Page 166 of The Royal Art of Revenge

Alec shudders. “Remind me never to piss you off, Your Majesty.”

She turns that cool smile on Alec, but there’s too much warmth in her eyes when she looks at him to believe it’s directed at him in any way. She opens her mouth to speak but stills, saying nothing, as her gaze slides towards the door.

I follow the path of her gaze, my stomach knotting.

“Your Maj—”

“Annette, if you’re here to tell us about Aveline Lindberg’s little side quest, we’re already aware.”

Annette blinks, but it doesn’t erase the worry from her expression.

That isn’t good.

The head of public relations is the most unflappable person I’ve ever met. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen her visibly upset, and this is by far the most bothered she’s ever been.

Even Hattie looks at her with worry. “Annette, are you all right?”

Annette swallows. “Your Majesty, perhaps we might speak alone?”

“All right, but make it quick.” She gets to her feet and sweeps past us. Oscar steps to the sided to allow her to pass, and both my mother and Annette disappear into the hallway, firmly closing the door behind them.

Tension fizzles through the air, and none of us say a word until the door opens again. They both walk back in, and every inch of worry and concern on Annette’s face has now transferred to my mother’s.

“Mum?”

“Harriet,” Mum says, ignoring me. “Would you come with us for a moment?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN – FINN

Hattie hesitates. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, darling, but this concerns you, and I’d like to discuss it alone for a moment.”

I get to my feet. “Mum—”

“Not now, Finley.”

The sharpness of her tone shoots through me, and I drop back to my seat.

Hattie saves what she was working on and closes the lid of her laptop. I meet her gaze, and she pauses, anxiety whirling in her eyes. I grab her hand and give it a quick squeeze, and she returns the gesture with a weak smile.

Then, she leaves, being guided out of the room with my mother’s loving hand on her upper back.

The door clicks shut behind them, and the air that was tight before is now suffocatingly heavy.

“Should we look online?” Alec asks, looking at me. “Just in case?”

Oscar and I both shake our heads. “If Annette is here, it means the palace has been given a heads up about something,” he explains. “We have anything from one to twenty-four hours before whatever this is breaks.”

“Do you know anything?” I ask him. “Surely Aveline’s ‘side quest,’ as Mum put it, hasn’t caused the palace to go into crisis mode.”

“No. Aunt Bea was amused just as much as we were.” He glances at the door. “This is something much bigger. And unlike the paternity story, it’s upset Annette. I can’t begin to imagine what it is.”

I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. Surely doubting her paternity was the biggest thing that could be thrown at Hattie.

The room settles into silence again. It’s only broken by the occasional tapping of Alec and Oscar’s fingers against their phones, but all I can do is stare at the door.

I have no idea how long I do that before it opens and my mother walks in, seeming as if she’s aged ten years in the past… however fucking long it’s been.