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It's been almost a month since they left England and Eleanor and Liam are still trying to settle into their new reality.
They're somewhere in the wilds of Russia - God knows where exactly because Jasper won't tell them and they have no car or computer to try and attempt to figure it out exactly for themselves.
They don't know how Jasper acquired the use of the cabin they're staying in and whether his means were legal or illegal. Most likely dubious, Eleanor suspects.
Its been ten days since they last saw the American when he came back with provisions and a book called 'Learn to speak Russian' which he ungraciously dumped on the table, telling them they both needed to read it. Then he announced he's been working a job in the city for the past week, and then promptly disappeared again.
Of course a leopard never changes his spots so when he was back he tried to get her into bed again. Three times to be precise, but she's managed to resist his charms, which turned out to be more difficult done than said. But whichever way she looks at it, she's not willing to screw someone who was involved in her father and brother's death, whether directly or indirectly through inaction.
She would like to think that with time, their deaths get less painful. But at night, with only herself for comfort, she still cries herself to sleep, remembering that she was part of a family of five, and now only her and her brother remain, thousands of miles from their home with no hope of return in the near future.
Out here she has no drugs, and only the meagre cigarettes the American provides her with. Aside from that there's the odd glass of cheap Vodka. It's not cold at least - because it's still summer, but she knows that come winter this place will be bitterly cold and they may not be able to go outside for months at a time.
For want of something to do, she does her best to attempt to learn Russian, which is far from easy, and she and Liam test each other on a new chapter each day. She also goes walking on the plain in front of them, but never in the woods which hold too many memories. And she contemplates her life, depressed at the thought that this may be all she ever has, all she ever knows - that she might grow old and die here with no one ever knowing.
Jasper's quickly formed the opinion that come winter Samara's going to be hell.
Russia's new elite generally operates outside the short, squat arm of the Russian law, and they require protection. And he needs money.
So it was only a matter of days before he found himself a job providing protection for a 'business associate' of the Russian mafia.
The job pays well and in summer the city of Samara's not too bad, it sits on the banks of the Volga River and has some pretty older buildings, some good pubs and the rents not too expensive.
So in August in spite of the fact that his Russian is limited, the city is ok as a place to be. But come late October everything will start to freeze over and stay that way for nearly six months and he has plans to be out of here well before then.
He reasons with himself that he's done the right thing here - for once in his life. He got the Prince and Princess out of England with their lives, and he's set them up in a humble cabin his boss owns. What exactly the cabin is needed for Jasper hasn't asked but he suspects its the first place people are sent to contemplate their debts, with the next stop being the bottom of the Volga river. He's even drawn the line at extorting the Princess for sex again in exchange for cigarettes, because he might be an asshole but he's not so much of an asshole that he's going to exploit her addictions when her father and brother have just been murdered in cold blood. This hasn't stopped him from trying to get her into bed - he still likes a challenge. But she is stubbornly having none of it, apparently, and he thinks he's nearly ready to pack it all in and head home for America.
There's not much news coming out of Britain and what he does hear doesn't inspire him to think the Royal family might be restored anytime soon.
True to form, the military puts it out that the Royals and the Cabinet were murdered by anti democracy protesters, their new term for anyone who protests against economic reforms.
When Jasper reads in the small print of a English language Russian paper that America has signed a $230 million arms deal with Britain, suddenly everything falls into place.
America has been negotiating an arms deal with the General which would see a significant expansion in the British military. And on the other side of the pond more money in the deep pockets of the US armament industry.
Whatever noises his country may make publicly about restoring democracy are just that - noise - and they're willing to turn a blind eye to the crimes the General perpetrates to establish his rule, including the murder of the Royal family. And the crimes will most likely keep coming under a new military dictatorship armed to its teeth.
But Jasper's already decided that he's done his best for the Royal twins and they're no longer his responsibility - thank god. There's just a final few things to do, which he'll have to sort out with the former Prince and Princess.
He arrives back at the cabin on a Saturday morning, and announces that they're going to need some form of income and that's going to come from what's hanging around the Princesses neck and arms. And on her ears.
