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“Stand by, Mom. I’ll figure this out myself.”
“Odette, be careful.”
“I’ll talk to you later. Love you,” I replied, hanging up. When I did, Wolfgang came up to me.
“Is everything okay, ma’am?”
No. “Yes, thank you.” I smiled at him and gently walked back to the couch, taking a seat.
Oh, I was going to find out the truth.
And really, really, truly hoped my mom was wrong so I could get rid of this feeling inside me.
It felt like there was no time. None at all to talk. But then how could I casually bring any of this up in conversation? It was too crazy. It was a bad movie, and I just wanted to change the channel, but I was forced to watch it anyway.
However, Elspeth didn’t come down for the rest of the day, and Gale was stuck with the team. Too much was happening at once—the protest, Ambrose, now Sabina, and comments that were already being picked up by the news. I had no clue what to do or how to help. My schedule was filled with things like picking out new year décor or preparing clothes for upcoming visits to hospitals, charities, and art galas. Nothing of real importance. Nothing as big as this. So I couldn’t just sit around and wait. I couldn’t just do nothing.
I knocked at the door gently.
“Come in,” she answered.
And when I did step into King Lionel’s room now, she sat at his bedside, cleaning the older man’s hands with a small towel. Her red hair let down. In simple causal clothes, no jewels or makeup at all. She didn’t turn back or pause, just gently cared for her husband’s hands.
I didn’t know how to start this conversation. I guess she figured that because she started it for me.
“I knew you’d eventually come to me,” she whispered, picking up the nail clippers next. “I told everyone else to leave this side of the palace. So no one would be here when we spoke.”
“So there is something we need to speak about then?” I asked.
“Every queen has their secrets in this family, Odette.”
“There are secrets, and then there are crimes, Elspeth,” I said sternly. “I can handle secrets, but I can’t—”
“You are part of the royal family now, Odette,” she interjected, interrupting me, which she shouldn’t have done. And she knew that when she turned around to face me. “You are the queen of the royal family. You are going to have to learn to handle a lot in order to stay that way.”
“I don’t know if I want to—”
“It’s too late. You’ve already decided,” she replied, putting Lionel’s hand down and getting up to step in front of me. She held the cardigan tightly. “Remember what I told you the first day you came? Your introduction. How I said I wished I could have had time to warn you?”
“And what exactly would you have said to me? What else was there to say to me?”
“The number one rule is always that the monarchy has to survive. It has to,” she repeated.
“And we were surviving!” I replied back. “Everything was fine…well, not fine. But still. We were dealing with it. Fixing it all. Now, this? Elspeth, please tell me it is just crazy internet conspiracies.”
She didn’t say it. She just looked at me with a frown. “If I know Arabella, it isn’t.”
“Oh my God!” I stepped away, shaking my head. “Oh my God. I need to tell Gale. I need to—”
“That was one of my mistakes, too,” she cut in before I could go to the door. “Telling Lionel, when I found out.”
I glanced over at the old man who was breathing heavily in bed. She wasn’t talking about now. “This happened before?”
“Why do you think we locked her away in Donaè Castle? Why do you think I’ve been following her? Staying here and making sure she doesn’t influence Gale or you,” she replied, and for the first time ever, I saw tears in her eyes. “I’m admitting this secret to you. Because I need you to keep it, too. For everyone’s sake, Gale’s especially. I don’t want the memory of his father and his grandmother to burn on the same day.”
“His father?”
Her lip quivered, but she nodded. “Years ago, when I was pregnant with Eliza, Arabella lived here with us. She was just as pushy then. However, it all became worse when her youngest son, Bash, died. He and Lionel were the closest. He took it very hard and was so depressed. I was trying to…hold everything together as he battled his depression. I was so busy between all my work as Queen, covering for the king, taking care of Arthur and Gale, trying to take care of the little one in me. I figured Arabella would watch out for her son, too. Her idea of lifting his spirits was…a very pretty maid.”
