by Renna Peak
I lift a brow. “I take it the tax stuff wasn’t as bad as you thought?”
He gives me the smallest of smiles. “Indeed, it was not. It was almost…enjoyable, though I hesitate to say that aloud.” He glances at Matthias. “Do you have any other people in the local press you can contact? Anyone who might be connected to the larger media outlets?”
Matthias nods. “Yes, Your Highness. There is one person—he is well connected with the press in America, which is our greatest concern. Though he has been very…hesitant…in the past to take payment in lieu of publishing a story of national interest.”
I let out a small huff. “He won’t take a bribe.” I try not to roll my eyes, though I’m almost disgusted that it’s come to this. “You can’t really blame him. If he’s a decent journalist, he wouldn’t be bribed.” I turn my gaze to Leo. “What other stories have you paid reporters to hide?”
His cheeks redden, but he doesn’t answer. He turns his gaze back to Matthias. “See if there is something he needs—I take it this is the same reporter we convinced earlier this year?”
Matthias nods.
“Good. Then it shouldn’t be too difficult to get him to hide this information from the American press again.” Leo clears his throat—he’s obviously shared too much information with me. “It was a car he wanted last time, was it not?”
Matthias nods again. “Yes, Your Highness. A quite expensive sports car, if I recall correctly.”
“Well, see to it that he gets another. Or perhaps he would rather have a boat. I’m sure there must be something he would enjoy—”
“Leo,” I interrupt. “You are not going to bribe a reporter to defend my honor.”
His lips are pressed in a line. “This is not only for you, Elle. This is as much for me—for us—as it is to defend your reputation.”
“I still think if we get in front of this—if I can somehow be the one to tell the story—”
He interrupts with a stern shake of his head. “I’ll not have you doing interviews with the press—ever. When we are to deal with the media, it will be me speaking with them, and me alone. I forbid you from speaking with anyone about this, Elle.”
My eyebrows rise. “You forbid me, Your Highness?”
His gaze narrows a bit. “Yes.”
“You realize, of course, that as a citizen of the United States, I’m not under any obligation to follow your commands, Your Highness. In fact, I can walk out the door anytime I fucking well please and speak to anyone I fucking well please and do an interview with anyone I fucking well please—”
“Elle.” He almost growls my name. “This is not about your freedom of speech. This is merely about me trying to protect you from what I know is going to happen if we allow this story to get into circulation. You will never hear the end of it.” He shakes his head. “These types of stories—you simply don’t understand. They take on a life of their own, and it won’t matter that you were taken advantage of. That this professor abused his position with his abominable behavior. The media will turn you into the monster because of me—because that is what they do. They won’t care about your feelings or the circumstances surrounding those events. They will only try to make it as miserable and embarrassing for everyone involved, particularly for myself and for my family.”
I’m silent for a moment, considering his words. “Then I really shouldn’t be seen in public with you, Leo. No one knows we’re together—the last time anyone saw us in public together was three months ago. Unless there were photos taken in that restaurant in New York.”
He shakes his head. “That establishment would never tolerate such behavior from its guests.”
I shrug. “Then no one knows we’re together. There’s no proof of it, anyway, other than those photos of us from California. Why would the media give a shit about me—your one-time flavor of the week?” I shrug again. “They lost interest in me pretty quickly, especially after you started dating that lingerie model.”
His cheeks stain an even deeper red, but he ignores the comment about the woman he dated after our breakup. “Perhaps you are correct. Though that would mean you would have to stay in the palace, at least by day. We could walk the grounds, of course, but we would have to stay out of the city. Away from any place someone from outside the palace might see us together.”
“Your Highness, I apologize for interrupting—”
Leo’s gaze turns to Matthias. “You aren’t interrupting.” He bows his head slightly. “Please…”
Matthias nods. “Your Highness, I hate to even suggest…” He clears his throat. “If information is being leaked from the palace, it stands to reason that photographs could be shared as well. It is not outside the realm of possibility that Stephan—”
“He wouldn’t dare.” Leo shakes his head. “Stephan is a weasel, but he isn’t an idiot. If he were to take photographs, they could be traced back to him. Information is more difficult to trace, but a photograph… He enjoys his employ too much.”
Matthias bows his head. “It would be wise, though, to stay away from him for the time being, Your Highness. Just in case.”
Leo nods and turns his gaze back to me. He lifts his brows. “What do you think?”
My mouth is hanging open a little, listening to this bullshit. “You want me to be a prisoner here, if I’m hearing this correctly. Are you planning to lock me away in the dungeon, too? Or am I just to stay locked in my room for the next three months?”
Leo’s shoulders drop. “It wouldn’t have to be that way entirely, Elle.”
“Oh, really? How are you proposing to have me keep my distance from Stephan, then? Didn’t you tell me when we arrived that the walls have eyes and ears? You were talking about Stephan, weren’t you?”
