time. I’m right in the middle of preparing the Boratanian exhibit for display at the Great Exhibition.”
“The exhibition in Hyde Park.” He’d seen the note in her dossier and knew she wouldn’t like his solution to that particular security problem.
“That’s right. I’ve been collecting the lost and stolen and looted treasures and artifacts of my country since I was old enough to understand their meaning, and just a few weeks from now I must have arepresentative group ready to display for Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition.”
“Which is to be attended by hundreds of officials and foreign dignitaries and God knows how many of the general public who will come to gawk.”
Along with the single assassin who will arrive with the rabble to pull off a shot at her pretty little head. Surely the woman could see the potential problem.
And yet her smile was quite proud. “If you know that much about the Great Exhibition, Lord Wexford, then you understand the enormous amount of work ahead of me, in public and in private. Not to mention all the pomp of getting ready for my investiture ceremony.”
“As Empress Caroline of Boratania. Yes, I know that, too. The title comes to you, as the last member of your family, when you reach your twenty-first birthday.”
Power and privilege and an enviable lineage, with a coronation ceremony attended by thousands. Motive enough to be rid of a royal who’s in the way of someone’s villainous design.
“Both events are very important to me and to the future of my kingdom, Wexford. All of which will require hours and hours of my time. So I can’t possibly seclude myself behind—”
“But you will, Princess. Else you might as well be walking around with a target pinned to your back.”
“Don’t be—” she stopped mid-denial, then frowned at him as though she’d caught him deliberately trying to shock her. “Surely it can’t be as bad as that?”
“I don’t know yet whose great scheme you’re threatening, but you’ve given plenty of people plentyof reasons to be rid of you. Starting with your impending title, my dear empress.”
“Why would anyone care? It means little to anyone but me. Why, it’s hardly more than an honorific to emboss on my stationery.”
“Perhaps, but it’s an impressive title, nonetheless.” Feeling as though he’d snagged her cooperation for the moment, Drew packed up the file box with its paltry contents. “Then there’s the matter of your increased income.”
“It’s an entailment. Available only to me. If I die without issue it disappears.”
“But while you live, that money must come from someone’s treasury. Someone who might resent being a bit poorer for your gain.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“And lastly, Princess, are your ten square miles of Boratania, which is due to be excised from the flesh of another kingdom.”
“A bit from three kingdoms, actually. But it’s no more than a tiny spit of land on the borders between Saxony, Thuringia and Bavaria. It was pledged to me long ago when Boratania was vanquished. I don’t see how it could possibly matter.”
“My dear princess, in 1806 the Great Elector of Saxony declared himself king and allied himself to Napoleon against the rest of Europe. And for that sin, in 1815, as a result of the Congress of Vienna, the upper half of his kingdom was given to Prussia. His son is still complaining about the insult. I’ve heard him myself.”
“Believe me, I know my European history very well, Lord Wexford.”
“Then tell me why on earth His Majesty wouldstand aside and allow even another square inch of his kingdom to be gifted to you for your birthday?”
“Because he’s my cousin.”
Drew laughed, then regretted its scoffing sound. “I’m afraid that blood is a lot thinner than any of us would care to believe.”
“My blood is plenty thick, sir. Royal to the last drop. The land belongs to me, to my people. It’s the last vestige of my family’s kingdom and
“The exhibition in Hyde Park.” He’d seen the note in her dossier and knew she wouldn’t like his solution to that particular security problem.
“That’s right. I’ve been collecting the lost and stolen and looted treasures and artifacts of my country since I was old enough to understand their meaning, and just a few weeks from now I must have arepresentative group ready to display for Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition.”
“Which is to be attended by hundreds of officials and foreign dignitaries and God knows how many of the general public who will come to gawk.”
Along with the single assassin who will arrive with the rabble to pull off a shot at her pretty little head. Surely the woman could see the potential problem.
And yet her smile was quite proud. “If you know that much about the Great Exhibition, Lord Wexford, then you understand the enormous amount of work ahead of me, in public and in private. Not to mention all the pomp of getting ready for my investiture ceremony.”
“As Empress Caroline of Boratania. Yes, I know that, too. The title comes to you, as the last member of your family, when you reach your twenty-first birthday.”
Power and privilege and an enviable lineage, with a coronation ceremony attended by thousands. Motive enough to be rid of a royal who’s in the way of someone’s villainous design.
“Both events are very important to me and to the future of my kingdom, Wexford. All of which will require hours and hours of my time. So I can’t possibly seclude myself behind—”
“But you will, Princess. Else you might as well be walking around with a target pinned to your back.”
“Don’t be—” she stopped mid-denial, then frowned at him as though she’d caught him deliberately trying to shock her. “Surely it can’t be as bad as that?”
“I don’t know yet whose great scheme you’re threatening, but you’ve given plenty of people plentyof reasons to be rid of you. Starting with your impending title, my dear empress.”
“Why would anyone care? It means little to anyone but me. Why, it’s hardly more than an honorific to emboss on my stationery.”
“Perhaps, but it’s an impressive title, nonetheless.” Feeling as though he’d snagged her cooperation for the moment, Drew packed up the file box with its paltry contents. “Then there’s the matter of your increased income.”
“It’s an entailment. Available only to me. If I die without issue it disappears.”
“But while you live, that money must come from someone’s treasury. Someone who might resent being a bit poorer for your gain.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“And lastly, Princess, are your ten square miles of Boratania, which is due to be excised from the flesh of another kingdom.”
“A bit from three kingdoms, actually. But it’s no more than a tiny spit of land on the borders between Saxony, Thuringia and Bavaria. It was pledged to me long ago when Boratania was vanquished. I don’t see how it could possibly matter.”
“My dear princess, in 1806 the Great Elector of Saxony declared himself king and allied himself to Napoleon against the rest of Europe. And for that sin, in 1815, as a result of the Congress of Vienna, the upper half of his kingdom was given to Prussia. His son is still complaining about the insult. I’ve heard him myself.”
“Believe me, I know my European history very well, Lord Wexford.”
“Then tell me why on earth His Majesty wouldstand aside and allow even another square inch of his kingdom to be gifted to you for your birthday?”
“Because he’s my cousin.”
Drew laughed, then regretted its scoffing sound. “I’m afraid that blood is a lot thinner than any of us would care to believe.”
“My blood is plenty thick, sir. Royal to the last drop. The land belongs to me, to my people. It’s the last vestige of my family’s kingdom and
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