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“It is now.” She looks stunning in a white bandage dress, although she’s showing off more cleavage than I’d be comfortable with. “I’m glad Marguerite was able to bring this down.” Her sister visited the day after the accident with a box of Belgian chocolates and the dress. Apparently, Lina texted her in the early morning hours while still under the influence of her medication.
“I can’t believe she was able to just drop by. I mean, we’re not that close to Zurich.”
Lina shrugs. “I think she was visiting Mama, which is even farther. But she loves her little sister. Plus, she’d never been to Freiberg before.”
“It’s not like she had time to see anything.” Marguerite arrived at two, stayed for an hour, then disappeared again.
“She’s a free spirit. She’ll probably come again—I think she’s going back to Belgium later this month. Depends on what Rafael is doing.” Marguerite’s husband is an Italian social media influencer. They live in Switzerland but travel all over Europe in search of the perfect backdrop or something.
I finish my makeup and slide my headband on, fluffing my hair around the pointed ears. The roots are starting to grow out, but when I braid it, I can arrange the top to hide the brown beneath the brilliant blue and purple strands. The color might be fading a bit, too, but that’s expected with blue. I frown at my reflection. “How do I look?”
“So cute! I love the skirt!” She flicks a finger at the short, pleated black skirt I’m wearing over my black leggings and leotard.
I shrug into the gauzy, black wings I sewed and gather up my gloves. “I didn’t think Halloween was this big a deal in Europe.”
Lina shrugs as she closes her compact. We were able to get some stage makeup from the theater department at the Universität, and she’s eerily pale, except her bright red lipstick. “Back home we dress up for Carnival—or Fasching, as they call it here. Halloween is a newer thing. I think it’s a US import. But dressing up is fun! Oh, look at the time!”
We head downstairs to find Renate and Lukas laughing and drinking beer in the living room. Renate waves as we hurry past. “Enjoy your party!”
When we get to the street, Lina grabs my arm. “Who’s the guy?”
I stare at her blankly for a minute. “That’s Lukas. You don’t remember him? He carried you to your room that night.” I nod at the cast.
Her brow wrinkles and she shakes her head. “I remember slipping. And Hans landing on top of me.” She grins, her teeth flashing in the glow of the streetlamps. “It gets a bit foggy after that. Someone got a car, and we went to a clinic. Then I was happy.” She shrugs.
“Teo got a car. There are definite advantages to having royal relatives! Lukas was the driver, and he carried you into the house after the hospital.”
Her furrowed brow smooths, and she winks. “I guess he and Renate made a love connection.”
I chuckle as we clatter down the steps to the F-bahn station. “That sounds like something my dad would say. Wasn’t it a TV show or something?”
“Apparently it has a cult following here. Haven’t you seen it on television?” She taps her Tico card on the turnstile and walks through.
I follow suit. “Where have you seen TV?” Renate has a big screen in the living room, but we mostly use it for streaming movies. I don’t think it’s connected to cable or broadcast channels.
“There’s one in the common room in Hansi’s dorm. It’s almost always showing Love Connection.” She shakes her head with a giggle. “It’s both disturbing and hilarious.”
“The show, or that fact that people our age are watching it?”
A train rumbles into the station, drowning out her answer, and we climb aboard. The other riders give us curious looks, but no one says anything. Most of them wear normal clothing, although I catch a glimpse of a pair of robots on the next platform. When we get to the Altstadt, we head for our favorite bar—the Katerschmaus, where we met Andi the first weekend.
Yesterday, I finally did some research on Teo but came up blank. A search of his name only found his LinkedIn page, where he’s listed as Vizepräsident für Operations at Feltz, GmbH. Then I tried variations on “illegitimate prince” and “baseborn royal Freiberg” and “out of wedlock nobility Europe,” but that last one brought up way more pages than I expected. The fact that it was all in German didn’t help.
Then I found the palace’s official website with an image of the frowning Grand Duchess Karolina front and center. A little digging netted another photo of the extended royal family—at least I think that’s who they were. On one side, looking kind of Photoshopped in, were a woman and four young people who might have been the Feltzes. The image was too low a resolution to be sure.
Would the palace include an illegitimate branch of the family in the official group shot? Teo seems to have easy access to the palace and its resources, so maybe they’re officially recognized unofficial royals.
The Biographies menu brought up a long list of princes and princesses with lots of acronyms like S.K.H. Erbgroßherzog Eduard. None of them were named Teodor. When I clicked on a random “Prinz,” I got another image of Nicholas Cage.
Dad.
Could he have gotten Rob to photoshop Teo’s family into that group shot? Was that part of his ultimate prank? I have no doubt Rob is capable.
At the Katerschmaus, we take what has come to be our table—the staff has put a Stammtisch sign on it for us, which is a high honor. Those are usually reserved for older customers after years of patronage. Maybe being part of the officially unofficial royal family gives Andi some clout.
Or maybe the bartender just thinks she’s cute.
We haven’t seen Herr Dukeface since that day at the palace, except on the news. He and the Grand Duchess are leaving on a South Pacific tour, meeting heads of state. Which is just fine with me.
