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I want to say,You could stay here with me, but that’s a little bit too much like a confession, so I keep it to myself.
“Let’s go to the history museum,” I say instead. “There are all sorts of interesting artifacts from all over Europe. They close soon, so we should go now.”
“Sounds good,” she says, grinning. “But only if you promise to try and recreate some of the statues again.”
“Deal.”
We turn down the main street, and I look at her. “You know, this is the most fun I’ve had in ages,” I say, putting my hands in my pockets to stop myself from taking hers.
“I hate to say it, but me too.”
“Why do you hate to say it?”
She shrugs and looks away.
We keep walking, and a few strides later, she adds, “I’m supposed to be angry with you.”
“Areyou angry with me?”
She doesn’t answer, and I don’t push it. It wasn’t a no. And right now that’s good enough for me. As long as she doesn’t hate me outright, I’m happy.
The line for the history museum is long, and as much as I want to use my royal credentials to skip it, I know I can’t. Today we’re being normal, and one of the worst things about being normal people is the amount of waiting you have to do to get anything.
How do people stand it?
My face is sweating from the heat, but I don’t dare take my cap off. For a second, I remove my sunglasses to wipe my eyes. And that’s when I hear someone say, “Oh, my God, is that Prince Paolo?”
My blood runs cold. I shove my glasses back on my face, grabbed Chloe’s hand without waiting for permission and pull her away. “Come on. We have to go.”
“What’s happened?” she asks, her mouth wide open in surprise. “Paolo, what is it? Are you okay?”
“Don’t call me that,” I hiss, too harshly. But she can probably feel my hand sweating in hers, my heart racing. “Just don’t say anything. Let’s get out of here.”
Without any more questions, she lets me pull her away.
I keep checking back over my shoulder to see if we’re being followed. Not that I would be able to tell if we are. There are people everywhere, walking in our direction. The paranoia is making everyone a demon. Any person who even glances at us as could be a threat.
And if we get caught…
It’s bad enough that I’ll have to face the consequences. I can’t bear the idea that Chloe will have to suffer for my mistakes too.
I can see the papers now.Paolo’s Secret Wife!The media whirlwind she would get swept up into would be no joke, and she’s got no training to deal with it, no experience. She doesn’t evenwantany of this.
“Paul, what is it?” Chloe asks.
Despite the fear flowing through me, I feel a rush of affection again as she uses my pseudonym. It’s not that different from my name, but it’s different enough that it cools my panic. And it’s the fact that she thought of it that matters.
“Someone saw me,” I breathe. “Someone saw me and knew who I was. And now they’re following us.”
“Are you sure?” she asks, her fingers tightening around mine.
“Sure enough. We have to get out of here.”
“Let’s just go back to the car,” she says calmly. “We can go home. I’ve already had a great day. The car’s in the central lot; it can’t be far.”
“There’s no easy way back, though. Not one where we can avoid everyone. People are going to see us. We’re going to get caught. My parents are going to find out I lied again, and I’m going to get kicked out of the country all over again.” I grow more and more frantic as I speak, my throat closing up with panic.
Nothing about this is good.