Page 1 of Falling for the Queen Mother

1

Nathaniel Dougherty shifted uncomfortably in the economy seat near the back of the plane.

Why couldn't he have flown first class again?

Right. First class had already been sold out when they booked him on this flight from Dellisole to Southern Santiero.

He'd spent several decades flying economy until he could afford a nicer seat, but his last flight had been on a private jet between his homeland of Eastern Novigradia and Dellisole when he and several other experts had been summoned to assist King Vincenzo's team identify artifacts stolen from their archives.

Now he would forever be spoiled for normal travel.

The part of him that was already exhausted before boarding the flight was irritated that he sat in one of the worst seats on the plane when traveling at the behest of not one, not two, but three royal families. Center seat, next to last row, almost right next to the lavatories, and right next to a crying baby.

To be fair, no one could have known there would be a crying baby and the young mum looked like she could barely hold back her own tears as she shushed and bounced in place.

The way she looked away when Nate glanced toward her told him more than he needed to know.

"Hey," he said softly. "I'm a grandpa missing my grandbabies. Do you think I could be of assistance? I'd be happy to take the little one for a few minutes if you want to go for a walk up and down the aisle."

Relief washed over her face. "Are you sure? She's not normally like this."

He pulled his phone out and brought up his latest family photo. "I have four kids and three grandbabies."

She leaned over and took a look. "You have a beautiful family, but are you really sure?"

Nate put his phone back away. "I'm sure. My late wife and I traveled with our kids when they were young, so I understand." He gave his best grandfatherly smile. "Please let me try to help."

After another second of hesitation, she nodded and handed over the squalling bundle. "I'm Emilia. This is Alice." The little girl couldn't be more than a couple of months old, if that.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Nate tucked little Alice into the crook of his arm, cradled her close, and began to shush like the young mum had, but something about the new person involved seemed to help. Fortunately, the passenger in the window seat had ear plugs, an eye mask, and a small pillow leaned up against the side of the plane. Now that the crying had somewhat subsided, Nate could hear quiet snores coming from his left. He shifted the little one until her head rested on his shoulder.

The relieved mum handed him a blanket and dummy. "She might want that, but she might not. I won't be long, but I do appreciate the chance to visit the lavatory and stretch my legs a little bit." With that, she turned to the back of the plane and disappeared momentarily.

Nate wrapped the light blanket around the baby, carefully adjusting until the blanket snuggly covered her. She started to root around a little bit. Nate offered her the dummy. She immediately took it, sucking away as her eyes closed. Patting her gently, but firmly on the back, he let his cheek rest against her downy hair.

He closed his eyes and tried to envision his upcoming mission.

He, along with a couple of other historians and archivists, had been studying some forged artwork in Eastern Novigradia as well as a number of other small countries in Europe and the Atlantic. The conclusion they'd eventually come to was that a number of young men just outside the direct line of succession had, centuries earlier, plotted to take over their own countries and then work together to conquer Europe as a whole.

That never would have happened, but even if it had, the suspicion was that each member of the conspiracy had his own plan to turn on the others and set himself up as supreme ruler of the western world. As best they could ascertain, a number of valuable treasures from each country were secreted away with the maps or other information inscribed on the back of works of art. At some point in the last century, someone else had discovered this information and had replaced at least two of the original paintings with forgeries.

Nate and the task force that had been formed kept the information very quiet and only worked with those they knew they could trust. Unfortunately, the Royal Historian in Dellisole wasn't one of those. Though the task force never communicated with him directly, the man had absconded with a valuable painting that had been replaced with a forgery, probably decades earlier when it had been taken down for restoration.

When had it been removed from the palace archives? That was a question no one knew the answer to. The presumption had been recently, but there was no proof.

Nate had been chosen to go to Southern Santiero to begin an investigation there to ensure none of their paintings or other artifacts had been tampered with.

With the baby girl still sleeping snuggly against his shoulder, Nate let his eyes close and wondered who he'd be working with when he arrived.

The Southern Santierians were in between Royal Historians. The last one had retired unexpectedly a year earlier after a health scare. Despite a fairly exhaustive search, there hadn't been applications from viable candidates. That would make things a bit more complicated in some ways, but in others it might be easier. At least he wouldn't have to worry if the historian was lying to him about his knowledge of the ancient conspiracy.

"How did you do that?" The young mum sat back down with a look of relief on her face.

Nate grinned at her. "It's a grandparent secret. Give it about twenty-five or thirty years, and we'll let you in on it."

She reached out. "I can take her back."

"Nah." He shook his head. "She's comfortable. I'm comfortable. Why don't you get some rest?"