Leo gives me a grim nod.
I let out a long breath. “I can’t stay in that room for three months, Leo.”
He gives me a pained look. “If you have a better idea, Elle—”
“Oh, I have a better idea. I already told you my better idea.” I pause for a moment, looking between the two men.
It suddenly dawns on me exactly what we need to do. I smile. “But I think I have an even better idea than that.” I know exactly who I need to reveal my secrets to—the only people who really need to know the story.
Leo must be able to read my mind, because he shakes his head with a vehemence I’ve only rarely seen from him. “No.”
I nod. “We have to.”
“No, Elle. We can’t.” His eyes are wild and he shakes his head again. “We can’t.”
“I’ll do it myself, then. This is my doing, Leo. My fault. My responsibility. If I own it, maybe—”
He interrupts. “No. Elle—you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.” The look in his eyes changes—he’s almost pleading with me now.
I nod again. “Well, your mom and I seemed to bond pretty well yesterday.”
There’s a sound of desperation in his voice I’ve never heard before—I almost expect him to drop to his knees to beg me not to do what needs to be done. “Elle, please…”
I turn to Matthias. “Matthias, will you please ask if I may meet with Leo’s mother and father as soon as possible?”
Leo
I try to talk Elle out of this nonsense, but she’s having none of it.
“Trust me,” she says after Matthias has run off to try and secure an audience with my parents. “I know what I’m doing.”
“That’s exactly where I believe you’re wrong,” I say. “I don’t think you understand at all what you’re doing. My father—”
“Will find out the truth sooner or later, if Stephan hasn’t already told him. I’d rather he heard it from me than from a slimeball like Stephan.”
I sigh and run a hand through my hair, then wince when I remember the bandages. “Elle, my father is already disinclined to show any patience toward you. I don’t want you to suffer any more of that man’s abuse.”
“I’m not afraid of him,” she says. “And i
f I’m going to stay here, he and I are going to have to get used to each other sooner or later.”
I don’t know whether to be impressed by her determination or dismayed by her naivety with regards to my father—but I have to admit I find her stubbornness charming, in spite of my misgivings about the situation.
“This might end very badly,” I tell her.
“Or it might make everything easier for all of us.” She smiles.
I can’t believe I’m actually considering going along with this nonsense. But it’s true—I’m not sure I can deny the face looking up at me right now. These are her secrets to tell—if she wishes to tell them to my parents on her terms, then I can’t bring myself to stop her. Part of me still hopes, though, that Matthias might return and inform us that my parents are unable to receive visitors at this time. Maybe if she has a couple of hours to think this over, she might understand there are quieter ways of dealing with these things.
Unfortunately, Matthias returns fairly quickly with news that Their Majesties are willing to receive us immediately. I don’t like it. My father isn’t usually the sort of man who’s willing to drop everything for an unplanned visitor, and I can only pray that my mother convinced him to do it. I don’t want to think about why he might otherwise be so eager to speak with Elle.
Quickly, I dress, and then I return to Elle and Matthias to walk with them down the corridor.
“His Majesty requested that you join him in his office, Your Highness,” Matthias says.
“And my mother will be there as well?” I ask.
“Yes,” Matthias says. “I spoke with her first since I thought His Majesty might take some convincing.”
Good—at least that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about.
I look down at Elle beside me, but she looks perfectly calm, showing no uncertainty at all. I wish I could do more to protect her from my father—and Stephan, and the tabloids, and the rest of the world—but I know I must let her do this, in spite of my objections. Part of me still hopes she’ll change her mind on the long walk across the palace, but she doesn’t.
When we reach our destination, Matthias raps lightly on the first set of doors. When there’s no answer, he opens it and glances inside before taking a step aside and indicating that we should enter.
Fortunately, this outer office is currently empty—Stephan is nowhere to be seen. I try not to think about what the weasel might be up to as we walk across the room to the double doors on the far side that lead into my father’s office.
Matthias knocks again, and this time a muffled “Enter!” reaches our ears. Matthias opens the door, and Elle and I step inside together.
My father sits behind his desk, and my mother is in a padded chair close beside him. She smiles encouragingly as Elle and I move forward, but my father’s lips are pressed into a tight line as his eyes roam over us. He’s suspicious of this meeting, as I suppose he should be.
“I have important things to attend to today,” he says. “This had better be an urgent matter.”
“It is,” I say. “It has come to the attention of Elle and me that some information about us has been leaked to the local press.” I’m not about to let Stephan get away with this. “As I’m sure you’re well aware, Father, Elle and I have remained on the palace grounds since arriving here. And we certainly have no reason to give information to the press ourselves. Quite the opposite, as you know.”
“Get to the point, Leopold,” my father says.
I have to tread carefully—a direct accusation against Stephan might be interpreted as an accusation against my father, and the last thing I want right now is to anger him.
