“You did it well,” Alexandre mused.
Maxence shrugged. “Anyone would have done the same.”
“No one else did, though,” Alexandre said.
Maxence gestured in frustration as the crowd argued around them. “Well, of course, I stepped in when I was needed. That’s my duty as the second in line. Again, everyone in this room bore the responsibility and would have taken care of the country’s business if necessary.”
Alexandre shook his head, and he was peering at Max rather intently.
It was unnerving, the way Alexandre was examining Max’s eyes as if plumbing the depths of his soul.
Max had no idea what Alex was getting at with such scrutiny. Was there a problem with one of his eyes? He blinked, trying to clear any debris he hadn’t noticed.
Alex said, “No one elsedidit, though, and I don’t think anyone elsefeltthe responsibility. Quentin Sault didn’t manage to find you for over two weeks after Pierre shot himself, and that business office sat empty the whole time. Everyone was still in Monaco after the Winter Ball. After Flicka vanished in the middle of it, everyone wanted to see howthatwas going to turn out. No one thought Pierre would do that, though. None of us knew he was quite that—desperate.”
Maxence nodded. After the shock had worn off in the weeks since he had returned from Nepal, Max found himself less surprised about Pierre’s suicide, either impulsive or not. Max asked Alex, “Why didn’t you take over for a few weeks?”
Alexandre’s helpless hand gesture spoke volumes. “Baggage.No onewanted me in there.”
“Christine, then,” Max said.
“After her car exploded, she wasn’t coming back to this vipers’ nest. She’s been staying up in Nice, you know, not at my house. She got an apartment under a fake name because she felt the responsibility to vote, but she thought someone might try to assassinate her again.”
Maxence sighed. “And next in line were Jules and Marie-Therese.”
“They simultaneously didn’t want to look like they were overreaching and didn’t have time to do the work due to their politicking.”
“I knew Jules was meeting with people,” Max said.
“Marie-Therese was leaning so heavily on people that sheescortedGreat Uncle Louis to your office.”
Max hadn’t thought anything about it at the time but was pissed he’d missedwhyshe was there.
“They’ve been busy meeting with everyone, and they’ve been making promises and threats. When someone refused to meet with them, they figured out where they would be and ‘dropped by.’ I mean, they’ve beenworkingthe system. They’ve broken it.”
Yes, that was clear. “But what about the people who are after them in the line of succession? Why didn’t any of them step up for the good of the country?”
“A combination of not wanting to be seen looking too greedy for the throne and just a case of ‘not-my-job.’ Mostly the latter. Our relatives are phenomenally lazy.”
Maxence was watching Alexandre and the room, but out of the corners of his eyes, he saw the entry doors move. When he glanced over to see who was entering or escaping the Crown Council meeting, Arthur and Casimir slipped inside the throne room.
Odd.Maybe Dree had called them.
But she didn’t have a phone.
Casimir caught Max’s eye and waved as they blended in with the crowd around the edges of the room.
Maxence turned back to Alexandre. “I don’t understand what you’re getting at. We don’t have time to discuss who did or didn’t take over the business office and listen to the reports about olive oil futures.”
“Becauseyoudid.”
Maxence was getting frustrated, and his voice tightened. “Well,yes—”
“And no one elsedid.”
“Someone had to keep this country running!”
“And you showed up at all the galas and events and meet-and-greets.”
