What an absolute clusterfuck of a situation. On the one hand, this is exactly what Antonia and Signoria Batorini are after. I’m potentially gaining direct access to the family, and if that happens, by extension, so are they. On the other hand, freaking Rowan is still here with no signs of leaving.
I can feel his goddamn eyes on me, and it’s not a good thing.
When Antonia suggested they get me a job in the palace, I tried not to balk. A one-night stand is by definition supposed to be just that. You’re not supposed to see that person again. I knew fucking the prince was a bad call, but it didn’t stop me.
Now I’m paying for the mistakes I made that night.
I assumed Rowan wouldn’t recognize me if I ran into him in the palace. He was drunk, and it was dark when we were naked, and I was in disguise. But you never know. There is always the risk that he could. Thankfully, the palace is the size of a small village, and it’s easy to avoid people if that’s your goal.
Which is what I’ve done for the last four months. I’ve stayed out of his way. Kept my head down and low and evaded his attention.Until now.
It took us two months to get me into the palace.
Javier is very good at his job, and the security on the royal family’s computer systems is tight. I managed to hack it and alter the facial recognition they had on me from inside the chalet so that it wouldn’t match when they scanned my real face. But in doing so, I discovered they’d been searching for me. So that was a problem too, and I couldn’t tell Antonia or Signoria Batorini that because then they’d ask why.
And probably kill me when I answered.
We had to create documents that would pass muster and an alias that would hold up. Luckily, there’s a family about twenty kilometers from the Batorini estate, and they owe Signoria a lot of money they can’t pay. They were only too willing to help if it meant their debts were wiped clean, even if they had to lie to the royal chief of security and act like they were my loving, doting family.
I was placed on the guest side of the palace with limited contact to anyone within the royal family, especially the children and the pregnant queen. Those were my instructions from Mrs. Lids when I first started, and I kept to that.
For the last four months, I’ve made myself the perfect employee while noting every corner of the palace I was allowed in. Every camera. I kept my head down, did my work to perfection, and didn’t gossip with other staff, though I was friendly and sweet enough to engage theirs. Not that there was a lot. The staff are extremely loyal and protective of the family. I met Charlotte, the nanny who fooled everyone into believing she was an angel on earth, only to kidnap the queen.
What happened during that time was kept under wraps, only whispered about, though most didn’t know the details of the actual kidnapping or why Charlotte did it. Most speculated that she wanted to get rid of Bellamy so she could cozy up to the king and become the next queen.
It never made the news. The palace kept it a secret.
When I told Antonia and Signoria about this, they just about lost their minds and demanded every piece of gossip I could unearth. Even the smallest detail. Unfortunately, that was the only dirt circulating about it, and most don’t want to talk about Charlotte, who she is, or what she did to the queen.
Then Mrs. Lids’s doctor demanded she get a hip replacement. When she came to me, the new girl, and said I was in the running to take over some of her responsibilities, I was floored. But I didn’t exactly jump for joy.
Being here has been a breath of fresh air in an unexpected way.
I have freedom for the first time in my life. I don’t have to worry that any mistake I make will result in abuse of some kind or even my death. I’m earning a paycheck that gets deposited into a bank account with my name on it—fake or not, who cares? It’s my money, and neither Antonia nor the Signoria has access because they can’t give the situation.
Other than missing Jaqueline terribly and worrying about her being there without me, it’s as if I can take a deep breath for the first time in over a decade. I’m not tense or always looking over my shoulder. My stomach isn’t twisted into a million knots.
But I’m not here on a goodwill mission.
I’m a Trojan horse, exactly as Signoria said.
The king drove my brother to madness and then killed him. Yes, Samil tried to kidnap the queen. Yes, the things he did were wrong. But the source of his imbalance hasn’t paid any price for his culpability, and his misdeeds were many and without care. I intend to make him pay for that. After my father’s death, I only had Samil and Jaqueline, but Jaqueline was a baby. Samil was the only adult who loved me. Who cared. He saved my life. He was my best friend. My confidant. My family. He made sure I had basic necessities. I owe him my life. Literally.
These last seven months without him have been hell on earth.
I hate the king for taking him from me. For the world not knowing the truth. For all the things that could have been.
I know why Samil wanted the king dead. I know what truly happened between him and Nora. I know how she died. The pain and torment that ate away at Samil’s soul because of it.
Which makes Emily’s injury, her impending surgery, and me potentially taking over her role the break we’ve been looking for. Even if it’s already creating issues with some of the other staff. Particularly, the three other candidates.
Only standing here in the breakfast room, shaking the hand of the queen and overhearing their worry for Emily, while Rowan eyeballs the back of my head like he’s trying to figure me out, isn’t how I wanted this to begin.
The queen—because I can’t call her Bellamy, not even in my head—places her hand on my forearm, and now it seems I’m leading the charge.
That is until she pauses. “Wait. What about the children?”
The king makes a displeased noise and taps his wife’s shoulder. “Nanny.”
