Page 34 of Consume Me

He apparently liked to be at the center of whatever new family scandal was brewing. I’d gladly let him take all the pity for my grandmother’s death, but I hadn’t come here to talk it over with him.

I was here for information.

“What is the meaning of obstructing my access to a known criminal?” I demanded.

Smith took a chair, at ease with letting me confront them.

“We were saving you the trouble,” Clark, a member of the House of Lords with a reputation almost as auspicious as his bushy white eyebrows, informed me. “We’ve kept this meeting to the pertinent parties.”

There was one person missing today. The Prime Minister had been present during my first meeting with the infamous Council. Clark’s implication was that he wasn’t a necessary party. It said something to the sway they held, but whether or not that translated into something useful in this situation.

“Then why is he here?” I asked. I had no reason not to like my uncle, but his presence was unnerving. Up until a few hours ago, we’d kept Clara’s kidnapping quiet. Now more and more people I didn’t well enough to trust were finding out. “I agreed to meet with you!”

“We’re in the habit of conducting meetings, not yelling matches.” Byrd was one of the oldest members of Parliament and of the men here the most likely to become an actual ghost the soonest. He didn’t have time for any of it, not even the king, it seemed.

I waited a moment, still glowering over Henry’s presence. I didn’t like this. It had all the markers of a set-up. Had he weaseled his way into their good graces or had they kept his membership a secret?

“Alexander, I’m not your enemy,” Henry said as though reading my mind.

Yes, but he wasn’t exactly my ally either. Not if he was here amongst men who judged whether I was suitable to carry the crown or not. Since he was my family, I might have expected him to be on my side, but he was here sitting with them instead.

“Then what are you?” I dropped into a chair, my eyes glued to him like he might vanish.

“He is the dark prince,” Clark informed me.

“The what?” Smith asked for me.

“The council relies on someone within the royal family to provide reliable intel on the mental well-being of the king. Henry has done so for decades. He was our link to Albert. Now he is our link to you.”

That’s why he’d suddenly decided to return to London. I’d begun to shake things up. I had questioned Parliamentary rights versus my rights as King. I’d blessed my brother’s marriage. The Council must have been concerned about my next controversial move.

“You’re a spy,” I accused.

“I never share information just my assessments and opinion,” Henry said, toying with the cuffs of his jacket. It was a nervous gesture that had also plagued my father.

He was uncomfortable, but why?

He could claim whatever he wished, but it didn’t change the facts. “I can’t say that it feels benevolent to find out a member of my family speaks to a secret council behind my back.”

“It is,” Henry assured me. “The dark prince is brought in as a counter measure. I see the private life. I was privy to what Albert struggled with. I saw into your home life.”

“He was the one who assured us that you weren’t a loose cannon,” Byrd said as though this absolved Henry’s actions entirely.

“Merely progressive,” Clark added. Byrd’s lips pursed as though he disapproved of this, but otherwise didn’t speak. “Someday, another member of your family will take the role.”

“Who?” I asked. There was no one in my family who would willingly take the role. Whereas Albert had maintained a slight distance between himself and everyone else in his life after my mother’s death, there was no one close to me that I would push away.

“We can’t share that. It’s out of the ordinary to reveal this to you now.”

“No one in my family will spy on me,” I told them.

“You’re looking at this the wrong way. The shadow royal protects the monarch. He finds justification for seemingly illogical actions. He helps guide a king back onto the right path.”

“Protects?” I asked, calling their bluff. “So none of these so-called shadows have ever turned against the crown.”

The monarchy had spent far too many periods at war amongst itself for such a duty to go without abuse. I could point to moments in history where I seriously doubted this shadow royal had protected the reigning king.

“Rarely, but it has happened,” Clark admitted. “Not in the way you assume. Sometimes there is nothing defensible in a man’s actions. Sometimes, it’s merely the misuse of power. A shadow knows exactly which is which.”