by Raye Morgan
It was an hour or so later that she began to hear the shouting from the breakfast room and she knew it had to be over the news story. Heart racing, she tried to come up with a plan. This was such a nightmare. She hated to think her mistake was causing Sebastian so much trouble. What could she do?
She knew what she could do. She could leave. Pain stabbed her soul at the thought. But that way she could quit being a problem for Sebastian.
She closed her eyes and gathered all the courage she had left. Then she headed for the breakfast room.
Morning light streamed in from the high windows set all around. A sideboard groaned under the weight of bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, pancakes, and every other breakfast food imaginable. But no one was eating.
The eight men and two women scattered around the circular table fell silent, watching her. The animosity was so thick in the air, it could have been a fog. Taking a deep breath, she faced them all.
“I’m here to tender my resignation,” she said, amazed that her voice sounded so calm.
“What a relief,” said the finance minister, throwing up his hands.
“Wonderful,” said one of the women.
“That will surely help a lot,” said one of the men.
It looked as though they were in complete agreement and the angry faces were beginning to soften a bit. The only one who hadn’t reacted was Sebastian. He was half leaning, half sitting on a counter along the back of the room, his arms folded across his chest.
“I’m sure Chef Henri can handle the coronation dinners,” she said, fighting back the stinging in her eyes. “You have a good staff. You’ll be okay.” She didn’t dare meet Sebastian’s gaze. If she did, she knew the tears would start to flow and she would die first.
“I’ll pack my things and be out before lunch,” she said, working hard to keep her voice from shaking. She’d just begun to turn back toward the door when Sebastian finally spoke.
“No,” he said simply. “You’re not going anywhere.”
She risked a quick look his way. His face was still set in stone.
“Your Royal Highness, I think you have enough problems without me cluttering things up. What I did last night was unforgivable. It’s only right that I—”
“What you did last night you were tricked into doing by a vindictive staff,” he said firmly. “I won’t have you punished for what others caused.”
“But what about the newspapers?” a cabinet minister insisted, pointing to the local rag someone had spread out in the middle of the table. “What about this picture?”
“There’s been too much scandal as it is,” another chimed in. “You know, we were afraid of this when we found out you were going to take the crown. We can’t have things like this happening all the time. We’re the laughingstock of Europe.”
“Oh, why did Julius have to leave us?” a plaintive voice said softly.
Emma licked her dry lips. “Your Highness, if you please. I really think it would be better if I left. You have a country to run. It’s so important that you think of your country first.”
Sebastian heard her words but he gave no indication of his reaction. Slowly, he looked around the table, examining each person, one by one. These were all high-ranking, celebrated men and women who planned to spend most of their time eating his food, vying for his favor. When he became king, these people would be his constant companions. They weren’t friends he would have chosen for himself. There weren’t many he trusted. Just looking at them made him want to throw it all in and run for the hills—or rather the warm waters of the Caribbean.
He thought of the old days when his father had presided over this same bunch, before he’d fallen ill and begun to slowly wither away. Did one of these people have a hand in hurrying his father’s demise? He wished he knew the truth.
Finally, he looked at Emma. She wasn’t royal. She wasn’t from one of the finer families in Meridia. She wasn’t even one of the brainless beauties he was used to having around. But one thing he was sure of: she was honest as the day was long. Looking around the table, he realized that she was probably the only person present he could really trust.
And they wanted him to throw her away? Not a chance.
“I’d like you all to leave now,” he said evenly. “Except you, Emma. I want to talk to you.”
Romas rose, looking insolent. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?” he asked, giving Emma a sideways glance that was an airborne insult.
Sebastian sighed. He was going to have to give Romas his comeuppance at some point. Better sooner than later, he supposed, but he wasn’t quite ready to do it yet.
“I think it’s the best idea I’ve had in days,” he said. “Get out, Romas.”
As the room emptied he turned to Emma, but he purposely kept distance between them.
“Come sit down,” he said, dropping into a chair at the table himself.
She sat down across from him, watching him intently, her eyes huge. Obviously, she didn’t know what to expect. Something told him she often expected the worst. He pushed that thought away because it made him want to pull her into his arms.
“You’re going to stay,” he told her firmly. “You signed a contract and I’m not letting you out of it.”
She drew in a sharp breath. “I meant what I said,” she told him. “You have to concentrate on preparing to be king. You don’t need your life cluttered up with problems. I’m just so sorry—”
“Will you cut that out? You’ve said your piece. I know how you feel about that. What I want to know is…all things being equal, do you want to stay?”
Conflicting emotions flickered across her face, but in the end she nodded.
“Good. You’re my anchor right now, Emma. That may sound strange to you, but the thing is you’re one of the few people I think I can rely on. And that makes you very valuable to me.”
“Oh. Well. I…I’m glad.” She looked a bit puzzled, but willing.
“But at the same time…” He grimaced and looked away. “I had a long talk with Will on our trip to Zurich. He made me face some home truths.”
“Like what?”
