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“She’s doing it. They were fighting because Princess Betty said that makes no sense too. She’s the Crown Princess, but she doesn’t want the throne, and she doesn’t want Natalie dragged into this. Queen Eliza said you’re not fit to rule. Betty says you are, and you’re just in a rough patch. Eliza said you’re disgusting and you’re not right in the head especially because you’d rather stay here with your, er-” Sally glanced at Felix. “She called you a gem digger and a slut. Sorry.”
Felix heavily sat in his chair and rolled his eyes. “Great. What else did they say about Rainier and Natalie?”
“Um, Betty said she’s not discussing this with her daughter, and when they went home, she better not ever hear of such nonsense again. We didn’t catch everything, but I think Bett-I mean, Princess Betty wanted to sweep that under the rug and pretend it never happened.”
Bella nodded. “This isn’t like your Aunt and cousin are plotting to push you aside, but the Queen is.”
Rainier’s stomach twisted. Despite everything, she’d never threatened to tear him down. He’d thought about potentially walking away, but that wasn’t the same. Rosewood and the Castle was his home. No one had the right to shove him out.
“Rainier,” said Felix. “She can’t do this. It’s not right.”
“She’s above me.”
“I don’t think everyone is inclined to listen.”
Rainier was pretty sure she would at least have a loyal guard or two who would be willing to obey her. If she decided to hold a grudge against Felix…
“So if she takes me off, what then?” asked Rainier. “Would I be kicked out or something?”
“We didn’t hear anything like that, so I’m not sure.”
He had a feeling she wouldn’t be content to let him go away with Felix. She probably thought he was a bad influence. She may have let Felix get away with staying there for a bit while she plotted in secret, but he highly doubted she’d be content to leave him be for good if he was with Rainier. She’d always want to control things.
Betty frowned. “All the servants aren’t happy with her. We’ve been talking about you.”
“We didn’t mean to gossip,” Sally hastily added, even though they all clearly had. “Some of us know the guard’s wives, and a few are distantly related, so things have been going around Rosewood, and others have started talking too.”
“About what?”
“Your Mother’s cruel.” Bella folded her arms. “She’s our Queen, and we servants kept our mouths shut for a long time to avoid angering her, but this is ridiculous. We’ve all heard the way she speaks to you at one time or another even though we’ve pretended not to.”
Rainier remembered Mum didn’t always lay off Addy just because a servant came to take plates or refill their drinks.
“We notice you don’t finish your meals, and that you got so thin. If she’s stressed out you to this point…“ She waved a hand at Rainier. “I don’t have children, but I’d never speak like that if I did.”
It was more than stress, but he wasn’t about to explain that.
“It’s abuse,” Sally said in a blunt tone. “She did it to Addy too, and if she puts Natalie up as next in line, what if she starts doing it to her?”
If Natalie was forced to be the Crown Princess, Mum might grow hard on her too. Maybe she’d only held back because their chances of getting the throne before were pretty small. Her reasoning for a lot of stuff seemed to be control over Rainier, but she also had a certain image of how a ruler should be.
Natalie was more free-spirited, and if given the opportunity, she certainly did like to eat. Mum probably thought her niece was a slob even though she was skinny, and she likely didn’t understand that her niece only ate like that there because it was the first tasty meal she’d had in a while. She probably thought Natalie would end up overweight like Betty although Rainier couldn’t imagine that happening.
“When Felix came down to the kitchen that one night, he asked why no one did anything because you look sick,” said Bella. “He’s right. We should have said something to the physician or someone. We’ve all been scared that your Mum might fire one if they did anything.”
“There isn’t much you could do.” Rainier tried to think of what his options were.
“A lot of the guards are talking about quitting,” added Sally. “There was something about someone being paid off to hurt Felix?”
“She worked that out with Lance when he was my guard,” said Rainier.
“She’s gone to the dressmaker,” said Sally. “If you want to do something…the servants are getting the guards to agree with it.”
She clearly didn’t want to say the exact words, but it was clear they must have been expecting him to do something he’d never considered before today.
“So they’d support me?” asked Rainier. “It’s treason.”
“It’s not treason anymore for the winner.”
