by J. J. McAvoy
Feeling my eyes burn, I turned around and used my body to block the window, but it didn’t help. I could hear his cries, and so, the tears came down anyway. Normally, I hated how easily I came to tears, but when I saw Thelma—the bear, the female warrior of warriors—standing across from me and towering over me, with eyes glazed over as well, it made it easier for me to let the tears fall.
How did this happen?
How did everything go so wrong?
Why her?
Why?
Hearing the doors open to my left, I cleaned my eyes and stood straighter as Iskandar came inside. He said something to Thelma, who only nodded before coming to me. Well, not to me, to the door.
“I need to speak with him,” he said softly.
“Does this look like a good time?” I snapped.
He shook his head. “But when will be a good time?”
I didn’t know. But I still didn’t want to step aside.
“You did well by being there,” he added. “You saved her life. Like a true guard.”
Any other day I would have smiled. “Thank God I stayed in the adjacent hall to watch instead of taking my day off. Being a nosy worrywart paid off for once.”
“Yes, it did. Just not now as I do need to speak to him, Wolfgang.”
“They should at least have more time together—” The door behind me opened, cutting me off and forcing me to step out of the way. When I looked at him, I couldn’t read his face. It was void of everything—even anger.
“What happened?” Gale demanded.
“One hundred percent pure peanut abstract was added to her soup—only hers.”
I inhaled and clenched my fists. I didn’t want to believe it. It was absurd for me to think it was any more than an accident. But she— she was—
“Someone poisoned her,” Gale stated instead.
“I believe so, sir.”
“So, we are back to poisoning royals?” he muttered to Iskandar, slowly putting his arms behind his back. “Bring the car. I’m going back to the palace.”
“Yes, sir.” Iskandar was already getting his phone out.
Confused, I stepped forward. “You’re leaving, sir?”
He turned to me and nodded once more. “You saved her life, Wolfgang. Thank you.”
“I did what anyone would have done had they known—”
“Apparently, not,” he interrupted and looked over at Thelma, who stepped forward. “No one but her doctors, our family, and Wolfgang may enter her room. No. One.”
“Yes, sir.”
“The car is waiting at the private entrance, sir,” Iskandar stated.
“Keep watching over her, Wolfgang.” It was the last thing he said before leaving. And I was a little baffled he’d waited for so long only to leave so quickly.
“He’s going to kill them,” Thelma spoke up.
I looked at her. “What?”
“He’s leaving because he can’t do anything for her here,” she explained. “He’s going back. He’s calm because he’s on a mission to find and kill them for this.”
I hoped she meant “kill” as a figure of speech.
But then again, I sort of didn’t.
The shift in him was clear.
When we arrived back at the palace, he didn’t speak to the guests, who were still held in the great dining hall. He did not go to his study or chambers. He entered the Chamber of Kings, where all their portraits hung going back over three hundred years. Yet he did not look at them but out the window at the palace gates.
“Gale!”
I bowed to the queen as she ran inside with Princess Eliza running in behind her.
“I was just informed of Odette. Thank God—”
“Thank Wolfgang,” he said, not bothering to look at her. “Did you know she was pregnant, Mother?”
“I didn’t. I questioned Gelula, and she said they suspected this morning, but Odette took a test late this afternoon, and it was negative.”
I did my best not to listen, moving to exit.
“I did not dismiss you, Iskandar.” His voice was so sharp it reminded me of Prince Arthur, so I returned to where I was standing.
“Gale, we will figure out what happened, but we need to open the palace for the guests to leave. Gossip is spreading by the minute—”
“No one is leaving, Mother,” he declared, looking at her. “Not until the police and Iskandar get a full account from each of them.”
“Gale, that will take hours. It is better—”
“I am not asking for your permission,” he replied coldly.
Queen Elspeth only stared at him, eyes wide.
“In the event of an emergency, the palace locks down, and the king’s supreme authority determines the course of action. If the king is not present, the Adelaar has that authority. If the Adelaar is not yet of age, there shall be regent. I am of age, so I shall do as I see fit. And I see fit that everyone is questioned—even you. Yes, I know it is not you, but even you will be questioned because I declare everyone will be. After that, then they may leave. They came to the palace to see the monarchy. Now, they shall see one. You and Eliza will stay together—do not eat anything or talk to anyone else until I give the word.”
“What of Sophia?”
“I said you and Eliza for a reason.” He did not clarify further. Then he turned to me. “You start with the kitchen staff and allow the police to do the other guests at dinner. Record their statements before releasing them. If it takes all night, then so be it. If they complain, remind them that at least they aren’t lying intubated in a hospital bed. I do not want to see you until you give me a name.”
“Yes, sir.” I bowed, stepping out into the hall.
Yes, there was a shift.
He was no longer playing the role of the future king.
He was being the king.
Chapter 27
“How can they keep playing it?” I asked my mom as we watched Odette choke on the screen. It was all the news had been playing for hours. It was on all social media and on every news channel here and abroad.
