“A woman entered the perimeter.”
She looks up now. Cyber-attacks occur on an almost hourly basis. Protestors are common. Intruders to the palace, given that it is surrounded by a mile of streams, forests and rough land, are uncommon.
“A woman?”
My father nods. “She was arrested. Not known to our intelligence.”
“There were rumbles that Alba an-Asgaidh were planning something.” Lennox looks up from his computer.
It’s unusual for us to all be together like this. Tomorrow Lennox will be in Edinburgh, then Glasgow, then Skye. My father leaves in the morning for America where he is looking at an agreement around our waters and fishing, something he’s passionate about and doesn’t want to delegate. Then they both head to London for more peace talks while my mother and I continue on our social circuit of wooing and courting. Making friends of enemies.
“There are always rumours about Alba an-Asgaidh. Especially when you speak too highly of what could be with us and the South.” My father’s tone is cutting. Lennox’s allegiance with England is problematic and divisive. One day Lennox will be king and my father worries that he will roll over like a panting dog and submit to the South, to England, overturning the trade agreements and reuniting the countries with a bond that had been strangled years before.
“It’s a party for terrorists. They’ll crawl back under their rocks in a couple of months when something else hits the headlines.” Lennox’s attention goes to his phone which has been vibrating.
My mother sits up, her hair loose and messy, off-duty. “When does Ben start?”
I stand up and head to the window, uninterested. Security is something I try to ignore, like a mild allergic reaction. I see the sky and the mountains, the same scene I’ve grown up with.
“This week.” My father quietens. They’re communicating without words. “We should assign him to Blair.”
I turn around. “Who?”
“Ben. Do you remember him?” My mother smiles and it’s warm, the smile when her eyes crinkle at the sides. “He was here every summer with his father, Leonard. He’s been in the army and now he’s coming back here as security. Ben Smith. The blonde boy. A couple of years older than you.”
I remembered Ben Smith. I remember his lanky legs while we ran around the gardens, his teasing words, his laugh. I remember his hands and his mouth.
Benjamin Smith.
I remember everything.
Chapter Two
“It’s a possibility.”
The horses have slowed to a trot, seemingly aware that it’s nearing lunch time and we and they want to eat. The sun is high, shrouded in thin white clouds and it’s easy to forget that it’s the beginning of summer.
Lennox slips off his mount, a chestnut stallion nicknamed Gunnar, and stretches out his legs. We’ve been riding for miles, the three of us, choosing to escape the palace at nine this morning, mainly because Lennox wants to avoid our father after the furore he’s caused.
“Now isn’t the right time for yourpossibilities.” I’m scolding even though Elise is there, although it’s nothing she hasn’t heard before. “You aren’t king. Not yet.” Not for years, or so I hope. Lennox being king would mean that our father had died or was too ill to reign.
He offers Elise a hand to the ground. She grew up on horses, spending more of her time at the stables than me when she visited in the school holidays and she’s more than capable of getting down but I know he wants to touch her. Pretty Elise with her big eyes and perfect breasts. Lennox is a fool for a pair of tits, especially if they come with a woman who looks at him like he’s god, just as Elise is doing now.
I shake my head, feeling seventeen again, the age I was the first time he fucked her. My brother isn’t subtle. He doesn’t know the meaning of the word and he wears his soft beating heart on his sleeve with no fear of it being stabbed.
“I get where you’re coming from…”
“We need to stop all the shit between us and the South,” he interrupts me and I listen to the wind.
This is nothing I haven’t heard before. Unfortunately, my father has heard it too and he doesn’t share the same ideas. They both want peace, a trade and movement of people agreement between us and the South, but through different means.
“William’s a decent man. He’s open to suggestions.” Lennox shrugs, looks at the sky. An eagle flies above, looking for dinner.
“How was he elected?” There had been no General Election. He’d been chosen by his peers after the previous leader of the ruling party had fallen to a vote of no confidence.
Lennox looks at me, as if he’s never truly seen me before.
“I am interested in these things.”
