THE FÜHRER'S DAUGHTER

THE FÜHRER'S DAUGHTER (Episode 1) Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

HEART HAMMERING IN HER CHEST, Grace gave no thought to anything else but what she must now do. Her confirmation as regent was in less than a week, her rehearsal dinner and speech in thirty minutes—How could she possibly be thinking of this?

None of her earthly possession mattered now that those she treasured most—her parents—were not what she thought they’d been. As she opened her backpack, the only criteria for what to bring was, what can’t I live without?

With precision and efficiency, she stuffed essential clothes and other belongings inside. The framed picture on her nightstand caught her eye—herself, standing with Mother and Father, posed outside the Volkshalle in Berlin. They all looked so happy at the time. We were all happy then. She pushed the frame facedown.

Lies, nothing but lies.

A subtle knock came on the door. Startled, Grace shoved the backpack under her bed and crept near the door.

“Who is it?” she said, feigning a pleasant tone.

“It’s me—Miles.”

“Go away,” she hissed. “I’m in bed.”

“That why your light’s still on?”

“I turned it on because you knocked.”

“We have to talk. It’s important.”

She cracked the door open. “What is it?”

“Can I come in?”

She grabbed him by the sleeve, and pulled him into the room. “What is it?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready for your reception, Miss Grace?”

“I’m not feeling well,” she said, combing through her hair with her fingers. “Think I’ll just go to bed.”

“All that racket you were making? Sounded to me like you were gettin’ ready to go somewhere.”

With her eyes, she gave him and urgent plea. “You have to leave now. If somebody finds out I spoke with you tonight, it’ll be very bad for you.”

“That so?”

“Miles, I just found out some things about my paren—I can’t even call them that anymore.”

“Miss Grace?”

She blinked and regained her sense of urgency “I just don’t want anything to happen to you once I’m gone.”

“Gone? So you are going somewhere.”

“Which is exactly why I wanted you to leave two minutes ago. Just knowing this puts you at risk.” She knelt down, pulled her backpack out, and dropped it on the bed. “I’ve got to hurry.”

All the innocence left him, his demeanor grew stark. “Grace, listen—”

“No, you listen to me!” She swallowed the sob that nearly escaped her throat. Tears welled up in her eyes. “The more you know, the more danger you’ll be in.”

He leaned against the door and stroked his chin. “Truth is, you’ve been the one in the most danger, when you didn’t know the truth.”

“What?”

“And now that you know what the Führer’s going to do, you’re in the greatest danger of all.”

Mouth agape, Grace asked, “How did you—?”

“This has all been planned for a long time now. And tonight’s the night you’ve got to escape. Now, I’m your only chance of doing that.”

She grabbed the locket she found in the archives and crammed it into her bag. “Wait, how do you know all this? Did you—?”

“You know because you were destined to know.”

“Wait a minute—”

“We’re running out of time, Grace. If we’re going to make it out alive, we need to hurry.”

“Miles…”

“Any way you can sneak out and meet me outside the back entrance to the palace gates in five minutes?”

“Yes, but—wait, what do you mean we?”

“You didn’t think I was just gonna let you go alone, now did you?”

“I don’t understand.”

“We have to move, now.”

She slung the backpack over her shoulders, took a step forward, then stopped. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know what to believe, who to trust.”

“Who’s the one person in your life right now that hasn’t lied to you?”

She forced a smile. “I’ll see you in five minutes.”

Miles slipped out the door without making a sound.

Just as she was about to leave, she grabbed a novel off her bookshelf. The Count of Monte Cristo—one of her favorites. But she wasn’t bringing it along to re-read it. There was another reason. A photograph buried in the middle of the book depicted a mother, a father and their baby. It was just like the one she found in the archives. The joy on their faces frozen in that moment beguiled her. Who were these people? And why was this picture in the palace? She slipped it back into the book and stuffed it into her bag.

This was it.

She would never return.

One final look: The proud red, white and black Nazi flag hanging on the far wall, the gown on her bed that she would never wear, and the photo of the false life she’d once known lying face down on the nightstand.

She switched off the lights.

Goodbye.

Grace had sneaked out of her room often enough to know where the trouble spots were on the wooden steps. A creak or two might alert one of the guards. Ordinarily it wouldn’t be a concern, but tonight it was life or death.

Holding her breath, she navigated the steps.

Slowly.

Carefully.

Downstairs and through the hall, a pair of guards murmured in the distance.

Despite her caution, she missed a step, and took a short tumble to the foot of the stairs.

Her palms slapped the marble.

At the sound, the guards turned around, spotted her. “Fräulein Grace?”

She gasped, clambered to her feet.

They began to run over to her.

Looking to the left, then the right, Grace took off.

“Stop!”

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