Her Rebellious Prince (Scandalous Family--The Victorians Book 2)

by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  Danyal had been bringing Georgiev up to date on what had happened and as Elise listened, he described what had happened at the hotel.

  Georgiev rubbed his chin. “I know two, three men. Take care of it.” He shrugged.

  Danyal shook his head, as he ate two quick, enormous mouthfuls of the stew. “No. Let them be discovered as they are,” he told Georgiev. “You have different work to do, Leo.”

  “Yes?”

  Danyal held up his forefinger to indicate that Georgiev should wait for a moment, then ate three more gigantic mouthfuls and pushed the bowl aside. “It is good stew, but I need both hands. Do you have pen and ink and paper, Georgiev?”

  “Yes, yes.” Georgiev said something to his wife.

  Tanya jumped to her feet and moved over to a dresser and withdrew paper, pens and a stoppered inkpot from the drawer. She put them in front of Danyal and returned to her stool to eat her meal.

  As she sat down, she nudged the cup of wine a bit closer to Elise with a small smile, then picked up her own spoon.

  “You and your wife must witness this, Leo,” Danyal said, as he dipped the pen and began to write swiftly.

  The script was Bulgarian and meaningless to Elise. She returned her attention to the bowl in front of her, but looked up, jolted by Georgiev thrusting himself to his feet.

  “No, no, no! You cannot do this! No! I…forbid!” Georgiev cried.

  Tanya made a soft enquiry and her husband answered in a swift torrent of words. She frowned and shook her head at Danyal but did not speak.

  Danyal tugged on Georgiev’s sleeve. “Sit. Sit and let me explain.”

  “No.” Georgiev crossed his arms.

  “Yes. I am still your Prince,” Danyal replied, his tone holding an edge of iron.

  That contained Georgiev. He dropped onto the stool and hung his head.

  “Danyal, why is he so upset?” Elise asked as Danyal picked up the pen and continued to write swiftly.

  “Because he is witnessing my abdication,” Danyal replied.

  Elise gasped. “No, you cannot!”

  “I must,” Danyal said grimly, his jaw tight. “There is a thing you do not understand about what is happening here, Elise. Slaten and the woman–”

  “Maria, she said her name was.”

  “Slaten and Maria were Ottoman agents—agents of the Emperor. They represent and work toward the Emperor’s ambitions, but Slaten made a mistake. He revealed what the Emperor’s ambitions are.”

  Elise put her spoon back in the bowl, her appetite fading. “He wants you removed from the throne.”

  “No.” Danyal shook his head. “He wants the throne, the land, everything returned to the Imperial portfolio. He would strip this country of its leader for a second time in this century.”

  “I don’t understand,” Elise admitted. “Why not simply take it, if that is what he wants? You answer to him, do you not?”

  “Technically, yes, but the Emperor knows my loyalties are to the people, not to him.” He blotted the sheet with another sheet and read back what he had written.

  Georgiev gave a snort. “Everyone knows that.”

  “Regardless,” Danyal continued. “The Emperor needed to drive a wedge between me and the Resistance, so they would not argue when he took the title and the land back.”

  “But I don’t understand why,” Elise said. “You are popular, and you have the concerns of the people as your priority. Is this Emperor so vainglorious he resents that you serve them first?”

  “Good, yes, what she say,” Georgiev said, pointed at Elise.

  Danyal gave a soft chuckle. “In fact, what it comes down to is simple money, in the end. I’m surprised you didn’t instantly understand the moment Slaten mentioned mineral rights, Elise, as it was your idea in the first place.”

  She sat back. “Mine?”

  “When we visited Blackawton, you suggested surveying for useful minerals upon the estate, as the area is known for coal and tin and…well, a great many other lucrative and sought-after resources.”

  “You said someone else must think to do that. Whoever came along after you,” Elise said slowly.

  “I did. But it was good advice, Elise, and I took it. As soon as I returned to Pandev, I commissioned geologists to survey and assay Pandev and report back to me, which they did.”

  Elise put her chin on her fist. “What did they find?”

  Georgiev looked just as interested in the answer.

