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This is going to get ugly

Everyone is scattering, unsure of what to do, and I know this is all out of Ottar’s hands now Even with his goggles covering up his eyes, I can tell they’re open wide, his ape as he seems to freeze from terror

I don’t even think I start running toward hi to wrap hs

So, fat, hairy bird out of the air, and then he’s crashing on top of round

“Oh hfor him to shut up

He rolls offno one else heard his address

“I ahs “Are you alive?”

Poor Ottar He never wanted to do any of this shit withon the sidelines Then, withso withthem, then at least Ottar would be there closer than ever, keeping an eye onsure I ell, alive

But now it’s not just hi, it’s tostupid Oroff a cliff I have a bad reputation with htly i off the bodyguards and royal guards and escaping every chance I could get

“I’ around The people are crowded together, watching us from a distance as if Ottar was a bomb dropped from the sky

“You savedhis meaty palm on my shoulder “I don’t kno to repay you”

I eye his hand and then shrug it off ee”

“Of course, sir,” he says, looking a little e to save his nickna ain, I’m so sorry”

“Not your fault,” I tell hih”

“Yes, sir,” he says, grabbingus evenme, like I’m someone—and I’s in a row

But so it in our direction, and I can't tell if it's because they want to take a picture of the two fools who just landed or if they think I'm someone of importance

I give the caood half a foot shorter than et this stuff off and head to the boat"

Down along the shore is a sleek, white speedboat with teak tri written with flourish on the side Thepatiently behind the wheel is Einar, one of etaway driver Like Ottar, he's always nearby, usually trailingto lose hih, so he's a hard man to lose

I hear the faint click of a fewfrolance I quickly getwith the straps across his chest, help him too

There’s a collective “oooh” from the bystanders and I crane , three of thehtly colored stars that have burned through the atmosphere

Another click steals my attention

Everyone is watching the jumpers except for two men

Men with caht at Ottar and I

Men I should have recognized before but with all the commotion, my mind wasn’t able to focus

You’re an idiot, Magnus

“Hey, isn’t that—?” Ottar asks, but he trails off as the twoboats

“Shit,” I swear, wondering how ot

It’s not that I was doing anything inappropriate, per se, but I had promised my family I would stay out of the paparazzi’s eye for the day, and well, those two fuckers are the bane of my princely existence The whole reason I ca my photo taken since usually the paparazzi don’t follow

But these guys aren’t the normal paparazzi First of all, they’re Russian tho look an awful lot like the T-1000 from The Terminator Second of all, they act like the T-1000 too They’re fucking unstoppable Nophotos and selling the or trashy tabloid I’ known as the “hot and sexy single prince,” but it sure

“We need to go,” I tell Ottar “Now”

Noro, but since these assholes ithout a doubt be selling the first photos of me of ill be known as “The Aftermath” folloith the headlines “Suicidal Prince Jumps Off Cliff (His Personal Secretary Tries to Save Him)” and “Not Fit to Rule,” I feel like it’s my duty to care as much as it’s their duty to treat me like I’m an animal in a zoo