Instead, I see Daniel Sacachelli, clutching the keys to the trainer’s office. He’s still dressed in his Falcons uniform, and his face is red and sweaty. But instead of skates, he’s wearing sneakers.
“Daniel?”
“What are you doing?” he yells. “Come on, Myong!”
“Huh?” But before I can think, Daniel grabs my arm and yanks me up.
“You got a monologue prepared? Do the one from “Titanic”. Young Rose, not Old Rose. I love that one.”
“Daniel!” I snatch my hand away from him. “What are you doing?”
He smirks. “Taking you to your audition.”
My heart skips a beat. “What? No, I’m not going.”
He grabs my hand again and pulls me toward the door. “Yes, YOU ARE.”
“It starts in twenty minutes. I don’t even have time to get there!”
Daniel turns and grins at me like a wolf. “Good thing I brought my bike.”
Everything is happening so fast. We run down the hall, and the team pokes their heads out of the locker room.
“Good luck, Madison!” Hayden calls.
Alice yells, “Break a leg!”
“Don’t kill my trainer on that death trap of yours, Sacachelli!” Coach Z roars from somewhere deep in the locker room.
Then we’re outside, running through the parking lot to Daniel’s motorcycle.
“What about the game?” I finally get a chance to ask.
“What? You don’t think the guys can handle a three-goal lead without me? I’m flattered.” He shoves a helmet in my hands.
Then, just like we used to do, he jumps on the bike and I get on behind him, my arms wrapped around his chest, my body flush to his. “I don’t believe it,” I say.
The engine roars to life. “Yeah, well, me neither,” he adds.
Then we’re off! Daniel guns the bike, weaving in and out of traffic like we’re in a Grand Theft Auto game. But I don’t close my eyes. I lean my face back and smile, letting the wind run over me as if it could cleanse me of all the guilt from the summer.
Daniel screeches to a stop in front of the building, then checks his watch. “Three minutes early. I’m amazing.”
Suddenly, now that we’re here, my body feels like lead. I can barely untangle my arms from Daniel’s waist. “I-I don’t know.” I stand on shaky legs.
“Madison.” He spins his leg over the bike so he’s facing me. “Listen to me. You’re always doing something to help others. Last year, you helped Alice and the team. This summer, you helped me and Eva. Now it’s your turn to do something for yourself.”
“B-but…I didn’t tell you about the audition. And you were so mad at me…”
“Yeah,” Daniel says, and throws a hand behind his head. “I can be a real asshole sometimes. Without you telling me what’s right or wrong, it can be hard to know what to do. And…it took me a while to figure it out.”
I smile. “I guess I should go in.”
Leaning on his bike like that, he reminds me of James Dean…if James Dean wore a hockey uniform instead of a leather jacket. “Make it matter, Myong.”
…
An hour later, I step out of the building. Daniel’s waiting for me, still leaning on his bike. I notice that somehow he’s done his hair, and I can only imagine he keeps an emergency kit of combs and gel somewhere on his bike.
“Well?” he says, dashing forward.
I look up shyly. “I got a callback.”
“WHOO HOO!” He grabs me and spins me around. I throw my arms around his neck and laugh.
Then suddenly, we’re so close—my body tight against his, my hands on the nape of his neck. His dark gaze is soft and intense all at once.
“Thank you, Daniel.”
“No,” he says. “Thank you…for showing me what’s important. And saving my ass more than once in Eldonia. I’m sorry I was so mad. It wasn’t that I hated you. Or even that you lied about the audition. I guess I didn’t understand why a girl like you would want a mess like me…so I turned my back on you, just to give me time to make sense of it all. You’re my best friend, and you deserve this. And I mean that, really.”
I know I should let go. But there’s this heat between us, this warmth like a flame coming alive. “Daniel, I think I should tell you something.”
“What’s that?” He doesn’t pull away.
“I suggested pretending to be your girlfriend because…” I look up at him, smiling. “Because it’s the part I wanted to play. I’ve wanted to play it for a long time, actually.”
His hands come up to graze the back of my neck. “Prince or hockey player, I never thought I was good enough for you.”