One of the worst nights of our lives, captured live on camera for all the world to see. Instead of cutting the feed, the cameramen kept rolling, zooming in to Odette’s terrified face before she collapsed as if this were some film and not a real person. But it wasn’t, and she was real, she was part of this family, our family, and someone...someone—
“Do you really think they did it on purpose?” I asked, looking at my mother, who sat still watching the coverage, only moving to change the channel when there was a commercial.
Ambrose had brought her tea to calm down, but she would not drink it.
“Mom?”
“You should go get some rest, sweetheart,” she finally said but didn’t look to me. “It’s already morning.”
It was, and the sunlight was fully in the room now. We’d been stuck in here for hours. I had no idea what was going on outside, rarely anyone coming inside.
“Gale said we should remain here.”
She paused, tilted her head as if she forgot. “Oh, right. Then lie down for a bit—”
“Mom, I’m not tired. I’m confused, worried. How could someone do this? It had to have been an accident—”
“Do you know your grandmother was the first queen not to carry around poison?” she stated randomly, finally turning to look at me. Her whole face crushed. “Before her, every other queen carried a small dose of poison on themselves, either in their jewelry or the lining of their clothes. Why? Just in case something ever happened—war, kidnapping, coup, revolution. Queens carried poison to either protect themselves or take their own lives. When I first heard that, I remember telling your grandmother, ‘Thank God, we have evolved. That the world is not like it once was.’ And do you know what she told me?”
“What?”
“We’re lying to ourselves if we think we have evolved that much.”
“So why did she stop carrying the poison?”
“Because t
he king ordered it. He said it projected fear, and he wanted his people to know he trusted them to keep him and this family safe. We stopped because we were told to stop, not because people became better or the world shifted,” she whispered. “So how could this happen, sweetheart? Easily. Bad people exist, and they hurt others, whether they are royalty or not. Sometimes, being royal is a bigger cause for others to hurt us. But we can’t show that because the public does not see that. They want to see our dress, our crowns, our ceremonies. They want the innocent fairy tale, not reality.”
I wasn’t sure what else to say to that. I looked at Ambrose. “Have you heard anything? From the hospital? Anything about what is happening in the palace?”
“Most of the guests have been able to return home this morning. The prime minister has sent his condolences.”
My mother coughed but did not say anything.
“Other than that, nothing, miss. Not even from the hospital.”
“What about Gale?”
“He was in his study, last I was told.”
I wanted to go to him, see what was happening, help in some way. Do something other than just sitting here and watching the news.
This was what I hated the most about being a princess. I was useless. I could save no one and do nothing but sit and wait.
I hated it.
“Do I get a trial, or will I simply be dragged out by my hair to the guillotine?” I asked, cleaning the lipstick from my mouth.
“Are you admitting to something, ma’am?” Iskandar, who once was Arthur’s loyal guard, asked me as he stood at my door, arms behind his back, all of him ridged as stone.
“I’ve already spoken to the police, Iskandar. I’m tired—”
“The Adelaar told me to remind anyone who complained that they should be thankful they are not intubated in a hospital bed. They did not lose a child today.”
I froze. It was as if ice were injected into my veins, and I looked all over his face to see if I had misheard, but his face was void of anything. “Child? What, child?”
“Miss Odette was pregnant. She lost the child due to last night’s events.”
My hand twitched with the urge to touch my stomach, but what would be the point? There was nothing there.
“Tell her...tell I am sorry for her loss.”
“Are you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Are you truly sorry, ma’am? Or is that why you did it. After what you endured.”
“Shut your mouth!” I slammed my arm on the vanity as I rose to my feet. “You will watch your tone with me, Iskandar!”
“My tone has never changed. However, you have not answered my question—”
“I have not answered because the question itself is repugnant!” I yelled, wanting to throw anything I could at his face. Why had Arthur liked a man like him? He could not help Gale; he was not family. But what made this, this robot worth trusting. “I did not poison her! I did not leak anything to anyone! I did nothing to that woman! How many times do I have to say it?”
“The only one who could have told the press about the Adelaar and Miss Odette’s wedding—”
“I did not. Yes, I knew. But I did not tell anyone! I would never betray Arthur! Never! Till the day I die, I will keep all of his memories and secrets. I said nothing to anyone who did not already know about Odette. That is the family. No one else alive other than you and Wolfgang knew. Everyone else was on that damn plane with him. They said nothing. I was too busy mourning,” I whispered, slowly sinking back down into my chair. “How did everything go so wrong, Iskandar? This wasn’t the plan. Arthur had such good plans for everyone. None of this would have happened if he was still here. No one would care what Gale and Odette did. He would have protected all of us.”
“Get some rest, ma’am,” was his reply before turning back to leave. However, he stopped and looked at me. “You said everyone who knew, outside of Wolfgang and myself, were either family or passed in the accident, correct?”
“Yes, why?” What did that have to do with her being poisoned?
