Chapter 31

C HAPTER 31

DAYS UNTIL THE CORONATION: THREE

Despite telling me to use my alone time to think, Henry gives me almost no alone time. The day after he and Comet snuck in to see me, he stops by again, this time with his fifteen-year-old sister, Louise, in tow. Louise has the same fair hair and complexion as Victoria, but her dimples remind me of Henry. She enters the room shyly, half hidden behind her brother's back.

"We heard you're getting sprung loose this afternoon, and Louise had an idea." Henry nudges his sister toward me. In her hands, she's clutching a small suitcase.

For the first time in days, I feel a surge of adrenaline. I push myself up to my knees. "I'm leaving? Who told you that?"

"Uh… the doctor. Who else? Go on, Louise."

Louise's cheeks turn scarlet. "It's probably a silly idea."

"You were buzzing to get over here. Just ask," he says.

Louise's shoulders are nearly to her chin as she heaves her suitcase onto the foot of my bed. She opens the case to reveal enough makeup to make a beauty influencer swoon. "There are cameras swarming the hospital waiting to get the first photo of you, so I thought, if you want, I could maybe do your makeup? It's a hobby of mine."

I can't help but smile. If she didn't look just like Victoria, I'd have a hard time believing that they're related. "Oh my gosh, thank you!" I haven't felt pretty in days.

Louise beams and gets to work, picking out shades to match my skin tone while Henry settles in with the throne book that he borrowed from the library.

"Where's Brooke and Naomi?" Louise asks as she curls my eyelashes. "I saw the pictures in the Echo and was hoping to meet them, too."

I glance at the clock. It's still early, and my jetlagged mother might be sleeping in, but I wish I knew for sure. The first thing I'm doing when I get back to Chicago is buying a new phone. "They'll probably be here soon if you want to wait."

"Look up," Louise says. I do, and she swipes mascara over my lashes. "I have my last dress fitting for the coronation in an hour."

"How's that going? The coronation, I mean. The, um, planning of it. It's still happening?" A flush of heat sweeps over me, and I'm tongue-tied out of nowhere. If the coronation is still going forward, either Theo and I aren't really married, or I'm about to be crowned queen consort, and I won't have to spend any more sleepless nights staring at the ceiling, planning my future.

Theo would never agree, but if he did…

Louise waves her hand in the air. "Boring ceremony. Big hat. Stolen jewels. There's not much to talk about."

I burst into laughter. "Did you just refer to the Crown Jewels as a ‘big hat'?"

"I saw it on TikTok and it made me laugh. It's not wrong," she admits with a smile.

"You are officially my favorite royal."

Her face positively sparkles. "Theo will be so jealous."

"What's he been up to since the crash?" I pretend like the question's not eating me alive.

"Skiving off his responsibilities, if you believe the press."

I jerk away from the mascara wand. " Should I believe the press?" He hasn't been photographed or seen in public once since the rescue. Some TV news stations have speculated that Theo is just busy preparing for the coronation (Graves's handiwork, I assume), but others claim he's missed a bunch of his scheduled meetings and isn't returning his "We're glad you're alive!" phone calls from foreign leaders.

Louise's eyes dart to Henry. "No, sorry. I was joking. I don't know what he's doing. I haven't seen him." She fixes the mascara I smudged with my sudden movement and holds up a mirror.

I'm disappointed she doesn't know more, but I can't deny that she's a magician with a makeup brush. "You're great at this. Thank you," I say as she repacks her mini suitcase.

"I hope I get to see you again, but if not, it was really nice to meet you, Wren. And I love your dog."

An alarm goes off on Henry's phone. He silences it and stands up. "Shift's over. Thanks for letting us keep you company."

They leave, and for the second time in two days, I'm nearly speechless as Henry walks out of my hospital room.

What shift?

Either I'm still delirious, or something strange is going on with these royals.

Brooke, Naomi, and my mom are the next to arrive in my parade of visitors.

"Whoa! You look gorgeous!" Naomi says when she sees my makeup.

