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“This is…damn!” Ava hurried over to the nearest car, a 1992 cherry-red Porsche Carrera—one of Alaric’s favorites. Ava prepared to put her hands on the hood, but a pointed throat-clearing on my part gave her pause.
“I thought it might go without saying, but don’t touch them.”
She lifted her hands and stepped away. “OK, that’swayeasier said than done. This collection is amazing!”
“You a car aficionado?”
“Hardly an expert, but I can appreciate a fine ride when I see one. Not to mention, driving around a beat-up food truck for a year that constantly needs work done ends up giving you a solid appreciation for fine craftsmanship.”
Her eyes lit up as she spotted another car that caught her attention.
“Shit, a Ferrari Testarossa? This has to be… an ’88?” she rushed over to the dark blue car, ready to put her hands all over it. When she realized what she was doing, she glanced up at me with a contrite expression on her face. “Sorry, it takes a lot of resistance.”
“Close. It’s an ’87. And I’m sure the king will be amenable to you taking a closer look at his collection at a later date. The only thing he loves more than collecting them is showing them off, after all. For now, we have places to be.”
“Fine, fine,” she said, taking one last long, lingering look at the Ferrari before breaking away and coming over to my side. “Does the king ever take these out? Like, for example, on a Sunday drive?”
“When he can. Hard to be non-descript about it when you’re the King of Edoria, however. See that green Bentley over there?”
Her eyes lit up as she spotted the car to which I was referring.
“Wow,” she said, running over to the forest-green Bentley cruiser. “This is pure luxury.”
“That’s the king’s favorite,” I said. “He doesn’t smile often, but the sight of his Bentley always manages to put a grin on his face.”
Ava regarded me with a mischievous grin. “So, this is the one we’re taking out for our drive?”
I laughed. “Not a chance. Just wanted to show you. Our ride is over here.”
I gestured for her to follow, the two of us soon arriving at a black 2015 BMW crossover.
“I mean, it’s nice,” she said. “But a little boring. Everyone in Seattle buys something like this the second they hit six figures.”
“Well, this is what we’ll be taking out.”
The disappointment on her face was impossible to ignore.
“Are you serious? There’s a whole garage of beautiful cars here, and you want to take out the most boring one?”
“There’s a whole garage of theking’scars here,” I corrected her. “He and I are close, but that doesn’t mean what’s his is mine. Not to mention, this vehicle is nice and discreet. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”
She pursed her lips and nodded, understanding where I was coming from.
“Now,” I said. “Let’s get moving. There’s a whole country to explore, and we’re just getting started.”
We climbed into the car. I started the engine with a press of the ignition, and soon we were off. The garage led to a small side road from the palace shaded with the overhanging branches of trees, a small, but guarded, gate at the end. Once we were through, I pulled out onto the main road around Lausanne, one that took us to an elevation that afforded a perfect view of the city.
“Hard to believe that after the Second World War, Lausanne was a town of no more than fifty thousand, a nation of agriculture and fishing, for the most part.”
“Are you serious? But there’s got to be hundreds of thousands there now. And it doesn’t look like a lot of fishing gets done in those skyscrapers.”
“You’re right. The baby boom hit Edoria hard. Edoria was fortunate to have avoided the destruction of the war and positioned itself in a Switzerland-like stance of neutrality. Once peace settled on the continent, all anyone here could think about was having big families. Our king, your great grandfather, was able to position our small nation as a financial powerhouse, a place where the wealthy of Europe could conduct their businesses on neutral grounds. Between the financial and population boom, Edoria became what you see today.”
She kept her eyes on the city as we passed. “Very modern.”
“In some ways,” I said. “There were certain types of men and women who were eager to settle into their new roles in the global economy. But the vast majority of Edorians were more than happy to live their lives as they had for generations. As princess, you’ll be spending plenty of time in Lausanne, allowing you to get to know the city well. I wanted to give you the chance to see a part of Edoria that you might not be able to see quite as often.”
She smiled. “Looking forward to it.”