“Nothing, ma’am. Please rest,” he said, leaving quickly.
He could not possibly think it was a member of the family. I shook my head clear, not wishing to think about it, but instead, thought about Odette losing a child. I knew what that felt like. I knew how heavy it was. Finally, we shared something similar. But I could never speak to her about it because I didn’t even want to speak to myself about it.
Why was Arthur in such a rush that day to return to the palace?
Why didn’t they do all the checks on the plane?
It was because of me.
Arthur was dead because of me.
Because I had called, crying because I had lost our child. He was trying to come back to me, and he died.
I had lost everything in one day.
“Stop crying,” I whispered to my reflection, but I couldn’t. I had tried. Every time I tried, I remembered it was my fault, and then I felt too weak to get out of bed. So I blamed Gale. I blamed Odette, the whole world. It was easier. It helped me get up in the morning.
So, I was going to keep telling myself that.
I did not want to believe what I was thinking.
But the more I thought about it, the more I had a feeling I was right.
However, I did not want to be right.
Pacing back and forth, I waited until they brought her into the security room. I thought over every last file I had looked through earlier, about everything Sophia had said to me. The layout of the palace and how things worked. It all pointed to one person.
“Sir, we brought her.”
I nodded, standing straight.
“Iskandar?” Gelula looked at me, confused as they brought her inside. She turned to look at the door that slammed behind her. “What is happening? Is it about Miss Odette?”
I stared at her, not wanting to know the answer to the questions I had yet to speak yet.
“Go through the last twenty-four hours for me, Ms. Mikkelsen. Everything. Leave nothing out.”
“Umm. I... “
“Be calm. Just tell me like you told the police.”
“I woke up. I stepped into the kitchen to say hello and get my breakfast with everyone, as always. From there, I made my way upstairs to Miss Odette’s room.”
“You went earlier this morning, why?”
“Because she had slept so long yesterday, and I was worried she’d be panicked about missing family dinner.”
“Was she?”
“She was,” she said slowly. “After I explained and she calmed down, I told her about the news—the one of her and Prince Galahad having eloped—while she was in the bathroom. Then she...”
“She vomited.”
“Yes, sir. I realized I did not know anything about her schedule, and I thought it would be best to have a tracker for her. Seeing her vomit made me wonder, so I asked. She panicked again and told me to get a test.”
“And you got it?”
“Yes.”
“How? From where?”
“I was discreet,” she said quickly. “I went to a store outside the palace. I bought other things besides the test, and I came back and held it on my person the whole time—”
“How did you pay?”
“My card,” she answered.
“Your card or the palace accounts card.”
“My card.” She froze. Her eyes widened, and she immediately took the phone out of her pocket to check. “I-I didn’t have cash, so I used the electronic card on my work cell phone by accident.”
“And that one has the palace accounts card.”
She nodded. “Is this because of me? How? I don’t understand.”
“Rikl!” I called out, and the doors opened as he stepped back inside the room. “I am finished with Ms. Mikkelsen. Thank you.”
“Wait—”
I nodded for him to take her.
Before going back to my desk and picking up the files there, I looked through it one
more time.
I didn’t want to face him, but it had been hours. And he told me to come to him if I had a suspicion, and now I did.
He wasn’t going to like it.
No one was.
But they needed to know, and the police would go further if I were wrong.
Picking up the papers, I exhaled before walking out of my office. I did not run. I did not meet anyone’s gaze. It took me all of seven minutes to reach his office, and the moment I stepped inside, he asked the only question he cared about right now.
“Who did this, Iskandar?” He focused on the video of Odette that kept replaying on the news. “Who is the traitor?”
“I am not one hundred percent certain—”
“You are certain enough to be in front of me, aren’t you?” he snapped, turning his glare to me. “I don’t care if you are twenty, or fifty, or one hundred percent. Tell me. Who did this?”
I swallowed and exhaled the name like the curse it would be. “Mr. Ambrose.”
“What?” I asked, not sure I had heard him right. “Did you hear who you just named?”
“Sir...”
It was the first time I saw him truly waver.
But soon, he regained his composure to explain. “Like you, I have been wondering who in the world could possibly be the media’s source. Palace gossip always exists, but for it to leak out at such an extreme bias...it can’t happen. Or it shouldn’t happen. Mr. Ambrose should have gone through everyone who worked here one by one. Anyone who had so much as texted a word about the royal family’s business would have been dismissed in the past.”
“He is one man. Hundreds of people work here—hundreds more come in and out.”
“We’ve never had a problem before.”
“There has never been an Odette before!”
“Exactly! The leaks began around the time you left for Seattle. Who built the profile on Miss Wyntor initially, sir?” he asked me. “Which made him privy to the fact that Miss Wyntor was allergic to peanuts.”
“Ambrose. However, we banned peanuts from the palace. Of course, anyone would have guessed she was the reason.”
“Maybe. But the severity of the allergy?”
“They may not have wanted to kill her. Maybe they wanted to embarrass her in front of the world?”