H.R.H.

“You tell me,” she said cryptically, and handed the magazine to her, for Christianna to see for herself. Christianna couldn't imagine what might have upset Fiona so much, and glanced across the page. And there she saw it. A photograph of herself, five months before, with her father, at the wedding they had attended in Paris before she left for Africa in January. She was wearing the blue velvet evening gown, with her mother's sapphires. And the caption under the photograph said simply, “Her Serene Highness Princess Christianna of Liechtenstein, with her father Reigning Prince Hans Josef.” There wasn't much to say. It was all there. Christianna's face went instantly as white as Fiona's. There was no one else in the tent at the time, which seemed like a good thing to Cricky. This was not a piece of news she wanted to share with anyone, not even Fiona. She had been reading Majesty magazine, which listed all the doings of royals all over Europe. Christianna had often been in it, and was obviously badly shaken that the magazine had fallen into Fiona's hands. Her mother always sent it to her from home. Christianna just hadn't expected to be in a current issue, or she'd have worried about it. But the photograph was five months old. She hadn't counted on that. “Would you like to explain this?” Fiona said, looking furious. “I thought we were friends. It turns out I didn't even know who you were. Your father is in PR, my blooming ass.” In Fiona's mind, friends didn't keep secrets from each other. She was livid, and obviously felt betrayed. And if Fiona felt that way, Christianna was even more terrified of how Parker would react when he found out.

“Well, it is kind of like PR,” Christianna said weakly, still just as pale. “And we are friends, Fiona …it changes everything once people know. I didn't want that to happen here. For once in my life, I wanted to be like everyone else.”

“You lied to me,” Fiona said, throwing the magazine on the floor.

“I didn't lie to you. I didn't tell you. That's different.”

“My ass it is!” She felt utterly foolish and betrayed as she looked at Christianna with fire in her eyes and rage in her heart. “Does Parker know?” she asked, even more furious. Maybe they'd even been laughing at her because she didn't know, which was not the case.

“No, he doesn't,” Christianna said with tears in her eyes. “Look, I love you, Fiona. You are my friend, but it wouldn't have been the same with you or anyone here, if they knew. Look at you now. You're proving the point.”

“The hell I am!” she raged. “I'm pissed off because you lied.”

“I had no other choice, or I might as well not have come. Do you think I want everyone here kissing my ass, waiting on me hand and foot, calling me Your Serene Highness, preventing me from doing any worthwhile work, or putting a doily under my sandwich at lunch? This is my only chance in my whole life to be normal and real. I had to beg my father to come here. And when I leave here, it's all over for me. I am going to have to be that person for the rest of my life, whether I like it or not. And I don't. But it's my duty. This is the only moment of ‘real life’ I'll ever have. Can't you at least try to understand that? You don't know what it's like. It's like being in prison. Forever. A life sentence, until I die.” It was how she truly viewed it, which was sad. There were tears pouring down her cheeks as she said it, and there was a long silence as Fiona stared at her, and the color slowly came back into her face. She had heard what Christianna had said, but said nothing as Christianna choked on a sob. She didn't reach out to the Irish woman again, she just sat there in tears, feeling the whole weight of the crown she wore, whether visible or not, crashing down on her head again, even here.

“And just exactly who are Max and Sam?” Fiona asked with a suspicious look, still angry, but less so. It was hard to understand the misery of her friend. It sounded like fun to her, but looking at the anguish in Christianna's eyes, she was beginning to understand that maybe it wasn't as much fun as it looked in a magazine. Until then, she had always envied the people she'd seen there.

“They're my bodyguards,” Christianna said softly, as though confessing a terrible crime.

“Shit. And I was trying to get Max into bed for months. With no success, I might add,” she said, her sense of humor returning slightly, but not fully yet. “He probably would have shot me if I'd had the balls to really make a pass at him.”

“No, he wouldn't.” And then Cricky had to smile herself at the memory of Parker finding the gun wrapped in her nightgown on the trip. She told Fiona about it, and this time they both laughed.

“You little shit,” she said irreverently, not the least impressed by her title or allegedly lofty status. “How could you not tell me?”

“I couldn't. Think about it. And then what? If I did, sooner or later everyone would know.”