“Daniel,” I say, raising myself up on my toes. “You’re the Jack to my Rose. The Noah to my Allie. The Choi Han-kyul to my Go Eun-chan. The Edward to my Bella—”
“You are aware I don’t sparkle?”
“Then you clearly haven’t seen the glare your hair gives off in the sun.” Suddenly I’m laughing, and my chest feels light. “The point is…you’re my Daniel. And I don’t feel quite like Madison without you.”
Daniel pulls my face close to his, and our lips meet. “Who needs royalty?” he whispers.
I smile against his lips. “You’ll always be a prince to me.”
My hockey prince.
…
But wait! The game isn’t over yet!
Daniel’s little sister, Eva, is back in town.
Will she go back and marry some Eldonian noble…or will she, like Alice and Madison, lose her heart to a hockey player?
Find out in Just One of the Falcons, available late 2018.
Here’s a sneak peek…
Chapter One
Eva
Below me, the busy streets are lined with cars so small they look like toys. Miniature people try to hold their umbrellas against the strong wind. Beyond it all, a vast horizon of skyscrapers stretches outward, the grey sky speckled with flakes of snow.
I take a deep breath and step off the edge.
My heart leaps in my chest, and for a moment, I feel like I’m flying.
Then, my heels click on the glass bottom floor. I stare down at the city bustling beneath my feet and place my hands on the glass wall. I wish it really could disappear, and I could soar through the city.
I turn around and smirk at my brother. “I told you. It’s not scary.”
Daniel—who’s not afraid of anything—leaps from the solid floor to the glass box I’m in, suspended over 100 floors above the ground. “Come on,” he says, poking my side. “You’re terrified!”
I step out further into the glass box, just to prove him wrong…even though my legs are shaking, and my stomach flip-flops every time I look down at my heels. “I’m not afraid of anything, big brother.”
Daniel puts his nose right to the glass. “Just wait ‘til we ride the Centennial Wheel at Navy Pier tomorrow! You won’t be saying that when we’re at the top.”
I sigh. I’ve been in Chicago for a week already, and my half-brother’s taken it upon himself to show me every must-see attraction in the city. But to Daniel, even the run-down pizza parlour on the corner of his street is a must-see. Today, it was the Skydeck, with its towering architecture and crystal-clear glass box that juts over the city. Yesterday, it was the Art Institute and Millennium Park, and the day before that, it was the Shedd Aquarium. When Daniel’s at school, his mother’s been kind enough to take over the tour guide act, even though I insisted I would be happy to come to his high school with him and see what a real American school is like. Or what any school is like, really. I’ve had a private tutor since I was two years old.
“But look, Eva,” Daniel says, pointing outward. “This is the tallest building in the western hemisphere! You can see four states from up here.”
“You do know,” I say, “if you climb to the tallest tower in our castle, you can see five different countries.”
Daniel gives a dry laugh. “Sure, but knowing Lyle Worthing happens to be
the duke of one of those countries really spoils the view.”
I smile. I know Daniel’s just trying to be a good host, but I haven’t had a moment of relaxation since I arrived. When Mama agreed to let me have two weeks off of royal-duty in November to visit Chicago, I was so excited. Two weeks without responsibility, expectations, or having my every move scrutinized! Two weeks where I could just be a normal teen.
But instead of Mama watching my every move, now it’s Daniel. He won’t let me go anywhere without him or his mother, and he seems intent on keeping me away from anything a normal teenager would do. I think my big brother has forgotten I already have a bodyguard.
“So what’s our plan after we see across four states?” I raise a brow.
“Well,” Daniel says, running a hand through his slick black hair, “I’ve gotta go to hockey practice, so I was thinking I could drop you off at home and Ma could take you to—”
“I’ll come and watch your practice!”
He scoffs. “No, it’s super boring. I’ll drop you off.”
“Won’t Madison be there?”
“Yeah, but she’ll be working, doing her trainer-stuff. And Al will be in the practice.”
Daniel has just listed my only other two friends in Chicago. “Dwayne can keep me company.” I nod in the direction of my bodyguard, standing off to the side, watching us from a pair of thick black sunglasses.