He looked back at her, studying her adorable face and those inviting lips. “I had a wonderful time with you the other day. It was one of the best days of my life. I just want you to know that because…we can’t do it again.”
She nodded, trying so hard to keep her dignity, her distance, while at the same time her big blue eyes were filling with tragedy. “I understand. And I agree.”
“In a way, this is a sort of goodbye. We’ll still be seeing each other all the time. But we won’t…” He grimaced again, unable to think of words to describe what he meant.
But she knew.
He shifted his position and took a deep breath. His gaze fell on the newspaper in the center of the table and he reached for it.
“Can you believe this awful picture? Someone caught us on a telephoto lens. Didn’t I warn you about the media?”
He saw the pain in her face. She felt betrayed and violated by knowing someone had been taking pictures of their wonderful day. He knew how she felt. He felt the same way. And he was used to it.
“And they already knew about the fish disaster. But to call me a traitor!”
“You’ll get called worse.”
She looked wounded, then shook it away.
“What happened in Zurich?” she asked, as though she really needed to change the subject quickly.
“We took the report and a few samples to the specialist. He’s looking them over and running a few tests himself. It will take a little time before he can give us an answer. But from what we told him and what he saw, he has doubts, just like Will did.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know whether to hope for bad news or good,” she said.
He smiled at her. “It is a bit of a muddle, isn’t it?”
His smile faded as he took in her earnest goodness. He couldn’t help himself. He had to reach out to her. He put his hand out, stre
tching his arm across the table, and after a slight hesitation she met it with her own. Their fingers laced together and their gazes held for a long, long moment.
And he thought again, was the effort, and all he had to give up, worth the prize?
The next few days went by quickly, although there was a hint of melancholy to everything Emma did. Just as the prince had said, they saw each other often, but almost every time they met or passed one another in the hallway they avoided eye contact. The few times that their gazes did meet, something secret seemed to pass between them. Emma wasn’t sure just what it was, but it made her pulse go wild every time.
In the meantime, she and Agatha were becoming good friends. She usually stopped by to see Agatha and play with Merik at least once a day. And twice she’d seen Will Harris leaving Agatha’s room. An idea was beginning to dawn on her. Could Dr Will be the man Agatha had in mind as Merik’s father?
Oh, she hoped so! That would be perfect.
“Perfect? Are you kidding?” Agatha protested when she tentatively brought it up. “Of course Will is the man. I’ve been in love with him since I was about fifteen. He’s always been a good friend of Sebastian’s. But his father was a landscaper in charge of the castle gardens and he thinks that means we can’t be together. I say, ‘rubbish!’ to that.”
Emma laughed. “I can imagine you do.”
“He’s got his pride, you know. And plans to emigrate to South America.” Agatha rolled her eyes. “No, that is not on the cards. I want him right here, married to me.”
“How are you planning to make that happen?”
“I don’t know. Once we convince Sebastian to take the crown, we can get started on convincing Will that I’m a woman, not a princess.”
If it hadn’t been for Agatha, she would have felt very isolated, because she was having trouble getting in touch with anyone back in London. Her cousin Louise in particular was strangely unavailable. Emma hadn’t been able to contact her for days.
And when they finally did connect, she found out what the problem was.
“Oh, Emma, I’ve been dying to talk to you,” Louise said when she finally responded to one of Emma’s calls.
“Then why don’t you ever answer your phone?” Emma asked, sensibly.
“I couldn’t. I’ve been too upset, too confused to talk to anyone. Something’s happened.”
Emma immediately went on alert. “What?”
“Don’t worry, nobody died or anything like that. Well, my father did have a slight heart attack. My father—hah!”
“Uncle John had a heart attack? Oh, Louise, I’m so sorry. How is he?”
“I don’t know. Oh, he’s okay, but I’m not speaking to either of my parents at the moment.”
“Louise, will you explain what’s going on?” As an only child, Louise was the most beloved, cosseted—one might even say, spoiled—person Emma knew. For her to be angry with her parents was unheard of.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on. My parents have lied to me for years. Did you know I was adopted? I keep wondering if everyone knew but me. Did you know?”
Emma was at a loss. “What do you mean, you’re adopted? How can that be?”
“How indeed.”
“Are you sure?”
“Oh, yes. It all came out when a couple of my father’s illegitimate children showed up on the doorstep. Twins, Daniel and Dominic. Mother’s having DNA tests run, but it’s hardly necessary. They are the spitting image. Which made me wonder why I’d never noticed that I’m not. So now, I’m the odd man out.”
Emma could hear the pain in her voice, despite her attempts to treat the situation facetiously.
“Louise, you know that your parents adore you.”
“They did. As long as I was in the dark about things. Now that I know everything, there’s this horrible wall between us.” Louise’s voice broke and she paused for a moment to regain her composure. “I…I feel like I’ve lost everything.”
“Oh, Louise, surely not. I know your parents love you. And if they adopted you, they’ve proved it. They chose you—”
“Oh, sure. Nice try, Emma. I’m not buying it. I’ve applied at an agency to find my real birth mother. Hopefully, she’s not a liar, too.”
