Page 176 of The Royal Art of Revenge

“What happens now?” Valentina asks me quietly.

I swallow. I don’t know. I wish I did. I haven’t even had a chance to think about it, nor to ask about that.

“We fix it,” Alec says, sliding his laptop down the table to be closer to us. “What happens now is exactly what we’re doing. I find everything about him and how he’s connected to Harriet. Annette controls our response to the press. Oscar deals with the legal side with Rowan. The Queen oversees it all. Finn supports Harriet. And you… Well, that’s down to you to decide, Deveraux.”

She wrinkles up her nose and turns her back to him, taking my hand. “Whatever you need, I’ve got you. I was there with you. I can prove you weren’t what he’s saying.”

“That might be helpful,” Alec says, then hesitates. “Especially among our circles. There’s no doubt it’s gotten out.”

“It has. Although my father considers it a great blemish and refuses to acknowledge I ever went missing, it’s hardly a secret. I’ve already received a couple of messages.”

“From whom?” Beatrix stands, and her eyes darken, sending a chill through the room. “Who knows about this?”

Valentina swallows and reels off a few names.

Beatrix meets my gaze. “All have connections with Rosalyn and Jasmine. My God. Just when I think they can’t sink any lower…”

Alec chuckles. “Ten minutes. I am impressed.”

“What’s ten minutes?” I ask.

He swings his gaze towards me. “My source remains employed for another day.”

“No shit.” Valentina gets up and looks over his shoulder at his screen.

Alec tries to turn it away, but she simply shoves his head out of her way and yanks the computer back so she can see it. “You show me remarkably little respect given my position, Deveraux.”

“Shut up, Kilon,” she responds. “You’re little more than a very posh mafia boss.”

I laugh at the exact moment I swallow some water, and some of it gets stuck in my throat. My eyes stream, and I thump my fist against my chest as I cough to free whatever is lodged there.

“Your Majesty, are you hearing this?” Alec looks at the queen with an affronted expression. “Is this how you let a strange woman treat your right hand?”

Beatrix blinks at him. “She’s not a strange woman, and you aren’t my right hand, child. Also, I find myself hard-pressed to disagree with her.”

“Annette! Help me out here.”

“Your Grace, if you must speak, might you share with us some useful information? You may continue your verbal battle with Miss Deveraux when the reputation of our future crown princess is no longer critically at stake.” She pushes her glasses up her nose and peers over at him. “Well?”

Alec sighs and mutters, “I am woefully underappreciated at this table.”

“Yes, yes, it’s terribly tragic,” Valentina says, still reading over his shoulder. “Start sharing.”

He pushes her out of the way and clicks a few times. “He’s connected to Jasmine... It seems he went missing as a child, and his familial situation fits with what we discovered before. He didn’t live in St Peters then, though, so he wasn’t included in my research. Hmm.” He taps his fingers against the table. “He returned after approximately six months. He met Jasmine in high school and—my oh my, they had a brief, albeit secret, relationship.”

My, my.

Isn’t this interesting?

“Who did?” Finn walks in with Oscar hovering behind him.

“Jasmine and Zachary,” I answer, looking up at him as he leans over the back of the sofa to kiss my forehead.

“Who’s Zachary?”

“The piece of shit spreading lies about my best friend,” Valentina says hotly.

Oscar glances around the deceptively calm room. “Fill us in, would you?”