Page 23 of Falling for the Queen Mother

As he left the king's office, Nate picked up the shadow that was always with him outside of the archives, his quarters, or an official meeting. He didn't need the escort to find his way to his quarters anymore, but they weren't ready to let him wander around unattended either.

When he reached his door, Nate turned to the member of security. "Thank you." He wasn't quite sure what he was thanking the man for, but he said it anyway.

"My pleasure, sir." The man tipped his head toward Nate.

That was new.

Because word was starting to get around he was adjacent to the royal family, by way of this marriage?

No way to know.

Once the door to his quarters was closed behind him, Nate took a seat in the most comfortable chair available to him. After staring into the distance for a moment, he sighed and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

A check of the international time zone app told him what time it was for each of his children.

Swiping to the correct app, he made the first call.

Alaina watched as Nathaniel left the Frederick's office.

"Do you have anyone you need to contact, ma'am?" The Minority Leader in Parliament had never particularly liked her, and it was clear from the tone of his voice that, should it be left up to him, she would not be welcomed back into the palace as a member of the family.

After all, she hadn't been a member of the royal family until she married into it.

As far as he was concerned, since she'd been widowed, she was no longer a member, despite being the mother of the current monarch.

Good thing he didn't have any sort of real say in the matter.

"My family is aware of the situation." She didn't need to call them. They lived in the same building she did, except for Victoria who was Queen Consort of Dellisole. She'd done a video chat with her daughter and told her everything.

All of her children agreed that the whole thing was pretty ridiculous, but also understood that there really wasn't much she could do about it, not for the time being.

The man muttered something under his breath, but she couldn't quite catch what it was.

No matter. She didn't need to know the exact words to understand the meaning.

Frederick glowered in the direction of the man who was some sort of distant cousin. "Please remember the Queen Mother is still a member of this family and address her accordingly."

Protocol indicated that she should be addressed as Your Majesty the first time someone saw her during the day. After that, she could be addressed as ma'am.

He had skipped the first portion of the protocol.

It wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last either.

The reason it bothered her was the lack of respect and how he seemed to look down at her because she wasn't born into the Southern Santieran aristocracy.

She'd often found herself having to stop herself from flinging a comment or two back about his grandmother who came from a very unprivileged background.

Alaina had always managed to hold her tongue, to keep the high ground.

She took the opportunity to stand. "However, I have a prior appointment I need to attend." With a slight nod toward all of them, she turned to leave. "Good day, gentlemen."

All of the men at the table stood as she left. At least peer pressure seemed to be working for the moment.

When she made it back to her office, Alaina kicked her heels off. She hated wearing them, but it was expected of her most of the time.

Her "appointment" was with the inside of her eyelids. She laid down on the couch in her office and closed her eyes, letting her arm fall across them to block the ambient light.

The last several evenings spent with Nathaniel had been very nice, though he wanted to know far more about her than she wanted to share this quickly. Years of being in the public eye had led to her to be cautious when it came to letting people too far into her world.