by Mia Archer
Finally I stood and moved towards the bathroom. The security lady stood as though she was about to follow, but I stopped that by turning and arching an eyebrow at her.
“Felix might think he can overstep his boundaries, but I’m still the princess of Allora and you are not going to follow me into the bathroom for my morning shower,” I said.
The woman paused, hesitated, and then sat down in her chair again. I didn’t smile until I’d turned around. It was nice to know that someone on the security team still had some sense of propriety when it came to dealing with the royal family. Now if only that would work on Felix.
It didn’t occur to me until after I was in the shower washing away the last vestiges of sleep that I could’ve brought my phone in here and texted Dani. Damn it. I needed to think. I was going to have to be craftier than usual to get around Felix this time.
When I stepped back into the room refreshed from the shower the original girl still sat there in the chair reading something on her phone. She looked up at me and smiled, but the smile didn’t extend to her eyes. She knew she had to be on guard. That meant this was going to be a lot more difficult than it should be.
“I was thinking of going for a walk around the resort,” I said, trying to keep my voice casual.
“You will do nothing of the sort, highness. We’re under strict orders to keep you confined to your room. No more running through a hedge maze in the heat all day long.”
I arched an eyebrow. It was a look mother used quite a bit, though again it also seemed to be a look that lost some of its effectiveness when it wasn’t being used by the current queen. The very epitome of what they called a “first world problem.” Though perhaps in my case it would be better to call it an Old World problem. It’s not like there was much in the way of royalty in the so-called “first world,” after all.
“Did you have to go looking for me in that maze?” I asked, my voice quiet. “If so I’m truly sorry about that.”
I was sorry that Felix made them continue looking well after it was obvious I wasn’t in there, but I didn’t have to clarify that point to her. The point was I was very sorry they had to waste an entire day sweating in the sun looking for me, even if they were doing it under orders from an obsessive madman.
“Yes, well, that doesn’t change the fact that you’re confined to your room today. No going out and wandering around the resort. You proved yesterday that you can’t even be trusted to do that.”
I was surprised that this one would talk to me like that. Felix must be insinuating himself and his attitudes more and more into his guards. I could take comfort in the knowledge that one day one of them would slip up and speak like that in front of mother and father and cause an incident that might finally get Felix fired, but that didn’t help me in the here and now.
“I’m going to put my makeup on,” I said. “Then I am going out to get breakfast.”
“Certainly, but you’re getting an escort when you go,” she said, looking back to her phone.
Her phone. Of course. That reminded me. I needed to get my phone and shoot a message off to Amelia. I walked over and scooped mine up off the night stand.
“No phones where I can’t see it, either,” she said without looking up from her own.
“What?”
She looked up and smiled, though it wasn’t an apologetic smile. Clearly she was still thinking about her time in the hedge maze the day before searching for me when I wasn’t even there in the first place.
“Orders from the boss. You don’t use your phone where we can’t see you,” she said. “Unless you want to let me have a look at whoever you’re texting, that is.”
I was stunned. My mouth fell open in pure disbelief. “This really is going too far! I am the crown princess of Allora! You do not treat me like this!”
Every bit of haughtiness and anger that I felt went into that. I tried to channel mother when she got good and angry about something. It was an icy sort of anger that no one ever wanted to be on the receiving end of. And it did absolutely nothing to this security lady.
“That’s all well and good, but my boss is Felix and I have my orders,” she said.
My eyes narrowed but I put the phone down. It was obvious what was going on here. Felix knew he couldn’t just search my phone. Not without really causing a scandal that would get father’s attention. So now he was trying to sweat me out. He must suspect something. I had to be even more careful than I thought. I didn’t want to get Dani into trouble as well, after all. Sticking her in the middle of an international incident would certainly do the trick.
I was suddenly glad that I’d had the foresight to shut off notifications unless the phone was unlocked. Otherwise they’d be able to see who I was messaging even if I didn’t unlock it for them.
I sighed and went back to put on my makeup for the day. I went with considerably less than the day before. If yesterday had taught me anything, and there were many lessons to be learned from my experiences with Dani, it was that less was more under the hot sun. This place was truly nothing like the more temperate climate in Allora.
I stepped back into the sleeping area just in time to hear my phone buzz again. I could only imagine that was Dani wondering why the heck I hadn’t messaged her, but I had other things to worry about aside from my phone.
Renata was in there staring down the other girl who was still rooted to her spot in the chair with her phone in hand. If the two were cats they’d be growling and hissing with their tails lashing.
“And I’m telling you I wasn’t told anything about a shift change,” the first guard said.
Renata sighed, crossing her arms. “Do you need to be told about a change? I outrank you and if I say there’s been a change in the plan then there’s been a change in the plan.”
“This is all highly irregular. You aren’t part of my chain of command and…”
Renata moved a hand up to her forehead which she rubbed as though there was the beginnings of a headache working through her temples. “Get out. Now.”
