“No. It’s not him. He’s a member of the MDS, but he’s not the boss. We have intel that he was the one that shot at you in Thalia. But unfortunately, he’s gone underground, and we can’t find him. We don’t even know if he’s in Silverwood or Thalia, although we have men and women in the field looking for him.”
“So what else do you know about The Regent?”
“We know it’s a man and we know he has a lot of political clout. He needs it to keep his identity secret. His followers are exceptionally loyal, although many don’t know who he actually is. He’s clever because only a few select members of the MDS know who he really is. The rest only know him as The Regent. We also know he has a lot of money and isn’t afraid to spend it.”
“That doesn’t really narrow it down that much. There are many people in powerful positions here in Silverwood; surgeons, lawyers, judges, even the police.”
“That’s why I’ve chosen to speak with you down here rather than in my office upstairs.”
“You don’t think it’s Mr. Copper, surely?” He’d come across as such a nice guy, but I knew that he was the one who currently shared an office with Leo.
“Not as such, but I can’t rule him out. He’s in the perfect position. He has power and money and what better place to hide than in full view. Few people would suspect him.”
“But you do?”
“No, but I’m not prepared to make mistakes, based on a gut feeling. He comes across as genuine, but The Regent didn’t get to where he is by being anything but brilliant.”
An idea suddenly occurred to me. “What about Grenfall. He was vehemently anti-Magi and an asshole to boot.”
“I had the same thought,” replied Leo. “but he was a bit too perfect as a suspect. We think our man is keeping his anti-Magi beliefs to himself to avoid suspicion. Grenfall couldn’t keep his mouth shut about how much he despised the Magi.”
“We have been tracking him, though,” cut in Dean. “We’ve had a couple of our task force on him for days.”
“And?” I asked. I could quite imagine Grenfall heading some secret group to bring down the Magi despite what Leo said. He seemed like the type and fit the profile perfectly. Plus, I didn’t like the guy!
“Nothing. He’s spent the last week drinking alone in a pub.”
“That’s sad.”
“Yeah, but not suspicious. He’s talked to no one except the barman, and then, only to order drinks.”
“Any other leads?” I asked, feeling hopeless.
“A couple,” answered Leo, “but nothing concrete. The task force members are working well together, and we are gathering information, but it’s going to be a while before we know for sure.”
“So why call me in here? You could have told me this at the party yesterday.”
Leo sighed and rubbed his temples.
“Your love life is really none of my business, but I do feel pretty bad about finding that photo of Cynder. I think this whole marriage to Drusilla Bloom thing has spiraled out of control.”
“It’s ok. You were looking out for me. I understand that.”
“It’s not ok. If I’d not stirred the pot, none of this would have happened. I’ve kept some of the task force to one side to look into Cynder’s past for you.”
“And?”
“Are you sure you want to hear it?”
“Yes, of course, I’m sure. What is it?”
“His parents were killed in a fire when he was a child. Apparently, there had been a lot of threats towards them as they were Magi. The official line is that it was an accident, but…”
“There was a strong smell of petrol, and the doors to the restaurant had been blocked off,” I interrupted him.
“How do you know?” asked Leo.
“He told me.” I felt relieved that at least this was the truth.
“The trail goes a bit murky after this point, but he lived with a number of people. Some Magi, some not Magi. At one point in his mid-teens, he lived with the Blooms. I think the Countess Bloom thought she was doing him a huge favor, but by all accounts, he was nothing more than a slave for the two years he lived there. She made him refer to her as stepmother and her daughters as sisters throughout the time he was with them. She liked to show him off to her well-to-do friends, but when he wasn’t out with her and her daughters, he lived in rags, sleeping among the fireplace ashes in the basement. When it stopped being cool or when she got bored with him, she threw him out in the streets. He lived on park benches for the next six months before a Magi family took him in.”
My heart went out to him. He’d told me much of this already, but he’d not told me he’d been forced to wear rags and sleep in ashes. How cold he must have been living on the streets.”
“So he wasn’t married to Drusilla Bloom?”
“No. All the proof the media found is fabricated. We’ve managed to get a lot of it and have our experts go over it. It’s all fake, but it’s good. Whoever made the wedding photos and the fake certificates knew what they were doing. It wouldn’t have come cheap.”
“So the countess or her daughters paid for someone to do this?”
Leo shook his head. “We don’t think so. She might have the title and the nice house, but since her husband died twenty years ago, she and her daughters have managed to squander every penny they had. There is no way that any of them would have been able to afford good forgery.”
“So who then? And why?”
“We think The Regent did it. He must have offered to do it for her. She accepted for the fame. Dragging her one-time foster son’s name through the mud didn’t matter to her if it meant one of her daughters became famous. That family would give anything for fame.”
“Why would The Regent care?”
“He hates the Magi, remember? Having a mage in such a high position would be an abomination to him. Killing Cynder wasn’t an option with all the security at the palace. After all, he’d already tried to have you murdered unsuccessfully. There was no way he’d be able to get past your guards. Instead, he did the next best thing. He painted him as a liar and a cheat. With Cynder leaving, he got exactly what he wanted.”
