“I don’t think they let random eighteen-year-old Americansbe the queen.”
“Maybe not, but you’re going to be famous, at the very least. Imagine the followers you’d get if you casually dropped this online.”
“Not to mention stalkers and death threats. Some of those royal watchers are unhinged.” I raise an accusatory eyebrow at her. Naomi used to be a royal fanatic. Not the kind who would stalk anyone, but definitely the kind who would swoon over every picture in the tabloids. Of course, that was before she got together with her boyfriend, Levi, whom she’s obsessed with, and before Theo and I got into this…situation.
“Okay, okay, but hear me out—imagine how much money the royal family would give you to keep quiet.”
“I’m not going to blackmail my hu—Theo.”
She shrieks gleefully. “You almost said ‘husband’!I knew it!You love him! You’re his American queen! Alexa, play Taylor Swift’s ‘King of My Heart.’”
“First of all, I don’t love him. Second, I don’t want to be ‘the queen.’ Third, he doesn’t want anything to do with me!” The pathetic truth is, I tried repeatedly to call the palace and leave a message for Theo after his mom died and got nothing but silence in return. If he wanted to contact me, he would. He knows my name, where I live, and where I’m going to school. He has every resource in the world for tracking me down.
“That certificate says otherwise,” Naomi counters.
I sigh and scrub my hands through my hair. There was a time when I thought that Theo and I were in love—shortly after we signed this paper—but that was just a rush of adrenaline and hormones. I fell in love with the moment and mistook it for being in love withhim.The truth is, I trusted him withmy life, and he kept secrets and lied to me and almost left me alone to die in Greece. “I don’t want to be the queen of anything. I just want my dog back so I can unsubscribe from royal news and move on with my life.”
“Who sent it to you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it him?”
“I don’t know!”
She rolls to the edge of the bed and reaches for my phone, which one of us has accidentally kicked across the floor. She swipes through the pictures of Theo and his siblings. “Canada, huh?”
I nod.
“If I email my peer adviser and tell her I won’t be in town tomorrow, she might be willing to set up a time to meet next week.” She mulls this over for a moment before leveling me with an accusatory stare. “I suppose you have a full itinerary and master plan for how we’ll find him and pull this off?”
“Would you believe me if I say no?”
She pretends to gasp, as if I haven’t been acting out of character all summer. “Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”
“The only itinerary we need is his, which is conveniently posted under the ‘Future Engagements’ section of the royal family’s website.”
Theo and his siblings are visiting High Park tomorrow to tour the zoo and gardens. It’s not as detailed a plan as I’d like, but it’s more than I’ve had since June, and for now it’s enough. I need to find Theo, get my dog back, and figure out if this marriage is even real. “As for how we’ll maneuver around hisbodyguards and royal entourage to get close enough to actually speak to him… I don’t know yet.”
She grins. “I trust you to figure it out. You always do.”
“And I trustyouto summon some of that positive energy and convince your mom to let us use her car.” I smile hopefully.
She crosses her fingers on her left hand and starts texting with the right. “On it. When do we want to leave?”
I jump off the bed and open the door to my room. “Ten minutes ago.” It’s about an eight-hour drive to Toronto, and we need to get on the road if we’re going to meet Theo at the park in the morning.
Naomi grimaces as her phone lights up with a new message. “My mom needs the car tomorrow.”
“What about Levi?”
“He sold his to help pay for tuition last week.”
I groan.
“You know what this means,” Naomi says.
I donotwant to involve my family in any of this, but at this point, we’re out of options. “Fine. I’ll ask Brooke, but we’re going to need a good cover story.”
