He leaned to kiss her cheek. “You’re all right, Mum. For a queen.”
“Well, isn’t that high praise.”
“I’ll leave on that note. I’ve got to meet my new protection officer. Stern set up a meeting at eleven.”
“What about the newsbreak by Leslie Ann Parker? Do we need to discuss it?”
“What’s to discuss? She found me out. I heard their ratings went through the roof. And you are the royal champion of the press and free speech. More than any of your predecessors. I think we have to live with it.”
“Very well. I agree. One more thing. The Royal Trust is setting up the wedding dress display at Hadsby next week. A treat for our guests, then to remain as we reopen the newly renovated castle for tourists during spring and summer.”
“Very good.”
“Daffy Caron will be heading it up.”
Gus paused at the door. “Daffy? You know she outed me to Leslie Ann Parker. Not on purpose but—” He gave the queen the short version of the story, ending with the mystery of how she blushed whenever he was around.
“Then be on your guard, Gus. I’m mistrustful of Daffy. Ever since she was a girl.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
“It does when people overstep their bounds. Daffy ran around Perrigwynn so much she thought she had the run of the place. I found her in my dressing room once trying on clothes.”
“So she’s why we had new security protocols?” Why hadn’t anyone said before now? “Trying on your frock is hardly a breach of national security.”
“It was a violation of my privacy, and frankly, her access to the Family was setting her up for huge disappointment.” His mother’s tone cooled. “She was not, nor ever would be, a royal princess. She needed to grow up inherworld, not ours.”
“Put your mind at ease. I have no intentions toward Daffy Caron. The royal wing is on the other side of the castle from the servant and guest quarters. I doubt we’ll see one another.” He started to leave then remembered something Daffy said on the beach. “Mum, does Daffy know a Blue family secret? She implied she did but when I questioned her, she put me off. She doesn’t know anything, does she?” Gus regarded his mum, searching for a flicker of truth.
“Certainly not. What could she possibly know? Now I must get on. I’m part of the judges’ panel for the woman who left her child in a hot motor last summer. Dreadful case. Gives me nightmares.”
As Lauchtenland’s sovereign, Mum sat in on certain legal cases. Ones with constitutional ramifications—she was Lauchtenland’s living constitution—and capital cases. Once in a while, she was part of the judges’ panel, along with a twelve-person jury, on high profile cases. It was the reason all crown princes or princesses studied the law. Why Mum spent three years at Yale.
“Horrid case,” Gus said. “Are deliberations nearing an end?” He’d read the story online while in Florida.
“No, we’re in the middle of things.” Mum shuddered.
A text sounded on Gus’s phone. “It’s Stern. I should go. Don’t want to keep the new protection officer waiting.”
As he departed, he heard Mum muttering. “She claimed a secret? Now I ask you…”
Chapter Six
Daffy
She had a grand task ahead of her. Preparing the royal wedding gowns for a trip north to Hadsby Castle in the hamlet Dalholm, County Northton.
But she was caught between time zones, her body not sure if it should be awake or asleep, thanks to their delayed flight home—one postponement after another. Their flight landed early Sunday morning instead of Saturday afternoon.
Yet when Daffy unlocked the door to the Hall of Dresses, inspiration sparked. The massive, windowless room housed a sentry of armoires and chests of drawers, each one labeled with a princess’s name and the year she married.
Inside, the gowns were stored in muslin and unbuffered acid-free tissue within a cedar drawer. Daffy had until Friday to box all the gowns and carefully transfer them to the Royal Trust lorry headed to Dalholm and Hadsby Castle.
She would train up that same day and await their arrival.
Removing her blue uniform jacket with the House of Blue cypher over her breast pocket, Daffy stood between the decades 1790 and 1800 and launched the wedding gown inventory on her tablet.
The very idea of arranging these historic gowns made her heart swirl. This room—the one-of-a-kind treasures within each armoire—was one of the main reasons she joined the Royal Trust.