I closed my eyes. Cynder leaving had so many repercussions on Silverwood as a whole, not to mention the effect it was having on me. I’d barely slept all night the night before. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him out there with no place to go and no money. He’d been in that position before, and I knew he’d survive, but I wanted more for him. He deserved so much more than the hand he’d been dealt. When he first came to the palace, he’d been promised a handsome amount of money if he were to lose, but he’d left so abruptly that I’d not have the chance to give it to him. Now the MDS would be gloating at their win.
“Will this affect our plans for the Magi?”
Dean and Leo looked at each other. Neither spoke.
“What is it?”
“There’s something else. Something you should know.”
“What?” Why did I get the feeling that it wasn’t going to be good news. Nothing ever was these days.
“The MDS are hatching another assassination plot. We don’t know what it is, but we know it’s going to be big.”
“When?” I asked in alarm. Another assassination plot meant more security, more guards, and a more visible police force. I wasn’t sure if I could handle another disaster like the one last year.
“We don’t know the date, but we suspect it might be your wedding. It worked before, if only by accident. What better way to get their cause on the news than by doing something that will have all the media out in force, plus the sheer numbers of people.”
“My wedding?” I gulped. I’d already had one ruined wedding. I couldn’t bear another.
“We will get a lot more guards on duty on the week leading up to it, but your current guards should be aware. We’ll do our best to keep everyone safe.”
I could barely wrap my head around it all. Yesterday, I still had two men to choose from and a wedding to look forwa
rd to. Just twenty-four hours later, one of the men was gone, and someone wanted to kill me.
“I want you to leave,” I said to Leo.
“I’m sorry? I know this must be distressing, but I can assure you, I’m doing everything I can.”
“No, it’s not you,” I said, realizing how he could have misunderstood my intentions. “You are brilliant. It’s just that Elise is pregnant. I don’t want anything to happen to her. Can you take my mother too?”
“As much as I want Elise to be safe, I don’t think taking her away from the palace is a good idea right now. She was fine for the party yesterday, but the pregnancy is hitting her hard. She can’t travel. I’ll make sure she is safe, as I will your mother and everyone else in the palace. If we all evacuate now, The Regent and the rest of the MDS will know. We are safer at the palace than anywhere right now. I’ve instructed quite a high number of the police to guard the palace leading up to the wedding.”
I wasn’t so sure, but I nodded my head. I had to trust him even though the thought of my sister’s life being in danger terrified me much more than my own safety.
“What about the Freedom of Magic? Can they help us? They’ve been gathering information on the MDS for years.”
“I’m sure they could be very useful; however, we have one problem with that. We don’t know who they are and without Cynder to tell us, we have no way to contact them.”
Wedding Plans
The next two months passed slowly and in a state of fear. I warned the royal guard to be extra cautious and, true to his word, Leo sent police to bulk up their numbers. I wasn’t sure if the extra security made me feel safer or more nervous, but I couldn’t get a moment alone at all. The palace was always filled, and I felt like I was constantly being watched. Guards stood in every corridor, and yet, every unexplained noise had my heart jumping. All packages and letters for us were diverted to a local sorting office where specialized bomb squads opened them and checked their contents. Despite the fact that I kept the media out of the palace, I had more eyes on me than ever. The only solitude I got was when I was in my room at night. I’d not heard from Cynder in over two months. Luca’s parents confirmed that he hadn’t returned to Thalia or, at least, not to his job at the royal castle, and the media hadn’t caught up with him. It was probably for the best, but every night, I gazed out of my window looking for a light in his old apartment that never came.
Most of my days were filled with wedding plans. My mother, Xavi, Jenny, and occasionally Elise when she felt up to it, would sit with me in the dressing room going through swatches and photos of wedding gowns. The only good thing that happened over the two months leading up to the wedding was the fact I got to stop an order of the most flouncy horrible meringue gown I’d ever seen that my mother had picked out for me. Instead, I sketched out something, something plain that Xavi promised to have made for me. I was in no doubt she wouldn’t be able to make it without adding her own touches, but anything was better than the meringue gown. Elise’s bridesmaid dress was a much easier choice. She picked out a beautiful pale golden dress that could be let out to cover her burgeoning belly. Thus, the theme of the wedding became gold and white. It enabled my mother to pick matching flowers and centerpieces and the million other things that a royal wedding seemed to require. At least, they were all happy, and partly, so was I. It was nice to spend time with them. I’d been so busy in the previous months that I’d forgotten what it was like to be around family.
Luca took up a lot of my duties, leaving me to relax as much as possible, and, as such, I saw very little of him. The only people I saw to do with work on a frequent basis were Leo and, occasionally, Dean when he came up to the palace.
Little progress was made on the identity of The Regent, although they had narrowed it down to someone who had connections to the capital. I tried not to worry about it. After all, the palace security was at an all-time high. Even the demonstrations outside the palace seemed to have dwindled to a few hard-core people with banners.
