After Dante leaves I look around me. There is a remote by the side of the bed. The button to call the nurse is clear. It’s red. I press one of the other buttons and the TV comes on. I switch it off and press another. The blinds open.

It is already daylight outside.

I lie back and stare at the lightening sky and think of my baby. My body still feels sore and my head still feels strange as if it doesn’t really belong to me, but what a lucky escape the baby and I have had. I think of Dante crying with happiness and a warm feeling fills my chest. We will be fine. Everything will be fine.

A light knock on the door brings me out of my daydream.

“Come in,” I call.

Linnea opens the door and immediately my entire body contracts with fear. My hand reaches for the remote. I hold it in my hand, ready to call the nurse, but I know I am not really in physical danger from her. She is the Queen of Avanti. All the staff would have recognized her as she came into the ward. She won’t try anything in a hospital.

“What do you want?” I ask.

“I wanted to make sure you were all right,” she says, closing the door.

I look at her incredulously. “Spare me.”

“There is no one to blame. You were drinking. It was an accident.”

“I did not drink, and it was not an accident,” I fume.

“I saw you drinking.”

“I took one sip of champagne. I was perfectly sober. I know exactly what happened. Cassandra tripped me deliberately.”

She moves her hand distractedly. “She is a silly girl.”

“Silly girl?”

“I didn’t come here to fight with you, Rosa. Contrary to what you think, I am not your enemy. I came here to warn you. Dante is a nice guy, maybe too nice. He doesn’t understand what he has blundered into. Important treaties and agreements are being drawn up and there are billions of dollars at stake. There are people who will kill for a lot less. Avanti is not safe for you, your baby, or Dante anymore. He will never be able to protect his family twenty-four hours a day. Unless you all become prisoners in the palace. And even then, how can he be sure someone will not bribe the servants to poison your child?”

She takes a step closer to me and I feel myself unconsciously shrink back against my pillow.

“Your child will never be safe. Never have a normal life. At any time you could get the dreaded news that the child is dead. It will be an accident, of course. No one will be responsible. The whole world will become hostile. You will never be able to trust anyone again. Just like you mistook Cassandra for your ally. Any person who comes into your life could be the one who will take away the most precious thing you have. Even while you are here, a nurse could come in and inject you with something that will cause you to miscarry. There is no happy ending for you in Avanti, Rosa.”

A shiver of fear goes through me. Instinctively, my hands go to cover my belly.

“How will Dante fight this level of evil? It is not just Cassandra, Linnus, and my weak husband he will have to watch. It is all the grasping, deceitful courtiers about whom Dante knows nothing.”

I take a deep breath. “I assume you have a solution for me.”

“Nobody wants to see you, your baby, or Dante get hurt. Just get out of the way.”

My head starts to hurt. “Get out of the way?”

“Take your man and go back to where you came from. You can have a nice life with the man you love and your gorgeous children. You will have more money than you know what to do with, but you have to go now.”

“I need to speak to Dante first.”

“Please trust me. You know I have no love for you, but I don’t wish you harm. And harm will befall you if you remain. As I said before, while you are here, you are vulnerable. Leave. Protect your baby. If you leave Dante will follow. If you stay, he will try to fight them, and it will cause only harm.”

I frown.

“Until last night,” she continues, “Dante was a player. All he did was party and chase women. He has no experience in politics and he doesn’t understand his enemy, so he can never fight them and win. You must believe me. Even if I am being too dramatic, it is better for you to leave than to stay and take the risk that I am wrong. You have nothing to lose by leaving and everything to lose by staying.”

I don’t feel like my usual self. I feel bewildered and anxious. So many things have happened to me in the last twenty-four hours. There are painkilling drugs rushing around my system. I’m disorientated by my physical injuries. I’m still in shock at Cassandra’s betrayal and thinking I lost my baby, and now I’m really frightened for my helpless baby. I feel light-headed and woozy, but what she said does seem to make sense. Dante is a newbie at this and they seem ferocious in their intent to keep the power base. I could stay and fight if I did not have my baby. As it is I have only one duty. To put my unborn child above my own needs. Above all else.

“One of the royal jets is ready to fly you back to England.”

I start to feel nauseous and I don’t have my dry biscuits. “I need to call Dante and just tell him I’m going.”

She shakes her head. “This is exactly what I mean. If you do that you will tip everyone off. You have to slip away. Call him once you are safely out of the country. It is only while you are on Avantian soil that you are in danger.”

Everything seems to be moving too quickly for me to comprehend. “My passport. I don’t have my passport,” I mutter.

“I’ve got it here. Everything is ready for you.”

I run my fingers through my hair. “But I have no clothes.”

“I brought Elsa with me. She has packed your suitcase and brought you something to wear. She will fly with you to England and make sure that you arrive safely. Once you arrive, a car will be waiting to take you wherever you want.”

She walks to the door, opens it and calls Elsa in.

In a daze, I allow myself to be helped out of bed and into my clothes. Elsa brushes my hair, which has the effect of making me feel even more helpless. Every time I move, pain shoots through my body.

“Do you want more painkillers?” Linnea asks.

“No. That would be bad for the baby,” I mumble.

A nurse brings a wheelchair. I sit in it and Elsa pushes me out of the ward, and into the elevator. No one utters a word as we travel downwards.

Once we get out of the doors I see a limousine and outrider escorts waiting for us. The driver holds open the back door. Painfully, I limp into the seat. The door closes, and I wait while Elsa gets in the front passenger seat. The driver gives the signal and the outriders kick off the journey. The car starts to move. I turn and watch Linnea.

There is no expression at all on her smooth face.

Up ahead, all the other cars are making way for us. I was enthralled at having the limo and outriders when we were taken to the palace upon our arrival in Avanti. Now I wish I was on the back of Dante’s Vespa.

Those days are gone forever.

That thought is like a knife thrust into my heart. I turn my face to the window and tears fill my eyes. The limo stops on the landing tarmac. The plane with the royal family’s crest is waiting. The captain and an air stewardess are standing next to it.

The driver jumps out and opens my door. I get out of the car with great difficulty. Elsa comes to help me walk to the plane.

My hand touches the cold steel railing of the steps. Suddenly, I am homesick. Homesick for my mother. Homesick for Star. Homesick for simple, real people who don’t play games with every word they utter.

I put my foot on the first step.

Yes, I’m running away, but I am making the right decision. I’m going back to England where I belong. Where some of this incredible stress will abate. Where my baby will be safe. I’ll call Dante when I get there. I’m a strong person. I’ll recover from this temporary setback.

Everything will work out.