“So much for being back at midnight, huh?” Luca said. “The carriage turned back into a pumpkin, so Daniel was forced to use magic on it again. I don’t think the mice were too happy. Did you know he was a Mage?”
“I’m sorry,” I sighed, ignoring his question about Daniel.
“Don’t be. I heard you were quite the hero. I’m proud of you. I have to thank you too, Cynder, for keeping her safe.”
Once again, Luca surprised me by not being angry. I don’t know why I thought he would be or why I was expecting it. Instead, he was being perfectly lovely.
“Did you two have a good time before all the excitement?” he asked.
“It was the least romantic, most boring date I’ve ever had the misfortune to go on,” I said.
I noticed Cynder’s mouth curl up at the edges before he turned his face away to look out of the carriage window.
Out in the Open
The next morning, I did something I should have done a long time before. I called a meeting of the household. As I’d slept in and missed breakfast, I asked the kitchen to send up some croissants and fruit.
A member of staff brought Daniel and Dean up to the palace, and I brought the rest of the men. Elise was in bed with a particularly nasty case of morning sickness, and my mother declined to come as she was too busy with some wedding issue or other that I had no interest in. The meeting ended up with just the boys and me. Luca sat on my right and Cynder on my left. Leo, Daniel, and Dean filled up the remaining spaces.
“Thank you all for coming,” I said, standing up. As I did, Jenny walked in with a huge pot of coffee. “Jenny, you can stay too. I think it would be helpful for you to know what is going on.”
Jenny blushed and sat between Leo and Dean. She grabbed a notepad and pen from her pocket and waited for me to begin.
“My reign has gotten off to a tumultuous start. I wasn’t anticipating becoming a target for assassination so soon, and yet it happened. You all know that Cynder here saved me and brought me home. So far, the danger has not resurfaced, but the group behind the assassination attempt is still out there. They are called the Magi Death Squad. A man named Frederick Pittser is one of the members. You probably remember him as the man who told the media that Cynder and I were having an affair to stop me from inviting the Magi back into the kingdom. Unfortunately for him, his plan backfired. The Magi have been coming back in force over the last week or so, including people who weren’t living in Silverwood originally.”
You all know I’ve been forced into another round of competition for who will be my husband. It’s not been easy, but I want to thank both Luca and Cynder for going through with it. It was not an easy decision to make for any of us, but as you have, no doubt, seen in the papers, the popularity for the monarchy has increased massively in the past week, ever since it was announced we were doing this. It’s my belief that the competition is what’s buoying that and bringing the Magi back. Furthermore, since Cynder arrived, I’ve had no reports of any attacks on any Magi, nor have I had word that there have been any further demonstrations. This competition, as ridiculous as it is, is uniting the kingdom.”
“It’s all good news then!” said Dean.
“Mostly, yes, but there are a few problems and a few things I want to clear up before we go any further. The people around this table are the people I trust most in the world. You’ve all proved yourself in one way or another, so I think it’s time a few truths were known. Firstly, Daniel is a Mage.”
I heard Jenny gasp. She stopped scribbling and looked over at Daniel. Dean took his hand.
“He knows I was going to tell you all and agreed to come out of the closet so to speak.”
“Wouldn’t be the first closet I’ve come out of this year,” he quipped.
“But your mother…” said Jenny, trailing off. “Maggie was the one who asked me to put in a good word for you at the ball.”
“I’m afraid my mother is dead and has been for a great many years. Maggie is a friend of mine. She agreed to lie to you to get me into the palace. I’m so sorry.”
“But…”
“Jenny, that’s why we are here,” I said as kindly as I could. She hated being lied to as much as I did. “We are clearing the air.”
“Ok.” She picked up her pen again. I could see she wasn’t happy but kept it to herself.
“Daniel and Cynder are in a group fighting the Magi Death Squad, called the Freedom of Magic. They have known each other for quite a while. Originally, this group was set up to bring down my father, but since he did a pretty good job of that himself, they decided to help the monarchy rather than fight it.”
“We decided to help you,” corrected Cynder.
“And I’m grateful. I think it’s safe to say we all have a common cause here. To bring Silverwood together and to eliminate hate between the Magi and non-Magi. I was wondering if you both would tell everyone exactly what it is that the Freedom of Magic have been doing, and what it is they are doing now.”
Cynder stood and cleared his throat. This wasn’t going to be easy for him. He was going to have to tell the truth about the fact that the Freedom of Magic had originally intended to bring down the monarchy. I listened to him as he spoke, and gauged the reactions of the others. At first, I could see they were uncomfortable with what they were hearing, especially Jenny. But as he continued with how they had been helping us since my father died, she visibly relaxed. When he finished up with telling everyone how he had saved my life in Thalia, Jenny got up and gave him a hug. A huge honor indeed!
“I hope you all understand where Cynder is coming from,” I said, taking over from him. “The Magi have been persecuted for years. I don’t blame him or Daniel for trying to bring down my father, and I hope you won’t either. The main thing is, they are on our side now, and we are all working together. Cynder, Daniel, would it be possible to bring some other members of The Freedom of Magic to the palace? I would like to talk to them all. If we are going to fight the Magi Death Squad, we need to all be on the same page.”
