Invisible || h.s.

35: Princess

Hey guys, don't be surprised if this story starts feeling a bit different than usual... The main plot is going to be pushed aside for a couple of chapters, since I'll be focusing on their relationship for now. So, less action, and much more romance.

Also, I'm including photos of their location in this chapter, just to give you a bit of feel of where they are. Let me know if it's something you'd like me to keep doing, since they'll be travelling a lot.

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"This 'one day in Prague' itinerary includes most of the must-see attractions in the city. For your convenience, this chapter includes—ow."

"Watch your step," I warned, wrapping an arm around Hope's waist to stop her from face-planting into the sidewalk. With her nose buried in a city guidebook I had purchased for her back at the airport, she kept tripping and bumping into bodies in the crowd, triggering a couple of nasty looks thrown our way. "Don't want you to break a leg or two before we even get off the tube, 'right?"

Her eyes flitted to mine momentarily, she gave me a quick nod before her attention turned back to her guidebook. The noise of an approaching train filled the space and I craned my neck to get a better view of the line number. "It's ours." Without waiting for her response, I pushed her forward gently, making sure to keep my fingers wrapped firmly around her forearm. It was very easy to get separated in a crowd like this, and I was not about to lose her like that.

Even though it was way past nine, the early morning rush was not easing up, and the station was flooded with people running into various directions to get to their respective workplaces on time. My aching back muscles begged me to take us straight to the apartment I had arranged to be our hideout for the next two weeks, but after hearing Hope's excited gasp when we left the airport, I knew I couldn't deny her a little tour of the city.

Perhaps this was taking our whole fake honeymoon to a whole new level, but I could hardly find it in me to care. Obviously the whole thing wasn't real—not even close—but I figured taking Hope around the city would both solidify our cover and possibly trigger some more memories that might turn out to be helpful; a win-win situation for both of us. Or, at the very least, that's how I chose to make sense of my sudden urge to make the girl next to me happy.

"Did you know that the legend claims the founder of this city was a woman?" Hope asked, balancing the book in her right hand while hanging onto the metal pole.

"Never heard of it," I admitted, "but m'sure you'll tell me all about it."

"Her name was Libuše and she was one of the three daughters of a Czech ruler Krok," she let out a small giggle, her nose bumping into my chest when the train came to an abrupt stop. "What a silly name... Anyways, even though she was the youngest princess in the court, and her sisters deemed her to be too innocent and naive to rule, the King still chose her to be his successor. Well, that's mostly because she could 'see the future'," Hope made quotation marks in the air, the book nearly falling out of her grasp, "and she prophesied seeing 'a great city whose glory will touch the stars'"

"Let me guess—the girl with the weird name turned out to be a fair and wise ruler, and they all lived happily ever after," I quipped.

"Eventually, but stop interrupting me!" she let out a fake gasp, pretending to sound offended. "Libuše ruled well, but she was nonetheless just a female, a fact that irritated her tribesmen to no end. They believed her to have had too much of a sheltered upbringing to ever understand the realities of a farmer's life."