He grabbed hold of her ponytail and arched her neck back. “You look so tough, but I’m still in charge.”
“Of course.” She let tears spring to her eyes even as she smiled, which delighted him. “But we need to talk, my love.”
They heard footsteps outside the room. He let go of her and stepped away.
“Later,” he whispered.
Three people appeared in the doorway. Regina got her first in-person look at Princess Sana bint Rashid Al-Hadid and held back a gasp.
Sana shuffled into the room, head down, her clothes looking brand new and too big for her, as if she’d just been given them by someone who hadn’t realized how much weight she’d lost. And she’d lost a lot—she barely resembled the young woman on social media with round cheeks and laughing eyes from just before she’d ‘gone into seclusion’ to pray. This woman looked aged beyond her years, pale and defeated. Regina couldn’t see her body under her robes but she imagined the bruises and cuts covering her body that Rashid enjoyed describing in great detail.
Regina almost lost her nerve.How can I do this to her? Please, please God, make her understand what’s going on and give me the wisdom to know what I’m doing.
One of Sana’s guards shoved her into a chair beside the table set for tea. Sana whimpered and didn’t take her eyes off Regina’s boots.
I’m just putting on an act,she told herself, even as Jeremy’s words echoed in the back of her head.Cold and calculating. That’s how she’d have to appear right now to make this work.
Hating herself for what she was about to do, Regina cleared her throat and sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table as if this were just the dandiest social call. She smoothed her hands over her lap and glanced at Rashid who took his seat in a chair away from them as if watching a play.I should have brought him popcorn.
“So,” she started, “You’re Sana. I’ve wanted to meet you for quite a while.” Regina smiled.
Princess Sana didn’t move.
Regina felt awful. Was Sana’s spirit already broken? This wasn’t the same woman loudly shouting protest slogans against her father. This woman was a ghost. Did she even know where she was? If she was that far gone, the rescue was already doomed.
But then she saw it—Sana’s hand clenched into a tight fist in her lap. Her middle finger was ever so slightly raised, the knuckle sticking up just above the others. Even better, Rashid couldn’t see it from where he was sitting.
Regina never felt so good getting flipped off.
Now if she’ll look atmyhands.
“I want to get to know you, Sana, since I plan on becoming a bigger part of the crown prince’s life.” She tried to sound as chipper as she could. “We have a few things in common, you and me. For one thing, we both respect and adore your father.”
She listened to the grunt of approval from Rashid and tried not to gag.
“We’re about the same age, too.”Double gag.
Okay, here we goRegina thought.Please, Sana, understand what I’m telling you and believe it.
“When we were kids, we watched the same movies.”
Sana flicked her gaze up then back to Regina’s boots.Dammit. So close. Look at my hands, not my boots.
“I heard you likedDouble-O Troublemovies.” While she spoke, Regina fluttered her hands to get Sana’s attention and it worked—the princess’s eyes went to her hands. Regina made a quick gesture, bending all her fingers and touching the tips of her thumbs to the tips of her pointer fingers, then pressing the backs of her fingers together until her hands formed two ‘O’s up against each other.
Sana blinked quickly but otherwise her expression didn’t change. In the movie, the main characters—kids who were secret, super-spies and known for getting into trouble—had come up with the gesture to show they were on the same team. Did Sana understand that Regina had just signaled that she was here to help her?
The princess looked up into Regina’s face. She nodded quickly. “I did like those movies, yes.” She looked back at Regina’s hands.
Regina smiled while Rashid shifted in his seat. She’d told him that she wanted to gain Sana’s trust only to shatter it at the end. She hoped that Sana would continue to understand.
“Would you like some tea?” Regina didn’t wait for a response before she picked up the teapot and poured some into Sana’s cup. “I always take mine with lemons for good luck.”
Sana grinned at Regina’s choice of words—or so she hoped. Lemons were another clue from the movie. During a chase scene where the kids were on their rocket-powered bikes after rescuing a princess, a load of lemons fell off a truck behind them and stopped the bad guys from catching them.
“So do I. Lemons are lucky.”
Regina laughed lightly. “See? I told you we had things in common.” Inside, she did a victory dance. ‘Lemons are lucky’ was the exact line the movie princess said when the villains’ motorcycles slid out of control when the lemons hit them. After that movie, all the kids who were intoDouble-O Troublehad a t-shirt with a lemon and the catchphrase emblazoned across it, including Sana, in an old photo she’d posted online.