All in all, in the week running up to the wedding, I was beginning to come out of my funk and actually look forward to the occasion. The cathedral was booked and decorated. The palace ballroom, swathed in bunches of gold and white material with flowers to match looked as beautiful as it had ever been, and I even had a dress I was halfway happy with.
On the morning of the wedding, I woke up to glorious sunshine filtering through the curtains. Opening them wide, I knew it was going to be a magical day. People had come out in droves to see us and were already jostling for a good view at the back gates. I knew that there would be ten times that number at the front gates.
Jenny kindly brought me a breakfast of fruit, and when I complained about the lack of bacon sandwiches, she winked and lifted the silver cover, revealing one.
“How are you feeling?” she asked as I grabbed for the sandwich.
“Good, I suppose.”
“You suppose?” She arched her brow, sitting on my bed. She knew me too well.
“I know marrying Luca is the right thing to do. He’s been so busy lately, I’ve barely seen him, and it’s just that…”
“Yes?” she encouraged.
“I’ve not really missed him. Is that terrible.”
“Oh, honey. You’ve had a lot on your plate. This last year has been pretty terrible. You’ve still seen him every day even if it’s only been at dinner. Once you are married, things will change.”
“Will they?” I wasn’t so sure.
“You’ll not have to worry about flowers and dresses for a start. I know how boring you’ve found all this wedding planning stuff. You and Luca will be running the kingdom together. It will be wonderful.”
“Hmmm,” I sighed non-commitedly.
“Is this about Cynder?”
“No,” I lied. I’d not seen him for months and had given up scouring the newspapers for information. Just as he had done last year, he’d completely disappeared. I’d thought about hiring private investigators to search for him, but it was kinder on all of us to just let him go.
“Good,” Jenny said, seemingly satisfied with my answer. “I’ll see you in the dressing room in half an hour.”
When I finally got down there, Xavi had double the number of beauticians lined up to make me beautiful for my big day. My mother and Elise were already sitting at a couple of stations having their hair done.
“You all know the wedding isn’t until two and it’s only eight in the morning right?” I asked Xavi, who rolled her eyes.
“This is the biggest day of your life. Everyone in the land will be watching on TV unless they’ve come to the capital to catch a glimpse of you in the flesh.”
“But six hours…”
“Should be enough to get everything done. Now go into the marble room to get a good scrub down.”
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. I did as she asked and entered the room where I’d be loofahed and scrubbed until my skin shined.
Five hours later and I was transformed. I had to admit that the crew had done an amazing job with me. I let the dressers carefully lower the dress over my head. It was perfect. Simple, flowing, and white. It was beautiful. A simple golden sash matching Elise’s dress was wrapped around my middle, and a simple diamond tiara was placed upon my head. Of all the looks Xavi had dressed me in, this was my all-time favorite. I looked elegant but not over the top.
“You look stunning!” Elise came over to me and gazed at my reflection in the huge mirror. My mother took up my other side. We did look beautiful. My mother filled with grace and the pride of every mother on her daughter’s wedding day, Elise with her swollen tummy that she managed to make look elegant, and me in the center looking every inch the bride.
“Time to go!” yelled Xavi.
I gave my mother and sister a shy smile and headed out the door.
There were so many people accompanying me to the palace’s main door, that I could barely tell who was who. My mother and sister kept to my side the whole way, and Dan
iel, whom I’d asked to walk me down the aisle, was waiting for me at the door.
Behind us, were all the beauticians plus a great number of guards who would be keeping me safe all day.
Leo came bounding up just as the main doors opened. I noticed the worried look on his face straight away.
“What is it? Is it Luca?” Luca had chosen Leo to be his best man, so they should both already be at the cathedral waiting for my entrance.
“I need to talk to you,” he whispered.
“You three go on ahead,” I said to Daniel, Mother, and Elise. “I’ll meet you in the carriage in a minute.”
I noticed a worried look pass between them, but they did as I asked. I could already hear the crowds screaming and cheering at the gates at the end of the driveway.
“Luca is fine. He’s already gone to the cathedral,” assured Leo, keeping his voice low so only I could hear.
“So what is it?”
“We’ve had a tip-off that The Regent is in town. We think the MDS are planning something huge today, but we don’t know what.”
“We have so many guards, and the cathedral and palace have been checked thoroughly. Luca has been doing a great job of keeping everything safe.”
“He has. I’m sure everything will be fine, I just want you to be alert. We know The Regent is after you. I want the window of your carriage closed at all times along with the curtains.”
“But I’m expected to wave to the people. You’ve seen them. There must be ten thousand people out there.”
“Any one of whom could kill you if they got a chance. I’m doing what I can. I know Luca has made sure you have plenty of guards here and with you, and I’ve got all the officers I can spare on duty too.”
“With all the people looking out for me, I’m sure I’ll be fine, but I’ll keep the carriage window shut as you ask. Thank you for your help with everything. You’ve been amazing.”
“Just looking out for my queen,” he said, kissing my cheek.
“Shouldn’t you be looking out for the Prince right now? You are his best man.”
“Gotcha!”
He gave me a final peck and left me alone in the grand entrance hall.
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