“Serious as a heart attack,” Dieter said, unable tostop himself from grinning at Wulfram again. “I think I’ve earned it, actually.
“How on Earth have youearnedthe title of Prince of Hannover?”
“When you save a person’s life, they’re in your debt. I figure I’ve saved your sorry, royal ass at least a dozen times,Durchlaucht,maybe more. If this were medieval times, you’d owe me a castle.”
“A castle, really?” Wulfram sipped his whiskey. “Princescan’t go around handing out castles, left and right. There wouldn’t be any left for vacations.”
“Yep, you owe me at least a castle, and lands, and a bunch of serfs.”
The slight bend in Wulfram’s mouth seemed more rueful than joking. “At least you got to marry the princess.”
“I suppose we’re even, then,” Dieter said, “as soon as you sign over a castle and people start calling me ‘prince.’ Iwant the Rogues to have to call me ‘Your Majesty’ when we’re in the field.”
“‘Your Majesty’ is a bunch of nonsense started by Henry the Eighth,” Wulf groused. “The German translation of what we use is much closer to ‘Your Serenity’ or ‘Your Grace.’ I think Henry’s courtiers were competing to see who could flatter him the most.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Elizabeth the First liked, ‘Mayangels sing you to your rest,’ and all that baloney. Good thing you never got a big head and wanted theWelfenlegionto butter you up like that. We would’ve taken you down a peg or two for your own good.”
“And now you want to be calledprince,too.”
Dieter hiked his shirt up on his left side to expose a long scar there. “I took a bullet for you there. I have another machete scar on my otherside. Plus, there’s the crease on my arm from when Rainier’s assassin almost got Flicka. I deserve a damn title.”
Wulfram rolled his eyes. “I suppose you do. I’ll draw up the documents.”
The door opened, and Luca Wyss glanced inside. “Thought I heard yelling.”
“No,” Wulf said. “Can you believe that Dieter Schwarz, here, just convinced me to elevate him to the title of Prince of Hannover?”
Dieter wrenched around and grinned hard at Luca, knowing full well what was about to happen.
“Scheisse!”Luca swore. “Already?Just now?”
Wulfram looked back to Dieter. “Yes.” And lower,“Why?”
Luca glared at Dieter. “Since it’s before Christmas, I owe ‘Prince Dieter’twohundred bucks.”
Dieter laughed his ass off and, after a minute, so did Wulfram.
When Flicka found them half an hour later,they were both quite schnockered, laughing hysterically in their cups, and planning a truly epic practical joke on theWelfenlegion.
She glared down at them as they lolled in their chairs, drinking. “I suppose I’m going to have to drive home now, even though it’s dark.”
Behind her, Rae stomped into the room. “Wulf, we need to talk. What is this ‘family insomnia’ thing? Flicka says it’s genetic,and Victoria’s going to stop taking naps when she’snine months old.”
“Oh, yes,” Wulfram said, drunkenly trying to stand up, but his heel slid on the rug, nearly toppling him over. “I meant to discuss that with you.”
Dieter laughed so hard he fell out of his chair.
