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“We’ll call her tomorrow. We have her number.”
Hans and I vacate the room while Eva helps Lina use the facilities and get her shirt back on. The hall is empty except for a different nurse at the tall desk. It’s after midnight, but she smiles brightly at us, fresh as a daisy. “Guten Morgen, Königliche Hoheit.” She bobs a little curtsey.
“Please, call me Herr Feltz. Or Teodor.”
She flutters her eyelashes at me and her voice kind of purrs. “Of course, Teodor. Can I get you anything?”
“No. We’re just waiting for our friends.” I turn to look at the door. “Don’t let us interrupt your work.”
“It’s no problem, sir.”
Hans steps between us, using his body as cover when he smacks me in the ribs. “Way to work it, Prince Teo,” he whispers.
I roll my eyes.
The door opens, and the girls come out. Lina has her good arm draped over Eva’s shoulders which puts her at a weird angle since she’s so much shorter. I turn to the nurse. “Can you get us a wheelchair?”
“Of course, Teodor,” she coos as she presses a button on her phone. Without picking up the receiver, she mutters something, then presses another button. “The orderly will be here in an instant.”
“I can walk!” Lina pulls away from Eva and staggers into the doorframe, hitting her shoulder and joggling her broken arm. “Ow!”
Eva guides her to a chair. “Let us take care of you.” She looks up at me. “I’m not sure how I’m going to get her into her room. It’s on the third—no, second floor. Two flights of stairs.” She holds up two fingers, then makes a climbing motion.
I remember the tall, white building—the one where I dumped her and ran on that first day. Guilt wriggles down my back, making my shoulders twitch. I should have stayed to help her get situated—and I could have shared my secret from the beginning. But at least there’s no reason to hide my identity anymore. “We’ll help you get her upstairs. Did you let your host family know?”
“Oh, yeah. I texted Renate when we got here. She seemed surprised we came to this clinic, but I told her we were with you.” She gives a kind of embarrassed smile. “She wants to meet you.”
I never know how to respond to that kind of thing. Wait—let me rephrase that. I know the correct response. “That’s very kind.” But it still feels stilted and uncomfortable to say. The look Eva gives me reinforces that feeling.
In a little longer than an instant, the man in blue scrubs returns with a wheelchair. They get Lina settled and roll her to the front door where the car waits.
Lukas, the driver, opens the front door. “It will be easier for the injured lady to sit here. I can put the chair in the trunk.”
I shake my head. “We won’t need the chair—it won’t be helpful where we’re going.” I glance up at him and frown deprecatingly. “We might need your muscles.”
“Of course, sir.”
After Eva and Hans help Lina into the car, Lukas opens the rear door and the rest of us pile in. He shuts the door behind me, then hurries around to the driver’s seat. “Where to, sir?”
“Home, James!” Lina flips a hand at the windshield and giggles.
Eva leans over the front seat to tell Lukas the address, then sits back between me and Hans. This is one of the palace’s smaller cars, but there’s still plenty of room for the three of us. I kind of wish it was smaller, so Eva would have to sit closer.
Lukas pulls out of the clinic’s private driveway, pausing before he turns onto the road. As we near the more popular areas of the Altstadt, he has to slow for pedestrians, but soon we’re winding through a quiet residential area. Lina giggles to herself in the front seat, clearly still under the influence. About halfway home, her head lolls, and she falls asleep. The rest of us ride in silence.
Hans yawns once, then again. A few seconds later, Eva imitates him, then smacks Hans’s stomach with the back of her hand. “Stop that.”
When we arrive at the girls’ house, Lukas opens the car door. As I climb out, I catch him casting a look at the tall, narrow house behind him. I move around him to let the others out. “I think her room is on the top floor. Can you help us get her up there?”
He opens the passenger door of the car and takes a good look at the sleeping Lina before answering. “She’s tiny. No problem, sir.”
As Lukas scoops Lina up, the front door opens. A woman with purplish-red hair stands in the tiled entry, the light picking out remnants of glitter on her faded Mötley Crüe T-shirt. I stop, my mouth open. Maybe Eva doesn’t know who I am—or hasn’t told her host, because people generally dress up if they know they’re meeting a member of the royal family, even a junior one.
I step forward and hold out a hand. “Teodor Feltz. Nice to meet you.”
She looks me up and down. “Nice to meet you, Teodor Feltz.” The way she says my name makes it very clear she knows exactly whom she’s addressing as does the ironic bob of a curtsey. “Renate Mueller. I understand our Lina got hurt.”
“She slipped. It could happen to anyone.” I step back as Lukas approaches, easily carrying our friend. “Would you show Lukas where to put her?”