"We're late because we bought you clothes," Mom explains. "We went to Camden Market, but it might not have been the best choice." She glances warily into the shopping bag hanging from her wrist.

"Nonsense," Brooke says. "Every girl wants to leave the hospital in knee-high boots." Naomi digs through the bag to reveal a pair of stacked lace-up combat boots.

"I don't know what happened," Mom admits. "My daughters almost die in a plane crash and suddenly I've forgotten how to say no."

"The Firm is going to hate this," I say in delight as I pull a Victorian-style corset out of the bag.

"But think how badass your stitches will look," Naomi tells me.

"And your boobs," Brooke adds.

Mom looks like she's going to faint. "We also bought normal clothes. There's a T-shirt and jeans in there."

"And where's the fun in that?" Naomi asks as the door opens once again and my doctor walks in with a smile on her face.

She inspects my sutures and my chart and then tells me she has good news. "Your vitals look great, your wound is healing beautifully, and the nurses tell me that you're doing laps around the halls when you're bored. Sounds like you're ready to get out of here, Wren."

Finally. I'm out of the bed and halfway to the door before realizing I'm still in a hospital gown. I grab the boots and the bag of clothes and shut myself in the bathroom.

"Is she healthy enough to fly home with us tomorrow?" I hear Mom ask. I know she feels guilty that they can't stay longer, but she has a trial starting and Naomi and Brooke are both desperate to get back to school. Brooke contacted Northwestern immediately upon being rescued, and they pulled some strings to let her start law school this semester.

I should tell the King that there are some perks to fame.

My stomach lurches at the thought of Theo, the MIA king of England. It seems weird that not even Theo's siblings know what he's up to. I don't understand why Graves hasn't kicked him in the ass and forced him to do a public appearance, especially since Henry's already been photographed doing charity work with orphans.

I can't help but wonder if something is wrong. Of course, as soon as I start to worry, I remember that we didn't promise each other anything, and then I feel silly for being worried, then mad at him for making me worry, then annoyed at myself for caring.

It's a whole cycle.

"She's safe to fly," the doctor says, and the knot in my stomach tightens. As eager as I am to get out of here, I didn't go through all of this just to be kicked off the continent without a definitive answer to the marriage question or a final conversation with Theo. The least he can do is say goodbye.

I trade my gown for the jeans, the boots, and the corset, be cause what the hell. If I'm going to be in the tabloids, I may as well make an impression. Brooke catcalls me as I strut around the hospital bed, and we're about to leave for good when a nurse stops me in the hall.

"Wait! We have something of yours." She rifles through a drawer behind the nurses' station and retrieves my ring. Theo's ring. My knees go wobbly as she drops it into my open palm. "The chain is broken, but I saved this for you."

"Thanks." I struggle to get the word out. I feel three pairs of eyes bore into me, so I clear my throat and push the ring into my pocket. "Ready to go?" I ask my mom.

"Have you heard from Theo at all?" she asks softly.

"Nope! Should we go? Let's go. How do we get out of here?" I turn to the nurse for help. If I don't stop this conversation now, I'll cry off all of Louise's hard work right before the paparazzi see me for the first time. If that happens, I could become a meme that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

"There's a decoy car waiting for you out front to trick the photographers, and two more cars waiting out back where you won't be seen," the nurse says as she leads us through a hallway.

"Who arranged for the cars?" I ask.

"I can't say, but they're waiting for you right out there." She props the door open with her foot and gestures to a blacked-out Bentley.

"Damn." Naomi looks at me sideways with a growing smile. "Do you think it's him?"

My stomach fills with butterflies.

I look back at the nurse with my eyebrows raised.

"It was nice to meet you, Your Highness," she says with a wink and a quick curtsy.

I'm suddenly dizzy. None of this feels like real life.

I walk on shaky legs to the car. Someone steps in front of me to open it, and I slide into the car with bated breath. I look up, and instead of Theo, I come face-to-face with Richard Graves.