The doors slid closed and Aleksander’s elevator began its descent. I dropped the toolbox and sprinted for the door that led to the stairwell. Caroline caught on and raced after me. Our only chance now was to get there first.

The medical facility was four floors down. We pelted down the stairs, jumping the last few stairs of each flight. We raced straight past the nurse at the reception desk, turned the corner and burst into my father’s room, breathless and frantic.

My mother was sitting on the edge of his bed, her eyes red from crying. Dr. Glavnic was there, too, and both of them looked up in amazement as we burst in.

“No time to explain,” I snapped to my mother. “Aleksander’s right behind me. He’s going to kill you both. We have to get you out of here.” I looked at Dr. Glavnic. “Is there another way out, big enough for a gurney?”

“There’s a freight elevator. We use it to move patients down from the parking garage. Down the hall, to your left.”

But there was no time. I heard the chime of Aleksander’s elevator arriving. I wanted to weep with frustration. We’d been so close!

“I’ll delay them,” said Dr. Glavnic. He marched towards the door. “Get your parents out of here.”

I grabbed his arm. “When he finds out what you’ve done, he’ll arrest you for treason. Maybe worse.”

Dr. Glavnic looked me in the eye. “I brought you into this world, Your Majesty. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that bastard take you from it. Now go!”

He hurried off down the hallway to intercept Aleksander. I stared after him, breathing hard. Not all my people had turned against me.

My mother was already freeing my father from the machines that had been monitoring him. I grabbed a gurney and helped her roll him onto it. Caroline held the doors wide and we silently pushed the gurney out of the room and into the hallway.

I could hear the doctor talking to Aleksander just around the corner. My mother, Caroline and I all stared at each other, our faces pale, as we pushed the gurney down the hall. If a wheel so much as squeaked….

I mashed the call button for the freight elevator and then we had to stand there waiting. Come on. Come on! There was a distant rumble of machinery. I could hear Aleksander growing impatient, demanding to see the King. Come on!

The elevator arrived and the doors slid open. We pushed my father’s gurney in and slipped inside just as Aleksander came around the corner. I hit the button for the parking garage and willed the doors to close. But nothing happened.

I heard Aleksander and the soldiers march into my father’s empty room. I hammered on the button. Come on!

Aleksander yelled a curse and they burst back out into the hallway. The doors finally started to close just as he ran past the elevator... and he saw us through the closing gap. His eyes widened in shock.

I tore off the baseball cap and let my hair fall free, staring back at him defiantly. Then the doors closed and we started to move.

I knew that he’d raise the alarm and that they’d lock the palace down in minutes. The instant the doors opened, we rushed out and pulled the gurney over to the electrical repair van I’d come in. We heaved the gurney into the back, slammed the doors and—

We froze. Four soldiers were approaching the van, guns pointed right at us. I closed my eyes and tensed, waiting for the bullets to hit.

There was a wump.

I opened my eyes to see one soldier crumpling to the ground and Garrett standing behind him, his fist still raised. Emerik stepped out of the shadows and slammed his rifle into another soldier’s head. Jakov pistol-whipped the third one.

The fourth one had turned around to see what was happening. He turned back to face us, his rifle coming up—

My mother kneed him in the groin with the full force of her vengeful fury.

He hadn’t even hit the ground before I’d slammed into Garrett’s chest and wrapped my arms as far around him as I could. He crushed me to him and I pressed my face against him: he was the best thing I’d ever felt in my life. “I thought you wouldn’t wake up!” I sobbed.

“Got kissed by a princess,” he rumbled. “Figure there’s got to be some magic in that.”

Then Sebastian stepped out from behind the guards and Caroline let out a moan of disbelief and ran at him. He lifted her and swung her around, her blonde hair flying out. It was the first time I’d seen them together and, as soon as I saw the way he looked at her, I knew she’d been right. He was the one.

There were shouts from deeper in the parking garage. Caroline, Sebastian, Emerik and Jakov jumped into the back of the van. Garrett and I jumped into the front and Garrett slid along the bench seat towards the steering wheel. “I’ll drive,” he said.

My mother jumped in from the other side and pushed him out of the way. “I’ll drive, Mr. Buchanan,” she said firmly.

Garrett gaped at her. I could hear boots running towards us.

My mother gunned the engine with surprising aggression. “I wasn’t always a queen, you know,” she muttered. And we roared off into the streets.