“They can admire all they want as long as they keep their distance,” James said with a casual I-do-not-care shrug.
This man. Seriously, what was I supposed to do with him? He so clearly didn’t realize just how stunning he looked. Or he didn’t care. I hadn’t pinpointed yet which it might be. The only thing he seemed to truly care about was me, which, while flattering in its own way, did land us in a pickle from time to time.
I did not think his plan B would truly work. Not a single person would allow him to escape this country, to start with, and him leaving might well start an internal war.If, and gods above I hoped it didn’t come to this, but if Queen Beatrice forced our hand, perhaps we could use our leaving as a bartering chip to put James on the throne in a better way. Without all the pressure of a political marriage.
I didn’t bring the idea up with him. Right now, he wasn’t in the mood to hear it. He’d only just worked off his temper, to boot.
Queen Beatrice had clearly mis-stepped, James had raked her over the coals for it, and hopefully for once she learned. I wasn’t holding my breath, mind you, because to date she hadn’tlearned from her mistakes. Still, the events of this morning had hopefully bought us some time to consider what else we could do to prevent the pitfalls.
The maids and quite a few of the male palace staff members all admired the view as we walked past them. I gave James some very pointed looks—see what you’re doing?—but he shrugged, unconcerned. Of course he was.
If he got abducted to be part of some harem, it would not be my fault. I’d warned him.
It was a relief to reach his room and let him wash off the sweat and pull on fresh clothes. I sat and waited for him, thinking all the while. Clearly, I needed to put more effort into getting a higher-tier informant in with the queen’s people. This should not have blindsided us like it had. James had said he had six people, but he hadn’t mentioned precisely who, and I had a feeling he had more people in with King Patrick than Queen Beatrice. That must change, and I had a good idea of who would be susceptible to a bribe. From this point on, I wanted to be on top of things.
If today was any indication, then my illustrious monarchs had a goal, and they were not about to be thwarted.
Fifty
Edwin
It is the nature of any royal family to always be at odds, to some degree or another, with other people. Therefore it was also standard practice for every royal person to have multiple spies in every possible location.
Now, I wouldn’t say I managed those spies—far from it—but Iwason very good terms with most of the staff at the palace. I had been known to do favors for people in return for key information, shall we say. When I brought up the suggestion of buying a spy in Queen Beatrice’s household, James didn’t seem surprised by my connections, merely smiled and told me to use his name and connections if necessary. He also requested I keep an extra eye on Helena’s and Prince Royce’s households, since they each had their own apartments within the palace, just in case. I had left orders for an update before we retreated to my house over the weekend, so I’d expected someone to report to me by this morning.
All said, it was no surprise to have various reports stacked up on my desk, something I spied from the doorway as I entered theoffice. What did surprise me was a very flustered, heavily flushed young maid wringing her hands while fidgeting near my desk.
It took me a second to remember her name, as she had an identical twin who was also a maid, and I forever confused the two. But she had a mole near her right eye, which meant this girl was… “Sabrina? What brings you here?”
She gave me a brief, fleeting smile. “You’re one of the two people who can tell my sister and I apart.”
“It’s the mole,” I admitted easily, coming around to put my bag down on my desk. “Otherwise, I can assure you, I couldn’t. What’s wrong?”
She glanced about, but the office was fairly empty, only Phila at her desk, and she was on the opposite end of the room. Still, Sabrina leaned in and dropped her voice.
“Edwin, I fear someone is trying to frame the princess.”
My attention on her sharpened. “Frame how?”
“I was cleaning around her desk this morning and found several files that were not there last night. The princess wasn’t even home last night; she was at a party and stayed there overnight, so I know she didn’t bring them in. The files were, um, well they were marked as confidential, and they’re judicial files.”
My blood ran cold. I truly wished I’d heard her wrong.
As a princess of the country, Helenashouldhave the clearance to look at anything her heart desired, but the reality of the situation was something quite different. She did not have the same clearance as her father or brothers, and there were certain areas where she wasn’t allowed at all. One of those was the judicial branch.
In other words, someone was trying to set her up.
Knowing James was out and wouldn’t return for hours yet, I made a snap decision. “Phila?”
My colleague lifted her head to look at me quizzically. “What?”
“Emergency, let’s go.”
Jarred into action, she came quickly to her feet. “Why, what’s going on?”
“I’ll explain on the way. Move, move, we have no time.”
I ushered both women out the door, thinking as I walked, as I had to handle this right. Ah, yes, I knew what to do.