“Louise!”
“And now my parents are as angry at me as I am at them. They don’t even want to speak to me. They think I’m betraying them by trying to find my birth mother.” Her voice broke again. “Oh, Emma, it’s all such a mess.”
“Do you need me to come there? You know, I wouldn’t be able to stay long, but I could catch a flight out and—”
“No. No. But you’re a sweetheart to offer. There’s no point coming here, because I’m leaving. I’ve got to get out of here.”
“Well, why don’t you come here, then?” Emma said, suddenly excited by the idea. “I’m sure I can arrange a room for you.”
“You know what? I just might do that. Have you got any spare princes hanging around? I could use a fling with royalty to cheer me up.”
Emma coughed. “Sorry. The one we’ve got is busy.”
“Still doing his Hamlet act, huh?”
Emma had hinted that Sebastian was not sold on taking over as king and Louise had been taken by the idea of someone who didn’t grab power when he had the chance.
“Oh, well. I’m having my own crisis so I guess I won’t try to horn in on his. I’ll let you know when I can arrange to come. And, Emma—thank you just for being there. I was in real need of a friendly voice.”
“Any time. You know that.”
She hung up with a sigh. It was instructive to be reminded that others had problems, too, sometimes a lot worse than yours.
The parties meant to introduce Sebastian to eligible young ladies had begun. The first was a dinner for a dozen beauties, the second an evening of music and poetry reading with another twenty.
“The point of that,” Duchess Trudy had told Emma with a sparkle in her eye, “is to see who falls asleep from boredom. We do want a queen who can hold her own with the cultured crowd.”
“What makes you think the prince will last the evening?” Emma said with a grin.
Trudy waved a hand dismissively. “Doesn’t matter. Men get dispensation from such things. But we must have some standards for our queen. She can’t be just anyone, you know.”
Oh, yes, she knew that only too well.
The next affair was a culmination of the search, scheduled two nights on. A ball was planned, with a dinner before the dancing and a midnight dessert buffet table. She threw herself into the task just as she threw herself into everything these days. But she couldn’t help but think she was probably making something delicious for the woman Sebastian would marry. That was a depressing thought.
The day was hot and muggy. Meridia was undergoing the last heat wave of the summer and it was pretty miserable, especially working in the kitchen. She was blocking out the pastry squares for the desserts when she looked up to see Sebastian passing through. No one else was nearby and he paused as he came next to her.
“Meet me in the first-floor library in ten minutes,” he whispered.
He left before she could say a word. Her mouth went dry and she tried to keep her hands from trembling as she finished her work, washed her hands, and started for the library.
Stepping out into the main corridor, she saw Romas and the prime minister coming her way. Romas’ head rose as he noticed her and she had a sense that he would try to waylay her when they passed one another. That was certainly something she wanted to avoid. Ducking into a storage closet, she held her breath until they’d passed. Thankfully, Romas didn’t come looking for her. She counted to twenty-five, then carefully opened the door and peeked out. The corridor was empty.
The library, once she’d reached it, seemed dark and empty as well. She closed the door and looked around, and suddenly Sebastian appeared from behind another door.
“Oh,” she said, slightly startled. “Hello.”
“Hello.”
He smiled at her. “Do you know how cute you look in that crazy white cooking outfit?”
“Sebastian!” she admonished, coloring and pleased as Punch. She’d never realized before how wonderful it was to have someone happy to see you.
“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t resist.” He sobered and gestured for her to sit down on a nearby chair. He dropped down onto the arm of the leather couch.
“Okay, I asked you to meet with me because I thought you might want to know how things are going on the poison front.”
“Of course. Did you get answers from the specialist in Zurich?”
“Of a sort. He agrees that there seems to be some cause for suspicion. Certain elements of my father’s condition correlate with the effects of a slow poisoning.”
“Oh, Sebastian!”
“The problem is pinning down what agent might have been used. It’s difficult to test for something if you don’t know what you’re testing for.”
“I see.”
“So we’re not much closer to a solution, but we’re more sure than ever that something was being done to him.”
She nodded, knowing that it was a result he’d expected, yet dreaded at the same time. “What’s your next move?”
“I wish I knew. Will is looking into a few possibilities. We’ll see if he can dig anything up. In the meantime…” He shrugged.
“It’s less than a week until the coronation,” she said. That meant only a little over a week until her job here was over. Her mind shied away from that.
“Yes,” he said.
She searched his eyes but there were no answers there. So she asked him directly. “Are you prepared to go through with it?”
He sighed. “That’s still the dilemma I wrestle with.” He paused, then went on.
“You do understand what’s involved, don’t you? On the day of the coronation, for me, all normal life will cease for ever. Every single move I make, every word I speak, will be pinned to the wall and examined, criticized and scorned, printed and reprinted and reanalyzed in case another reason for despising me can be found. I’m not used to that. I don’t really want to get used to it. And that’s only one of the things I would hate about this job.”
He moved restlessly. “You realize, as a young man, I got out of here as soon as I could and I haven’t regretted that for a moment.”