He tells her to take off her necklace and bracelet and earrings. She complies, but ungraciously, dumping them on the table.
He examines them carefully.
"I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure this is 24 carat gold and the diamonds are real," he looks up and announces as two sets of eyes look back at him expectantly.
Eleanor rolls her eyes, "I am a real Princess you know so of course I'd wear real diamonds. We're not some tinpot little monarchy. My family have reigned for nearly a thousand years."
Jasper shrugs. "You never know someone could have needed money and pulled a sleight of hand by exchanging them for fake ones. It's happened before. Could be a new house or designer clothes, or drugs," he adds giving the Princess a look.
"Hey," she bites back resentfully. "I fund my drugs from my own income not from selling the family silver."
Jasper raises an eyebrow, "Taxpayer funded income, I presume," he replies.
Eleanor glares at him, then falls silent. It's typical of him to hit the nail on the head without even trying.
"So now both of you are going to need some income to pay for your groceries and necessities - which apparently include things like drugs and designer clothes," he pauses and gives the Princess another look.
"You can take that self righteous look of your face," Eleanor interrupts him, "I'm off the drugs now. And I don't require couturier fashion anymore. High end daywear will suffice," she declares.
Jasper smirks briefly, "so I propose that I arrange to sell the Princesses jewellery which should fetch a tidy sum to keep you both comfortable for some time."
Eleanor and Liam glance at each other for a moment.
"Ok then, I agree," Eleanor says, graciously. "I don't need the jewellery but we both need to eat."
Liam takes off his Rolex and adds it into the jewellery pile in front of them. "You can add that to the estate sale," he tells Jasper decisively.
"Good," Jasper leans back in his chair and flexes his hands. "So then the other business we need to take care of is the Princess," Jasper declares.
"What do you mean take care of me?" Eleanor asks, immediately suspicious. "Do you mean take care of me as in I'll be found floating upside down in the river one day?"
"No I mean take care of you so that you won't be found floating upside down in the river," Jasper informs her. "Or kidnapped by Russian criminals. Or reported to the authorities as an illegal immigrant."
"But why are you picking on me here?" Eleanor asks, frowning. "Isn't Liam just as at risk of having these things happen to him?" she questions.
"Liam is most at risk from you. And you're more of a risk to yourself," Jasper abruptly gets up and pours himself a glass of vodka.
"I am no such thing-" Eleanor starts hotly.
"The both of you need to be able to live here without arousing suspicion," Jasper interrupts. "You need to be able to go out in public unnoticed and blend in with the locals," Jasper tells both of them, looking from one to the other.
"Liam can get by looking like a relatively normal person," Jasper says and leans forward and takes a swill of his drink. "But you Princess," he says pointing his finger at her, "are every inch the Princess and it's going to get you in trouble here."
"Yeah, you kind of are Lenny," Liam agrees, cocking his head to the side. "I mean the way you sit, and walk and talk is not like a normal person. I'm not saying I blame you. I guess it was that deportment madam Mum brought it to train you when you were seven and all the stuff Mum and Grandma shoved down your throat when you were young," he says.
Jasper speaks up again, "so somehow over the next week or two we're going to have to deprincessify you so you can go out in public and not arouse suspicion. We'll start now and carry on next weekend when I'm back again."
"Stand up," Jasper orders her.
Eleanor looks at him resentfully. Those were the exact words he used when he screwed her for cigarattes the first time. She wonders if he is deliberately trying to provoke her in front of Liam because he knows she won't raise that particular incident with him present.
After a moment's hesitation she complies, rising gracefully to her feet.
Jasper looks back at her frowning. Even the way she gets up screams some sort of aristocratic blood but he can't tackle everything in one day. He has bigger fish to fry.
"Wave your hand at me," Jasper instructs, because this is the first thing on his hit list.
Her hand moves only from the wristing in some kind of swirling motion which is nothing like a normal wave.
"No," he announces. "That's definitely not a wave, that's some kind of Royal deviant swirl."
