At eight she was again at the Pentagon, seated at the end of a long table with the same six men as before. They explained that she was to marry an American and crown him king.
Aria did not let her horror show. It seemed that these Americans believed they could ask anything of her. Patiently, she tried to explain why an American husband was an impossibility. “My husband will be prince consort and no American has a kingdom to unite with mine.”
“You have the ‘kingdom’ of America,” one man said sarcastically.
“It cannot be done,” she answered with less patience. “I am engaged to be married. My people would not like my breaking my engagement, nor will my grandfather, the king.” She was sure that would end the matter but it did not. A Congressman Smith began to explain to her an utterly preposterous plan.
“If we switch you with the imposter without first knowing who set this whole thing up, your life could be in danger. You make one error and you’re a dead duck.”
“Duck?”
“Dead princess, then. We have to find out who tried to kill you and who doesn’t want America to have the vanadium. It had to be someone close to you.”
Aria didn’t respond to that but she knew the man was right. She tried to control the blood she could feel leaving her face. It was no use telling them her cousin was the imposter because she knew quite well that Cissy was not the instigator. Cissy was a nervous, easily frightened weakling, and if she was acting in Aria’s place, it was because someone else was telling her what to do and how to do it.
“We have a few things going for us,” said a large, gray-haired man with a chestful of medals. “First of all, they have no idea you’re alive, so they won’t be looking for you.”
“So here’s the plan we’ve come up with,” said another man. “We let the imposter princess finish her tour, return to Lanconia, then we take her. At the same time you will appear in Lanconia and we figure someone will approach you to take the place of the missing princess.”
“That way we can find out who engineered the switch,” Congressman Smith said.
General Brooks cleared his throat. “The only catch is that you will have to be an American with an American husband.”
Aria wasn’t sure she was understanding. They were going too fast for her. “But I am not an American. How will they think I am American?”
“We’ll teach you.”
“But why?” she gasped. Suddenly, she just wanted to go home. She was tired of strange food, of strange customs, of using a language she had to think about before every word. She was tired of people acting as if she were a spy and maids who cursed her because she wanted her hose put on. She was tired of dealing with things and people that she did not understand. Desperately, she wanted to go home.
General Brooks took her hand and squeezed it and she didn’t pull away. “If we take the imposter princess and then you show up talking as you do, walking as you do, eating cookies with a knife and fork, the men who first tried to kill you are going to do it again—but this time they may succeed. We want to create a need for another woman who looks like you, then we hand them an American who they’ll probably want to train to be a princess.”
“Train me to be a princess?” The absurdity of that statement brought her out of her homesickness.
General Brooks smiled at her but the others watched with faces of great seriousness.
Aria decided she had better try to comprehend their plan. “I am to learn to be an American and then learn to be a princess?”
“Think you can do it?” Congressman Smith snapped.
She looked down her nose at him. “I shall do quite well at the princess impersonation.”
All the men except Congressman Smith laughed.
“But I do not need an American husband for this,” Aria said. Perhaps if she went along with part of their plan, they would forget the more ridiculous aspects.
General Lyons leaned forward. “The fact is, the only way we’re willing to risk our necks for you is if you put an American on the throne beside you. If you don’t agree, you can walk out that door and we’ve never heard of you.”
She took a moment to respond. They could not be serious. “But I have agreed to give you the vanadium.”
Congressman Smith looked at her and his eyes were cold. “The trut
h is, we want more. The vanadium is for now, during the war. We want military bases in Lanconia after the war. We want a place where we can keep an eye on Germany and Russia.”
“If you win this war,” Aria said, some of her growing anger showing. “If Germany wins, then Lanconia will have an American prince consort—an enemy.” She had to protect her own country.
“We won’t lose and he’s to be made king,” Congressman Smith said in a cold, cutting voice.
“I cannot—” Aria began, but closed her mouth. They asked so much. They asked for diplomatic sacrifices and military sacrifices as well as personal sacrifices. She looked at her hands. But if she didn’t agree, what did she have? America was the strangest place she had ever encountered and to have to live here forever…