Authors: Carol Moncado
“Please, have a seat.” He gestured to the far side of the table.
She sat in one chair with Alex scooting as close as he could. “What’s going on?”
The man sat across from her and leaned forward on the table, his fingers interlaced. “Ma’am, we need to know what your relationship with the prince consort is.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. These were questions she did not want to discuss, especially with her son right there. Julia knew she had no choice, though. She would have to give answers.
Time to face the music.
* * *
Alexander hadn’t sworn so much in his entire life. Combined. He paced his office, yelling at no one in particular. He picked up the stress ball and threw it against the windows overlooking the sea. It bounced back to him. He threw it again. Over and over. What he really wanted to do was break things. Smash them to smithereens. Or blow them up.
Where was TNT when you needed it?
With one more curse flung toward no one, he collapsed into his desk chair.
“Are you quite done?”
Alexander looked up to see his brother standing in the doorway, looking as serious as he ever had. “What do you want?” he growled.
“That little voice that tells you things you know you should listen to but rarely do?”
Alexander nodded.
“It told me to head this way a few hours after you left. I didn’t listen. Until I woke up from a dream in a cold sweat.” Christopher sat down across from him and propped his feet up on Alexander’s desk. “You had been assassinated.”
Alexander barked laughter. “Me? If anyone would be assassinated, it’s my pregnant wife, not me.”
Christopher shook his head. “You know I don’t believe everyone who says they can see the future or whatever, but there are documented cases, in the Bible no less, of men and women having dreams that served as warnings. I’ve never felt like this before, and I hope I never feel like it again. You, Christiana, the baby. There’s some danger lurking out there. I don’t know if it’s really an assassination attempt or not, but something big is about to come down the pike, and I felt the need to be here to help you with it.”
Picking up his phone, he called Justin and asked him to send in Tony, the head of security. For ten minutes, Christopher filled him in on the goings-on at home. Granny was doing fine and expected to head home in a few days. Idle chitchat filled a couple more minutes. Silence descended while Alexander pulled his email up on his computer to see if anything needed his immediate attention. Nothing that kept his focus until a discrete knock preceded the door opening, and Tony walked in.
After introducing him to Christopher, the three sat at the conference table on the other side of the office as Justin joined them.
“How may I be of assistance, sir?” Tony asked.
“Have you heard the pardon news yet?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That is obviously a huge concern, but my brother, and myself, if I’m being honest, have a nagging fear that there’s something else coming, and we need to make some plans to figure out how to deal with it.” He leaned back in his chair doing his best to project a confident air and not one of fear. “My brother and I both had our Conceal and Carry licenses in the States. We’d had enough crazies after us over the years that neither one of us wanted to be unprotected should the need ever arise, though it never has.”
“I still have mine,” Christopher pointed out. “I just requalified at the gun range a couple months ago.”
“Technically, I guess I still have mine, too, though I have never carried in Ravenzario, except on our property on Bianisola when we had some problems with wild boar.”
Tony nodded, thoughtful. “We’ll go to the range so I can see for myself. I don’t have a problem with either one of you carrying a weapon on your person for the time being. Sir, you’ll need to make certain you’re with security at all times. No more running off like yesterday.”
Alexander felt properly chastised. He knew better. “Of course.”
“The queen is practically in seclusion anyway,” Tony reminded them. “No one is going to get anywhere near her without us knowing about it.”
“Are there any active threats you haven’t already told us about?” Alexander’s daily briefing had been postponed because of the meeting with the prime minister.
“No, sir.” He hesitated. “None of any consequence. No more than the usual nut jobs with conspiracy theories.”
“What about the hoopla over the TV show?” Christopher answered his own question. “I finally had to turn my phone off. Too many calls from old ‘friends’ and girls who wanted to be girlfriends. I talked to Mady, and she’s gotten some interesting calls and emails, including some threatening Alexander’s ‘girlfriend.’”
Alexander leaned forward. “I don’t have a girlfriend. I
might
remember who that girl was, but I’m not even sure about that. I think we had a couple college classes together. I don’t even know her name.”
“Chill. No one else knows who she is either. The picture’s too blurry and the lobby was pretty cleared out. Apparently, the threats against her are more because of your wife than in addition to your wife.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“People who seem to think the queen needs their help ousting her ‘competition.’” He held up his hands. “I’m not saying I agree. I’m saying that’s the word on the street.”
“Great.” He sighed. “So what now?”
“The two of you come with me to the shooting range and prove to me you know what you’re doing with a handgun. Not that you, sir,” He nodded at Alexander, “would ever really be charged with anything short of treason, but I’ll get you both permits.”
“So how is this...” - he stopped short of comparing his uncle-in-law to the back side of a donkey, - “...person able to get a pardon? What he did was treason, right?”
Tony shook his head. “No. Well, yes,” he corrected quickly before Alexander exploded. “It was. But he pled guilty to conspiracy to a bunch of stuff and agreed to life in solitary. Otherwise, he was going to insist on a very public trial. Henry knew enough about the law to get around most of the ones protecting against a public trial in that situation.”
Alexander stood and began his pacing again. “I never saw that paperwork, not like I did later since Christiana was already my wife during the last trials. I had no idea.” He stopped and turned. “But last fall, that was treason, wasn’t it?”
“High treason,” Tony confirmed. “But we could never be sure we could prove her uncle was trying to kill her.”
“Wouldn’t trying to undermine the lawfully established line of succession count?” Wasn’t that what he’d read when all of this went down the first time?