“The point,” I say carefully, “is that someone in this palace has been leaking information to the press, and I think—”
“It doesn’t matter how the information got out there,” Elle interrupts. “The point is that it did. And even if nothing comes of it this time, this information might come to light in the future.”
“Elle,” I whisper to her. “Let me handle this.”
“No,” she replies. “This is my fault, so I need to be the one to tell it.”
My father’s brow has wrinkled. “What exactly is going on here?”
“I can explain,” I say quickly. “There are things—”
“I will explain,” Elle says. “I mean it, Leo.”
My father’s sharp gaze flicks from one of us to the other, then back again. My mother places her hand on my father’s and leans slightly forward.
“Go ahead, Elle,” she says. “What is it you wish to say?”
Elle takes a deep breath before charging in. “I don’t know how much you already know, but back in medical school I made a few…uh, I made a stupid mistake. I—”
“No,” I say, cutting her off. “That wasn’t your mistake, Elle. That’s what they need to understand. That’s what everyone needs to understand. You were the victim. You shouldn’t be forced to take the blame for something that isn’t your fault. You did nothing wrong—”
“But you said yourself that the media would make it out to be my fault,” she says, turning to look at me. “And we need to figure out how to deal with this.”
“And the way to do that is to tell the truth, not confess to something that wasn’t your wrongdoing.”
She looks at me for a long moment, and for a heartbeat I believe I’ve gotten through to her, that I’ve made her understand. But then she shakes her head.
“Leo, I think I’d prefer to speak with your parents alone.”
I stare at her. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m dead serious. I’d prefer if you’d step outside for a few minutes.”
“No,” I tell her flatly. “I’m not going anywhere.” I’m not leaving her to face my father alone.
“This is my story to tell,” she says. “I don’t want you interrupting me every time I open my mouth.”
“I refuse to leave.”
My father lets out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t care who tells me, but if the two of you don’t get to the heart of the matter immediately, I will be forced to end this audience. I have business to attend to—as does Leopold.”
“Leopold,” my mother says gently, “why don’t you step outside for a few moments? You can wait at the door, and we can call you back in if it’s necessary.”
I can’t believe this. Now my own mother is taking Elle’s side in this?
“I won’t go,” I say again.
“Leo, please,” Elle says quietly, and when I look down at her, I see some of the determination has left her eyes. In its place is something much more vulnerable. “It will be easier to do this by myself.”
That’s preposterous. She shouldn’t have to bear this burden alone, shouldn’t have to face my father without me by her side. But there’s something in her expression that tugs at my heart—something that makes her impossible to refuse.
“Fine,” I say. “But I’ll be right behind that door. If anything happens, I swear—”
“She’ll be fine, Leopold,” my mother says. “Just wait outside.”
I give Elle one final look before turning to leave, but her eyes are already focused on my father again. I can’t believe she’s sending me out…
On the other hand, I can’t help but admire her courage. Whether or not her bravery is wise is another thing altogether.
I don’t go far. The moment the door is closed behind me, I stand right up against it, unwilling to miss a single word that is said between Elle and my parents.
I don’t like that she blames herself for what happened. And I don’t want my parents—specifically my father—to blame her for such things, either. She shouldn’t be ashamed of what happened, but the world will try to tell her so. If she’s to survive this, she needs my family on her side, defending her.
I can hear muffled voices through the thick wood of the door, but I can’t make out a word anyone is saying. I recognize the timbre of Elle’s voice, then the grumble of my father’s, th
en Elle’s voice again. Every once in a while, my mother says something. But none of their words reach my ears.
I’m so focused on trying to hear the conversation in the office I don’t even hear the other door open behind me. It’s not until I hear a sharp “Oh!” of surprise that I realize someone else has stumbled upon me, and when I look up, I find Stephan standing there. His surprise is quickly replaced with his usual sour expression.
“Your Highness,” he says, “I wasn’t aware you had an appointment with your father today.”
“It was a last minute thing,” I say, straightening. “Though I must say, I would much rather have a meeting with you. We need to talk, Stephan.”
His lips purse. “I can’t imagine what we might have to say to each other.”
“You know bloody well why I might want to talk to you,” I say, stepping toward him. “I heard a whisper that someone leaked some information to the local press about Elle. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
Stephan sniffs. “I know nothing about the matter, I’m sure.”
“Bullshit.” I take another step toward him, and his eyes widen with panic the moment before I reach out and grab him by the collar. “You did this, Stephan. I might not have any proof, but I know you did this. I know you’re doing everything in your power to try and get Elle out of this palace.”
He wiggles in my grasp. “When His Majesty hears about this, he’ll—”
“He’ll also get a very detailed account of your doings, Stephan. You might have eyes all over this palace, but I have eyes, too. And I do not forget little weasels who try to hurt the ones I love.”
His eyebrows snap together. “Are you threatening me?”