The newspaper was slapped down on the desk in front of me, barely missing my nose.

“You want to explain this?”

I looked up at Jeanette and grimaced. “It’s nothing, just the Press trying to find something that isn’t there like they did with Alex and Freddie.”

“Yes, but it turned out that there was something between Alex and Freddie and the Press picked up on it before we did.”

Jeanette slumped un-ladylike in the chair opposite my desk.

“Seriously, Jeanette, there is nothing of note between Dom— ah, I mean, the Lord Chancellor and I. We danced together, as we have at other events, that’s all.”

“It looks like more than dancing, if you ask me,” Jeanette harrumphed, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting.

“Really? You’re going to get upset at me because of something that has no basis in reality?”

She sighed gustily and sat up. “Look,” she said, “I have no problem if you and the Lord Chancellor are an item, I just want to know ahead of time so that I don’t get blindsided by these.” She tapped the stack of newspapers. “I’m the Media Liaison, I shouldn’t be finding out all the gory details by reading the paper.”

I sighed and sat back in my chair looking at her across the desk and wondering how much I should tell her. When these photos had been taken, there was a budding relationship between Dom and I but now, after my father’s revelations, there could never be anything between us. I had to marry the Baron and I could see no way out of it without shaming my father in front of the international press. At the moment, these stories were only in the local news, but if it got out that the Ambassador to France had sold his daughter to a Monégasque Royal to cover debts incurred while drinking and gambling to excess, he would lose his position as Ambassador, something he would never forgive me for, and he would be disgraced throughout Merveille, France and Monaco. It may even garner interest from the United Kingdom or even America. No. I had to protect my family from that and if that meant marrying Piérre, then I would marry him.

“You look like you want to say something,” Jeanette said, eyeing me speculatively, “Out with it. Whatever it is, I would rather hear it from you than read it in tomorrow’s paper.”

“I’m resigning,” I said.

She jumped to her feet in surprise and glared at me. “What!?”

“Sit down and stop being so dramatic. You must be spending far too much time with Savannah because you're starting to emulate her.”

“Take that back!” she said as she sat back down, more demurely this time and I grinned.

“I won’t, but I will explain to you that after the wedding I will be going back to France with my father and…” I paused, biting my lip not knowing if I should spill the beans.

“And…” she prompted me.

“No, it doesn’t matter why, just that it is happening and you can’t talk me out of it.”

“That’s rubbish,” she said, standing to her feet again without the theatrics this time. She started pacing and chewing on her thumbnail as she puzzled out the problem. I sat back and let her pace, there was nothing she could say to change my mind. I didn’t want to go, but it was my familial duty and nothing could trump that. “Does the Queen know?”

“Ah, no,” I said, “I haven’t told her yet.”

“Well come on then, no time like the present.”

“No,” I said, “She’s too busy and I don’t want to dump this on her in the middle of everything else she is dealing with—”

“That is unacceptable,” she said, holding her ground, “If you don’t tell her now, when will you tell her? If you are leaving after the wedding, that means she needs to know before the wedding so she can start looking for your replacement.”

“Or try to talk me out of it,” I murmured and Jeanette grinned.

“Exactly,” she said.

“No,” I said, “Not yet. I’ve got too much to do today and I have a meeting with her later, I’ll discuss it with her then.”

Jeanette scrutinised me, her eyes narrowed. “Why don’t I believe you?”

I threw up my arms in defeat. “Why would I lie?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, retaking her seat, her eyes not leaving mine, “But something feels wrong about all of this.”

“What could possibly be wrong?”

“Everything about this is wrong. You love this job, why would you leave it? And to go back under your father’s thumb? That doesn’t make sense at all.”

She had a point. What could I possibly say that would convince her that I was doing this of my own free will? The fact that I wasn’t, that I was indeed under duress and not acting on my own free will was immaterial, I just had to convince Jeanette and the Queen that this was my decision.

“My father needs me,” I said weakly. I couldn’t tell her the truth, it would only double her efforts to keep me here and then the whole sordid tale would come out.

Jeanette snorted indelicately. “Your father needs a clue,” she said derisively, “Is he pressuring you to return with him?”

“No,” I lied, crossing my fingers under the desk and hoping that she would forgive me when she found out the truth. I hated lying, but I couldn’t see another way around it. They would all find out about the betrothal and marriage eventually, I just needed to keep the particulars of the arrangement from getting out and that meant not telling anyone about it before it actually happened.

“Look,” I said, pleading with her, “This is just something I need to do and I’d really like it if you could just trust me and support me. I don’t want our friendship to come to blows over this, but if you can’t accept my decision then that is what will happen.”

Jeanette sighed and looked saddened but resolute. “I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I didn’t tell you that I thought you were making a mistake, but seeing as though you’ve made up your mind, of course you can count on me to support you. Whatever you need.”

I stood from my chair and went around the desk. She stood too and we hugged, I needed the physical contact to bolster me because right now I was feeling fragile and weak. If she had stormed out of here with our friendship in tatters, I don’t know what I would’ve done.

