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She blows out a breath. “The poisoning theory? I never believed it.”
“Why not?”
“You can’t imagine the number of doctors and specialists who had seen him, and the sophistication of the tests and scans they’d done. If there’d been a trace of poison in his body, they would’ve found it.”
Her levelheaded take encourages me to ask, “Do you believe Jeannette set fire to Prince Theodor’s wing?”
“You want my honest opinion?”
“Yes, please.”
She takes a sip of coffee and savors it for a moment. “I find the case against her compelling.”
I wanted honesty—well, I got it.
“You think she did it because she was a serial arsonist?” I ask.
She nods. “It’s what the investigation concluded.”
“Do you rule out the crown prince might’ve been the target of an assassination attempt?”
“Not a single investigator—and I talked to all of them separately—thought it was a hit on Theo,” she says. “There are people who dislike or resent the royal family. But to want one of us dead…”
Something flickers in her eyes and she looks away.
“What?” I scoot closer to her. “You just realized something, didn’t you?”
She hesitates, but not long. “There’s a very powerful man, Kurt Ozzi, who tried to kill Max and Theo this year.”
I nearly execute a triumphant fist pump before realizing that it could be misunderstood.
“See?” I say instead. “The palace fire could’ve been his handiwork.”
She gives my question some thought. “Kurt’s goal isn’t to kill the de Valois-Montevor royals. It’s to make sure Mount Evor disappears as a political entity.”
“But he tried to kill your sons!”
“He attacked them only when they intervened to foil his plans, not before or after,” she says. “And both attempts took place in France. Kurt is obviously persona non grata in Mount Evor. On top of that, everyone working in, visiting, or connected to the royal palace in any way undergoes regular background checks to find any possible ties to Kurt.”
“You believe the palace is safe from him.”
“Yes,” she says. “As does our new head of the Royal Household, the head of Royal Evorian Guard, the chief of Mount Evor Police, and the new head of MESS.”
I return to the coffee machine to brew one for myself. “Louis and I are trying to track down the former head of the Royal Household. Would you happen to know where she lives now?”
“She passed away last year. Cancer.”
A steaming cup in my hands, I head to the armchair.
Princess Felicia pats the sofa near year. “Enough about your sister for now. I want to talk about you!”
Lowering myself on the designated spot, I skew a smile. “What would you like to know?”
“How did you and Louis meet?”
“He fell madly in love when he saw me performing as a living statue,” I say.
She claps. “How romantic! I’m so thrilled about your unexpected match!”