"My grandmother taught me how to do that and she says it stems from the hand gesture the Kings used to pardon people who had committed crimes," Eleanor tells him, sounding offended.
"Well, a fat lot of use that's going to be now," Jasper says rudely. "This is how you wave," he motions his hand. "Now you try it. Liam too," he instructs. He's not sure whether this deviant wave has infected the whole family.
Both of them stand there copying his movements for a few minutes until he's satisfied they've mastered something everyone else in Britain did at two.
"Fine," he says, moving on. "Now we're going to practice getting out of a car. Come outside," he orders. "Liam you've already got this," he tells him, having seen Liam manage to exit a car like any normal person.
"Now get in the backseat and show me how you get out of the car," he instructs Eleanor.
Eleanor gets into the car and sits waiting.
"Are you going to open the door for me?," she asks, puzzled.
Jasper rolls his eyes, "No Princess I'm not going to open the door for you because normal people don't employ footmen to follow them around and open their doors."
"That's actually normally the drivers job. Or my bodyguard," she corrects him.
"Yeah whatever," he replies, rudely. "Anyway the doors not going to open itself while we're having this conversation."
She takes the hint to stop arguing and start exiting the vehicle and appears to have mastered finding the handle and pushing as she gives it a push and then steps both feet onto the floor, slides and stands up cleanly. Her movements are exactly like some Hollywood starlet carefully exiting a limo and nothing like how most people would approach the task at hand.
Jasper sighs and steps into the car. "Yeah can we try it like this," he says demonstrating placing his feet out the door, sliding and getting out in one smooth motion.
Eleanor's watching him carefully. "You know you didn't even check to see if there's a puddle of water on the ground before you stepped out. You would have ruined an expensive dress if you were wearing one," she chides.
Jasper rolls his eyes. He's not even getting into why on earth he would possibly be wearing a designer evening dress in this scenario. All he knows is that they have a lot more learnings to get through and its clearly going to be a long day.
Jasper has to return to the city the next morning but he's back the following weekend. He's placed the Princesses jewels with a Berlin jeweller for anonymous sale and he's confident they'll get a good price.
He spends a couple of hours with the Princess teaching her how to meet and greet people without appearing as if she were hosting a Royal garden party, then he moves onto visiting a store, something she rarely, if ever does herself, but which Liam seems to have done quite often in his old life. He seriously doesn't think he can stomach attempting to teach her to drive. Liam will have to be the one behind the wheel for the safety of the Russian public.
Liam and Jasper are sitting at the dining table, and Jasper is grilling him on Russian phrases, with Liam holding up his own end of the conversation admirably.
After a few minutes Eleanor exits the bathroom and heads for the kitchen, and Liam takes a look at her face.
"Lenny's ill. She needs to see a doctor," Liam announces, frowning. He starting to get concerned about her.
Eleanor has frozen to the spot. She turns away from them to put the kettle on and make tea. "I'm fine," she protests, not turning around to look at either of them. He hears the cups rattle in her hand as she makes tea.
"You're not fine," Liam argues. "Yesterday you looked terrible and you're not much better this morning."
Jasper has stopped flipping the pages of the Russian phrasebook and is suddenly still. Yesterday morning he'd thought nothing of it when she'd fled into the bathroom and locked herself in there for half an hour and emerged looked pale and drained. By lunchtime she was looking like herself again and he'd assuming it was a passing tummy bug or perhaps something she'd eaten.
But this morning she'd done the exact same thing. She probably thought he hadn't noticed but he was a spy after all. He was trained to notice everything and he had a fair idea what this behaviour meant.
Liam's too clueless to work it out, but then of course he hasn't had the opportunity to count the weeks and do the math like he has.
Of course he could be wrong. But if his suspicions are correct, it occurs to him that this will change everything. Because he's not sure he can simply up and leave Russia right now. And if he's right then the Royal blood lingers on in not just the Prince and the Princess, but in her child which is also very likely his child.
And with it the threat that that poses to both their lives.