The Earl of Avonlea strode into my office, which was really the anteroom of Dom’s office, and breezed passed my desk with nary a glance at me. He rapped sharply on the door before opening it and sticking his head into Dom’s office.

“Come on,” he said, “We have an appointment with the Queen.”

I heard Dom’s startled reply, “What? Why?”

“I’ll tell you on the way,” he said.

Dom came through his office door, straightening his jacket and shot me a quick glance. “I’ll be with the Queen,” he said, “Take any messages and leave them on my desk.”

“No problem,” I said, watching them curiously as they left.

As soon as I was sure that they were out of earshot I picked up the phone and dialled Bianca’s extension.

“Lady Beaumonde’s office,” she answered.

“Hey sweet cheeks,” I said with a grin.

“Louis?”

“It sure is baby.”

“Why are you calling me?” she whispered into the phone.

“I have some gossip that you might be interested in,” I said, knowing that she loved the court intrigues as much as I did. We had so much in common and any excuse I had to be with her or talk to her was one I fully exploited.

“So what’s going on then?” she asked.

“The Earl of Avonlea just stormed into my office and demanded that Dom go with him to a meeting with the Queen.”

“Really?” she whisper-shouted, “Do you know why?”

“No,” I said, twirling a pen in my fingers as I leant back in my chair and stared at the ceiling, “But he was here earlier and they were discussing your sister.”

“My sister?”

“Yes and before that, your sister raced in here crying her eyes out. Dom had been in the middle of a meeting with the Majordomo at the time, but Priscilla just raced in and threw herself into Dom’s arms.”

“What?” It was very nearly a screech, except she was whispering.

“They were in there for a while, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. When she left, she looked like the Ice Queen again, all stiff and proper. Freddie came in not long after and I overheard them discussing her. She’d told Dom that she was leaving, going back to France, after the wedding.”

“What? No, she can’t do that. I don’t want to go back to France, I want to stay here.”

“Your father wouldn’t let you stay if you asked him?”

“No way. Priscilla had to fight to get him to let me to come here to intern with her, if she goes home, there is nothing that would convince him to let me stay.”

“Well, damn,” I said, realising the implications of letting Priscilla go home. Bianca and I were only just getting to know one another and the last thing I wanted was for that to be cut off before we had fully explored where it was going.

“There has to be something we can do,” Bianca whispered, “Can’t Dom do something to make her stay?”

“I don’t know,” I said, “I thought things were going well after their lunch in the maze, but now it seems that they’re back to being just colleagues.”

“But you said she thew herself into his arms,” Bianca said.

“I know, but when she left, it didn’t look like they were back on friendly terms, in fact it looked like they could barely stand each other.”

“We have to do something,” she said.

“I know, but what?”

“I don’t know. Lady Jeanette was here earlier and they were having a pretty in depth heart to heart. I thought Lady Jeanette was going to bust a blood vessel though, when she first walked in. She was carrying a stack of newspapers.”

“Oh, the story we leaked about Dom and Priscilla was on the front page, that must have been what it was about.”

“Yeah, well she wasn’t impressed.”

“Is she still there?”

“No, she left a little while ago.” The was a pause and I could here shuffling and muffled voices. “I have to go,” she whispered to me furiously, “The Queen and Lord Bingham and Dom are here and they want to speak to Priscilla.”

“Okay, let me know what happens.”

The line disconnected and I sat back mulling over what had happened. Freddie had obviously come here to get Dom so that they could talk to the Queen about Priscilla, but about what? And why would they go to Priscilla’s office? It must be serious for the Queen to want to deal with it personally, which made me wonder whether they had broken the news to her that Priscilla had planned on leaving. Everyone knew how close the Queen was with her Ladies in Waiting. There had almost been an international incident a few months earlier when Lady Alex had flown back to America without telling anyone. There was no doubt in my mind that the Queen would do whatever she could to ensure that Priscilla didn’t leave. But that didn’t mean that Bianca and I couldn’t help the situation, it was just a matter of discovering how exactly we could help.

“Please tell me it’s not true.”

I looked up in shock as the Queen came into my office followed by Dom and Freddie and two of the Queen’s security detail.

“What’s not true?” I asked quizzically, dumbfounded to find my office crowded with so many people.

“Tell me it’s not true that you are leaving me.”

The Queen sat on the chair not long vacated by Jeanette and looked imploringly at me.

“Your Majesty—”

“Don’t ‘Your Majesty’ me,” she said and pouted, “I don’t want you to go, Priscilla. I wanted you to take over Alex’s position, God knows Meredith is doing an appalling job of it—” Freddie snickered at the disparaging comment about his sister “—And I need you. Besides, I’ll miss you if you go. Who is going to stand behind me in the receiving line and whisper names to me so I don’t call some Lord or Lady by the wrong name and inadvertently offend them? Your leaving me could lead to hostile negotiations or even war. Do you realise what you are putting at risk?”

