Free The Last in Line (The Royal Inheritance Series Book 1) by Evie Banks Page B

really want to take it, but knew it was important to remember the good times. Roots were important, she was discovering. She was deliberating over a bag of sweaters when Chase, who had been busy making a series of phone calls, came over.
    “It’s almost time. Do you really need those? We can supplement whatever you need later.”
    Renee began throwing clothes into a suitcase and in the end, took a box of personal documents and albums, a bag filled with a few of her favorite Cassandra items, and her father’s box. She could sort through the box later, but she felt it needed to remain with her.
    Cassandra’s door creaked open. Two large duffel bags and a backpack stuffed to the point of bursting, lay at her feet. Her face was blotchy from crying, but she bent down to heave one of the duffel bags over her shoulder.
    “Allow me,” said Chase gently and picked up both of the duffel bags in one hand as if they weighed nothing. “Will Her Majesty be alright pulling her own suitcase?” he said over his shoulder to Renee.
    Cassandra’s eyes popped open at hearing her mother called “Her Majesty,” but Renee knew the correct thing to say was, “Yes, thank you, Mr. Chase.”
    Cassandra followed Chase, wide eyed, down to where the taxi waited in the street. Renee lingered for a moment in the quiet apartment while Roberts waited at the door. She scribbled a note to Ray and included some papers for him that he needed to sign. She didn’t know if he would come back the next day or a month from now, but sealed the envelope and left it on the entry table where he would see it. With fear, but also excitement, she closed the door, pocketing the key as if to assure herself that she could always come back if she chose to.
    Renee had never flown before, much less flown in a private jet. It was the only flight taking off from the small airport outside of Farland that mostly serviced crop dusters and personal hobby planes. Cassandra, despite her sullenness, couldn’t hide her excitement from her first plane ride and plastered her face against the window. Whether she kept it there for the whole of the trip, Renee didn’t know because as soon as they were airborne, Renee’s head lolled against her shoulder. The last two days—actually, it was the last three weeks of Ray walking out and her working double shifts—had been exhausting. She didn’t wake up until Chase gently shook her shoulder to tell her the plane was landing. Renee remained awake enough to let herself be led off the plane, into a waiting sedan, which drove through a maze of streets and buildings and lights, and finally to a hotel and an expansive bed—the largest she had ever seen. She barely had enough strength to crawl under the white comforter, still fully dressed, and glance at the clock before her eyes closed: 3:30 am.
    Someone turned out the light and thought she heard Chase’s voice say a quiet, “Goodnight, Mrs. Krebs,” but it might have been a dream. She wished he would stop calling her that, she thought sleepily. It was her last thought for the next nine hours.

 
    CHAPTER SEVEN
    “WAKE UP!”
    A body hurdled across the room and landed with a thud next to Renee’s head. Renee jerked awake and instinctively reached for the bat under the bed. It wasn’t there.
    “Go away,” said Renee and buried her head back in the pillow. She’d been having an amazing dream. Someone had told her she was a queen and needed to move to England.
    “Get up, Mom. It’s almost one o’clock, time for lunch. Roberts says no monarch since Charles II has ever been so crass as to sleep in until tea time.”
    Renee moaned. It was true. The queen thing. There was a moment of panic and confusion before she realized she wasn’t at home. She wasn’t even in Texas. She untangled herself from sheets and a heavy blanket to find Cassandra bouncing next to her.
    “You don’t even know what ‘crass’ means,” she said, hitting Cassandra with a pillow.
    “Neither do you. Hurry