  “Coal,” Danyal replied. “Mountains of it—literally. The mountains behind the palace hold one of the richest lodes of coal in eastern Europe. It will allow Pandev to thrive for the next hundred years at least.” He blew on his signature at the bottom of the sheet, then turned the sheet toward Georgiev and held out the pen. “That is why I am giving the country to its people, not the Emperor. They must benefit from this bounty and if the Emperor takes back the title and the land, they would not see a single coin of the profits, for that is why he wants Pandev for himself.”

  “It comes down to simple money,” Elise breathed.

  Georgiev took the pen and with a deep sigh, signed his name beneath Danyal’s.

  Danyal patted his shoulder in sympathy. “You have work ahead of you, Georgiev. Aloysius, my private secretary, is the Emperor’s man, too. God knows how many agents he has slid into the palace—it could be stuffed full of them. I am not your enemy, Leo. The Ottomans are, as they always have been.”

  Georgiev nodded and pushed the abdication document toward his wife.

  She took the pen and bent over the document to read it. Then she looked up at Danyal, startled, then back at the document. Georgiev pointed to a space at the bottom of the document. Carefully, concentrating on the movement of the pen, Tanya signed her name.

  Georgiev carried the sheet back to Danyal and held it out.

  Danyal shook his head. “It is yours now, Georgiev. You and your people must now put in place all that you have planned for years—you must structure a government and learn how to most efficiently run Pandev.” He got to his feet, while Georgiev looked bemused.

  There was a touch of fear in the man’s face, too, but Elise could see strength in him, in the way he stood and the thoughtfulness in his eyes. She suspected that Pandev would do well under his ministrations.

  Danyal held his hand out to Elise. “Have you finished eating?”

  “Yes,” she said quickly and got to her feet and took his hand.

  Danyal turned back to Georgiev. “Can you send word to the Palace? To my brother, Gavril. He must be warned—he and his family must leave, too. I would go to him myself, but I cannot return to the palace. Aloysius will have his men waiting.”

  Georgiev nodded. “I will reach him.”

  “Thank you. Tell him to watch out for Aloysius’ men and to meet me at the Grand Hotel in Sofia.” Danyal let go of Elise’s hand and held his hand out to Georgiev. “As we have never done before, now we should say farewell, man to man, instead of Prince to subject.”

  Georgiev looked down at Danyal’s hand. His face worked. Then he slowly reached out for Danyal’s hand and gripped it. He brought up his other hand and held their twined hands. “It has been an honor, your Highness.”

  “Danyal,” he corrected him.

  Georgiev shook his head. “You will always be Your Highness to me.”

  They shook.

  Georgiev cleared his throat, then spun and spoke rapidly to his wife. Tanya bounced to her feet and hurried to a cupboard, and withdrew a heavy coat, mittens and cap and boots, which Georgiev donned rapidly.

  Elise refastened her coat. She had not had a chance to remove it since they arrived. She picked up her valise from the floor beside her. “Thank you for…” she said to Tanya and pointed at her nearly empty bowl.

  Tanya smiled warmly and murmured something back.

  Danyal still wore his cloak. He pulled the hood over his head, slid his hands back into his leather gloves, picked up Elise’s, and moved over to the door.

  They
stepped outside, to darkness and the soft flutter of fresh snow.

  “I cannot believe you would simply…give up, like that,” Elise said to Danyal as he moved down to the road, which had a thin layer of white, now. “Is there no way to fight the Emperor and remain the Prince?”

  “As the Emperor’s subject, I am obliged to obey him,” Danyal said. “Until tonight, I searched for a way to compromise, to obey and serve the people, to prop up the economy and feed people. I did what I could, but when Slaten made his mistake and mentioned the mineral rights, I knew it didn’t matter what I did. The Emperor would either remove me or hobble me in some way which ensured the revenue from the coal went to his coffers, not Pandev’s. The only way to avoid that was to remove me from the equation, which I just did.”

  “But Danyal, it is such an extreme solution!” Elise said. “You are leaving Georgiev and your people to fend for themselves.”

