“I’m a cliché,” he said. “The playboy prince. It would be embarrassing if it weren’t so much fun.”
“There’s more to life than fun.”
“But fun is a part of it,” he countered.
“Certainly.”
He deposited her suitcase in the trunk of the car. “I think you might have forgotten the fun part,” he said.
“You have that covered for the both of us, I think.” She moved her hand in a wide sweep, like she was presenting the car on a game show.
He smiled. “You have no idea.”
For some reason that smile, that statement, made her stomach tight. “I imagine I don’t.”
“Why don’t you get in the car and we can continue this while we head back down to Thysius?”
She hadn’t been to the capitol in a couple of years, and just the thought of it filled her with dread. “What exactly are we doing?”
“Get in the car.”
Fear wrapped its fingers around her throat, the desire to turn and run almost overwhelming. But she didn’t. “Not yet. Where are we staying? What are we going to do?”
“The palace,” he said. “You’re familiar with it.”
“Yes.” Much too familiar. There was a time when it would have been her home. When she would have been the queen. Memories that seemed like they belonged in another life were crowding in, trying to remind her of all the things she’d tried so hard to let go of.
“The press will think it’s all sensational.” He opened his door and got inside and she stood outside, looking at her warped reflection in the slightly rounded window.
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” She pulled the car door open and got inside, closing it behind her.
The leather interior smelled new. And an awful lot like money. Such a strange contrast to the old stone walls of the convent. When he turned the key and the engine roared to life she couldn’t help but think it was a very strange contrast. The pristine newness. The noise. So different than the ancient quiet she’d lived in for so long.
“This is the story that I need. You and me, collaborating on bringing the country into a new era.”
“Why do I feel a bit like you just told me together we will rule the galaxy as father and son....”
“Are you saying I’m asking you to join the Dark Side?”
“I feel like it.”
“Seems a strange reference for a nun.”
“I’m not a nun, actually. Not yet. I’m a novice.” And she had been for a near record amount of time. Speaking of movies, her life was becoming a bit “How do you solve a problem like Maria.”
“And I do watch movies,” she said. “There isn’t a lot that happens up here, and we aren’t all serious all the time.”
He pulled out of the parking area and onto the road. And she wasn’t “here” anymore, either. She was leaving. Heading into the world. Away from the convent, away from the village. Into the city. Toward people. And the press.