“I don’t know, take me out back, shoot me, and dump me somewhere in the North Sea? That’s usually how kidnappings go.”
He gives me a slightly offended look and continues in his deep Scottish accent. “Perhaps you should consider getting therapy.”
Then he turns around, glancing back with a weirdly judgmental look as if I’m the one with problems. Maybe I’ve read too many Abigail Graham books, but I expected something a little more complex from Lucian. Really? Just dump me in Scotland? What’s stopping me from hiring a boat to go straight back?
It’s pitch-black by the time we reach the piers where I’m supposed to be dropped off. Pierce and the others gather for an awkward we kidnapped you but now we need you to get off the boat farewell. He hands me a fist full of British pounds and gestures toward the harbor.
“Get yourself back to America.”
I want to say thanks, but that doesn’t seem like the appropriate response to someone who forced you to take a journey, so I just get off and watch as they reverse the motor to hightail it out of there. I watch them disappear into the darkness, fighting the urge to scream an insult over the waves.
Then I walk off the pier onto wonderfully solid ground, still clutching the handful of pounds, shivering in my hoodie. It’s really quiet, and the nausea is starting to unclench my stomach. It’s a quaint little town, a typical European city. There’s a long stretch of lawn to my left, and what looks like apartments. I cross over the grass and walk on the road, looking for signs that’ll tell me where these jackasses dumped me. I find a main road with a decent amount of traffic and walk. There are stores everywhere, a Subway, Chinese takeout, but nothing that tells me where the hell I am until I see a tour bus with blackened windows: Edinburgh Tours.
I’m in Edinburgh.
My brain is still numb from everything that’s happened, my stomach gaping empty. I take a five-pound note from my hand, searching for something to eat. The distinct smell of grilled onions and ground beef wafts in the air, and I see a sign for Wee Burger Kitchen.
I burst into the burger joint, which is a small place with plain, black tables. Oh my God, that smell. I thought I’d never smell it again.
“Give me a cheeseburger and fries.”
The clerk stares at me. “Chips?”
“What? Oh, yeah. That’s what I mean, sorry.”
For the next half hour, I savor the cheeseburger and fries. The TV over my head streams news from the UK. It doesn’t really hit me until I’ve sat there for a while.
I’m in Scotland.
I’m free.
My heart beats faster as I stare out the window. There’s no need to return to Anglefell, no need at all. I could run to the airport right now and book a flight to California, and leave Anglefell forever. I could quit being a princess and leave Liam forever.
My stomach clenches, uncomfortably full with the cheeseburger. Leave Liam?
Wasn’t that what you were constantly complaining about? Don’t you want to go back?
Not like this.
I imagine myself boarding a plane, turning my back on Liam without a care in the world. No, I can’t do that to him. I don’t want him to think I ran like a coward. It wasn’t my choice. Lucian forced me on that boat—I need to get back to Liam.
Then a sick feeling hits me.
I can’t go back. There’s no direct travel from Scotland to Anglefell. It’s outlawed.
Well, fuck.
I dig in my pants for my cell phone before realizing I don’t have it with me. There’s no way I could call Liam—I’ve no idea what his number is.
“Shit.”
A family sitting next to me turns their heads to me, and I meet their gazes, smiling apologetically. A rotund woman returns the smile a little stiffly, and then her mouth goes round.
“Oh my God! You’re the girl!” She points at me, stammering. “Princess Daisy!”
Oh God. I’m in a different country with no security dogging my footsteps. This could be really fucking bad. Recognition dawns on the faces of other patrons. I stand up, heading for the door.
“Wait!”
“You’re mistaken.”
“You are her,” she says in a stronger voice. “How did you even get here?”
“Please, I don’t want any trouble. I was brought here.”
Her husband pipes up. “We know all about your situation. We can take you to the American embassy right now, and you’ll