Yet a few of them clearly showed Lady Royal diving to catch the woman, now identified as Mrs.Agnus Johansdotter.Michael had finally switched his phone to Do Not Disturb around two a.m.
Now, at the breakfast table, he studied the videos again, looking for whoever may have pushed the woman—and who might have held Scottie’s legs.Yet all he concluded was Scottie had saved Mrs.Johansdotter’s life without a thought of her own.
Taking a bite of sausage and a sip of orange juice, Michael pulled up the HMSD database where their custom AI tracked national and international chatter about the royal family.As expected, Scottie O’Shay was a world headline.
Lennox arrived for breakfast.“We have more on Agnus.She’s a local.Married.Her daughter is named Luca.Two more children at home.And you’re going to love this, Michael.”Lennox aimed the remote in her hand at the telly in the corner of the room.“She’s on theMorning Show.”
“Already?”Michael shifted toward the wall-mounted screen where host Stone Brubaker was conducting a Zoom interview with a pretty blonde woman.Her lipstick was bright red, half hiding a busted lip.A brown-black bruise spread down her cheek from the corner of her eye.Michael glanced at Lennox, who was tapping notes into her phone.
Stone: “Mrs.Johansdotter, can you tell us what happened last night on the Dalholm quay?Remember, you’re on international television, so please—no Dalholm speak.”
Agnus: “Well, um, thanks, Stone.My husband was…away…with sons…took our daughter to hear Knight Shift Players, we love them, you know, when suddenly…chaos.The daughter—queen—alone, mind you—a political riot.”
“What?”Michael said.“A riot?”
“Did she?”Lennox said.“Really?”
“No, but she is a bit of a stir stick, don’t you think?”
“Not a bit—a lot.Do you think theMorning Showproducers coached this Johansdotter woman?Did she have that black eye last night?”
“Of course they did.As for the black eye, I don’t know.I was trying to get Lady Royal out of there.”
Stone: “Mrs.Johansdotter, this is sensitive, but we’re after the truth.Do you believe you were shoved over the side of the quay?”
Agnus: “Yes.Hurled.Someone.Pro-monarch.”
“She can’t do it,” Lennox muttered, snorting.“Talk straight.She’s probably never put together a full sentence in her life.”
“She can lie well enough,” Michael said.
Agnus: “I fell—screaming.Daughter in arms.”She flailed one arm and clutched her imaginary child with the other.“Arm caught.Look up.See the queen’s daughter.Lady Royal.”
Stone: “You must’ve been terrified.”
Agnus: “Yes.Going to die.Daughter screaming.Clutching neck.”(She mimed that too.)
Stone: “We’re thrilled you and your daughter are home safe.Have you spoken to Lady Royal?”
Agnus: “No.So shook.Rescuers came.”She looked down.“But, um, Stone, I’ve been thinking.We almost died because she was there.”
“Now she speaks a complete sentence,” Lennox said.
Agnus: “What was she doing there?She should’ve stayed home.I mean America.Wherever she’s from.”Another glance down.“Tennessee.We were rescued, but a whole bunch of folks might not’ve been.”
“She’s a piece of work.”Michael grabbed the remote and snapped off the telly.“She’d be dead or severely injured—her daughter too—if Scottie hadn’t lunged for her.Have you seen the videos?”
“I’ve seen them.”
“I didn’t witness the beginning, Lennox, but Lady Royal went for Mrs.Johansdotter without regard to her own safety.The videos don’t do her justice.”He paced, indignant.“Someone got to Mrs.Agnus Johansdotter.”
A hall boy stepped around the table collecting dishes.Michael thanked him just as Cranston appeared in the doorway.
“Her Majesty has requested your presence.”
“Of course.”He’d anticipated as much.She’d want an accounting.
As Cranston escorted him up the stairs, across the Grand Gallery—its mezzanine overlooking the glass solarium—and into the royal corridor, Michael shaped a polite but firm resignation in the back of his mind, should the conversation bend that way.One the queen, wise and measured, would accept, since she’d not want her inexperienced daughter put in any more danger.
