Page 97 of Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra)

I tried another tactic. “And I don’t want to leave you.”

“Genesis, you’re not leaving me. You’re living your life. Do you think that I want you to give up on love and happiness to be my nursemaid? I don’t. I have Max, and Rafe hired Amanda to take care of me. My only job as your parent was to turn you into an independent adult. So start being one.”

I leaned back in my chair, and Laddie went over to get some food from his bowl. His movements were slower than they used to be. I could tell he still hurt, too. “I’m happy here. The people I love are here.”

“You haven’t been happy since before the kidnapping. Not all the people you love are here. And Frog Hollow’s not going anywhere. I’ll visit you, you’ll visit me.” She took another drink. She made it all seem so rational and logical.

I threw out my last excuse. “I can’t be a princess. I’m just some farm girl from Iowa.”

“James T.Kirk was from Iowa, and he became an admiral in Starfleet. There’s no reason you can’t be a princess.”

“I can’t believe you remember that,” I said, laughing.

“Not everything you say goes in one ear and out the other,” she said with a smile.

I’d been so worried about Rafe hurting me that I hadn’t stopped to consider what would happen if I hurt him. I’d only been focused on how everything affected me. “I’ve been kind of a selfish jerk.”

She leaned over and laid her hand on my arm. “You were beaten up and kidnapped. You get a selfish jerk pass.”

The nightmares had begun to taper off. Pastor Dave had mentioned something about facing my absolute worst fear and surviving it. He was right. That fear was gone. And when I did have those dreams, they always ended the same way. Just before I would wake up, Rafe was there, rescuing me. I went from feeling terrified to feeling safe and secure. That was how he made me feel, just by being himself. And as someone who had waited her whole life to feel truly safe, that realization was pretty wonderful.

And when I woke up one morning a few days later, the anger was completely gone. It was like someone had flipped a switch. I felt like my old self again. I wanted to be happy. I didn’t want to be mad. I understood that I had clung to the anger for so long because what was left behind was an unbearable heartache. I missed him more than anything. I wanted to say something that would make him smile. To feel his arms around me, comforting me. To have the passion of his lips against mine.

I wanted to love him.

Even if he had moved on, even if he didn’t want to see me, I at least had to tell him the truth of how I felt. I owed him that. I didn’t care about the money or about missing school or work or anything else—I just had to get to him. Had this been how he’d felt when he first came to Iowa?

Excited and highly motivated, I ran downstairs and found Aunt Sylvia sitting in the kitchen, reading the newspaper. “I have to go to Monterra! I’m going to tell Rafe I love him.”

Her eyes got big. “I’ll make some calls.”

“Not to Rafe! I want to surprise him. How am I going to afford a plane ticket?”

I’d worry about that later. First I had to pack.

Lemon’s engagement party invitation was stuck into my mirror frame. It was tomorrow night. Monterra was seven hours ahead of us, but if I got a flight today, even with layovers, I could definitely get in by tomorrow. I grabbed my suitcase out of the closet. It was still packed with everything from my last trip to Monterra. Somebody must have brought it in from Rafe’s car and left it in my room. But it was perfect. Those dresses and shoes from the wedding were still in it. I would have something to wear. I took out the dirty clothes and packed clean ones.

Whitney called me. After I said hi, she responded, “How much do you need? We can give you two hundred dollars.”

“What? Hold on. I have another call.” I transferred between the calls. It was Nicole.

“I was just talking to Shane and we think we can give you five hundred dollars. Will that be enough to help with your ticket?”

Aunt Sylvia had made her calls. That was fast. I told them it would definitely help. Now that everything was paid off, I knew I could get at least a thousand dollars out of the bank. That would almost cover it, along with what Whitney and Nicole were offering.

“Amanda’s going to pitch in a hundred!” Aunt Sylvia called up the stairs.

“Okay!” I told Whitney and Nicole to meet me at the diner, and they said they would.

Aunt Sylvia and I stopped off at an ATM, but I was only able to take out a few hundred dollars. I tried not to freak out about how to come up with the rest while we drove to the diner. My mouth dropped at what I saw—it was like my birthday party all over again. The parking lot was packed. People were handing me wads of cash, pressing it into my hand, shoving it in my pocket, each giving whatever they could afford. It made my eyes tear up and my throat feel tight, seeing how much they loved and supported me. “You go get your handsome prince!” Mrs.Mathison yelled, which made me laugh. I thanked everyone, hugged them all, and said I would let them know how it went.

“What do you mean?” Whitney asked. “We’re going with you to the airport!”

So I drove to the Quad City International Airport with most of Frog Hollow in a caravan behind me, honking along the way. They didn’t come inside with me, though. Max said he’d drive my truck home with Aunt Sylvia. She kissed me on the cheek, hugging me close and said, “I’m so proud of you.”

With the money the town had given me, I was able to book a direct flight to Milan. Of course, the flight didn’t leave for four hours, which left me stranded in an airport with boundless energy, giddy hope, and nowhere to go. I did a lot of pacing.

When it was finally time, the flight took forever to board and then to take off. But once we were in the air I realized I didn’t have a way to get from the Milan airport to the palace.

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