Chapter 32

“How much do you know about my father’s death?”

“Well. I wrote a paper about it when I was an undergraduate,” Jessica said. “There’s a lot of conspiracy theories out there, but indisputable fact is that he was killed while in Belgium on a diplomatic visit. Your mother was wounded. It was a team of professional assassins. A fairly sophisticated one to have been as effective as they were despite the prince’s security detail.”

“An attempted was also made on your life,” Emily said. “By Jean-Luc Brodeur. He was killed by Desiree’s mother, but not before Brodeur killed her father. That is common knowledge.”

“It must have been very hard on Desiree,” Jessica said.

We were in my office. I had called the twins to me there because I wanted their opinion. I was not about to keep things from them the way my father had from my mother.

I sighed. “I’m afraid I have more bad news,” I said thinking of the information I had received from Gardelli just last night. I had purposefully refrained from acting on it until I had time to think.

“This is under Royal Seal,” I said. I handed Jessica the printout. Gardelli had sent me the information via heavily encrypted email. Neither the American NSA, nor Mariner’s own NIS would be able to crack this encryption before the development of quantum computers.

Jessica gasped and I saw her eyebrows arc as she read the missive. Without so much as looking at me she passed it to her sister.

“Oh my God, James,” Emily said. “Do you think she knows?”

“I have to find out,” I said.

Emily handed me the paper back, as if it was itself too hot to hold.

Jessica stood. “Be careful with her James. This could crush her.” She stepped over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then she looked at Emily who was still sitting. “Come on, Em. Our prince has distasteful manners of state to attend.”

Emily stood and moved past her sister so that she could kiss me too. She gave me a quick kiss on the lips and followed her sister who was already at my door. Jessica exited, but Emily turned back and said, “We’ll be in our rooms if you need us. Don’t be hasty, Your Highness,” she said formally.

I sighed. Sometimes secrets are necessary, but in this case there were too many secrets. Still I was not ready to reveal all of them to everyone involved.

“Emelia, ask Desiree to attend me please,” I said over the intercom headset.

“Desiree. I want to see your mother. Today.”

“I can call James and see if she’s home...”

“No you misunderstand. I want her here no later than two this afternoon. At that time if she is not at the palace I will issue orders that she be arrested and dragged here.”

“Your Highness...” my Sword started to protest.

I slammed my hand down on my desk. “Enough! I have given my orders. Do you understand or must I find a new champion?”

Desiree’s face went white. “No Your Highness,” she said meekly. Bowing she exited my office.

I picked up my phone and punched in mother’s office number.

“Cecelia, I’m expecting a visitor this afternoon. I’d like you to sit in on the meeting. You are free aren’t you?”

“James, of course. Do you know exactly when?”

“Sometime between noon and three.”

“What’s it about, dear?”

“You’ll see when they get here.”

“Very well,” she said. I could hear the curiosity in her voice.

“Your Highness, Lady Desiree and Marie Ormond are here to see you.”

“Thank you, Emelia. Please ask my mother to join us.”

“Yes Your Highness.”

Desiree looked slightly unwell. Marie Ormond looked angry. I did not rise to greet them. Perhaps I should have been more nervous. Desiree was a trained killer. Marie was equally as dangerous. Either could have ended me long before now. Perhaps they did not have the motivation then. Would what I was about to reveal change that?

I gestured to the three chairs positioned before my desk. Desiree sat. Marie gave me a piercing look, then dropped into the seat.

“Your Highness. It is not traditional in Mariner for the Prince to threaten to drag free subjects from their homes on a whim.”

“Indeed it is not,” I said. Just then Cecelia entered the room. She looked at the two woman seated before my desk. “Come in mother. Take a seat please.”

“What’s going on James?” Cecelia asked.

“Some of this Desiree and Marie already know,” I said. “It concerns assassination and treason.”

“Your Highness, please,” Marie said suddenly insightful.

“It’s alright Lady Marie,” I said. “Mother, recently I received some documents from the royal archives which touched on both attempts on my life.”

“Both?” Cecelia asked.

“The attempted in America and the attempt when I was an infant.”

