“Does she want you to kiss it or something?” Lukas asked, jostling Nya a little as he peered around his brother’s bulk. “Oh. Ohhh. Is this the love child?”

The journalists went wild at that, and Johan glared at his brother. “There is no love child!”

Lukas and Johan began to bicker, and it was only Nya who noticed that the woman had disappeared from the marketplace while everyone buzzed about the baby.

“Is she your former lover?” one of the photographers asked.

“Will you claim responsibility for your child?”

“What does this mean for your engagement?”

“What does it mean for the referendum?”

Johan ran a hand through his hair, and regarded the flashing cameras with a confident grin. “I’ve never seen that woman before in my life. I have no children—I am certain of that. I know some of you are ready to sell any story, but there are a couple of redheads there in the press pool and if you’re going to start assuming paternity by the color of a child’s hair, you should get in line.”

He said it so calmly that there was no way it was a lie. But . . . Johan was a very effective liar. He could make people believe anything.

Just like your father. The realization hit her like a blow to the diaphragm, making her slightly nauseated.

No. No way. He wasn’t at all like her father . . . except Alehk Jerami had always been able to fool people into believing what he believed. He’d even made Nya think that she was weak, helpless, and could never leave him.

No.

Johan has always been up-front with who he is, she reminded herself. Father never admitted to lying. He never admitted to anything he did.

And now he’s starving himself . . .

A female journalist shouldered her way to the front. “Nya! Ms. Jerami! Do you have any comment?”

All eyes turned to her and she summoned her Jerami pride to keep her expression and voice unconcerned. “Comment? I think that child was adorable. Much too cute to be related to Johan. Have you seen baby photos of this man?”

Laughter spread through the journalists.

“I’ve only been in Liechtienbourg for a short time and I’m still getting my bearings. I think I need to head back to the castle now.” She looked at Lukas and Johan. “Shall we?”

Johan took her hand, leading her away as the reporters were held back by security guards. “You’re learning fast,” he said.

She pulled her hand away, pretending to hold the collar of her coat against the cold breeze. “I come from a family of politicians, Johan, and my father was a criminal one at that. You’re not the only one who knows about manipulation.”

Her words were curt, and Johan’s expression flickered.

“I thought you didn’t have a nefarious bone in your body.” He stared at her as they walked. “That you do shouldn’t be sexy, and yet—”

She sighed aloud and shook her head, glancing back to see Lukas lagging behind them. She tried not to think about the woman and the baby. She tried not to believe that Johan’s lies might mean he was a bad person. It didn’t matter anyway.

This is a game.

Chapter 16

It seems that the rumors are true! Johan’s heart has been claimed, if the images coming out of Liechtienbourg are any indication. Our boy seems totally smitten, and though we should all be jealous, this is too cute to hate on. We stan a besotted bad boy! Protect #JoNy at all costs!

—Jo-Jo Lovers Unite Blog

That night Johan paced back and forth in his room, unable to sleep. He was too preoccupied with Lukas’s behavior, Nya’s presence in his life, the referendum, and the bad feeling he had about the events of the past two days.

Greta had been keeping him up-to-date—there had been illegal postering, raucous town hall meetings, and even some small-scale vandalism like graffiti. That was unsettling, given how calm the country usually was, but Johan figured that if people needed to express themselves, there were worse ways for them to do it.

But the things that had been happening since he’d returned seemed personal. The graffiti over the “secret” doorway, the mystery woman trying to cause a stir. The head of the opposition, Arschlocher, was known for playing dirty when it came to business, and Johan didn’t doubt he was involved in this somehow.

He’d gone down an internet rabbit hole, finding himself in a pro-Arschlocher forum where people speculated about Liechtienbourg being taken over by foreigners, insisted that Johan was part of the Illuminati, and much, much worse. There was even a conspiracy thread devoted to the death of his mother, but he hadn’t clicked through to see that garbage.

He’d heard her doctors tell her to take it easy until they figured out the limits of her heart condition and watched as she tried to help just one more person, and one more, and one more. He knew why she had died: because she cared too much. He didn’t need anyone’s enraging speculation on the matter.

He’d looked at the formation dates of several of the tamer threads, the ones speculating on the validity of the monarchy, whether Johan was a pox on Liechtienbourg, and what kind of government would be best for the kingdom. And they’d all been started a couple of months ago. It hadn’t taken very long to notice that the most virulent detractor on this forum was an account named FloupGelee, who seemed determined to convince everyone that the von Brausteins were the worst thing that could have happened to the country. This person hated Johan, but attacked Lukas just as viciously, which was surprising. There was a thread about the fight Lukas had gotten into at school, with several people coming forward with descriptions of behaviors that seemed nothing at all like his brother, but very much like someone who shouldn’t be king.