Page 11 of In A Faraway Land

Alpha Princess

Flicka von Hannover

I was just biding my time

until Dieter left.

Flicka grinned brightly as Dieter walked out the door.

Because she was expected to.

Because she was a princess, and smiling and waving were essential job skills.

The hotel room door thumped closed behind him, the heavy steel slamming against the wooden frame.

Her arm fell beside her.

She breathed slowly for a while, trying to get used to the silence.

The absence of sound filled her ears, pressing on them like an airplane’s whirr.

Bodyguards, admins, and household staff had surrounded Flicka her whole life. Even when Wulfram was raising her in a small house in Switzerland, they had a housekeeping staff, drivers, and security around them all the time.

Dieter had been withher for years.

Now, all that security was gone.

Or it would be, when Dieter climbed into his taxi and went to the airport.

Flicka would be far more alone than on any of her sojourns into normal life when she’d ditched her security.

Then, freedom had been intoxicating. She’d run through parks to feel what other people did.

Now, Dieter’s absence was stifling.

Yes, he’d told her to stay inthe hotel room and take no risks, but she was a Hannover. Her ancestors had been the warrior-princes who had ruled Europe and defeated anyone who tried to take their kingdoms.

Until 1866, at least. Ever since her family had been deposed, they’d merely been fabulously wealthy and ruled the world through the strength of their fortunes. Money worked just as well as conquering armies did. Ten milliondollars could buy an election almost anywhere, no matter what the “will of the people” was.

She waited until Dieter texted her that he was at his gate, and of course, one more admonishment for her to stay in the hotel room.

Just for effect, even though she knew no one would hear, Flicka snorted as she texted him back that she would stay in the room and await his return.

Living in a hotel roomwas not sustainable. The money from pawning the Laurel Tiara would run out within weeks if they stayed there.

They needed somewhere else to live, somewhere more frugal.

Flicka had appointments with three apartment rental offices to look at possible situations in the next few hours.

She tapped the ride-sharing app on her phone to call a car for the first one.

These days would be her test, shehad decided. If she hadn’t been born a princess, this was how she would have had to live. She wouldn’t have waited in the cinders for fate to send her a handsome prince. She would have gone out andtakenwhat life had to offer her.

Heck, handsome princes were just pretty traps, and she was damn well done with all of them. After this divorce, she was never going to evendatea royal, ever again.

She wasn’t sure whom she would date, but she knew that they wouldn’t be royal.

Dieter was humoring her, she was quite certain.

And she didn’t really trust that he would come back.

She gathered up her clothes and things, stuffing them in a shopping bag, and checked out of the hotel.