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My mother looks at me calmly, coldly. “I didn’t marry your father for love. I married him for power, and when he got in the way of that I decided he was disposable.” My mother steps toward me “Just like you.”
My mother’s hands are around my throat in an instant. She squeezes tightly, her nails digging into my neck. I struggle, but her grip is like irons. I can feel my vision going dark. I throw my weight backward, and we both plunge into the pool. My mother’s grip loosens as the cool blue water rushes up around us. I pull away from her and propel myself upward, gasping for air as I break through the surface. I try to pull myself up on the edge but my mother is grabbing my legs, pulling me under again.
I kick free, and this time I manage to grab the ladder and climb up, heaving myself onto the floor my chest collapsing as I gasp for air. I turn to look for my mother and see her head rising just above the edge of the pool, and I struggle to stand.
“Isadora.” She says my name like it’s poison on her tongue, as if she hates the taste of it as much as she hates me. “You’re an obstacle just like your father, and you’re going to end up exactly like him.”
She lunges forward, trying to get her hands around my throat again. I push her away with all of my strength, and suddenly everything around me seems to happen in slow motion as she loses her balance and falls back. The base of her skull hits the steel of the ladder with a sickening crack. I watch open mouthed as her lifeless body slips into the pool. I fall to my knees, sobbing with a mixture of relief and regret. It’s over.
“Isadora! Isadora!” I hear, and I look up and see Nathan and Vincent standing in the doorway staring down at me.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nathan
Vincent and I enter the pool room calling Isadora’s name. We both stop short when we see Ileana’s lifeless body floating in the blue water of the pool. We rush to Isadora’s side and help her to her feet. We hold her close. I don’t ask how it happened because it doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is that Isadora is safe and that I can trust her and Vincent with my life. Over Isadora’s head I can see that Vincent looks as relieved as I feel.
“Are you hurt?” I ask, noticing the the bruises on her throat.
“I’ll be fine,” she says, “but we do have to explain . . .” She gestures to the pool.
“Don’t worry,” I say.
“Let’s get you back to our rooms,” Vincent says, taking her hand and leading her out of the room.
I call one of my most trusted staffers and station him outside the pool house. I’m incredibly grateful for lack of surveillance equipment. The three of us walk quietly back to our chambers.
“So what are we going to do about my mother?” Isadora asks, her voice remarkably steady as she sits down on the bed.
“Are you certain you don’t need a doctor?” Vincent asks. I can tell he’s thinking what I am, that perhaps she’s in shock.
“Yes,” she says. “I didn’t want to kill her, but I can’t be sorry she’s gone, not when she tried to hurt both of you.”
“And I thought we were supposed to be protecting you,” I say.
“Nathan, this isn’t a fairy tale,” Isadora says, a hint of smile on her lips.
“But of course it is,” I say “and the three of us are going to have a very happy ending.”
“Not if people think that I-”
“Who would think such a thing?” Vincent asks, cutting her off.
“You spent all evening with the two us,” I say. “Trust me, Isadora, my PR secretary is a magician, and she’s tougher than Theresa.
Isadora smiles. “So she didn’t tell you where I was?”
“No,” Vincent says, “and I’ve seen grown men give up state secrets under less intimidation. I think maybe we should consider changing Theresa’s position to something more in line with her talents.”
“Maybe,” Isadora says.
Ileana’s funeral is a huge state affair, and Isadora plays the role of the grief-stricken daughter perfectly. I suspect some of it is genuine; as terrible as she was Ileana was still her mother, and Isadora has a compassionate heart. Everyone seems to accept the story that the queen slipped and fell at a tragically bad angle, and it’s not entirely a lie.
A few reporters dare to question the official story. Vincent handles them and they only require an interview with him once to never mention the matter again.
Soon the death of the queen is behind us and without anyone to pay him Richter disappears like a ghost. I doubt we’ll have need of him ever. Isadora’s coronation will be soon, and with the three of us united and Isadora as queen no other nation would dare to try our combined power. That’s best for them. Isadora is finally at peace. After her mother’s funeral she went alone to visit her father’s crypt. She returned and seemed peaceful. She hasn’t had an unhappy day since the funeral, and if it’s up to Vincent and I she never will.
