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“I think every citizen would agree that we can’t leave the most vulnerable among us behind. We must provide for them in the most compassionate way possible. And we can’t do that with the current property.” Armin smiled. “Our country grows stronger every day. But as we progress, we need to keep all of our people with us.” He was meticulously careful not to mention anything involving the anti-royalists. Those who opposed his family’s rule wouldn’t agree that the country needed a unifying symbol. Or, if they did, they would not want it to be something spearheaded by the government. Armin swallowed his frustration with that line of thinking and waited to hear from the men sitting across from him. As his pause lengthened, the three of them shared a look between them.
The youngest man on the other side of the table, one Mr. Klemen, appeared to have been nominated to speak. Armin had had his secretary pull everyone’s full profile in advance of this meeting. Klemen had only recently come to prominence in the industry, but he seemed to have the mettle to rise to the very top.
“Prince Armin,” he said carefully. “Right now, with the public’s faith in the monarchy dwindling, the people want to feel that they are the ones in charge of this kind of project. As you’ve said, the country needs a unifying symbol. This orphanage can’t become that kind of symbol if it’s all directed by the monarchy.”
“Then don’t make it so obvious,” Armin said. “My name doesn’t need to be connected to the project. I don’t care if anyone ever credits me with any part of it. I want it done, plain and simple. But I can’t fund it with my personal treasury alone, and only the king has full access to the royal treasury. We have too many other commitments.”
The three men all began speaking at once, talking over each other and to each other while Armin’s publicist, Valentina, entered quietly from a side door. She bent down next to him and slid a fresh newspaper onto the table in front of him. “I’m so sorry to interrupt your meeting, Prince Armin. I just thought you’d want to see this.”
He flipped the paper over and there they were, on the very front page—his girls.
A wave of fury swept over him, though he didn’t let it show.
How had this happened? Preventing this kind of thing was Valentina’s job. There was no reason this photo ever should have been printed.
Armin took a number of slow, deep breaths, all the while pretending that everything was fine. The conversation swirled around him, rising and falling. Agreement, disagreement, plan. New plan. Backup plan. Back to the beginning.
“I’ll give it serious consideration.” Klemen’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. “I speak for all of us when I say that we’re honored to meet with you about this.”
“Yes. Thank you all. My representatives will be in touch.”
Armin went out into the hall, taking the paper with him.
He had worked so hard to keep them out of the press. He’d given one photo and a single story to a trusted media source when the girls first arrived, just to explain the situation to his people and avoid any appearance of deceit. But after that, he’d done everything in his power to protect them from the spotlight. He had worked so hard to give them a normal li
fe inside his complicated, busy life as the crown prince. And it didn’t matter. Katie Crestley had upended the entire thing.
Valentina followed him out into the hall, where he waited for her.
“Prince Armin, it’s not a negative article.”
“It’s still unacceptable. How were you not prepared for this?”
“I got the call that the picture was going to run,” she said, confusion in her eyes. “But I didn’t see the need to stop it. How could anyone resist these girls? It’s a wholesome picture that reminds us all that we could stand to go out and play once in a while.”
Armin’s frustration knew no bounds. “That doesn’t mean throwing off our efforts to ensure their safety.”
“Of course not. Of course not,” Valentina said quickly. “You’ve been an incredibly engaged member of the royal family for years. I’ve read the clips about you, Prince Armin. I think it’s absolutely wonderful that you’re focused on supporting humanitarian projects in the region. But they won’t help you bolster your family’s image.”
“They’re not meant to.”
She smiled tightly. “The fact is that your insistence on complete privacy has given you and your brothers a reputation for being…aloof. Maybe out of touch. People are tired of the same patterns, the same scripted public appearances, repeated again and again. That photograph proves that you’re in touch with the times and ready to do what it takes to bring people together.”
“Does it?”
“Yes. There your adopted daughters are, playing in the public park, not a care in the world.” Armin took a closer look at the photo. The black and white of the paper itself stole from the color from his girls’ hair, but they were still just as beautiful as ever. And strong. Lily was one step from the top of a ladder connected to the playground. “In this photo, they’re out in the world, not cloistered in the palace. They’re playing at the same park everyone else uses and loving it. And their nanny—” Now a bigger smile lit up the publicist’s face. “And their nanny isn’t a hundred-year-old schoolmarm.”
The words brought back memories of Armin’s own nanny, who had been terrible. She was so strict and stern that Armin, despite his shyness, actually looked forward to large castle events. When there were so many people around, he could find hundreds of places to hide from her.
Valentina was busy making a point. “People are responding very positively to this image.” She held her head up high, clearly ready to stand by her point.
Armin was just as ready to shoot it down. “That’s a dangerous outlook. There are people out there that don’t just think the royal family should be dethroned. The more we expose the girls to the public, the more we risk their safety.”
By the time he finished speaking, her eyes were giant and her face was pale. “The nanny put the girls in danger. That’s my main issue with this photo.” He snapped the paper under his arm. “Don’t let it happen again.”
“I won’t. But Prince Armin, now that this article is out there, I wouldn’t be surprised if your favorables were rising rapidly.”
“What?” It was an extreme conversational turn if he’d ever heard one.