“We could try,” replied Daniel. “The police might try to stop that many Magi from getting into the palace. We all know that the MDS has people in high places including the police force.”
“No, they won’t. I’ll say it’s a garden party for Magi. All of Silverwood knows what I’m trying to do, whether they like it or not. They will just assume that I’m trying to mend fences. Also, that brings me to my next point. I fired the chief of police last night. The kingdom cannot run for long without someone running the police force, but I saw last night how corrupt our police force can be. Leo, I know you are a businessman and not a policeman, but I trust you. I’d like it if you can jump into the police chief’s position for the next couple of weeks. Your detective skills are nothing short of amazing…except for a couple of little mistakes.” I’d told him that morning that his informant was wrong about Cynder being married, a fact that embarrassed Leo no end. “I want you to organize and implement a recruitment drive for Magi police at all levels, and then when you think things are running smoothly, hire someone to take on the chief role.”
“Whatever you need,” replied Leo smoothly.
“I can help with that,” butted in Dean.
I looked at him expectantly.
“I’m a policeman. I worked under Grenfall. I was so pleased to find out that you fired him this morning. It was the talk of the station.”
“You are a policeman?” I’d just assumed he was a carpenter like Daniel.
“Yep.”
“Perfect. Can you help Leo?” I thought for a second. Something I remembered came to mind. “Actually, I need someone to look into a guy known as The Regent. He’s a high ranking member of the Magi Death Squad. The highest. He’ll probably be someone already in power with a lot of money and a lot of influence. I need to know who he is. Do you think you can set up a squad to look into that?”
“I’m just a police officer. I’m not sure I’ll be able to start an investigation on my
own. I don’t have the authority.”
“I’ll come into the headquarters tomorrow and let everyone know of the changes. I’ll make it known that I’m looking for a new secret task force that has something to do with the anti-Magi sentiments. Then, between us, we can pick from those that look like a good fit. Until then, we’ll keep the full reason for the task force quiet. I don’t want everyone knowing we are looking for The Regent. He could even be a member of the force. Leo can help with that too.”
“Sounds good!” replied Dean, looking like the cat that had got the cream.
After the meeting, I retired to my office. Jenny had already started making it a bit more liveable and less severe by adding a vase of flowers and some nice paintings of Silverwood on the walls. There was a long way to go to completely remove any trace of my father, but it was a start.
Now that the air had been cleared and everyone knew fully what was going on, it made me feel so much more at ease with everything that was happening.
Jenny had been instructed to organize the garden party-cum-meeting with the Freedom of Magic. Leo and Daniel were going to be sorting out the corruption within Silverwood’s Police force. And Cynder and Luca were working with me to make sure that the competition to choose one of them didn’t turn into the farce that last year’s had.
For the first time in weeks, I finally felt like I had everything under control.
Of course, like everything else in my life, the feeling of control was short-lived.
The nightmare started when I pulled the first of the day’s papers towards me. The front cover had a photo of Cynder and I coming out of the police station the night before. I’d expected as much, but the part that worried me was the fact that, thanks to our actions last night, Cynder was way up in the polls. Despite him being a Mage, he was beating Luca by a large margin. In fact, Luca’s popularity was at an all-time low.
I sighed and pushed the paper to one side. I’d have to tell Luca to plan something special for our date, something the public would enjoy. Sitting in the movie theatre eating popcorn might be my idea of a good night, but it wouldn’t be enough to win the public over.
I picked up the rest of the papers to read later. I wouldn’t be showing them to Luca, and with some luck, he’d be too busy to read them. He didn’t deserve to be so low in the ratings.
I found him chatting to Jenny about the upcoming garden party. It was due to take place the day of our date. It meant that the televised interview would have to take place the day after that which was fine with me. I hated the necessity of it all anyway.
“Luca, I know you are helping Jenny, but I’ve been thinking…”
“Yes?”
“Our date next week. I know I’m supposed to plan it, but I’m very busy. I was wondering if you could come up with something a bit special?”
He bounded over and gave me a kiss. “Absolutely, I’ve already got some ideas! It will be perfect, I promise.”
I gave him a small smile and left them to it. I knew Jenny would help him too. With a party and a date to organize, she’d be in her element.
It wasn’t until later that I brought myself to look at the other papers. If the first one was bad, the rest were infinitely worse. There on the front page of the first was the photo that Leo had shown me days before. The one of Cynder and his ugly stepsisters. Underneath the photo was the caption in large letters.
Kingdom in shock as Cynder’s hidden wife is exposed.
The rest of the papers had led with the same story. Just as Leo had believed it, now the kingdom did. Everyone now believed that Cynder was married.
Evidence
“I don’t know anything about this.” Leo sat opposite me in my office. I watched as he massaged his temples.
“What about your informant? Could they have gone to the press?”
“Yesterday, I would have said no. He’s been my friend for years, and I trusted him completely. I guess I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
The door opened, and Cynder walked in. I’d invited them both up here for an urgent meeting. Leo had beaten Cynder to it by a couple of minutes. I passed the paper to Cynder to let him digest the contents.
