Page 112 of Falling Princess

“Princess? You can open the door.”

I peeled myself up and clicked it unlocked, knowing that anyone who wanted to could have smashed the lock. He was being polite.

“All clear?”

Lorcan handed me my suit jacket and coat. “Get your shoes. We’re leaving.”

I stuffed my feet into my Converse without tying them. He took my elbow and steered me past the mess of shattered glass. Wintry air filled the room. I gaped, taking in the destruction.

“Where are we going?”

“You’re going back to the conference, for now. Safer among people. Cata and I will deal with the police.”

“Lorcan. How did they know we were here?” I thrust my arms through the sleeves.

“They’re watching us. You.” He strides quickly, forcing me to trot to keep up. “They’re trying to kill me.”

“What?” This goes against everything I thought I knew. “I thought I was the one they wanted dead.”

He shook his head, with his mouth set in a tense line. “The Skía want you alive, if they can find a way to kidnap you. I’m the primary obstacle standing in their way. Taking you back to the hotel alone was a mistake.”

“That makes no sense. If I’m dead, the entire population of Auralia will be demoralized. Five thousand years of tradition would be wiped out. It will be harder to motivate people to fight. Why would they want me alive?”

Lorcan cast me a sidelong look, assessing and grim. “If they can control you, it’s easier to control the country when they invade. That’s why they’re working so hard to take you hostage. It’s why we think the invasion will happen soon. Any day. We don’t know when, exactly. Believe me, we’re trying to find out.”

A doorman lets us into the lobby of the conference venue. Heat blasted my face. Lorcan took my shoulders and pulled me close to him, keeping my body between his and the wall.

“It’s why you have to remain in Scotland. You’re safer there. We can’t do what we did today again. I can’t risk being sent away from you. Not now.”

His breath ghosted against my cheek. I closed my eyes. “I’d refuse a forced marriage. You know that.”

Would I, though? I have a hard enough time standing up to my own father.

Lorcan huffed a humorless laugh. “It wouldn’t matter. They would break you, Zosia. I won’t let that happen.” His thumb traced my cheekbone. My grip on his wrist tightens. “We’ll get through this. When it’s over, we can plan for the future. For now, we have to wait.”

When he tried to move away, I yanked him back. There are a thousand things I want to tell him, starting with,I almost broke down when you came through that door in one piece. I need you alive.

But instead, I said, “Lorcan. I need to be part of the planning. I know you’re all trying to protect me, but this affects me. I want to help.”

He hesitated, then nodded once. “It’s not up to me.”

But he can influence my father, and I know he’ll try.

* * *

We moved to a new hotel. Our belongings were packed up and taken to the new, more secure, location.

I overheard Cata chewing Raina out for the shopping excursion. That’s probably how they picked up our trail. Then she scolded Lorcan in quiet tones for going along with it. Surprisingly, she didn’t reprimand me.

At least she was feeling back to normal.

The police interviewed me. My face was plastered all over the news. I played the imperiled princess to great effect, not that it had the desired outcome of convincing politicians to offer military aid. Social media went ballistic, for all the good that ever does us.

France assured my father that they would catch the sniper who shot at us—which they won’t, because no one takes the Skía seriously as a terror threat—but when my father attempted to turn the discussion toward the provision of tanks and soldiers, they talked in polite circles until the answer became clear:non. I dutifully translated.

Afterward, exhausted, we settled into our new suite.

“The Skía took a big risk today,” Cata said, sitting on the overstuffed couch of the new hotel with windows overlooking the brick wall next door. You’d have to be a spider to climb high enough to shoot at us here. “Now the world knows they’re not just an Auralian splinter faction.”

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