The guard’s eyes went wide. She looked over to me and scowled as though this was all somehow my fault, then stood and stepped out of the room with a sniff. The door hadn’t even closed behind her before she was on her radio, no doubt reporting in to Felix that something out of the ordinary was going on.
My phone buzzed again. Renata looked up.
“You might want to answer that. I’m sure your friend is wondering where you are,” she said.
I moved to the phone and then stopped. Turned and stared with my mouth hanging open.
“You knew about her?”
Renata smiled. “I’m not an idiot, Amelia. I saw that girl you were cuddled up against in the train yesterday. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on. Especially after you were out for most of the day.”
“Why did you let me go, anyways?”
“I have my reasons,” she said. “Besides, everyone deserves to have a little bit of fun now and then. It’s not like you’re going to get in any real trouble at Royal Realms. The place is locked down tighter than our security at the palace with cameras everywhere.”
She grinned. A wide, Cheshire grin. A grin that said she was very proud of herself.
“You were watching me?” I asked.
“Just keeping an eye on you to make sure you were okay. Felix didn’t get very far with park security with all his blustering and threatening. Turns out a smile and a kind word gets you much farther. I did have to make sure you weren’t kidnapped or something.”
“I suppose that’s fair,” I said. I’d been watched by security my entire life and I guess everyone in the park was being tracked by those cameras.
“Are you going to check your messages or not?” she asked.
“Oh, right,” I said. I picked up my phone and glanced down. The message was twenty minutes old at this point, which was a damn shame because it would’ve presented the perfect opportunity to surprise Dani if I’d caught it in time and
been able to escape from this damned prison cell of a luxury suite.
“We’re heading into the park now on the elevated train,” I said. “Whenever you get out here send me a text and we can meet up! :)”
“Damn,” I said. “She’s already in the park.”
“Well maybe we should get you out there to meet her, don’t you think?” Renata said.
I looked up sharply. “Are you serious? Won’t you get in trouble with Felix or something?”
“Let’s just say Felix isn’t exactly my boss. Now do you want to get to the park or not?”
I was curious what exactly she meant when she said Felix wasn’t her boss, but I also wasn’t going to look gift horses in the mouth. If she was going to get me the heck out of here then I was inclined to follow her out! I looked down to my phone, my thumbs poised to shoot off a message to Dani letting her know I’d be there soon enough, when Renata drew my attention again.
“Shit,” she said.
“What’s wrong?”
“Felix just found out I came in here and he’s not happy about it,” she said. “He’ll be here any minute.”
“Damn. Does that mean we’re not going to the park?”
I’m glad I held off on texting Dani. I would’ve hated to tell her I was on my way and then disappointed her.
“No. I’m getting you out there,” Renata said, her jaw set. “We’re just going to have to be a little sneaky about it.”
I grinned. “Sneaky is what I do best.”
“So I’ve heard. Now come on. Play along.”
She took me by the arm and pulled me towards the door. We stepped out and two security guards on either side of the door moved to stop us, but they stopped, plainly confused, when they saw Renata holding my arm.
“Felix wants to see her right away,” she said.
They looked at each other, uncertain. Obviously they had similar orders to what the last girl had said. They weren’t to let me out of my room under any circumstances.
“Are you deaf? I said I need to get her to Felix! Now move!” Renata barked.
That was enough to get through. They stepped aside and we marched down the hall looking for all the world like I was in a hell of a lot of trouble. It took every bit of my self control not to grin like a maniac. I was breaking free. I still didn’t know why Renata was doing this for me, but I didn’t care as long as I was getting out of here and on my way to see Dani.
Dani. Another buzz in my pocket reminded me of her. She was out there somewhere in the park wondering where I was, but I didn’t dare pull my phone out to send her a message. Not now, at least. Not when I was so close to breaking free. I figured texting when I was supposed to be in custody, or whatever it was Renata was doing, would be a bit too obvious.
We passed a couple of other security types as we made our way to the train station, but they all took one look at Renata pulling me along and apparently decided they weren’t going to get involved.
Finally we stood at the station where, for a miracle, it didn’t look like Felix had stationed any guards. Maybe he thought everyone stationed at every other juncture in the hotel would be enough to keep me well and truly hidden away. I turned to Renata.
“I can’t thank you enough for this,” I said. “So are you going to tell me now why you’re doing it?”
Renata opened her mouth, but once more it seemed the universe wanted to intervene to keep me from getting answers.
“Hey! What are you doing with her?”
I turned and stared in terror as Felix stepped out of the glass doors leading into the hotel. Damn it. Of course he would show up now of all times.
“Go. I’ll take care of this,” Renata said.
“Won’t you get in trouble? I don’t want you to get fired because of me,” I said.
Renata grinned. “Now there’s some of that responsibility I was talking about yesterday. I’ll be fine, though. Trust me. Now go!”
I hesitated. I didn’t want her to get in trouble over me. I didn’t want her to get fired. At the same time I really wanted to go to the park and see Dani. She also hadn’t steered me wrong up to this point. I figured if she was telling me it was okay then I’d trust her this one last time. So I hopped on the train.
