CHAPTER ONE
‘GIVEN YOU’VE NOT BOTHERED to reply to any earlier messages, don’t bother coming back at all.’
Jade Monroyale shivered as that stern dismissal echoed in her head, but for once in her life she was going to disobey a direct order. She strode along the Manhattan pavement in her travel-stale clothes, masking her nerves as she wheeled the one small suitcase she’d been able to bring with her. The number of people heading to work was amazing, given it was still very early and so cold her fingers and toes were numb. She’d have loved a hot shower, but, having heard that message only an hour ago, she’d known she had no time to waste. She had to get to the office and fix things.
‘Don’t bother.’
His low tone had been underlined by an edge of danger. Authoritative and uncompromising, his anger had been barely leashed. Jade knew that kind of man well—impatient, dismissive, arrogant. But there’d been another frisson in his voice—a passion that had alarmed her more than the accusation had.
Navigating the subway had been something else. She’d run her sister’s MetroCard the wrong way a few times before figuring it out. Swiping cards through machines ought to be something anyone could do but, as Queen of a prosperous, albeit small, European country, Jade Monroyale had never carried either cash or cards before. Her father had deemed it unnecessary given destiny dictated her future. She was ‘different’, she had a ‘rare duty’...and he’d ensured she never forgot it. But now she felt a very different duty. Her twin needed her help.
‘Juno? This is Alvaro Byrne.’
He’d introduced himself brusquely as he’d left the last of the many messages on Juno’s phone. A couple of workmates and her immediate manager had left several, but Alvaro Byrne—the CEO himself—had left just that last one.
Juno, Jade’s younger sister by a mere two minutes, had lived here in New York for more than a decade, the identical twins separated by much more than their parents’ traumatic divorce. But for the first time Jade was in a position to be able to help Juno. She was not having her sister’s job lost because of a lapse in communication. Her twin hadn’t been able to respond to those calls because she’d been travelling. She hadn’t even heard them. Jade was so glad Juno didn’t understand the degree to which her job was in peril. And if Jade could finesse it, she need never know. All Jade had to do was pull off this impersonation to perfection...
Yes, their twin switch was crazy—especially considering they’d not been together for years and knew so little of each other’s daily lives—but it was worth the risk. Juno desperately needed time in Monrova. While Jade?
Finally, for just a few weeks, she’d be free.
Until last night, Jade had barely left her home. As she was the only heir her father had acknowledged in recent years, there could be no risk of them both being in an accident. So they’d never travelled together. Jade had been strictly limited in where she could go, what she could do. Her entire life had been spent preparing for the role she was destined to fulfil. She’d studied several languages, history, geography, absorbed political and diplomatic theory, mastered manners and etiquette and, most of all, emotional control. She’d learned never to let fear or hurt or anger show—for, according to her father, a monarch must remain impassive in public. That was absolute.
Pretty ironic given that, behind that pretty palace facade, her parents’ separation had been so acrimonious and bitter that they’d forced Jade and Juno apart when they were only eight. Jade, as firstborn, had remained with her father to be groomed as future Queen, while Juno had been sent to the United States with her mother. It was a decision Jade still struggled to forgive, even all these years later. She’d been forbidden to see her mother again. And their authoritarian father had disapproved of their mother’s more permissive parenting style and the defiance that an independent Juno wasn’t afraid to display when she was allowed to visit for holidays that were too brief. Finally, in the summer in which they’d turned sixteen, Juno had stormed from their father’s autocratic displeasure in Monrova, never to return.
‘I expect my employees to be team players and to value their colleagues.’
Alvaro Byrne’s stinging rebuke had stopped Jade in her tracks. Juno had suffered enough thanks to one unforgiving man, Jade wasn’t letting it happen again. Especially not for something so minor. No one was as loyal as Juno, and this jerk hadn’t even given her the chance to explain.
In the past Jade’s only act of defiance had been to stay in touch with Juno after that last fight, despite her father’s ever-looming disapproval. A month before they’d turned eighteen their mother had passed, leaving Juno alone and isolated miles away. Jade had been prevented from going to the funeral and unable to offer any real comfort and Juno had made it clear she had no desire to return to Monrova. Jade had learned to bypass the Internet security wall that had previously stopped her from seeing her sister’s social media postings and they’d video conferenced when they could. Juno had regaled her with tales of her life as the media-dubbed ‘Rebel Princess’ in New York...
But Juno still hadn’t come back when their father had died just a year ago. And while her choice had saddened Jade, she’d understood that some things were so painful they were impossible to overcome...or at least, took a long, long time. So Juno’s surprise visit to Monrova at the weekend had been the best thing ever. And her suggestion of a three-week twin-switch?
Yes, it absolutely was crazy. But Juno needed time in her own country—she needed time to understand the heritage and the life that had been denied her.
And yes, there was a selfish element to Jade’s ready agreement. For Jade to have just a little time to herself and live like a ‘normal’ person with relative anonymity? To experience a few of those freedoms that only a city like New York could offer? To have time to herself before fulfilling her late father’s last wish? And Christmas—an actual special, even if alone, Christmas. She’d barely been able to admit it even to herself, but the chance to experience life a little more ‘normal’ had been irresistible.
‘How could you just ignore their calls?’
There was that emotive edge in Alvaro Byrne’s tone that had scalded Jade. It seemed her ‘little more normal’ now included dealing with Juno’s irate boss at work. She was determined to defuse this situation. Duty—responsibility—was everything and right now she was responsible for Juno’s reputation.
Jade had her own challenging choice ahead. She would do anything for her country—even marry the man her father had decided would be the best match for her politically. Since his death, her advisors had unanimously insisted that the marriage was still the best course of action for both Monrova and for Queen Jade herself. If it was, then of course she would do it. But Juno had been horrified that Jade was even considering marriage to King Leonardo of Severene—the neighbouring nation—and she’d wanted to give Jade space to consider everything. Juno had handed over her phone, passport, passwords...and Jade had been swept along by her twin’s insistence and enthusiastic assurance that they could pull this off.