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The other two women are also exchange students from Hans’s dorm. Odette is from southern France, and Suzie is British, so it makes sense they wouldn’t recognize me or Andela. In fact, it’s odd that Lina did, but maybe she’s a fan of all things Freiberg.
We talk and drink and laugh for a while. After the second round of drinks, the girls head for the bathroom en masse. Lina hangs back, clearly waffling between joining them and confronting me. Finally, she waves them on and rounds on me, poking a finger at my chest. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but you need to tell Eva who you are, or I will. Your Royal Highness.” She adds the last phrase in a sarcastic, upper-class tone and dips a mocking little curtsey.
I lift a hand and look around quickly. “Don’t call me that. I’m Teo.”
“How does she not know you’re the prince?” Lina folds her arms and glares at me. With her tiny stature and thick blonde braid, she looks like a pretty but angry gnome.
“For one thing, I’m a prince, not the prince. And in the US, we’re just a family from Europe. If you know enough to recognize me, you know my father has been adamant about not being part of the royal family. My parents didn’t want us set apart.” My father refused a title when he married my mother—which is one of the many reasons my grandfather threatened to remove her from the succession. Why he never did, I’m not sure. “We go to Oregon every year. I went to the public school, worked at the festivals, hung out with the band nerds.” I wave a hand at Hans who’s chatting up a girl at the next table. “To Eva, I’m just her old buddy, Teo. I haven’t had a chance to explain I’m something else here. And to be fair, it’s not like I’m going to become the grand duke. I’m number six.”
“Yeah, but you hang out with Princess Andela.” She stabs a finger at my sister’s empty bar stool. “I can’t believe Eva doesn’t know!”
“We’re all trying to stay under the radar. Being hemmed in by bodyguards isn’t much fun.” I touch Lina’s arm. “I’ll tell her, I promise. But not here.” I gesture at the crowded bar with my free hand.
Her eyes narrow, then she sighs. “Fine. But soon.” She pokes her fingers at her own eyes, then at me.
Hans strikes out and turns just in time to see the gesture. “Ooh, scary. Why’s the Keebler elf watching you?”
Lina gives Hans a dirty look. “I can’t believe you let him get away with lying to your friend about being royalty.”
“I don’t let Teo do anything. And for the record, I told him the same thing. There’s no way he’s going to be able to keep it secret here. And I’m not sure why he wants to.” He gives me a considering look, then juts a thumb over his shoulder at the girl at the next table. “I wouldn’t have crashed and burned if I could have told her I was here with the prince.”
“A prince. And I’m not trying to keep it secret.” I lift both hands, palms out, warding off their glares. “It just kind of happened. Unintentionally.”
“What happened?” Andela slides onto her stool, with the other three women behind her. “Unintentionally?” She winks at Hans.
Fortunately, Eva is on her other side and doesn’t see the wink. She looks up, as if mildly interested. Lina grabs her hand and drags her back toward the bathroom.
“I didn’t get a chance!”
Eva throws a puzzled glance back at me, then shrugs and follows her friend.
While Hans distracts the other women with a long story about his “Vegas tour” as he calls it, Andela leans close to me. “What’s between you and the American girl?”
I gulp my beer in panic, and it catches squarely in my windpipe. I choke, almost spewing beer all over the table. Andela pounds my back while Odette and Suzie give me concerned looks. When I finally stop coughing, I sag against the table, out of breath.
I give my sister a “don’t go there” look. She raises a brow. I narrow my eyes. She rolls hers.
Eva and Lina return before I have to answer the question. Andela darts her gaze at Eva, then turns a glare on me, similar to the one Lina tried earlier. It’s not much more effective coming from my younger sister.
With a shrug, she leans across the table to Eva. “I love your hair color. I’ve been thinking about blue.” She fingers the pink streak that frames her face. That single strand of color resulted in Andela being called to an audience with the Grand Duchess a few months back. She has defiantly maintained it ever since.
But Eva’s hair is a whole new level. Since she started college, she has sported brighter and more colorful hair every time I’ve seen her. Her current style—an incredible mix of blue and purple, with none of her natural brown showing—would give the Grand Duchess a heart attack.
Which means Andela will probably try it.
Chapter Nine
EVA
We’re on the third round of beer, and I’m feeling no pain when a shout goes through the bar. Into the lull, someone makes trumpet sounds, in a cross between a fanfare and a raspberry. A voice yells, “Announcing His Majesty, the Hereditary Grand Duke!” People laugh and cheer.
“What’s going on?” Using Teo’s shoulder for balance, I stand on the lower rungs of my stool and peer across the busy room. Near the door, the crowd surges like the tide as a group of people enter.
Beside Hans, Lina climbs onto her own chair, kneeling on the seat. “That’s Eduard!” Her fingers clamp onto Hans’s shoulder, knuckles whitening as she sways. Hans laughs and grips her hips, steadying her. Andi, Teo’s sister, glances across the room, then goes back to scrolling through her phone.
“Who’s Eduard?” In one of those freakish coincidences, another lull hits just as I yell, and my voice carries clearly through the room. A collective gasp goes up, and heads turn, shocked eyes glaring lasers.
Not really, I’m sure, but I’m into my third beer, and they make ’em strong here. The beer, not the lasers.
