Chapter 7
The footman gave Rose a tight smile. “As you’ve guessed, I’m an agent of Aurora, and I have instructions to make contact with the Arcadian princess on her arrival.
I had detailed plans on how to achieve that, but they were all thrown into chaos when I realized the girl in the princess’s suite wasn’t actually the princess. ”
“You have a message for me from Aurora?” Relief swelled inside Rose. She’d hoped to contact Aurora’s network herself, but she hadn’t had any idea how to go about it.
A possibility occurred to her. “Have you already found the thief?” She looked at the man hopefully.
She wanted a chance to take on some responsibility—to prove her competence. But it was far more important that the situation be successfully resolved, even if that was without her involvement. The potential damage to Arcadia was too great to take her personal feelings into account.
“I’m afraid not, Your Highness.” The footman cleared his throat. “We’ve been pursuing the matter through unofficial channels only, as requested by your parents. And that has put limits on our progress.”
Rose nodded. Her parents didn’t want to risk word getting out that a thief had successfully stolen an official Arcadian seal. The news could do incredible damage to people’s confidence in Arcadia—across the Four Kingdoms and even beyond.
It was bad enough when the thief had been loose in Arcadia, but tracking him down grew harder when he headed south into Lanover.
Word of his passage had reached the Arcadian royals through Aurora’s network, and Rose’s parents had immediately taken their daughter into their confidence.
Rose’s visit to Lanare had already been planned, and they wanted to take advantage of her presence in Lanover.
It was much better to have the search overseen by one of their own, rather than admitting the truth to the Lanoverians.
Privately, Rose had even feared the Lanoverians might keep the seal for themselves if they were the ones to recover it. But having met Leo, it was hard to reconcile that possibility with the reality of the man. She could no longer imagine him doing something so underhanded toward an ally.
“Do you have more information on the thief’s whereabouts, at least?” she asked, desperate to hear there had been some progress in the investigation.
The man hesitated. “We’ve received conflicting reports. There is some concern that he may have managed to infiltrate the palace itself and be working here.”
“In the palace?” Rose stared at him. “Is that possible? Surely that would make him obvious to you and your fellow agents.”
The man shifted, looking even more uncomfortable.
“Ordinarily so, yes. But there has been an influx of new hires lately, and there is a possibility he could be among them. However, that isn’t our only lead.
Other rumors place him in the city. Our network has been investigating a forgery ring operating out of Lanare for some time, and we believe it possible—even likely—that the thief has linked up with them. ”
“A forgery ring?” Rose’s eyes widened. That sounded like a much more substantial operation than a single thief.
Unease shot through her. Her parents had charged her with helping Aurora’s network find and apprehend the thief of the seal.
Surely this agent didn’t want her to get involved with the investigation into an entire forgery ring?
She didn’t feel comfortable doing something so large-scale in someone else’s kingdom.
The last thing she wanted was for her involvement to create an international incident.
The footman picked up on her concern, continuing quickly. “Of course we have constant surveillance on the red door, but we haven’t yet managed to identify the man in question.”
“The red door?” she asked, bewildered.
“My apologies, Your Highness. We’ve identified a building that we believe is being used by the forgers, and it happens to have a red door. We’ve fallen into the habit of referring to it that way.”
Rose nodded, trying to look wise in the ways of spy networks.
“What do you need from me, then?” she asked, hit by a new worry.
She didn’t want to get overinvolved, but neither did she want to be excluded completely.
And the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed that her parents had never intended her to get involved with the investigation at all.
They had probably planned for her to do no more than pass messages back and forth between Arcadia and the agents and—hopefully—to carry the seal safely back to Arcadia once it was retrieved.
But she wouldn’t be able to take any pride in the seal’s recovery if her only role was as courier.
She clenched her teeth. She might not be one of Aurora’s agents, but she was more capable than that.
“We need you to report every detail when the thief contacts you,” the footman said. “Even the smallest thing might turn out to be of import.”
“You’re expecting him to contact me?” Rose stared at the agent, completely distracted from her earlier thoughts. “The thief knows I’m here?”
The man hid a smile. “The whole palace and a large part of the city knows you’re here. Our information suggests that the man has ambitions to make further use of his theft by using it for blackmail.”
Rose’s eyebrows shot up. So it wasn’t the footman who meant to blackmail her but the thief.
“He’ll most likely contact you by letter,” the man said. “Although your charade may complicate things. I’m not sure if he knows your appearance.”
“Given he’s spent time in Arcadie, there’s every chance he does,” she said grimly.
Her one consolation was that the thief would be unlikely to expose her. Doing so would only call attention to himself, so he would probably keep his mouth shut.
“You haven’t received any strange communications since your arrival?” the footman pressed.
Rose shook her head. “Nothing at all. But I’ll check with Natalie.”
The footman nodded. “You can contact me again any time by simply coming back for another meal in the dining hall. If I see you there, I’ll find a way to follow you when you leave.”
Clearly he wasn’t expecting her to continue eating at the hall regularly. Rose hadn’t been the only one to notice she was out of place.
“That sounds simple enough,” she said. “I’ll return if I receive any sort of communication from the thief.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” The footman bowed and hurried from the room, not lingering for small talk.
