a blurry photo popped up, a brown flash of hatchback. Behind it, the fountain.

“Stalkers,” I said.

Alessandro swiped the app closed. “My plates aren’t showing. This car is still safe.”

“But they just… follow you?”

“They’re fans. They’re harmless.” He massaged his forehead. “No, what am I saying? I have no private life. And, as for what’s next…”

“Yes?”

“The one way to stop this is to root out the thief. Somewhere out there, there’s someone who hates me. Someone with a grudge so deep they went and did this.”

“How do you know it was a grudge, and not for the money?”

Alessandro’s knuckles went white on the wheel. “Because the amulet’s not worth enough to make it worth stealing. It’s just bronze, not gold, and the sapphire is flawed. And everyone knows it. It’s symbolic. It’s… us.” His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “Whoever stole it and pinned it on me, they did it to hurt me, and no other reason. To make Father think I’d steal the soul of our family, this thing we’ve passed down for hundreds of years. The way he looked at me, God, Laura…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Whoever did this drove a wedge through our family. Even if I catch them, the damage is done. Father’s trust, my trust, Carlo and Dom… It’s broken. All broken. It can’t be like it was.”

I took his hand without thinking. “I’ll help you,” I said.

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