She was good and kind and stupidly gullible when it finally mattered, but I’ll come to that. She was noble. Not noble as in fine and upstanding, alt...ough she was that too, but noble as in nobly born, the younger daughter of a prince who had no kingdom left to inherit. Our world was assimilated by the Empire when I was a little child and that’s when my father died, fighting a hopeless battle against starships ten times as powerful as our best, flying his solo spacer straight into one of them. We passed to the east of Bordeaux, still heading south.I had no plan yet. I wanted distance from Paris. Being on the road may have been riskier than hiding namelessly in a city, but I found comfort in the constant movement, running - action being better than inaction when threatened.Clouds gathered in the distance and rolled towards us. As a spring rain shower hit, I finally spoke.“Did your father tell you he was in danger when he visited?”Callie shook her head.“Did he tell you anything? Give. Contents: Preface Chapter 1. Rude Awakening Chapter 2. Let Me Introduce Myself Chapter 3. Strange Yearnings Chapter 4. You Should Have been Riding The same Trains As Me Chapter 5. Memories Of A Good Girl Guide Chapter 6. My Second Girl Guide Badge Chapter 7. My Life As A Fresher Stripped Bare Chapter 8. My Cumming Of Age At University Chapter 9. Confessions Of A Young Married Woman Chapter 10. Walking The Dog, Hotels & Flying Chapter 11. A Night On A Training Course Chapter 12. My Exhibitionism. Well, twice. But I was pretty sure that the evidence of a shared secret might be enough to make my parents suspicious. And the last thing I needed was to be fending off two offended parents. I was old enough that they couldn’t do anything about it, but Robby was old enough for them to blatantly discourage the relationship in front of both of us. And then there was the little problem of not knowing if we had a relationship at all. A quick screw in the corner hardly counted as ‘dating.’ I heard.