"The speech disaster made international news within the hour.No, it cannot wait."
I closed the door and remained standing.Sitting felt like conceding ground."She was sabotaged.Someone switched her prepared remarks."
"So she claims."
"So Roberto's preliminary investigation suggests.This wasn't incompetence, Mother.Someone with palace access deliberately set her up to fail."
Queen Isabelle's expression didn't change."Even if that's true, a properly trained princess would have handled the situation with more grace.She committed the Crown to millions in spending without authorization.She made promises she has no power to keep.She turned a simple charity luncheon into a political crisis."
"She also showed genuine passion for helping Solmarian children.The public response has been largely positive."
"The public response has been entertained.There's a difference."She rose, smoothing her skirt with the practiced motion of someone who had never once appeared rumpled."Archibald, I supported this marriage because the alliance required it.I accepted an untrained American because the Grand Duchess assured me she would rise to the occasion.But what I've seen so far suggests otherwise."
"It's been three days."
"Three days of destroyed wardrobes and chaotic speeches and behavior that would make the Condesa Maria weep."
I stiffened at the name."The Condesa wasn't an option.You know that."
"The Condesa would have known not to promise fifty percent funding increases to rooms full of donors.The Condesa would have had backup clothing and contingency plans.The Condesa was raised to be a royal, not discovered making lattes in Oregon."
"Betty didn't ask for any of this."
"Neither did you.And yet you're both stuck with it."My mother moved toward the door, then paused."I'm not your enemy, Archibald.I want this alliance to succeed as much as anyone.But success requires competence, and your wife has yet to demonstrate she possesses any."
"Give her time."
"Time is precisely what we don't have.The Congressional vote on the base agreement is in four months.If Betty continues to embarrass the family, if she proves as unsuitable as she's appeared so far, we may need to consider alternatives."
"What alternatives?"
She didn't answer.She didn't need to.
After she left, I sat in the chair she'd vacated and stared at the wall of portraits that lined my study.Generations of Falcieris who had made difficult choices for the good of Solmarina.
I thought about Betty's laugh at dinner, about the way she'd stood up to my mother in that meeting, about her determination to make things right despite being set up to fail.
She wasn't inadequate.She was unprepared and overwhelmed and fighting battles she hadn't known existed.
And I was starting to realize that I wanted to fight them alongside her.
