Danielle Steel - H.R.H.

“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.”

“I would have kept it secret if you told me to. I can keep secrets, you know,” Fiona said, looking insulted, and then she thought of something. “What are you going to do about Parker? Are you going to tell him?”

Christianna nodded miserably. “I have to. Before he goes, or I do. He has a right to know. I just don't want to tell him yet. It will ruin everything once he knows.”

“Why?” Fiona stared at her blankly. It still sounded exciting to her, although Christianna was acting as though it was a fatal illness she had contracted at birth, genetically. And to her it was. “Maybe he'll like the idea of being in love with a Serene Highness. It sounds pretty cool to me, maybe it will to him, too. The fairy princess and the handsome young doctor from Boston.”

“That's my point,” Christianna said sadly. “It's all over when we leave here. It has to be. My father would never let me marry him. Never. I have to marry a prince, someone of royal birth. A duke, or a count at the very least, and he won't be pleased at anything less than a prince. He would never give me permission to continue seeing Parker. Never.” And she didn't want to risk a permanent estrangement with her father.

“And you need his permission?” Fiona looked startled.

“For everything. And his members of Parliament as well, for anything even slightly unusual. There are twenty-five of them. And a hundred members of the Family Court, all of them related to me to some degree. I have to do as I'm told. I have no right whatsoever to just do what I want, about anything. My father's word is law, literally.” She looked devastated as she said the words. “And if I disobey him, and cause an enormous scandal, it would break his heart. He's had enough of that with my brother. He counts on me.”

“So instead, he'll end up breaking your heart.” It was slowly occurring to Fiona what Christianna was dealing with, and would be forever. A hundred and twentysix people decided her fate, if she played by the rules. “Maybe it's not as much fun as it looks,” she conceded as Christianna nodded.

“I promise you, it's not.” And then she reached out a hand and touched Fiona's arm. “I'm sorry I lied. I didn't think I had any choice. Only Geoff knows, and he's been very good about it. And of course the director in Geneva.”

“Wow! It's all very secret service.” And then she reached out and hugged her. “I'm sorry I got so angry. I just felt hurt that you hadn't told me. You've got a hell of a problem on your hands with Parker. Are you sure there's no way they'll ever let you see him when you go back?”

“Never. Maybe once, for tea, if I say we were coworkers here, but nothing more than that. My father would lock me up in a minute.”

“For real? Like in a dungeon?” Fiona looked horrified for her friend, and Christianna laughed.

“Not quite. But they might as well. He would tell me to stop immediately, and I would have no other choice than to follow his orders. If I don't, it will create a scandal in the press, break my father's heart, and break his promise to my mother. My father doesn't believe in all these modern monarchies, where their children are marrying commoners. He believes in maintaining the sanctity and purity of royal bloodlines. It's ridiculous, but ours is a backward country. Women have only voted there for twenty-three years. It would take my father an entire lifetime to see things differently.” She looked devastated at the thought. She was desperately in love with Parker, and he with her. Their love affair had been doomed from the beginning, and he didn't know it. It sounded tragic to Fiona, like a very bad opera.

“What about all those badly behaved princes and princesses you read about in the press, who go around sleeping with people and doing silly things?”

“That would be my brother. It drives my father mad, and he would never tolerate it from me. Besides, he doesn't marry them, he just sleeps with them. I think if he actually married one of them, my father would disown him.”

“I can't believe I never suspected,” Fiona said again with a look of disbelief as Christianna asked her if she would mind ripping out the page so they could destroy it, before someone else saw it, especially Parker. Fiona agreed, and they tore it to bits. “He's going to be heartbroken when you tell him,” Fiona said, suddenly feeling sorry for them both.

“I know,” Christianna said, sounding tragic. “I already am. I probably should never have started with him. It wasn't fair to him. But I couldn't help myself. We fell in love.”

“It seems as though you ought to have that right, like anyone else.” It all sounded so unfair to Fiona, now that she thought about it, and could see the pain in Christianna's eyes. She felt sorry for Parker, too, when he found out that their love affair could go nowhere, and would end in Senafe.

“I don't have that right,” Christianna said, as Fiona reached out and hugged her.

“I'm sorry I got so mad. Maybe you can talk to your father when you go back.”

“It won't make a difference. He will never allow me to be involved with a commoner, and especially an American. He's extremely old-fashioned about those things, and he's very proud of the fact that our bloodline is extremely pure, and has been for about a thousand years. An American doctor is not what he has in mind for me.” It sounded stupid even to her and like something out of the dark ages, when she explained it, but it was reality for her.

“Well, pardon me,” Fiona said, regaining her sense of humor. It had been a hell of a shock. For them both. Christianna was still feeling shaken by having been exposed, even if only by Fiona, whom she trusted. What if someone else got their hands on a copy of the maga-zine—there was always that risk—and then showed it to Parker? The thought of it made Christianna shudder, although she knew he had to find out sooner or later. Preferably from her at the right time, if there was one. And what if he reacted as Fiona had at first? He might walk away and never even speak to her again. Maybe in the end that would be better, and an easier way for them to leave each other, than distraught with grief.

“That reminds me,” Fiona asked, looking at her with a puzzled frown. “What am I supposed to call you, now that I know?” She was teasing her, and Christianna laughed at the question.

“I thought ‘you little shit’ was rather good. What about that?”

“You serene little shit perhaps? Your serene shittiness? You big royal shit!” Despite the seriousness of what they were discussing, they collapsed on their beds in gales of laughter like two naughty kids. They laughed until tears of laughter, and not grief this time, rolled down their faces. They were still laughing when Mary Walker and Ushi walked in, and inquired about what was so funny. The two younger women were incoherent with giggles.

“Oh, I was just telling Cricky what a pain in the ass she is. She was reading my magazine and tore a page right out. She's such a princess sometimes,” Fiona said, rolling her eyes, as Christianna stared at her in horror.

“You little shit!” Christianna said to her this time, and they collapsed in laughter again, as the older women looked at them, rolled their eyes, and went outside to take a shower.

“It must be the heat getting to them,” Ushi said to Mary with a grin, as they left the tent, and Christianna and Fiona exchanged a long look. In the end, Fiona's discovery had tightened the bond between them. The one Fiona was worried about now was Parker. And so was Cricky. This was going to be devastating for him.