Page 30 of A Valiant Prince

“Sorry,” Anna says, her mouth full of cookies so it sounds more like “chworry.”

“Oreos and coffee, huh?” he inquires.

Anna nods enthusiastically. He shrugs, grabs a coffee and an Oreo, and takes a bite.

“Not bad. I’m heading back to sleep unless we need to debrief?” he adds, looking over at Pete.

“No, I think today will be a low-key day,” Pete says, glancing at us. “Do we have plans?”

Anna shakes her head. “Nope, I’m sort of jet-lagged, so I want to catch up on my sleep. Do you all have anything from Shannon? I know she canceled my appearances for a while, but I probably should check in—”

“Anna, no checking in. Remember, we are incognito,” Pete cuts her off.

“Right, like sending us to where Logan’s family is from is going to make us incognito?” she questions. “I get my dad wanting us to go overseas, but this seems not well thought out if you ask me,” she says with a huff, grabbing a package of Oreos with red cream and heading into the bedroom.

I look at the three of them. “She does make a good point,” I say.

“Well, Victor ordered it. He said it would be safer to have you all split up,” Pete says. I shake my head as I walk over to the bedroom and shut the door behind me.

Anna has flopped on the bed on her belly, her legs are bent at the knee, and she is swinging her feet back and forth. Her laptop is now on the bed next to the package of Oreos. She looks up grinning, and I chuckle because she has cookie all over her teeth.

“Good?” I ask.

“Of course,” she answers and pushes the package toward me. “Try these.”

I sit down and bite into an Oreo, as I grab my laptop. “Why does my dad sign his name like that?” I ask, pointing to a document I found online. It’s merely signed “Edvard R.”

“Oh, both our countries adopted the same standard as the British monarchy. The ‘R’ stands for Rex for king and Regina for queen. It’s a long story having to do with our history, and its intertwining with various monarchies in Europe,” she explains.

“Oh?” I ask. I know nothing about our small countries. Until a week ago, I could have barely located them on a map.

Anna stops and looks at me. “You don’t know much about our countries, do you?” she asks as though reading my mind.

I shake my head.

She sits up and changes the screen on her laptop to the regular internet, or what appears like it. She searches for something and then sets the laptop on her lap, patting the bed next to her. I scoot up and sit, our shoulders touching. She launches into a history about our countries. Really, they are principalities not much larger than a metropolitan area. They are heavily influenced by Scandinavian culture, and also British, German, and French culture. She weaves the stories of kings and queens and rebellion and all kinds of interesting tales. She pulls up photos, portraits, and maps on her computer. When she finishes, she turns to me.

“Better?” she asks.

I nod. “Thank you for the impromptu lesson,” I say. This wasn’t what I had in mind when we came in here but listening to Susanna speak with such pride and enthusiasm for her country and even mine, is fascinating. Her depth of knowledge on history and politics is impressive, so impressive I wonder if she ever considered being a teacher. I have to stop myself there because for just a moment, I forget that she’s a princess, not a mere mortal like…I was.

“Why didn’t you question your dad about sending us here?” I ask her, recalling what she said before coming in here.

“I…it’s not always wise to question the king, especially when he’s your father,” she says.

“But, you’re right. I mean, this would be a place someone would look for me,” I say.

“You, yes. Me, no,” she says, pointing between us, and then she frowns.

“What?” I ask her.

“Why…that is puzzling,” she says, biting her lip.

“What?” I prod.

“Well, I could see why my dad might send me here, but he sent me here with you. Why would your dad agree to send you here?” she asks.

“Who says my father agreed to anything? Besides, Pete says that Victor was the one who suggested it,” I question.

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