a newspaper tumbles across the pavement. A thrill runs through me at the sight of it, happiness swelling in my chest like a balloon.
There’s a much better way to get back to Anglefell, and I’ve just found it.
For a second it feels as though I’m back in that stiff chair they made me sit in for hours before my wedding, keeping my face as still as possible as they painted me.
The stylist smiles at me. “We’re almost done with hair and makeup, and then we’ll be ready for the interview.”
The interview.
A cold drop runs down my throat. I made a promise to Liam, but hopefully he’ll understand that this was the only way I could think of getting back to him.
It didn’t take very long to find an Internet café and email ADC News. Within hours, they had a team assembled at the hotel I was staying at. The place is a mess. I don’t think I’ve slept more than a handful of hours. There’s an empty cheeseburger wrapper sitting on the coffee table. Maybe all the fat and sugar is keeping me awake.
“All right. I think we’re just about done.”
The artist adds finishing touches to my lips before she smiles at me in the mirror. I look pale and petrified, despite all the makeup.
“Remember to smile!”
I know all about pretending to smile. I’m a fucking princess. This is child’s play.
The camera crew smiles at me as I stand from the chair and walk to the plush seat across from the reporter. Melissa from ADC News is already camera-ready, her golden hair ironed into stiff curls. Her fuchsia lips smile at me.
“Ready?”
“Yeah.”
The lights flare on like two small suns, bathing us in light that pretty much forces me to avoid the cameras and focus on Melissa. The cameraman holds three digits over his head, two, one.
Melissa turns her head and smiles in another direction. “And now our exclusive interview with Daisy Walker, a woman from California who traveled to Anglefell illegally and became the country’s first American princess. Now for the first time, we hear her speak.”
For a second I imagine my frightened face on someone’s television in the Midwest, PRINCESS DAISY running as a marquee on the bottom, and I have a bizarre urge to laugh.
“Hi, Melissa. Thanks for having me.”
“You’re welcome, and thank you for speaking to us.”
“I’m very happy to be here.”
My blood careens through my veins as she leans on the arm of the couch, giving me a wicked smile.
“Daisy, the question on everyone’s mind has been: how does an American girl become a princess?”
I grin back. “You fall in love with a prince, I guess.”
I can already hear the awwww of the audience.
“Right.”
“I didn’t plan to fall in love. I just really wanted to meet him.”
“You took a big risk. Anglefell’s not known for its lax punishments.”
“They’re not, and it was definitely scary. There were many times I asked myself what the heck I was doing, but I knew it would be the single biggest regret of my life if I didn’t at least try. He’s the one for me.”
“When exactly did you realize you fell in love with him?”
My mouth goes dry. “The day at the lake.”
Fuck, no!
“After you were married?”
“Well—yes. I-I thought I was in love, but it never felt more real on that day, when he dived in the lake to rescue me even though it was totally unnecessary. I’d never been held like that in my whole life.”
“It was a very sweet photo. It must be difficult dealing with the paparazzi.”
I give her a small shrug. “That’s what you sign up for when you marry a royal. I knew what was going to happen. I knew I’d have to take etiquette lessons and would have security round the clock.”
“You took lessons to become a princess?”
“Of course! It’s not that easy, you know. Let me show you. Stand up.”
Bemused, Melissa stands up, and I teach her how to walk a few steps like a princess. Melissa gets into it, taking my criticism in stride.
“How did I do?” she asks me.
“Decent.”
She laughs. The audience will eat this shit up.
Still smiling, she sits back on the couch, clasping her hands on her knees. “So, the statement you wrote on your Facebook page seemed very cut-and-dry.”
“That’s because I need help to get back home. I was kidnapped from the castle.”
“When did this happen?”
“Yesterday, four strange men shoved me into a car and smuggled me into Scotland on a boat. I’m just trying to get back