  “Which they can do far more effectively as a free and independent Pandev than I could while shackled to the Ottoman Empire. Tonight, I gave them the power to do that. The Principality will become the democracy they have argued for. They must learn how to take care of themselves, now.”

  Elise did not know what to say to that. She had just witnessed the demise of Danyal’s reign…it was too much to take in.

  Danyal looked down at her and shook her hand a little. “Everything will work out. You will see. I have great confidence in Pandevanians. But I must watch from a distance. As long as I am in Pandev, the Emperor can direct me, and through me, claw at the coal he wants. So…are you prepared for a long journey, Elise?”

  “To Sofia, you said?”

  “For tonight, yes—and as swiftly as we can.” He halted at the corner of the busy intersection they had reached and looked down at her. “It is an indelicate question, but may I ask how much money you have upon you? I suspect we will need to buy the services of a coach and horses, for the trains will be monitored.”

  Elise thought of the money in her petticoat pocket. “I should have enough for that,” she said.

  Danyal frowned. “I must learn how to deal with such mundane matters,” he muttered. “It is unseemly to rely upon you, but needs must, for now. When we reach Sofia, I can wire my family’s bank and return your funds to you.”

  “Unless the Emperor seizes your bank accounts, as you denied him the coal he wants,” Elise pointed out.

  Danyal’s frown turned into a heavy scowl. “I will speak to the bank first thing in the morning,” he said, his tone taut.

  “Don’t just speak to them, Danyal,” she said gently. “Clear the account out. Carry the money with you until you can open another account at another bank, one the Emperor cannot touch.”

  “He has a long arm. I suspect I will have to go as far as the Bank of England to avoid his grasp,” Danyal replied. He held up his hand as a cab came toward him and waved urgently. “To Sofia, then, as swiftly as we can.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  They reached the Grand Hotel in the heart of Sofia just as the sun rose the next morning. The coach they rented was the third they had approached. The only reason the driver agreed to the long journey was because he was a Royalist. He had snapped into a deep bow when he saw Danyal’s face.

  It had been a bitterly cold journey, and an uncomfortable one, for the road between Pandev and Sofia was narrow and unkempt from disuse.

  “I intended to have the road repaired and widened, when there was money to do it,” Danyal said, as the coach climbed into and out of another hidden pothole with a jarring thud of the wheels. “Everyone uses the train to travel to Sofia, so I kept putting it off. Ah, well… It isn’t my concern anymore.”

  For most of the journey, Danyal lapsed into a brooding silence, his gaze on the untouched snow beyond the road, which glowed in the moonlight.

  Elise left him to his thoughts. She was tired and looked forward to being able to sit still. Better yet, to lie upon a soft bed, under a warm blanket or two and sleep.

  Perhaps in the morning, things would seem clearer. The world had shifted abruptly in the last few hours and she must think it through and sort it out in her own mind. Likely, that was why Danyal was so silent, too.

  Danyal was known at the hotel. The hotel manager came around the front desk to great him with a smile and low bow.

  Danyal didn’t tell him that bowing was no longer necessary. Instead, he asked after his brother, Gavril, and Gavril’s family, in English.

  “No, not a word, Your Highness,” the manager said, in good English. “We will have a suite prepared for them, so when they arrive, they will have no need to wait.”

  “Thank you, Genkov,” Danyal replied. “Is the dining room open?”

  “I will have it opened for you, Your Highness. What do you require? I will take care of it.”

  “Tea, for the lady, coffee for me, and a large breakfast, Genkov. It was a very cold journey here.”

  The manager escorted them to the dining room, had a waiter light the gas lamps and settled them at a table. A pot of tea arrived swiftly, coffee a few minutes later, and in short order, a breakfast. The crescent shaped bread rolls had jam and butter to go with them, and there were sausages, eggs and oatmeal, too. It was all piping hot, which helped Elise’s shivers subside.

  They were just finishing their breakfast when voices were raised, outside the dining room, by the front desk.

