So, once again, her best option was to remain as Rose and find out everything she could about the blackmailer. As long as Rose didn’t know what the blackmailer was demanding, Lanover was safe. And if Natalie could find out enough details about the man, she might be able to help Arcadia as well.
Fresh energy coursed through Natalie now that she once again had a goal and a focus. This was why she had wanted to become a queen in the first place. She might be acting alone, but she would find a way to defeat the man who had the audacity to threaten a princess and cheat a kingdom.
CHAPTER 11
The next day, Natalie once again shut herself in her room. This time she sent the three maids away at the start of the day, needing uninterrupted peace for her task.
Once alone, however, she sat motionless for an extended period. How did you write an official document?
Her first two attempts were soon abandoned, thrown into the fire to hide any trace of her efforts. But once the words began to flow, she wrote at speed, thinking of the documents she had sometimes found on her parents’ desk. She even began to enjoy using pompous-sounding words to string together endless waffle.
The false documents she was creating didn’t actually say anything sensible. They just needed to be convincing at a quick glance. Given how twitchy the blackmailer had been at the gazebo, she was betting he wouldn’t look at the documents too closely before hurrying out of the palace grounds.
Once she’d followed him back to his base of operations, it wouldn’t matter when he discovered the ruse. She could send the royal guards after him and put an end to the whole business.
Thankfully she didn’t have to attempt creating a fake seal—a task that would have been much more difficult than writing false documents. Natalie had one of her own she could use, a parting gift from her younger sister. Rebecca had almost certainly intended it as a jest—she had considered Natalie’s quest both ridiculous and doomed to failure—but Natalie had thrown it in the bottom of her bag anyway.
She dug it out, leaving it in its leather pouch. Like the documents, it would only fool a cursory look. But she was trusting that was all the man would stop to give it.
Documents and seal went into a leather satchel, the whole package ready within a day of Natalie receiving the note. She couldn’t possibly deposit it in the designated place so quickly, however. It would only raise suspicions if she acted too quickly. If she were truly planning to steal such confidential items, she would need time to manage the feat.
It was also in her own interests to wait to place the satchel until close to the blackmailer’s deadline. Once she’d put it in position, she would need to watch the spot day and night in order to ensure she was there to see it collected.
Sitting on her hands and doing nothing had never been Natalie’s strong suit, however. Surely the blackmailer would check the cache periodically rather than waiting until the end of the window he had given her. He would want to be less predictable than that. So placing it early wouldn’t necessarily mean waiting for days. He was probably checking at least once a day.
Rising early one morning, Natalie’s patience snapped. She couldn’t bear any more time spent alone and waiting. But she wasn’t even halfway to the designated place, deep in the palace gardens, when a cheerful voice hailed her by name. She ground her teeth together as she turned to face Luca.
He had to be watching her, given he managed to appear at all the most inopportune times.
“What do you want now?” she asked. “If you’re here to drag me off to another empty social event, I’m not going. Not today.”
“Perfect,” he said with a grin. “Since I’m not going today either.”
She finally absorbed his appearance and blinked. She had never seen him less than impeccably dressed, as most Lanoverians tended to be. But today only his air of confidence and his possession of the royal jawline distinguished him from a farm laborer.
“What are you wearing?” she asked, completely distracted.
“Something practical. But I brought a coverall for you.” He held out a long length of heavy material.
“For me?” She stared at him blankly. “What are you talking about?”
“Today we’re doing something a little less empty,” he said. “Unless you’d rather go and make small talk…”
He waited, eyebrow raised in challenge.
Curiosity burned in Natalie like fire. She glanced down at her satchel and then back at him. It wasn’t as if she could go and deliver it as planned if Luca was going to trail along behind her.
He called toward the palace, and a footman appeared, jogging to meet them.
“Put the princess’s bag in her room,” he instructed the man, gesturing for Natalie to hand over her satchel.
She hesitated. But refusing to hand it over would only draw Luca’s attention to it. Reluctantly she unslung it from her shoulder and passed it to the waiting footman, her eyes following him as he headed back toward the palace.
“Stop fretting.” Luca handed her the coverall he’d been holding. “He’ll see it safely to your room.”
She put on the length of material, pleased to see that it covered her dress without dragging awkwardly on the ground. He’d judged her size and height well.
“Where are we going?” she asked as he led her across the garden toward an area she hadn’t yet visited. “And are you really allowed to be seen like that?”
