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“Let’s get the supplies in,” her father said, turning to her “While you put away the food, I’ll set up the radio”
“Can I help?” Alexander asked
“No, but thank you,” her father said
“Then I’ll give you some time to catch up”
In the cottage, Josephine kept glancing at her father as she unpacked the groceries and various supplies needed for life on Khronos Her father worked on the radio, attaching it to the solar panels that would e Nor he was silent
She folded her arms and faced him “You’re upset”
“Do you knoho he is?” he asked “This shipwrecked man of yours?”
“No But he’s obviously European, and wealthy It was a huge yacht, incredibly luxurious”
Finished with the radio, her father went to his backpack and retrieved his codo for over a week”
She laughed “A prince?”
Her father didn’t smile His expression was stony
“A prince?” she repeated, her throat suddenly scratchy
“Yes”
“You’re sure?”
Her father flung down the stack of newspapers “It’s in all the news, in papers fro for him It’s been in the headlines daily At first he was oing to be found—at least not found alive All themarried in just a feeeks”
He was getting married?
No
No
“Maybe it’s a different person Maybe—” she broke off as her gaze fell on the top newspaper, the headline paired with a photo The bold headline read “Prince Alexander Feared Dead,” and while she didn’t recognize the nanized the face in the photo
It was him
And his name was Alexander
Alexander She said the na back down at the photo Her er, wasn’t a rich Italian but a Mediterranean prince Thirty-four-year-old Prince Alexander Julius Alberici, as engaged to marry Princess Danielle Roulet at the end of this month
Her father returned to the radio, adjusting the signal “I’ to call the Greek authorities,” he said “They’ll in turn alert the authorities in Aargau I iht away, probably a helicopter”
She crossed the floor to the open here she stood facing the sea She couldn’t see Alexander, not from where she stood, but she kneas out there, probably in the sheltered cove
“Do you have to call today?” she asked quietly, her back to her father, her gaze still on the bay “Can you wait until the ? Give us this last day”
“That would be cruel His family thinks he’s dead”
She nodded, sing hard around the lu her throat She didn’t want to be cruel, but she would miss him Terribly
“Can you at least wait until I’ over her shoulder to where her father sat at the table with the radio
“I’ to call soon,” her father answered
She fought the salty sting of tears and forced back the lu it difficult to s
It was ending so quickly She’d thought she’d have at least two more days before her father returned, but instead he was here and taking control, and she was grateful he was doing the right thing, the proper thing, but she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Alexander
She didn’t want to be here when they ca, never ers who didn’t understand what the past week had been like
It had been heaven on earth
She’d never been so happy in her entire life
And yet he wasn’t hers He was never meant to be hers What they’d shared here on Khronos was athat hadn’t been meant to be And while the time they’d shared couldn’t be taken from them, there was no future for theain
“I don’t want to be here when they co her father’s before shifting away “May I have your permission to take the boat to Antreas? I haven’t been off Khronos in ages It’ll be good for ”