A muscle feathers in his jaw as Daniel considers. He may have shown me every attraction in Chicago twice, but the one thing I haven’t seen is what Daniel’s life is really like. I haven’t met any of his friends—at least, I haven’t spent any time with them. I did meet a few of his teammates when they came to Eldonia last summer, but I hadn’t had the chance to really get to know them. Besides a couple dinners with his girlfriend Madison, and walking around Grant Park with his teammates, Hayden and Alice, I haven’t talked to a single person our own age.
He’s kept me so busy, it’s almost like he’s purposely trying to keep me away from his teammates.
I smile sweetly and decide to appeal to the one thing that will always get him—his love of hockey. “Oh, come on, Dan-Dan! This is your last season playing for the Falcons. I want to watch as much as I can!”
“You can come watch me next year when I get drafted to the NHL.”
I bump his elbow. “If you get drafted.”
His eyes look down and his smile falls. Oh no, why did I tease him about that? “Dan-Dan, I’m only joking. Of course, you’ll get drafted.”
“Maybe,” he says, looking away. “This is the last year Hayden, Tyler, Alice and I will all be playing together. This is our last chance to win the whole thing.”
I loop my arm through his and lean my head on his shoulder. “That’s why you should let me watch your practice tonight. I want to see the four musketeers all playing together!”
“Okay, fine,” he says. “You can come to practice. But after that, we’ve got Friday night mass with Ma.”
I stand on my tip-toes and give him a kiss on the cheek. “Whatever you say, Dan-Dan.”
He rolls his eyes and heads back toward the solid floor, taunting Dwayne to try and step on the glass.
I take one last look at the sprawling city of Chicago. This place is so different from my home country of Eldonia. Compared to the quaint little houses, the cobblestone streets, and the antique buildings, I feel like I’m in a different world.
And in this world, no one knows who I am. I could just be another girl. Not a princess. Not a queen.
My gaze shifts to the glass, where I see my reflection staring back at me, transparent as a ghost. I can see the reflection of the strangers behind me, too, passing through my body, completely unaware.
The thought makes me feel light, free. Maybe for one more week, I can be like a ghost, not leaving a trace.
I turn on my heels and walk toward Daniel. “Let’s go meet the team!”
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Acknowledgments
We have always loved stories about castles and princesses and happily ever after. It was such a pleasure to be able to write our own modern-day fairy tale, especially with our good friends Daniel, Madison, Alice, and Hayden!
A giant, gargantuan thank you to the best editor ever, Brenda. She has a way of pushing us to uncover the best story possible. Thank you for digging through some very messy drafts. You are a wonderful mentor and coach and we’re so thankful to have you on this journey.
A big thank you to our amazing Entangled team and the Crush family! It is an honor to work with all of you!
To our team: our passionate, inspiring friends. Tay, thank you for the tweets, the GIFs, the laughs, and being a true friend throughout the years. Carlena, for keeping us sane during even the most cringey moments, for being a listening ear no matter what, and of course, for the baby snaps. To the three best musketeers a girl could ask for: Rachel, Lisa, and Olivia. Words cannot express how much it means to have your support, day in and day out! You guys would storm a church or a whole country for me, and I’d do the same for you. (Rach, your duchess had to be cut, but I swear you’ll get in a book one day!)
To Auntie Jo, thank you so much for your constant love and support, and for being our #1 Fan straight from the get-go. And of course, for all the writing sustenance!
Kate: To Graeme, all the love stories are because of you. But our love story is my favourite. Thank you for your unwavering support, your shining light, and your inspiring passion. It is an adventure to love you, one that I am thankful to be on every day.
And finally, to our parents. Thank you for our fairy tale childhood, for allowing us to believe in magic, and giving us the tools to create our own happily ever after. So…when are we going back to Disney World?
About the Author
Leah and Kate Rooper are sisters from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Growing up beside the Pacific Ocean and inside a temperate rainforest fed their sense of adventure as children, and nourished a curiosity for strange and distant lands. They fed this curiosity with books - lots and lots of books. After experiencing the magic of Middle-earth, they began creating their own worlds. When they’re not writing, Leah and Kate spend their time blogging and vlogging about their travel adventures and their writing journey.
Also by Leah and Kate Rooper…
Just One of the Boys
Jane Unwrapped
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