CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE – HATTIE
“I’m going to kill them,” Valentina says, kicking a stool out of her path. She’s been pacing the same trail back and forth for God only knows how long in an attempt to quell her rage.
It isn’t working.
In fact, I think it might just be amping it up.
“For the love of God, Deveraux,” Alec says, turning from his position by the window. “If you put a hole in that rug, Her Majesty will have your head.”
“Shut up, Kilon,” she retorts, making my eyebrows shoot up. “What would you rather I do? Sit and stew quietly while my best friend is being set up by some piece of shit?”
“Yes.”
“You—”
“When will we know the outcome of the hearing?” I ask, cutting her off before they can descend into their third bickering session of the afternoon.
Alec checks his watch. “Hopefully within in the next five minutes. Finn will call me as soon as they’re done.”
“Am I late?” Beatrix rushes into the room, and both Alec and Valentina lower into a bow and curtsey to pay their respects. She acknowledges them with a small nod before coming over and sitting on the sofa next to me. “I do apologise. The Prime Minister would just not let it go.”
I swallow. “Does she oppose me?”
“No, quite the opposite. She’s rather taken with you actually and can’t believe someone would stoop so low.”
“She doesn’t know the allegations aren’t true.”
She looks at me as if I’ve suddenly grown three heads. “Darling, anyone who’s had the pleasure of spending five minutes in your company knows it isn’t true.”
I’m not going to argue with her. I’ve tried. She’s adamant I’m the most perfect being to have ever existed, so I shall happily leave her to that delusion.
As far as the queen is concerned, she supports my rights and my wrongs. I daresay I could murder someone in her bedroom, and she’d brush it off as if I’d spilt a glass of water.
It is rather nice to have such unfettered support, I must admit.
“Has Annette been by yet?”
“I’m here.” Annette walks into the room with her usual stern demeanour. It’s fractured only by the hint of worry in her eyes, but she still smiles warmly at me. “Harriet. How are you?”
I swallow back the lump in my throat. “Nervous.”
The Queen pats my shoulder, while Valentina smiles at me sympathetically.
“Don’t worry,” Annette says. “I can’t see the judge denying our request. It may be that he orders the name to remain confidential but allows us access to it to address the claims made against you. That may be the best outcome for all.”
Alec’s phone rings on the table, and we all freeze.
All except him.
He walks over and checks the screen, then meets my eyes as he answers. “Hold on,” he says, tapping. “You’re on speaker now.”
“Is everyone there?” Finn asks, his voice cracking slightly on the line.
“Yes,” the Queen says. “Is it over?”
“Yes.”
“And?” When he doesn’t immediately reply, Annette says impatiently, “Do spit it out, Your Royal Highness.”
“Sorry, Michael was just getting rid of an enthusiastic reporter. It seems someone caught wind of our appearance here.”
“I told you not to go,” Beatrix grumbles.
“Of course I’m going. This concerns my wife,” Finn shoots back.
Alec snorts. “She’s not your wife yet.”
“Will someone just tell us what the judge said?” Valentina snaps, smacking her hand against the table. “Good grief!”
Yes.
What she said.
“I agree!” Annette taps her pen impatiently against the table.
“Sorry.” Finn pauses. “The judge ordered that the source is to be named. She said the allegations are so severe that Harriet has the right to defend herself. It’s also a matter of security given the position she’s in, and the judge believes she should be allowed to investigate how and why these allegations have come about.
The press have forty-eight hours to provide the name to the—”
“Got it,” Annette says, staring at her phone.
Wow.
She really does have friends in high places.
A little heavy-handed to say given she speaks to the queen at least once a day, but still.
Annette looks at Alec. “Who did your spies identify?”
“My sources named him as Zachary Siskind,” he replies darkly.
Boy, the word ‘spies’ really riles him up.
She nods. “That’s the name I’ve just been given.”
“That was quick,” Oscar remarks from the other end of the phone. “We’re on our way back. We’ll be with you soon. The press are swarming, Annette, so be ready.”
“Already on it.” She opens her laptop at the long table and begins typing with one hand as she makes a call with the other.
Valentina slides across the room and sits on the other side of me. “Do you know him? This Zachary?”
I frown. The name seems familiar, but in a way that could be anything from he passed through Sayana’s house to being told one too many stories about him.
Even just the surname—it’s uncommon, but not in a special kind of way, the kind of name you could hear a few times and easily remember without remembering anything at all.
“He claims,” Alec starts. “That he was kidnapped and ended up in a house somewhere hot and humid. You were eighteen and coordinated… ah, let’s say the production of unsavoury images.”
My stomach twists.
How could someone make up such lies about another person?
“We now have the full story,” Annette says. “He’s claiming he was one of the underage children you prepared for their customers.”
Valentina’s jaw set. “From where? Sayana’s old house on that small island? Bullshit!”
“He claims to have witnessed Harriet conspiring with the kidnappers to secure her own safety,” Annette continues. “He alleges you were both participant and preparator in the production.”
“Eighteen? He said I was eighteen?” I ask quietly.
“Yes.” Alec is the one who answers this time. “That’s his first mistake. You left before you turned eighteen. Ryan’s father has already said he will corroborate that story. He has all the documentation from when you both contacted him.”
“That was my first question,” I say, although when the hell did he speak to Ryan’s dad? “My second is how this Zachary is connected to Rosalyn or Jasmine.”
The Queen tenses next to me. “You don’t think—”
“Yes. I do.” I glance at everyone. “Aveline stirred the pot when she questioned the similarities between them and the internet latched on. If it weren’t for the press reaching out to the palace, this story would have killed that dead in the water.
I know exactly what I think.” I focus my gaze on Alec, but before I can speak, he has his phone to his ear.
“Zachary Siskind,” he barks, maintaining eye contact with me. “I want everything on him. You have twenty minutes or you’re fired.”
Valentina leans into me and raises her eyebrows. “Polite little fucker, isn’t he?”
Beatrix coughs into her fist, and I suspect she’s covering up a laugh.
Valentina blushes. “I apologise for my language, Your Majesty.”
“No, no,” she replies. “I was thinking the same thing, dear.” She squeezes my hand before she stands and walks to Annette, bending down to talk to her.
“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.”