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CHAPTER 28

LIZZY

WILMA IS A DUDE.

As we began the journey back to Murdan, I felt a shift between Declan and me. I was no longer just Lizzy, the PR girl, and he was no longer Deck, the hockey player. Suddenly, he was my sovereign prince once again, and I couldn’t disregard the many layers of society that stood between his place and mine. True, I had lived and worked in the palace my whole life, but that did not make me royalty.

Aside from the structure of society itself lodging between us like a wall, I felt a coolness from Declan that I hadn’t before, and I knew it was anger. He felt betrayed, confused, hurt—that I had been operating in his country’s best interest without his knowledge.

My own loyalties were confusing. I wanted him to trust me. I wanted more than that from him, if I was honest. But hadn’t I betrayed his trust through my very loyalty to our country? I didn’t see any way around the paradox. I could not be loyal to both my king and to Deck Gillespie, the hockey player. And so, whatever lay between Declan and me—whatever intimacy, whatever... relationship?—was at an end.

My heart felt heavy as I pulled my phone from my pocket. The best thing about private jets was that you could use your phone throughout the flight, as long as you had signal or Wi-Fi. And I still did. I dialed.

“Hey, Lizzy,” Joey answered after the first ring.

“Hi, Joey. How is everything?”

“Yeah, good. Busy at work. Also, the wombat is giving me a run for my money.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the shelter did allow me to adopt him, but he doesn’t seem excited to stay at work. So I’ve been bringing him home with me at night.”

I tried to imagine bringing a wild animal into my house. I’d seen some videos online of wombats in domestic situations—would it be like having a cat?

“Oh. I thought the wombat was a girl?”

“I thought so too, when we called him Wilma. But he’s a boy.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, I’m sort of calling to check in on all of that.” How did I tell her that she had adopted a wombat for a mission that no longer existed? “The thing is, I’ve been reassigned.”

“What does that even mean? You sound like you’re a secret agent or something. Ha.”

If only she knew. “Yeah, no, it was kind of an emergency mission. Or—I mean, assignment. My firm needed me to fly to the Caribbean to oversee a new resort launch. And I’m gonna be here for a while.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound terrible.”

“It’s good, but I am having to kind of step away from the Wombats.”

“Oh. Does Deck know yet? He’s gonna be so bummed. You two were really hitting it off.”

“Yeah. I told him. But the thing is, I wondered if there’s any way you might be able to oversee finishing that calendar? And I don’t even know what to do about the wombat.”

“Well, don’t worry about Wilma. I’ve already been familiarizing him with the arena. I don’t think the coach likes him a whole lot. But this weekend will be the first game where he officially appears.

“The calendar though… how much is left to do?”

Joey sounded hesitant to take on the calendar project, and I didn’t blame her. She had her own job.

I was about to let her off the hook when she said, “I bet the guys will finish the calendar if I kind of help them with it.”

“The guys? The hockey players?”

“Yeah, the Wombats were really into this whole idea. They all have different skill sets. I bet they can cobble this thing together. Oh, by the way, they chose a charity I wanted to run by you.”

“Oh, that’s great. What did they pick?” In all the excitement, I’d forgotten about the charity piece.

“There’s an after-school sports and daycare program in Wilcox that needs new equipment and funds for other stuff. The guys want to donate to that, and a few of them have volunteered to run a hockey clinic at the arena.”

“That’s perfect!” It really was. I loved anything that would benefit the local community—especially the youth.

“John already works with them, so he’s talked to the executive director and they’re really excited about the partnership.”

“Oh my gosh, Joey, you’re seriously the best. And you don’t mind kind of managing the guys through the rest of the calendar process? We just need to choose which photo is on which month, pick some wombat facts for each month and get someone to lay it out and print. Oh, and post the social stuff.” Guilt threatened to swamp me. I was pushing off responsibilities onto someone else—something I would never do in my real job.

“I don’t mind at all. It benefits me too—or at least it benefits John, and that helps me. When he’s happy, I’m happy.”

“Thank you, Joey. I owe you.” I really did, and I didn’t think there’d ever be a way to pay her back.

“Well, maybe you can get us a trip to that fancy resort you’re working on.”

“Resort?”

“The assignment you’re on now?”

Oh, yes. The lie. “Oh, right. I’ll definitely see if I can do that.”

“Okay, Lizzy. Have fun. Don’t worry about anything here.”

“You’re literally the best, Joey. Thank you.” I ended the call, guilt adding to what already felt like heartbreak inside me. My body was heavy, and I wondered if I’d even be able to get out of the plane seat when we landed. Everything felt like it was pushing me down, turning my muscles and tissues to concrete.

I had one more call to make. I lifted my phone again and dialed the palace.

“We’ve just heard from the pilot. We understand you’re on your way.” News traveled fast in small countries.

“Yes, Your Highness. We are en route now.”

“Well done, Eliza. Once again, you have served your country well.” I did not feel like I had served anyone well. Everything inside me was a disaster, but I had completed my mission. And until this point, that was what my life had been about. Why did I suddenly feel like it wasn’t enough?

“Mom?” The prince’s voice came from behind me.

“Declan, you should really be sitting with your seat belt fastened,” I told him.

“Oh, sorry, are you pretending to be a flight attendant now?” Declan’s voice was laced with contempt, and I didn’t blame him.

“Declan, honey,” the queen sounded relieved to hear Declan’s voice.

“Mom, you could’ve just told me. I would’ve come.”

“Son?” Oh, yes. The royal conference call. Neither of Their Majesties seemed able to take a phone call alone. I wondered what the queen would do if King Erik really did die. She would have to answer the phone by herself. I immediately felt guilty for the thought.

“Dad, hi.” Declan sounded relieved and worried to hear his father’s voice. He sank into the seat across the aisle from me, leaning toward the phone I held in my hand. “How are you doing, Dad?”

“I’m fine, son. Happy to hear you’re on your way home.”

“Declan, you know we couldn’t just ask you to come,” Her Majesty said. “We had to do it this way. Don’t blame Eliza.”

I appreciated her suggestion, but I doubted it would do much good. Even I blamed Eliza.

“What’s going on with Lambert?” Declan asked.

“There will be time to explain everything when your feet are on Murdan soil, son.” The king sounded weary but optimistic.

“We should land in about four hours,” I said, checking my watch.

“We will see you soon, then,” Her Majesty said.

I ended the call and looked up at Declan. He met my eyes but did not offer a word. And through the beard on his face and the inscrutable blue of his eyes, I had no idea what he might be thinking. But I was pretty sure he wasn’t thrilled with me.

Declan slept the rest of the way home. Or at least he kept his eyes shut and didn’t speak to me.

I watched the endless sapphire and emerald sea beneath the wings of the plane, undulating endlessly, unaffected by the turmoil of our tiny human lives. That sea had always calmed me as a child, and I remembered watching it from the Murdan beaches, the prince at my side. It had always made me feel small, but in a good way. I took comfort from it now as it grew nearer and nearer to the landing plane.

When we touched down, Declan stirred at my side. The plane jolted, and he grabbed for my hand across the aisle, surprising me—and clearly surprising himself. “I had a dream we were crashing,” he said, letting my hand go as if it had burned him.

I tucked my fingers into my lap and gave him a smile, doing my best to disguise the pain I felt at the distance between us now.

It had been a fun adventure, but clearly, my time as Lizzy the PR rep was over.