Cecelia and Marie exchanged a glance. Desiree, who knew about the documents under seal containing information about my parent’s university adventures, looked calm as ever now. She obviously could not see how this related. She was feeling less unsure about what was happening, perhaps wondering if I was going to tell my mother about the things my father had kept from her. I was afraid that the news was likely to be much more personal. I almost considered whether I was mistaken to include her. I hesitated a minute thinking I should perhaps ask her to leave. Then decided how I had felt when first confronted with the truth of my heritage.

“I had an agent of mine dig into the money trail of the person who planned and financed both assassination attempts.”

“The person?” my mother said standing. “You know who was responsible for Henry’s death?”

“I do mother,” I said. I looked at Marie significantly. “I have every reason to believe that person was dealt with already. Please sit down. The identity of the mastermind is not important right now. That is not why we are here.”

Cecelia sat down. “It’s not?” she asked, dropping back into her seat.

“No.” I sighed, then continued. “When my agent began to investigate they managed to track down the trail of money used to finance the attacks. As Marie or Desiree could tell you financial forensics can often produce the most unexpected results.”

“Please, Your Highness,” Marie said again, looking at Desiree.

I shook my head. “This can’t be kept from her any longer. She is the Prince’s Champion. She has a right to know.”

“James,” mother said. “Don’t do this.”

I looked at Cecelia. I had wondered if this was a secret she knew. I could ask Desiree to leave now. Invoke the Royal Seal. With anyone else that would be the end of it. I had no illusions that would work with my little spymaster.

“What do you mean?” Desiree asked finally.

“Marie, what happened the night my father was killed?”

She looked trapped. I have no doubt that under other circumstances she was as inscrutable as I had often found her daughter. This was too close to her.

“Tell me, or should I make a guess,” I pressed.

“No,” Marie sighed, resolving herself to the inevitable. “I was to be at the palace that night, but Mario insisted on taking the assignment. Henry, the Prince and your mother were in Brussels. Cecelia wanted to take you along, but the Prince ... he thought it would be too disruptive for you.”

“You had just started sleeping through the night,” my mother said. I could see she was crying.

“I should have been at the house in Oakcrest, but I decided to surprise Mario.” Marie look almost ready to cry herself. “I was nearly at the Royal Park when NIS Settenhold notified me about the assassination. I rolled into the palace plaza expecting to see a hornets nest, but instead the whole palace was dark.

“The guard at the gate seem oblivious of the attack.” She looked at Desiree. “I knew Settenhold would have called your father before contacting me. The palace should have been locked down. I screamed at the guards. It took a few seconds before they understood what had happened. Then they found your father was not answering his radio.”

She was no longer talking to me, but looking and speaking directly to Desiree.

“I realized that there might be a threat to the heir.” She glanced at me briefly but her gaze returned to her daughter.

“The baby was crying when I got to the royal nursery. Jean-Luc Brodeur was there.”

“Of course he was,” Desiree said. “Was father already...”

Marie shook her head. “No. Brodeur was not alone. Mario was there too. He was not there to stop Brodeur. The nanny had already been dealt with by Brodeur. She was unconscious but was still alive. Both men were armed, but when Mario saw me he turned his gun on Brodeur and killed him.

“He tried to convince me that he was there to protect James, but he could see that I did not believe him. When he realized that he turned his gun on me.” She was crying now, as was my mother. “I had to kill him. To protect myself. To protect the infant prince.”

“Why?” Desiree asked her voice breaking.

“I do not know for sure. Perhaps it was jealousy. Your father was a proud man. He could not father children. I thought he considered Vincent’s gift a blessing as would most Mariner men.” Her head bowed. She could not look Desiree in the eye any longer.

Desiree turned an angry look at Cecelia. “You knew,” she accused. My mother nodded. “Why lie about what happened?”

“The Prince was dead,” Marie answered for my mother. “The Princess gravely wounded. The heir had been attacked. To have it known the Prince’s Champion was one of the assassins would have been devastating for the country. That kind of panic could have been the downfall of the nation.”

“So you needed a hero?” Desiree said bitterly.

Both women nodded. “When the guards came I was nearly comatose. They saw Brodeur and your father’s bodies and assumed Mario had been killed by Brodeur and he by me.”