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“For capturing the Casanova’s heart. Who would have ever thought it possible?”
I opened my mouth to speak; however, Arabella cut in.
“Yes. Yes. All good on her. But what do we do about that woman? We cannot simply let her go slandering us all in the press.”
Once again, I opened my mouth but once again, I was cut off before I could get a word in as Elspeth spoke sharply.
“We will do nothing. If she wants to speak, she shall. The country will gossip, then get over it, and we all will move on. We do nothing. We say nothing.” She must have realized how harsh her tone was because she looked at me. “Don’t you agree, Your Majesty?”
Ugh…Sure? What else could I do?
“Yes. That’s fine,” I said instead because I honestly wanted to stop talking about this. I wished Sabina would just disappear.
“Prime Minister.” I nodded to him when he came in.
“Sir.” He bowed. “Happy New Year.”
“Same to you,” I replied, motioning for him to sit in the chair before me. “May I ask what brought you here a day early?”
“As I am sure you are aware, the verdict for Mr. Ambrose’s trial will be given tomorrow,” he said, crossing his leg over the other as he leaned back in his chair.
“Yes, I am aware. But as you are aware, the court has nothing to do with either of us.”
He stroked his chin. “Sir, can I speak without reservation?”
“Please.” For once, at least he was going to be honest with his words and not sugarcoat them with flowery language.
“This case will say a lot about you, sir…what type of king you are. Mr. Ambrose is guilty without a doubt, and he is not insane, which means he will be sentenced to the maximum…the death penalty. His lawyer will seek to fight that on the grounds of the constitution. Then it very well might be a crisis on whether or not the queen was a royal at the time. I want to make sure you and I are on the same page with this. In my mind, she was, and no pardon will come from you.”
“Mr. Prime Minister, everything you said was presupposed. I cannot make any judgment until something happens.”
“And when things happen, where do you stand, sir? Are you firm, or are you soft? Do you believe in law and order? Or will you be swayed by the bleeding hearts and delicate minds of this country?” He lifted his head to question.
Rising from my chair, I forced him to do the same, outstretching my hand. “Thank you for coming to see me, Prime Minister.”
When he took it, I gave him a firm shake.
“Pleasure was mine, sir.” He bowed, understanding. He turned right back around and walked out of the room.
The whole meeting took less than five minutes, which made Balduin come inside, confused. “That was fast, sir.”
“I’m surprised, too. For once, we are on the same page.” I still didn’t like the man, though.
Chapter 18
Waking up to finding out Arabella was right was not how I liked to spend a new day…let alone a new year.
Especially when the things she was right about were now an ever-present thorn in our sides…Sabina. She’d chosen the day after our documentary had aired to publish on her social media that it was now her time to talk, and she was going to do a sit-down interview.
“Apparently, your people were not harsh enough with her,” Arabella lectured, now dressed in purple, across from Elspeth.
Whenever we were having family meals, the order of the table was now Gale at the head, me to the opposite of him. His mother was on his right, and his grandmother was on his left. Which meant he was in the middle of them both, and he looked about ready to drown himself in morning broth.
“I’ve always told you when you wish to crush an enemy, you must do so in a manner they can never get up from.”
“Grandmama, can we not talk about this right now?” he begged her as we were still in the company of the butlers.
“What else is there to talk about?” she asked.
