“I’m a transplant. My family moved here ten years ago for a job. Thankfully, the college I wanted was nearby.”

“Is that so?” Alex leaned forward and looked at me intently. “I would think most people going off to college would want to get as far away from home as possible.”

“My mother passed away and I didn’t want to leave my father.” I didn’t like where this conversation was going. I felt like I was giving away secrets. Secrets that could be important for some reason.

“How is your stepfather? I understand he’s been sick.” Rose’s eyebrows drew together. “I can’t say I care very much for the way that healthcare is handled in the States.”

“He’s handling everything very well, thank you.” I guess my outburst with her lackey earlier hadn’t gone unreported. “But we’re not here to discuss my family. What kind of questions do you have about the center and our program?”

Rose leaned forward. “Actually, your family is exactly why I am here.”

Chapter Three

How to Lose a Royal

—Perry Talks

“My family?” I felt my eyebrows rise and tried to control my expression. What the hell was going on?

“Why did you decide to keep your mother’s maiden name when she married your father?” Rose folded her hands in front of her and her eyes bored into mine.

“I’m not sure why that would be any of your business.” I looked at Alex, but his face gave nothing away. “I thought I was here to discuss the raptor program for Dr. Geller.”

“Yes, I realized that earlier. However, I was hoping to discuss something else.” Rose leaned back as the waitress and several helpers delivered their food to the table. “I was hoping to discuss you.”

“I can’t imagine why.” Shaking my head, I leaned back so the waitress could set my plate in front of me. “Thank you.”

“Do you know much about Lilaria?” Rose took a sip from her glass before picking up her fork and knife. “We’re a small but proud country.”

“No, I can’t say I know much about your homeland.”

“Let me tell you a bit about it. We control a rather large portion of Europe’s oil resources, which brings a great deal of wealth to our citizens, but it also brings trouble. In the late eighteen hundreds, a royal family of the name Malatar felt it was time for a change; however, they didn’t want an outright war. You see, they didn’t have many supporters. The country was flourishing and the people were happy.” Rose looked at the waitress, who seemed to be taking longer than needed to deliver Alex’s plate. With annoyance, I realized she was buttering his roll while pushing her cle**age into his face. I don’t know why I cared, but it bothered me. Here we were trying to have an important conversation and this chick was acting like a dog in heat. He didn’t look exactly happy about it, but also looked like he wasn’t sure how to stop it without a fuss.

When the waitress stood up with a smile on her face, I pushed my dinner roll in her direction. “What exceptional service the Parallel offers. Thank you.” The waitress’s eyebrows pulled together, but there wasn’t much she could do. Taking the butter knife off my dish, she slathered the roll with butter and set it back on the plate.

“I haven’t seen bread buttered that well in a long time.” I smiled at her sweetly and heard Alex chuckle. The waitress turned around and stormed away. I narrowed my eyes at Alex. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe you should practice telling people to leave you alone. I thought she was going to maul you.”

“Occupational hazard. If I’m rude, there’s a story in the paper about me mistreating the staff. If I do nothing, it could go either way.” He raised an eyebrow. His words made me narrow my eyes; I was obviously not cut out for diplomacy. I was also a little surprised he had decided to explain it to me. “But thank you for stepping in. I was afraid to breathe or I might fall into her shirt.”

“No problem.” I shook my head and looked back at Rose, who was watching us. “You were telling me about the family trying to take over.”

“Yes. Well, they didn’t have much support, so began going after the royal families they thought would put up the most resistance. Several royal families died in bizarre accidents and that’s when everyone became nervous. There was a lot of anger and finger-pointing, but no hard evidence. Our family was left with no way to legally arrest the traitors.” Her sigh was laced with frustration. It was obviously something that had caused her relatives a great deal of stress. “Eventually, some of the families felt threatened enough to leave the country. At times with no notice, leaving everything behind like they would be back any day.” Rose leaned forward, her keen eyes brightening. “One of the largest families to leave was that of Duke Rousseau.”

I was glad I didn’t have anything in my mouth, because I was pretty sure I would have spit it out on the table. “You think I’m part of his family?”

“I know you are part of his family.” Rose’s grin was victorious. “My sister, the queen, has been searching for all the families for years in hopes of bringing them home. We’ve traced your family all the way back to the day they set sail from the French coast for America.”

I sat there for a minute, completely unable to form a coherent thought. Images of my mother passed before my eyes. Snippets of conversation repeated themselves. I knew that at one point my family had come from money, but my great-grandfather had gambled most of it away. Then there was the fact that my family had supposedly run. Run away and deserted our homeland. I felt sick. Confused.