Rose lingered in the room for several more minutes, not wanting to be seen exiting a storeroom too soon after a footman. When she finally did leave, she had to stop another servant and get directions back to her room.
By the time she arrived back, she felt as if she’d lived at least half a day already. And yet Joanne was only just stirring.
Her maid insisted on helping her into a more elaborate gown, as well as rearranging her hair. Rose submitted meekly to Joanne’s ministrations. Joanne had been her maid the longest, which was why she had been the one assigned to stay with Rose, despite Joanne’s lingering sickness the day before.
At least the long sleep had proved restorative, and the maid talked brightly about her plans for the day.
Those plans all seemed to revolve around acquainting herself with the workings of the palace, so Rose suspected she would find a breakfast tray ready when she woke in future.
Rose might be masquerading as Natalie, but her maids hadn’t forgotten what they felt was due her dignity—as evidenced by Joanne’s disparaging comments about the room.
“I’m sorry you have to put up with these conditions alongside me,” Rose said meekly to Joanne, and the older woman’s eyes snapped up.
“Really, Your Highness! How can you even think such a thing? Obviously I’m concerned for your dignity.”
Rose laughed. “And yours by extension. Don’t think I don’t know how it works. But don’t worry. I—and you—will be back to our proper place soon enough.”
Joanne put the last pin in place in Rose’s hair and stepped back.
“In that case, Your Highness, I’ll be about my business for the day.” She paused. “Unless you’re needing me for anything else?”
“No, no, continue with your plans.” Rose didn’t bother to mention her own plans. She didn’t need Joanne’s help to track down Natalie.
As it turned out, the task proved even easier than she had imagined. No sooner had Joanne left than the door sprang back open. Natalie tumbled into the room out of breath and shut the door firmly behind her.
Rose blinked in astonishment, trying to gaze past Natalie to the closed door. Was someone chasing her? She held her breath as she waited to see if the door would spring back open. Who had the temerity to chase the supposed Arcadian princess through the palace?
But the door stayed firmly shut, and no footfalls were heard in the corridor outside. Rose raised both eyebrows in a question, but Natalie wasn’t looking at her.
Whatever had driven Natalie into Rose’s room at such speed had been forgotten as she gaped at her surroundings, her expression slowly turning guilty.
Rose suppressed a smile as she imagined the room Natalie must now be occupying.
She’d known the rooms would be different, but the contrast must have been even greater than she’d imagined.
Rose said nothing, however, waiting with some interest to see how Natalie would respond. Given Natalie’s firm belief in her future royal position, Rose hadn’t expected to see so much guilt in the girl’s face.
“Sorry about the room,” Natalie said simply, sounding genuinely contrite.
Rose’s heart softened toward the outrageous girl, and she waved off the apology. She was far more interested in what had brought Natalie to her room in the first place—and just as Rose was wanting to see her.
“Is everything all right?” she asked.
“Yes, I just…wanted to check on you.” Natalie’s halting words fell limply to the floor between them.
Rose slowly raised an eyebrow, and Natalie looked away uncomfortably. Was she still feeling guilty about the rooms? Or was something else unsettling her?
“I hope your room is to your satisfaction,” Rose tried, hoping to prod the other girl into further speech.
Natalie’s whole face lit up in excited animation. “Oh yes, it’s stunning! The view is incredible…” Her brain caught up with her words, and her voice dwindled, her face twisting in another apology.
Rose suppressed a laugh. “I’ll look forward to seeing it when we switch back places.”
A new possibility occurred to her. Had Natalie come to suggest they swap back immediately?
The evening before hadn’t gone to plan, but it was only the first function.
Rose’s mind was already spinning with ways to follow up the agent’s disclosures, and she would be much freer to do that without her royal rank drawing attention.
Thankfully, Natalie didn’t take the opening Rose had unintentionally provided, merely murmuring agreement about the rooms.
Rose considered her next words carefully. Natalie, who wasn’t even Arcadian, knew nothing about the theft, so she would need to question her subtly.
“You’ve remembered what I said about not getting into any political discussions, right?” she asked, echoing the words she’d used previously in an attempt to obscure her real point of interest. “And about passing on any letters or notes you receive for me?”
She watched Natalie closely, but the girl’s earlier discomfort over the rooms still lingered in her expression, making her hard to read.
Natalie nodded. “Yes, of course. I remember.” A note of irritation crept into her voice. “I can promise it was nothing but inanities last night. All except one conversation which went on forever and was just a constant stream of reminiscences about your parents and grandparents.”
Rose straightened. There had been a whole group of people at the reception who knew her family? What had Natalie said to them? Had she exposed her ignorance?
“Don’t worry,” Natalie said quickly. “I just smiled a lot and said almost nothing, so I don’t think I gave anything away.”
Rose slumped back down, relieved. Not that she could complain after her own haphazard performance with Lady Trina and Prince Leo.
When Natalie left in almost as much of a whirlwind as she’d arrived in, Rose took a few minutes to catch her breath. They had made it through the first night without being exposed and would apparently be maintaining their ruse a little longer.
But the conversation with Natalie had provided no insight about the missing note. Would one be arriving in the next day or two, or had the thief changed his mind about blackmail?