Page 5 of Falling for the Queen Mother

"We believe the back of it holds part or all of a map or information to treasures stolen from a number of countries several hundred years ago. It is believed that future monarchs from many of the smaller countries met during their Grand Tours as they finished their educations. They formed a pact that would see them take over all of Europe as an alliance. It's also suspected that many of them planned to double cross the rest and rule the whole thing themselves. That wouldn't have come into play until later, but in the process, a number of things were replaced with replicas or went missing all together." He handed over photos of a number of other items they believed were involved.

"What is it you hope to accomplish while you're here?" She looked at one photo after another, shuffling each one to the back of the stack as she went.

"We need to do a full inventory of everything in your archives. There's not quite the same urgency as they had in Dellisole because of the way things unfolded there in the last few weeks, but it does need to be done in a timely manner. Queen Victoria thought you might like to be a part of it."

She went through a few more photos, pausing longer on a couple than she did the others, then nodded. "I would like that."

When she'd been told she would be working with a visitor on a secret project, Alaina wouldn't have guessed it would mean time in her beloved archives.

She wasn't an archaeologist or historian, but she loved the artifacts, and the stories that went with them.

If she hadn't married a Crown Prince at a relatively young age, Alaina would have liked to be a writer of some kind, a story teller. Once she'd realized where her life would be heading, completing her degree in Ancient Literature had seemed a bit pointless, but she'd done it anyway.

In the process, she'd learned about many of the stories that accompanied some of the paintings and artifacts in the archives. She'd discovered many more in the years since, but hopefully she wouldn't be accepted as the final authority on any of them.

That was probably why Nathaniel had been sent to assist. He would be much more likely to know if something seemed off about any of them.

As they walked from her office to the archives, Alaina shared what she knew about the portraits and tapestries and other things on display in the corridors.

As they reached the entrance to the main hall, Nathaniel spoke for the first time. "Your knowledge is impressive."

Alaina shook her head. "Not really. It's my home. I've learned a few things along the way. My late husband shared all of the stories he knew from growing up here. I've tried to pass them on to my children, but I don't know if they've retained much of it."

"Likely more than you think.”

"I don't know about that, but hopefully they held on to a little bit of it."

Nathaniel opened the door to the main gallery and stood to the side to allow Alaina to enter first. Inside, she told him about the portraits of the kings as they passed each one. Most of them she gave the barest amount of information - name, maybe one or more of the years associated with that person - but nothing in depth.

"Are there any paintings you think look a bit off?" she asked as they stopped in front of the Royal Historian's office. "Ones you'd like to take a closer look at?"

Nathaniel shook his head. "Not at a quick glance. After we do a full inventory and cursory inspection, there will need to be a much more systematic examination of everything. Do you know how many people will be working on this project?"

"I don't know. I can ask my son if we can borrow staff from other parts of the palace if we need to." She opened the door to the Royal Historian's office but didn't flip the light on as she did. There was enough ambient light she didn't need to in order to walk straight across the office to another door and went through it.

A window on one wall allowed visitors to the main gallery to see what was going on in the restoration room. For the moment, there was nothing being worked on so Alaina took one seat and motioned for Nathaniel to take one of the others. She opened her digital notepad and started a new notebook.

"Can you give me a rundown on what we need to do, how many people we need to do it quickly and accurately, and what kind of time frame are we likely looking at?"

"To answer most of those questions, I need to know how many items are in the collection and how good the current database is. If it's extensive and organized, it won't take nearly as long as if we have to start with nothing - or worse one that is poorly organized and incomplete."

"I suspect it's a good one. We've had excellent historians working here." She tapped her stylus against the screen. "We can talk to Kathleen, the Assistant Historian, who is sort of acting as the official one. From what I understand, she doesn't particularly want to be the lead historian and she doesn't have the degrees required. Though she's excellent, she's not officially qualified."

Alaina suspected she would like the job, but didn't want anyone to know. If the former queen had anything to say about it, the woman would have the job anyway. Despite a lack of formal education, she was more than qualified in every other way.

The time on her notebook told Alaina the assistant would be in shortly. She'd had an appointment and said she'd be there in the mid-morning. There were other members of the staff, but they'd all been given the morning off since there wouldn't be anyone authorized to let them into the archives.

"Do you know how many artifacts you have in the collection?" Nathaniel scribbled a note in his own electronic notebook.

"I don't, but I do believe Frederick will make sure we have as much help as we need to get this done in a timely manner."

The light in the office flipped on as the acting historian walked into the office. "Your Majesty!" She practically dropped her bag as she hurried to curtsy.

No matter how many times Alaina had reminded the other woman that she wasn't a queen anymore, it happened every time they saw each other.

"How can I be of service today?" Kathleen set her bag on the desk and came into the restoration room.

Alaina introduced her to Nathaniel and briefly explained the mission, though she didn't mention the potential for missing or forged items.