“I’m so sorry, Cynder,” began Leo. “I was just looking out for Charmaine. I didn’t know anything about you, and I was worried about a stranger coming into the palace. I didn’t leak this to the press, but my informant must have. I’ll deal with him, but I obviously can’t take this back.” He smacked his hand down at the paper. I’d never seen him mad before.
“Don’t. There’s a possibility it isn’t your informant. If my ex-stepsisters got wind of him, there is a good chance they leaked this themselves. I’m actually amazed it took them so long.”
“Are they anti-Magi?”
“No, they just like money and power. Seeing me living in the palace must be killing them. I haven’t seen them in years, but that won’t stop them. This is their one shot at fame, and they are going to make the most of it.”
“What shall we do about it?” I asked.
Cynder thought for a minute. “Ignore it. It will go away on its own eventually.”
“The people will want to know the truth,” I reminded him. “They will expect a statement from me.”
“Any statement you give will only add fuel to the fire. You don’t know these women. They are power-hungry. You talk about them at all, and it will validate their claim. They’ll say you are lying.”
“But I’m not lying. They have no proof, no wedding certificate.”
“They won’t care. Even bad publicity is publicity to them, and they’ll milk it for all they are worth. I honestly think it’s better to leave it well alone and let the flames die out. If you don’t bite back, they will get bored eventually.”
I couldn’t help but wonder what damage they’d do in the meantime, but I let Cynder have his way. I didn’t know these women, and he did. If he said they were ruthless, then I believed him. I’d be monitoring the papers, though. I wasn’t about to let two crazy women mess up everything I was working towards.
The next day, I headed to Silverwood’s main police station with Leo and Daniel. The whole force knew we were coming and, apart from a few key staff members manning the reception desk, they had all crammed into the biggest conference room in the building. Even with the huge capacity, it was standing room only.
The second in command, who’d taken up the mantle in the two days since Grenfall had left was a jovial middle-aged man with the unlikely name of Copper. Jason Copper. I briefed him fully before seeing the rest of the staff, and he seemed more than happy, to have Leo come into the force. Jason was a man I took to straight away. With one of those faces that had a permanent smile, he was more than happy to accommodate us. Even better, was the fact that he agreed with us on a lot of key issues regarding the Magi. He told us how he’d repeatedly spoken to Grenfall over the past few years about the Magi and had been shot down at every turn. After an hour-long meeting with him, I decided that he and Leo should work together. If Leo liked him as much as I did, he’d eventually get the chief of police position to himself once Leo had finished what he was there to do.
I looked at the faces looking up at me with great expectation and knew that this was going to be one of the most important speeches I ever gave. These men and women were Silverwood’s backbone. As they were on the front line, so to speak, they dealt with Magi and non-Magi and the problems between the two communities on a regular basis.
“Good morning,” I began. “As you are no doubt aware, I terminated Mr. Grenfall from his position of Chief of Police a couple of days ago.”
There was a cheer. It seemed that Grenfall was as unpopular with his staff as he was with me. That would make things easier.
“For the next few weeks, Your second in command, Sergeant Copper will be taking his place. His title from today onward will be Acting Chief of Police. Alongside him will be Mr. Leo Halifax. As you are probably aware, Mr. Halifax is my brother-in-law, but he is also a trusted member of
my staff.
“Mr. Copper and Mr. Halifax will be working together in the coming weeks to streamline the police force. I want to assure you that your jobs are all safe and there is no need to panic. If you are happy in your current position, then there is no need for that to change.
“However, we are looking for some people to step up for a new task force. This task force will be dealing with highly privileged information regarding Anti-Magi groups. I can’t say any more than that now, but application forms will be left by the door for you to pick up if you think this is something you might be interested in. Anyone can apply, but only the best will be picked. There is a hefty bonus plan for those who get the job.
“Mr. Dean Wentworth, another of my advisors at the palace, will be in charge. Some of you may already know him. The positions that are left vacant by those moving up to the new task force will be filled with people from outside the force. A recruitment drive for Magi to join the force will be trialed starting this week. If there is anyone here who doesn’t like that or will not be able to work alongside the Magi, please leave now. Take your coats as you won’t be welcomed back.”
I waited for someone to leave, but apart from a few grumbles, no one did.
I took a deep breath. So far so good! By the time the people cleared the conference room, I was feeling a whole lot more confident. No one had openly complained about me hiring Magi, and I’d even managed to find a couple of people who would look into Cynder’s sisters for me. They’d been on the front of all the papers again, and despite Cynder’s reassurance that it would just go away, I wasn’t so sure.
Leaving Leo and Dean to begin their new jobs, I headed back to the palace. A quick session with Xavi and her crew had me ready for my interview with Marybelle. After the scandal with Cynder had broken overnight, I’d decided to cancel the big interview on the stage with all the leading newspaper reporters and TV stations, and just invite Marybelle into the palace. I didn’t have the energy to deal with an excitable crowd on top of everything else, and so the palace gates would remain shut to the public this week. When I looked out of one of the front windows of the palace, I could see that, despite the cancellation, people had still turned up for the show.
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