anything from my grandmother, it is that a princess’s beauty is far more important than whether she is always precisely on time.”
He gives me a dubious look. “I doubt that very much, An—,” He catches himself. “Nika.”
I smile at him slyly. “If you really believe that, you don’t know Momse at all.”
He scowls. “Let’s go. All you a required to do is smile and nod for the next…” He extends his arm, checking his watch. “Thirty minutes.”
A light bulb goes off in my head. My smile widens. “Orrr… we could be bad and sneak off to do something fun. No one will probably even notice that we’re gone. It’s not as if either of us is as important as Stellan, right?”
His eyes narrow on my face. “We’re still required to do our jobs, Nika.”
Biting my lower lip, I scrunch my face up. And then I grab his hand, giving it a tug. “Please? Come on, you know that you’re dying of boredom out there. Have a little fun for once in your life, Erik.”
For a moment, I can almost feel his critical gaze as he looks me up and down. I expect him to say no. I expect him to give me a stern talking-to about how we’re here to represent the royal family.
But to my surprise and delight, he glances behind him and then shrugs. “Where do you want to go, princess?”
My eyes widen. I beam at him, pulling on his hand. “I actually have a place in mind. Come on.”
Erik gives me a funny look and pulls his hand from my grip, looking like he might already regret saying yes. But when I run across the ballroom, kicking up little dusty whirlwinds in my wake, he trudges after me. I open a door that lets out into a quiet, brightly lit corridor. Hiking up my white skirts feels natural. Sneaking down the corridor and down a back staircase is less so, but still fun as hell. When I finally push my way out into a breezy Copenhagen evening, I grin back at Erik. The block we’re on has giant buildings everywhere I can see. There are a ton of lit up signs and a lot of foot traffic.
I make a sweeping gesture. “What did I tell you? Freedom.”
Erik rolls his eyes a little bit, but his lips tug upward too. I count that a victory. “Lead the way,” he says, stuffing his hands into his pants pockets.
I shake my head at that and lead him down the block, trying to blend in. People passing by do double takes when I scurry past them. I’m more than used to it by now.
Looking at the signs on the tall buildings, I spot exactly what I want.
A faded light up sign, white with yellow lettering that says, “The King’s Ransom Games”.
“Here we are,” I say, pushing inside the steel double doors. As soon I step in, I’m transported to somewhere else entirely.
The room is dark and warm, the lights and noises from the old school arcade machines instantly comforting. At the far end of the single room shop, a bored looking teenage boy scrolls through his cell phone.
“Oh my god,” Erik says, suddenly beside me. I notice Erik’s height because he’s only an inch or two shorter than the ceiling. I hadn’t actually thought about it, but I guess the ceilings are pretty low in here.
Erik grins. “I… I thought you were going to take me to another bar or something. This is…” He looks around with wide eyes. “This is awesome!”
He heads into the lion’s den with no fear at all. I follow him, grinning at his reaction. There are machines with joysticks and names like Ultimate Fighter Four. There are a few racer games, a Ms. Packman game, and an air hockey table. The arcade has a few customers who don’t pay us the least bit of attention.
That’s one of the reasons my father would bring us all here when we were little kids.
I bite my lip, wiggling my eyebrows. “This is my top-secret place. No one ever hassles me here. Everyone is absorbed in their games. I can just… kick back and play some Skee-Ball.” I lean in and whisper the last bit. “If I had a choice in the matter, I would never leave this place.”
Erik nods, looking me up and down. “That makes sense. This arcade is a weird place that I would never expect to find you in.”
He is already pulling out his wallet and