Player's Princess (A Royal Sports Romance)(83)

"Fill me in as we go along."

I take my first look around the airfield.

This is definitely an airfield, not an airport. The prince's plane isn't huge as commercial jets go, and I can tell the airfield can barely handle it. There's one control tower and a concourse, and big hangars with curved roofs. It's a lot colder here, and the wind whips hard across the landing strip.

When I turn back to Konstantin, he's on the phone. My breath catches when I see a fleet of vans driving across the tarmac toward us.

"Is that the cops?" Akele says.

"Do they have cops here?" Aheahe says.

"Of course they have cops, dumbass."

"I mean, don't they have like knights or something?"

Akele groans.

The vans roll to a stop, and the very closet driver throws her door open and runs out. A tall, busty woman with red hair in pigtail braids runs out and shouts something at Konstantin.

"What's she saying?"

He looks at me. "Ah, she is saying she is wanting to have my babies."

"What, seriously?"

He shrugs. "It is good to being the prince. Getting in the vans now."

There's barely enough room. The cheerleaders and band members end up sitting on player's laps, but we don't leave anybody behind. I wedge into the lead van with Konstantin. He speaks in his native tongue—it does sound like Swedish—to the driver, who gives him a saucy look and spins the van around, sending my stomach lurching to the side before she floors it.

"Where the hell are we going?"

"The castle is having a service entrance," Konstantin says. "We are needing to bring in food for the wedding. Also for tourists."

"Tourists?"

"Yes, we are selling tours of the castle. Very much money. The younger female tourists are personally escorted by the prince."

"Right."

He grins.

I look over my shoulder. There's five more vans behind us. The road is narrow and has no shoulders, with fences blurring past on either side. There's sheep. A lot of sheep. The sheep look up in silent judgement.

Quincy is still wearing his mascot costume, and the plume of his big foam-rubber knight helmet is crushed up against the van roof.

It's not a long drive. The airfield is close to the castle. I can see it through the windshield. It climbs up the side of a mountain slope, tall, round towers proudly lifting banners into the air, like in a fairy tale. It's a clear day, the sky a bright blue, the sun shining. I'm fuzzy on exactly what time it is, except it's midmorning.

The castle gets bigger and bigger as we get nearer and nearer. It's one of the largest buildings I've ever seen. The main gate must be fifty feet tall. There are guards on the walls, though they're wearing uniforms and carrying rifles rather than armor and shields.

Konstantin chatters with the driver and the vans drive along the wall, away from the main gate. They keep going until we reach a security checkpoint. The driver rolls her window down as a soldier walks up to the van door.

The man is genuinely shocked when he sees Konstantin, who barks orders at him. Moments later, the gates open.

"What did you tell them?"

"I'm bringing entertainers, for the feast. That will purchase us some hours, but it will not lasting long. Mother knows there will be no entertainers."

"Right. How do we get in?"

I look around. This all seems modern to me. It's a loading dock, connected by a tunnel to the castle, or so I would expect.

"I will lead the way. Hmmm." Konstantin looks at me. "You are maybe being a problem."

"Me? Why?"

"Mother knows what you look like, from the tabloid news paper."

He pronounces "news paper" as two clear words.

"So?"

"So she will be making all the guards have your picture so they will not let you in."

"Why would she even expect me to show up?"

"Mother is very cautious. Stranger things have happened. After all, you are here now."

"So I need a disguise. You're telling me I need a disguise."

"I am telling you so, yes."

Well, shit.

I need to conceal my appearance somehow. Hide.

I look at Aheahe, and Akele, at Thorlief, at the driver, who gives me a blank, smiling look but is mostly paying attention to Konstantin.

We all look at the back of the van, where Quincy is wedged in with his mascot suit.



Ana



I read the article. I read what Professor Grandolf said, I looked at the pictures, and I believed it. I believed Jason had betrayed me, stolen my heart and slept with another woman while he was making me feel so wonderful and alive.

Now that I am here, I am not so sure. I knew she had something for him, some perverse lust, but I never knew him to look twice at her. How could he be so totally loving and giving with me and betray me? How?

I scoot along the cold stone floor and sit against the side of the bed and try to weep, as if weeping all the salt water from my body will give me an answer. Perhaps they'll find me here as a dried-out husk and take me down to the crypts of my ancestors and put me away and I won't have to marry anyone I don't want to or be a queen or any of it.

The seamstress comes in an hour later. I rise mechanically, like a puppet, and stand there with my arms out while she measures me and fits me with a wedding gown.