"Who did this?"My voice came out flat, controlled.
"I don't know, Your Highness.The room was secured.Only staff with clearance could have accessed it."
"Then someone with clearance is responsible."
I stared at the destroyed dresses, and something crystallized inside me.Whoever was doing this wanted me to panic.Wanted me to feel helpless and unwelcome and out of my depth.They wanted me to run back to Oregon with my tail between my legs.
Not a chance.
"Carmela, I need you to do two things.First, don't touch anything.This is a crime scene.Second, call Prince Archie and tell him we have another situation."
"Your Highness, the reception is in four hours.Perhaps we should focus on finding replacement."
"No."I turned to face her, and whatever she saw in my expression made her take a small step back."We're done pretending these are accidents.Someone is targeting me, and they're escalating.Today it's dresses.Tomorrow it could be something worse.We handle this properly or not at all."
Carmela nodded slowly."I'll call the Prince immediately."
"Good.And Carmela?Thank you.For being on my side through all of this."
"Always, Your Highness."
Archie arrived in under five minutes.His slightly elevated breathing and the way his shirt had come untucked on one side told me he'd run.The Crown Prince of Solmarina, sprinting through his own palace because someone had destroyed my dresses.
"Show me," he said, and his expression went cold as he surveyed the damage."Questo รจ inaccettabile."He turned to Roberto, who'd arrived moments behind him."I want this room sealed.Full forensic analysis.Every person who had access to this area interviewed within the hour."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"This is the third incident."His voice was tight, controlled, but I could see the anger banked beneath the surface."First the luggage, then the speech, now this.Someone in this palace is waging a campaign against my wife, and I want to know who."
My wife.The words landed differently now than they had a week ago.Now they sounded like a claim.A promise.
"Archie."I touched his arm, felt the tension running through him."I'm okay."
He looked at me, and the cold fury in his eyes gave way to something else, concern, and beneath that, a fierceness that made my breath catch."You shouldn't have to deal with this."
"No, but I am dealing with it.And whoever's doing this is going to be very disappointed when I show up tonight looking fabulous anyway."I gestured at the midnight blue dress I was still wearing."Besides, they missed this one.Amateur mistake."
The corner of his mouth lifted."You're something else, you know that?"
"I've been told.Now, what do we need to do to figure out who's behind this?"
The investigation turned up frustratingly little.Four people had accessed the storage room that day, all long-serving staff with impeccable records.Security footage showed nothing unusual.Whoever was behind the sabotage knew exactly how to cover their tracks.
By the time I'd finished with hair and makeup, the sun was setting over the Mediterranean, painting the sky in shades of coral and amber that I could see from my dressing room windows.The destroyed dresses had been removed, the room restored to its pristine state, but the memory of that violation lingered.
Someone in this palace wanted me gone.Someone was willing to go to considerable lengths to make that happen.
But when I descended the grand staircase and saw Archie waiting in the foyer below, sabotage was the last thing on my mind.
He was wearing his formal naval uniform, dark blue wool with gold epaulettes, medals gleaming on his chest, a ceremonial sword at his hip.He looked like something out of a historical portrait, all sharp lines and restrained power.The kind of man who commanded armies and shaped the fates of nations.
And he was looking up at me like I was the only person in the world.
"You look stunning," he said as I reached him.Not beautiful, stunning.Like the sight of me had actually stopped something inside him.
"You already complimented me this morning."
"That was before I saw you in that dress."His voice dropped."It's doing things to me that I'm not going to describe in a public hallway."