I smiled indulgently at the Queen. “As nice as it is to hear how utterly indispensable I am to you, I am afraid that I really do need to go back to France with my father after the wedding.”

“No,” she said, “I forbid it.”

I looked at her in shock and then at Freddie and Dom who both looked surprised, but happily so.

“No?”

“No,” she reiterated.

“Can you do that? I mean, can you just forbid me to go?” The thought was both terrifying and exhilarating. It was almost an answer to my prayers, except that if the Queen forbid me to leave and I didn’t marry Piérre, then that honour would fall to my sister and I couldn’t bear the thought of her with that monster. It also meant that my father’s subterfuge would be exposed and I couldn’t risk that.

“Of course I can, can’t I?” she turned to Dom to clarify whether she had absolute control over her subjects.

Dom cleared his throat. “Well, Your Majesty, I would have to check the constitution, but I am under the impression that your subjects still have free will—”

Alyssa held up her hand to quiet Dom, “I don’t want to know,” she said, “If I can’t compel her to stay by Royal decree then I don’t want to hear it.” She peered at me with a mix of worry and suspicion in her eyes. “Why? I just want to know why.”

I sighed and looked at Freddie and Dom, both of whom had taken up residence either side of Alyssa like bodyguards.

“It’s my father—”

Dom snorted and Alyssa shot him a glance.

“Do you care to share with the class, Lord Chancellor?”

He nodded in deference to the Queen before speaking. “We have reason to believe that Priscilla is being blackmailed into marrying Baron Romanov.”

I gasped and the Queen swivelled to look at me, her eyes wide. “Is this true Priscilla?”

I must have looked like a fish out of water with my mouth gaping open. Words were impossible as my brain shutdown. How on earth had Dom come to the conclusion that I was being blackmailed? I couldn’t look at him, or the Queen, so I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths.

I felt a whole lot calmer when I opened them. “I’m not being blackmailed,” I replied. It was the truth, somewhat.

“But you are going to marry this Baron Whatsit?”

“Romanov,” Dom supplied for her.

“Right, Baron Romanov. You’re going to marry him?”

“There has been an understanding between our families—”

“This is an arranged marriage?” Alyssa said, contempt dripping from the words.

“Well, that is to say—”

“Priscilla,” she cut me off, her voice softening, “You don’t have to do this. A marriage contract is not worth the paper it’s written on if the bride doesn’t give her consent. I can stop this, if you want me to.”

It was so tempting to collapse in a heap and just let Alyssa take control, just as it would’ve been to let Dom take care of me. But that’s not who I was anymore. I had fought hard for my independence and I was loathe to give it up. Marrying the Baron to protect my father was a choice I was making, I was choosing this path to protect my family and it didn’t matter how hard the road ahead would most definitely be, I had to travel it alone. No one else would understand.

“Thank you Alyssa,” I said softly, “But this is my choice. I have agreed to marry the Baron and after the wedding we will travel back to France for a short while before marrying and then going on to his estate in Monaco.”

Alyssa slumped back in her chair and regarded me carefully. “This is truly what you want?”

I cleared my throat and straightened my shoulders before nodding. “Yes,” I said, “This is what I want.”

“Priscilla—” Dom began, but the Queen cut him off.

“My Lord Chancellor, if this is Priscilla’s choice then we will support her in it.” She turned back to me. “I am going to miss you desperately, but I won’t dishonour you by trying to talk you out of this decision.”

She stood then, and I stood too. I dropped into a curtsey as she nodded to me and turned to leave. Dom implored me with his eyes, but I looked away from him, not sure I could stay strong under his intense gaze. I slumped back in my chair when the door closed and dropped my head in my hands. I wished there was another way, but I just couldn’t see it.

“So that’s it then?” I asked the Queen as we walked away from Priscilla’s office, “You’re just going to let her go and marry that miscreant.”

The Queen stopped and whirled around to face me, her eyes snapping with fire.

“You would do well to be very careful how you speak to me, Lord Chancellor,” she said, all her Queenly haughtiness in evidence.

“I apologise, Your Majesty,” I said quickly, but not happily. I was sure she would have done something to prevent Priscilla from leaving.

“And no,” she started walking again, “I am not just going to let her marry the Baron. You’ve spoken to Benjamin?” she directed this last to Freddie.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said, “He has started investigating the Ambassador and the Baron to see what he can find out.”

“Good. In the meantime, we need to limit any time she has with either men.” The Queen turned to me. “You seem to have developed a tendre for Priscilla, it shouldn’t be too hard for you to keep her occupied.”

I was shocked that the Queen had any knowledge of how I felt about Priscilla.

“Oh come now, Lord Chancellor, I read the papers. I also happen to have eyes and ears everywhere in the Palace.” And then she winked at me with a grin and I almost stumbled at the shock of it. The Queen and I had worked together for many months but our interactions had always been professional and never with the familiarity that she bestowed on most of her attendants. To see that side of her directed at me was unexpected, but also…nice. I grinned back at her.

“I will do my best, Your Majesty.”