  Danyal put down his coffee cup. “That is Galena,” he said. He glanced at Elise. “My sister,” he explained. He listened closely to the rapid speech. “There’s trouble…” he murmured and got to his feet. “Stay and finish your meal,” he told her and hurried away.

  He moved through the empty dining room, to the big doors onto the foyer of the hotel.

  Elise put her napkin on the table. She didn’t like being left alone here, not when the voices she could hear were filled with panic and something more. She followed Danyal out into the foyer.

  There were three people standing in the middle of the elegant foyer speaking to the manager—an older woman, who wore a shawl over her head that disguised most of her face. A younger, very pretty woman with dark hair and eyes that were the same as Danyal’s, and a red and black coat over a silk dress—this was the lady whose loud speech had caught Danyal’s attention. Beside the woman, whom Elsie presumed was Galena, his sister, was a small girl of around nine or ten years, who stood very close to Galena, a fold of her coat in her hand, and her eyes very large and frightened.

  “Galena,” Danyal said, as he drew closer.

  The woman broke off from her rapid conversation with the manager and threw up her hands. “Danyal!” She spoke even more swiftly, moving toward him. Then she burst into tears and wept against his shoulder.

  Danyal held out his other arm and the older woman—his mother, Elise guessed—and the young girl crowded against him and sobbed, too. Danyal closed his eyes and held them.

  Something tragic had happened, Elise guessed. She stayed back, her heart thudding heavily. Danyal’s brother was not here…had something happened to him? She moved around the group which clung to each other, over to the manager. “Monsieur Genkov, I do not know your language. What trouble has struck? Could you tell me?”

  Genkov looked grave. He gave a heavy sigh. “The Prince’s brother, the Duke of Laga, has been murdered,” he whispered. “I regret to inform you of such—it is a tragedy. The Palace Guard fired upon the family when they left the palace last night. The Duke…” Genkov gave another heavy sigh. “He shielded the women and they escaped only because of his sacrifice.”

  Elise pressed her hand to her mouth, holding in the sound of her dismay. Danyal had been correct all along—the Ottoman agents had taken over the palace, as he had predicted.

  Pandev had fallen.

  They stayed at the Grand Hotel for another five days. The hotel seemed to take on the air of mourning on behalf of Danyal’s family. People spoke in hushed voices and walked slowly.

  Elise remained in her private room, o
ut of the way of everyone, for Danyal was busy dispensing with the last formalities as Prince of Pandev, which involved speaking to the Ambassador to Bulgaria, and to Bulgarian heads of state and government officials, who all came to visit him in the royal suite, many of them wearing black armbands out of respect for the family’s loss.

  The news emerging from Pandev was confused and inconclusive, for the people who fled across the border into Bulgaria were only aware of fighting in the streets and that the palace had burned for a day and a night.

  Who was now in power was not yet certain, although Elise hoped that Georgiev’s people had found a way to defeat the Ottoman agents and claim control of the country for themselves. Georgiev had Danyal’s abdication and directive that the people run the country, which would be a powerful tool in winning that power.

  Danyal’s family were bereft and remained in their rooms unless needed, too.

  On the fifth day, Danyal came to Elise’s room and tapped on the door.

  She opened it, torn between amusement at his humble knock and delight that he had come to speak to her. She held the door open. “You are acquiring the habits of a simple man very quickly,” she said.

  “For thirty-five years, I was just a simple man,” he replied. He stepped into the room and closed the door and rested his hand on the doorknob. “Do you mind the door being closed? I can leave it open if you’d prefer, but I would rather no one else hear my confession.”

  “Confession?” she asked, startled.

  Danyal turned away from the door. He didn’t come any closer to her. “I owe you a most abject apology, Elise. I have ignored you for days–”

  “You were very busy. Extraordinarily so.”

  “Yes, and it was for this moment right now that I have worked so hard,” he replied. “It drove me to deal with the last formalities as quickly as possible.” His mouth turned up in a near-smile. “I also closed all the family bank accounts.”

  Elise could barely manage a smile of her own in response.

  “In the last hour, I have finished with all of it,” Danyal added. “I am no longer the Prince of Pandev. I am simply Danyal Bora.”