I wake up to my phone vibrating on the bedside table.

"Yeah?" I answer.

"You’re asleep," my father says, sounding irritated.

"I’m seven hours behind you."

I can imagine him shrugging.

"I’m also done with my studies."

"Yes, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about," he says. I grope around on the nightstand for my earphones. When I can't find them, I sigh and roll onto my back, pressing the phone against my ear. "Now that you’re done, you need to come back. You have duties, and Elanda expects it of you to fulfill them."

I close my eyes. "Elanda doesn’t care what I do," I say. "You’re the one that expects it."

"I don’t need to define responsibility for you, Thomas." He pronounces my name with emphasis on the "a," not the "o" like everyone else. "I didn’t spend so much money on a quality education for you to shirk your duties as future king."

"I don’t know when I’m even going to be king. You’re still kicking, right?"

"Don’t mock me. I sent you to America to study. Instead, you learned attitude."

I push myself up. "I learned other things, too," I say.

"Yes. Women. I am under no illusion that you use your stature to your advantage. Your uncle was the same."

I don't argue with him. It grates me when he thinks so little of me, but arguing with him is pointless. He won't listen.

"You need to come back to Elanda and get involved as the prince of the kingdom. Our subjects look up to us. You haven’t come out in public here yet. The people need to know that they have a stable future."

"Do they really care that much?" I ask.

"They care more than you do, a balance that is already heartbreaking."

I rub my fingers over my forehead.

"I expect you to return immediately," my father says.

"I can’t."

"Why not?"

"I have a function. At the university." I'm lying like a child. I just don't want to go back to Elanda. I don't want to learn how to run the country. I don't want to get involved in parliament.

My father sighs. "You gave me a date when your course would finish. This was not accurate?"

"I’m not on the board that organizes the functions. I don’t know when they are until we get the invites."

More lies. Mixers and events are planned well in advance.

"When can we expect you to return, then?" my father asks. "Give me a date."

I don't want to give him a date. I don't want to go home. I want to switch off my phone and roll over for another hour’s sleep. I want to forget that Elanda exists. What would my life be like if I got a job with my MBA, right here, in Manhattan? What would my life be like if I could create my own destiny, make my own money? Live my own life?

"You must come home. This is not a request."

"It’s an order," I say with a sigh. "I know."

"Your mother misses you, too," my father adds.

Right. I had been taken to my parents one hour a day for viewing since I could remember. When I was older, I was homeschooled and sometimes my father would sit in the classes to ensure that the tutor was teaching me the right things. When I was fourteen, I was shipped off to study abroad, and I’ve been here ever since, studying as many broads as possible. The only time I go back home is for Christmas or national festivals.

That is the extent of the relationship with my parents.

Why do I have to care about a country when the country probably doesn't care about me? I'm just another face, another name. Why would I respect my parents when they don't invest time in me, only money?

"Why are you so against being king?" my father asks.

"Because I don’t want to be paraded around without a choice."

"Son, listen to me, now. This is your divine right. You have been born into a royal bloodline so you may lead Elanda into a bright and glorious future. It's a privilege, as much as it is a burden. You can’t refuse something that is yours by birth."

"What if I want to abdicate my throne?" I ask. "Do you know how many countries are democracies now? A hundred and twenty-three. Out of almost two hundred. Why are we still stuck in the past?"

My dad clears his throat. He's upset. He can be intimidating when he's upset, but I don't have to face him. Over the phone there is nothing he can do to me.

"Don’t you toy with me," he says. "I don’t have to argue with you to get you to do something. You are to come home immediately and take your place as the rightful future king. You'll reign as I have taught you, and you'll be happy with your fate."

I take a deep breath and keep everything I want to say to that inside. It isn't worth the fight.

"What if I don’t come back?" I ask. "What if I decide that it’s not what I’m interested in? What if I don’t want to be the prince anymore? I want to abdicate."

"That’s not an option."

I shake my head. "You can’t make me come back."

"You’re right," my father says and for a moment the fight leaves me. Is he agreeing?

"But I can freeze your accounts and remove all your privileges. I can make life very hard for you."

This is true. Dreaming about earning my own money one day is one thing, but losing it all, now? My apartment alone costs more than the average person’s salary.

He isn't going to let me get away with this. I don't have any choice. This is my life, and no matter what I do, I won't be able to escape it.

I take a deep breath.

"Give me thirty days," I say. "I want one month to say goodbye and finalize everything here."

"You’ll come back, then? After thirty days, without argument?"

"I will."

Thirty days isn't much time, but it's better than having to leave tomorrow.

"Thirty days, then," my father says. "One month, and then I’m sending your plane for you."

"Can’t I travel on a normal airline?"

"No."

He hangs up without another word. Good talking to you, too, Dad.

I have thirty days left where I can try to be normal. Thirty days where I can pretend I don't have a guillotine hanging over my head.

I need to make the most of it.

I stare at my cellphone. Nicole pops into my head. I look out of the window. It's a beautiful day. I go out of bed and pad into the kitchen on socked feet where the napkin she’s given me still sits on the counter. If I'm going to make the most of my last month, I have to start now.

I dial the number and wait for it to ring.