“Yes. But he was the one tasked by the government to run things on the queen’s behalf until she came of age. Until two years ago, no one knew for sure he was still manipulating her. Some of us suspected, but it was the phone call you overheard, sir, that was able to give us the direction we needed to arrest him six months later.”
Tony seemed to want to say something else, but didn’t until Alexander pressed him.
“I am not questioning your fidelity, sir, but there is one other point. If a woman comes forward claiming to have had an affair with you, most of them won’t realize they can also be charged with high treason.” He looked Alexander straight in the eye. “As can you.”
This time Alexander did swear, though he kept it under his breath. “I have never cheated on my wife, and I have no intention of starting now. There will never be any validity to any of the claims.” His voice rose to a roar. “I. Have. Not. And. Will. Not. Cheat. On. My. Wife.
Period
.”
“That is good to know.”
Alexander turned on his heel to see his wife standing there, hands resting protectively over her baby bump.
“What can we do for you, Your Majesty?”
Her face hardened at the title. “I was informed of a meeting between my husband, my brother-in-law, and my head of security. I thought, perhaps, I should be included.” With a grace he could never hope to imitate, she crossed the room and sat in his chair at the head of the table. “So, gentlemen, what is the plan? I am finally recovered from my morning sickness and my bout with the stomach flu. I refuse to remain cooped up here for the rest of my life or even the rest of the day. So I suggest we come up with a protection plan because I am about to resume my full schedule.”
Alexander stared at her, slack-jawed. “You’re going to what?” Was she crazy?
Her demure smile did nothing to reassure him.
* * *
Just as she expected, her husband balked at the idea of her leaving the palace. He would have, no matter the problem of her uncle’s likely impending release.
She took charge of the meeting. “Gentlemen, it appears we are going to have an increase in security concerns on Monday. Is there any way for my uncle to gain entrance to the palace grounds?”
Tony answered her. “Not that we’re aware of. All of his security codes have been overridden. Passwords, code words, everything changed.” He sighed. “But given the extent of his schemes and the length of time he had unrestricted access to the palace, there’s a very real possibility of something we don’t know about. Something by sea, perhaps, or a tunnel we’re unaware of. Even though I was head of security before his arrest, I was not privy to his knowledge.”
“Which is the only reason you were able to retain your job,” she pointed out. “Despite your efforts on my behalf, if it became known you were one of his inner circle, you would have been relieved of your duties.”
“Yes, ma’am. I am aware of the dichotomy.”
“Is there anyone else we can interrogate?”
Alexander snorted. “I draw the line at interrogating. No way
we
are doing that. Tony, possibly me, but not you.”
She waved a hand at him. “I had no intention of actually being involved. Now, is there anyone we can interrogate?”
Tony leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “Maybe. I’ll look into it. In the meantime, your protection detail will be doubled.” He glared at Alexander. “Both of you, despite the other thing we discussed.”
Alexander gave a single nod. He stayed standing, his arms crossed, looking formidable. Without his suit coat, his dress shirt did little to hide the strength in his upper body. Though she tried to push it away, the memory of being held in those arms surfaced and would not let her go. The feeling of safety, of comfort. How she missed that! Being held in his arms as she cried on the anniversary of her parents’ death, even before she kissed him, would always be one of her most cherished memories.
“I am leaving the palace this evening,” she decided suddenly. “I have not been to church in months and tonight, I feel the need to do so before the threat increases again.” She pushed back from the table and stood. Staring her husband in the eyes, she told them all, “Any of you who would like to join me are welcome.”
Christiana turned and left the room. They would let her know what she needed to know when she needed to know it. When she needed more information, she would insist on it. Until then, she needed to be back out among people besides Alexander and Diana.
Chapter 29
They’d missed their tour of the cathedral. As soon as they emerged from the police station, Julia called and canceled their reservations for the evening in Pagosa. The officer had handed her a keycard and told her they had given her a room for her trouble. She followed the directions to the hotel and discovered it was much nicer than anything she’d booked even before losing her job.
“Wow!” Alex’s exclamation as they drove along the coastal road toward the hotel made her smile. She wasn’t sure if the police officers believed her story, but they’d let her go. She even had their passports, though she’d been warned not to leave the country until they gave her permission. He seemed to think it wouldn’t be a problem for them to head home as originally planned. He’d even given her some money for her troubles. To reimburse her for the missed tour and a little something extra. Probably enough to cover a cheap meal for dinner.
Half an hour later, Alex hung out on the balcony as she finally opened the envelope. She pulled the bills out and stared at them. Sure there were quite a few, but she expected maybe fifty bucks worth of small bills. They were Euros so she had to do some math, but it came out to around two thousand dollars and tickets for a hiking excursion and zip line tour the next day. She gaped. She’d looked at that when planning the trip. It was way out of her price range.
But whatever. She wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. “You ready for dinner, kiddo?”
He bounced back in and onto his bed. “Can we order room service and eat on the deck? Please, Mom?”
Even with the sudden influx of cash, she wasn’t going to do that. “How about we take some of our snacks down to the beach and have a picnic?”
Alex jumped down off the bed and ran to the door. “Let’s go!”
Julia laughed and followed him to the elevator. They grabbed a blanket out of their car and the lunch basket they already had packed for the trip. They followed the sidewalk down until they reached the beach. It was nearly deserted, though Julia had no idea why. The day was a bit cool, and they were facing east so the setting sun behind them did little to offer additional warmth.