“Stop that train! Don’t let it go!” Felix shouted.
The only problem, for Felix at least, was that the doors were already sliding shut. I realized it was the same attendant from the day before. The one Felix had screamed at. Apparently they’d had that conversation Felix promised with the guy’s supervisor and it hadn’t done anything to increase Felix’s standing. The guy stood there with a satisfied smile on his face, he even waved at me, as the train picked up speed and headed off to the park.
I sat back in the cushioned seat and let out a sigh of relief. I was free. I’d made it out of there somehow. Once again with a mysterious assist from Renata.
I really wished I knew why she was doing so much to help me out. Maybe she just enjoyed annoying Felix?
Another buzz in my pocket pulled my thoughts away from Felix. Frantically I pulled out my phone. I could finally shoot a message off to Dani.
I grinned at the first message. It was a selfie of her standing in what looked like the line for the roller coaster we’d gone on together yesterday. The roller coaster hadn’t been all that great, but being with Dani had been wonderful. The message attached to the photo made me smile.
“Look familiar? Really wish you were here. Text me!”
The next message took the smile right off my face, though.
“Hi! Not sure what’s going on or why you’re not answering my texts. Hope everything’s okay on your end. If you still want to meet up let me know, otherwise I get the message. Yesterday really was special. Something I’ll always remember. Hope you’re okay. :)”
Damn. It had been long enough that she was starting to wonder if I was ignoring her. Not that I could blame her for thinking that. Four messages over the course of the morning and no response. Panic welled up inside me and I frantically thumbed at my phone, hoping it wasn’t too late to fix this.
15: Dani
I felt a little queasy sitting at a table waiting. I picked at a fry but I didn’t have much of an appetite. I pulled out my phone one more time and double checked that I’d actually gotten a message from Amelia. It seemed impossible after a morning of worrying that she’d decided she didn’t want anything to do with me, but when I pulled it out sure enough there was a message.
“Hi! Things have been crazy this morning but I’m on my way to the park. Want to meet up somewhere for lunch?”
So now here I was sitting at one of the many diners that dotted the park waiting on Amelia to show up. A part of me was still screaming that this was crazy. That she wasn’t going to show up. That I wasn’t that lucky. I stomped down on that voice, though.
“Is this seat taken?”
I jumped. That voice. Like a sweet caress. And somehow she’d managed to sneak up on me while I was so preoccupied thinking about whether or not she was actually going to show. I looked up at Amelia, beautiful Amelia, and smiled. Suddenly everything felt right with the world again. All the anxiety that had been ripping at my insides all morning was gone.
“Fancy meeting you here,” I said.
“I could say the same for you,” Amelia said. She sat down with a burger and fries of her own. There was an awkward pause, then words came tumbling out of Amelia.
“Look, I’m so sorry for everything. Things were really crazy back at the resort this morning and I wanted to text you but I couldn’t and…”
I held a hand up and for a wonder the words stopped tumbling out of her.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Really. It’s not a problem. I understand. You get busy sometimes.”
The truth was I didn’t understand, though. Not really. I didn’t know why she wouldn’t take the time to shoot off a message all morning. Amelia was a woman with secrets, and I desperately wanted to know what those secrets were. Wha
t it was that made this mysterious beauty who made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside with a glance tick.
“So what was going on? Trouble with your parents or something?”
Amelia paused and sighed. “Something like that.”
“Were they mad about you sneaking away from the resort yesterday?”
Amelia fixed me with a look that wasn’t exactly pleasant, but it wasn’t exactly annoyed either. “I think maybe we shouldn’t talk about this sort of stuff. Let’s talk about your morning instead!”
There we went with the deflection again. I wondered what was going on with this girl that she felt the need to push me away. That she didn’t think I deserved to know the truth. At the same time I was so happy just to have her right here in front of me that I didn’t want to do something that might push her away. So despite those burning questions about where she was this morning I kept my mouth shut.
“Oh you know. More of the same. Wake up really early in the morning, have our band director yell at us that we needed to behave. That sort of stuff,” I said.
“Behave like sneaking out to another resort and meeting strange girls?” Amelia said with a smile. “Sounds like he wouldn’t be too happy if he knew what you were up to yesterday.”
“Right. Well either way it was a pretty boring morning. I hung out with friends, but it wasn’t nearly as fun as yesterday.”
“Oh? And why wouldn’t it be as much fun as yesterday?”
I reached out to take her hand. The one that wasn’t busy stuffing fries in her face. She ate the things with a blissful expression as though she’d never tasted french fries before in her life or something. Weird.
“Let’s just say the company yesterday was much nicer than hanging out with my best friend today,” I said.
“Your best friend?”
There was something to Amelia’s tone. Almost as though she was jealous. I wanted to giggle, but I figured that wouldn’t make her too happy. So instead I gave her hand a squeeze.