Page 164 of The Royal Art of Revenge

When did she become so entwined with royal life?

Not that I’m complaining. Far from it. I’m ecstatic she’s finding a place within the palace, especially a role that means she can do something she loves, as Mum said.

I’m just a little perturbed it’s all happened without me knowing.

But that’s mostly because I want to know everything about her all the time, so it’s more of a ‘me’ issue than anything else.

“Suit yourself.” She grabs another and offers the box to Alec. Unlike me, he’s shameless, and he plucks one away for himself and immediately starts eating.

“What are you all conspiring about in here?” Mum asks, perching on the edge of the table. “Causing trouble for the Sinclairs, I hope.”

“Always,” Alec says around a mouthful of food. “It’s our new favourite hobby.”

“Yes, you’re having a little too much fun, especially,” she says, making him flinch. “Are you done extracting your money from your many shell companies, Alecsander? Or are there a few more you haven’t told anyone about?”

“If I wanted people to know it was my money, they wouldn’t be shell companies,” he points out. “You only know about them because you mildly abused your authority as my queen to make me tell you.”

Mum sniffs, but there’s a smile in her eyes.

Mildly abused, my arse.

She threatened to revoke his title if he didn’t give her a full list.

She wouldn’t have actually done it, of course, as it would have meant taking it from one of her closest friends.

Then again, anything is possible with my mother.

Hattie stares at him over the top of her laptop screen. “Just how many investments have you made in his company? And how many have you withdrawn?”

“I’ve made more than I’ve withdrawn. For now,” he says slowly, then shrugs. “Like I said before, it was profitable. Now… not so much.”

“Insider trading is against the law,” Mum reminds him.

“And I’m not trading,” he retorts. “I’m not touching stocks.”

He has a point.

“If it weren’t for Harriet, I’d tell your mother.”

“I’m thirty-one-years-old,” he replies dryly. “And my mother hates Rosalyn almost as much as you do, so she’d just tell me to carry on messing with them.”

Mum bobs her head as if she’d forgotten that little nugget.

“Why?” Hattie asks around a mouthful of… something. Is that a doughnut?

Or was a doughnut, rather.

“There was an incident,” Mum begins slowly. “It was shortly after Rosalyn married your father. I host a bi-monthly luncheon for some of the ladies within our circle, but occasionally, one of the ladies takes over if I’m too busy. That particular luncheon was the responsibility of Alec’s mother, Arabella, as I’d been overseas for a state visit. Rosalyn heard of them and assumed she would be invited, but she wasn’t and took it as a personal offense.”

“It was a personal offense,” Alec drawls. “As if my mother would ever willingly put that woman in front of you.”

“That’s beside the point.” Mum barely suppresses her smile. “Not everyone attends every luncheon, and I had long accepted that it would be for the best if I invited her to the next one I was hosting. Either way, Rosalyn contacted Arabella and kicked up quite the fuss. Arabella is very sweet, but…” She hesitates.

Alec smirks. “My mother has a temper so demonic that Satan himself would bow at her feet.”

“I was going to opt for ‘hot-blooded’ as the more diplomatic description.”

“I was merely attempting to portray my mother as accurately as possible for Hattie.”