Georgie shook her head. “I can’t see Christine as a head of state. She deliberately doesn’t practice her violin enough to get first chair in the orchestra, so she doesn’t have to perform solos. Who’s in line after that?”
Maxence sighed. “This is where it gets tricky. Traditionally, next in line would be the previous sovereign’s next male sibling, who is our uncle Jules.”
The evil racist who looked like Santa’s Head Elf.
Georgie’s expression became more pained. “Oh,him.”
Xan nodded. “Unfortunately.”
Dree wrote4. Jules Gand drew a line through his name. So, Monaco had three people who didn’t want the job, and then a guy who absolutely shouldn’t have it.
Yeah, this was going to betricky.
Dammit.She wrote,Merino wool can be expensive.
Alexandre lowered his voice and told his wife, “I went to Jules when I was seven because I thought I could trust him. He told my violin instructor I had tattled and to make sure I didn’t tell anyone again.”
Georgie grabbed his hand.“Jesus, Xan.”
Huh.Xan, again. Dree doodled aKVnext to his name.
Maxence said, “Jules hit on Flicka when she came home from boarding school with Christine one summer.”
Alexandre frowned. “How old was she?”
“Fourteen.”
Everyone recoiled.
Ew.Dree drew another line through Jules’s name.
Maxence looked up from under his thick eyelashes at Alexandre. “So, we’re agreed? Whomever we recruit to be the next ruler, it can’t be us, and it can’t be Jules.”
Alexandre stared back at Maxence and blinked then shook his head. “Right. Almost anyone but Jules. I was already advocating against him, and that’s the hill I’ll die on. Quite honestly, I’d rather do it myself than let him have it, and I’d rather disembowel myself than take the job.”
“I’m sure it won’t come to that.” Maxence leaned back in his chair. He said, a wistful note in his voice, “Jules would abuse that power in the worst ways possible.”
Georgie said, “But if they’re going to offer it to people in order—”
Alexandre said to her, “They don’thaveto do it in order. Traditionally, that’s how we’ve always done it, but it was to prevent a civil war when every nobleman had a personal army. With a country as small as Monaco, a civil war could have killed every adult in an afternoon.”
Georgie chuckled, though Dree thought it was a little grim. Georgie said, “I need to read up on the finer points of Monegasque constitutional law.”
“There isn’t much,” Maxence said. “The constitution is that the prince is the head of state of the principality. He appoints the ministers to the government bureaus, and he states what the laws are. It’s one of the few true absolute monarchies left in the world.”
“Wow,” Georgie said. “So this matters. It’s not like other countries where the king or queen is just a figurehead who opens the parliament and presides over parties and knightings.”
“Our monarch does that, too,” Maxence said, “Rainier put in eighteen-hour days for decades. Okay, so after Jules, next in line is Marie-Therese, and then our uncle Albert II. He’s a quiet guy. He’s the type who would think it was his duty and do a solid job of it. He might be a good choice.”
Alexandre shook his head. “He’s a great guy, but he hasn’t been politicking and drumming up support. He’s too quiet. Albert would be an uphill battle. And now we’re off in the weeds. At that point, if Christine, you, and I refuse it and we make sure Jules doesn’t get it, it’s a free-for-all. Anyone could put themselves forward for a vote.”
Maxence nodded. “That’s what I thought, too. I talked to Nico. He’s less than thrilled with the idea of a scrum for the position.”
“I’m not sure an open field would be a bad idea,” Georgie said. “Rather than trying to figure out how to get around you two, Jules, and Christine, we should be figuring out who youcanelect. What’s wrong with Marie-Therese, anyway?”
Alexandre shook his head and shrugged. “She wouldn’t want it any more than we do. If we foisted it upon her, Jules is her father. He would manipulate her and rule through her.”
Maxence nodded. “In some ways, that might be worse. If she was a figurehead, Jules would have the ultimate deniability. He could enact truly heinous policies, and she would take the blame.”
