Chapter 19
Enzo wanted nothing more than to give in to his desire to go after the Chairman, but he knew the momentary satisfaction wouldn’t be worth the potential long-term political consequences.
Instead, he waited to see what kind of response would be forthcoming.
The Prime Minister and Minority Leader were both present, though they didn’t participate in Council meetings unless required for the business at hand.
The Majority Leader cleared his throat, but didn’t say anything or move except to give the Chairman a pointed look. Even though Victoria had been given her rightful seat on the Council, Parliament wasn’t completely powerless.
The Chairman was able to keep from visibly squirming, but Enzo doubted he was so serene internally.
“Ma’am,” the Chairman started as several others present continued to stare him down. It wasn’t the actual correct form of address, but it was better. “Would you care to inform us why you are abdicating your duty to participate in this meeting?”
Victoria didn’t wither under his stare. “I have been a member of this Council for less than an hour. I have not been briefed on any of these issues, much less have the opportunity to study them myself. Those things are necessary for me to make an informed decision. I will not rubber stamp the king’s vote if I disagree with him on a matter, and will not vote on matters I don’t fully understand.
I certainly don’t want to presume on what your voting habits are, but I would hope that everyone deciding matters of such importance would do their due diligence before casting their vote. ”
It took almost as much willpower to keep his smirk to himself as it had not to go after the Chairman.
The queen wasn't someone to be trifled with.
They hadn't discussed it, but it didn't surprise Enzo that she would be willing to vote against him in the right circumstances.
He hoped those times would be few and far between, but there likely wouldn't be anything for quite some time.
Most of the matters before the Council were things he believed they would agree on.
Like absolute primogeniture.
As succession currently existed, a male child had precedence over a female child.
A newborn son would become higher in the line of succession than any of his big sisters.
There were plenty of incredible queens who would not have had the opportunity to reign if they'd had a younger brother.
Queen Elizabeth II was the first to spring to mind.
Though she didn't hold the record for the longest monarchial reign in history, she was the longest in the history of the British Empire and second worldwide.
Very few would claim a younger brother would have been a better choice than she had been.
His grandfather had tried to get the Council to change the rules of primogeniture, but he hadn't tried very hard. He already had a son followed by three girls. It wasn't until adulthood that the heir apparent disappeared. He’d never been heard from again. If he’d arrived on the scene after the death of his father, Enzo’s mother would have been removed from the throne.
The more Enzo thought about it, he wasn’t sure what the statute of limitations would be.
At what point would his mother have been safe?
For that matter, was he? If a heretofore unknown or missing cousin were to arrive on the scene and had DNA proof of his - or her - parentage, would that change things?
Regardless of the thoughts swirling around in his head, Enzo needed to pay attention to his current surroundings.
Victoria still held the Chairman’s gaze, refusing to back down.
The Chairman seemed to grow increasingly uncomfortable until he blinked and his glare hardened further. “See that you are informed from here on out. Those who choose not to vote can be removed from the Council for failure to perform their duties.”
“As can Chairmen who continually overstep their bounds,” the Minority Leader interjected.
Enzo was grateful for the unified front from the leaders of Parliament, something he suspected the Chairman hadn’t counted on.
The Vice Chairman took that moment to insert himself into the conversation. “I believe that is everything on today’s agenda. I motion to adjourn the meeting.”
“Seconded,” came from several Council members at once.
“All in favor?” the Vice Chairman continued.
Almost everyone replied immediately with an aye.
“All opposed?”
No one said anything, though Enzo knew he couldn’t be the only one who noticed the Chairman hadn’t voted at all.
“The ayes have it with three abstentions - the king and queen as well as the Chairman chose not to vote on the adjournment.” The Vice Chairman didn't have the gavel or he would have used it. "This meeting is adjourned."
Thought he knew Victoria didn't need his help, Enzo held her chair for her as she stood. The Chairman also stood but rested his fingertips on the table as he watched the rest of the Council and others gathered exit the room.
Would he stay until he was alone? Sort of a captain goes down with the ship kind of thing?
Enzo had no desire to find out. Instead, he rested his hand on the small of Victoria's back as they walked with a couple of others from the Council. The topic of conversation didn't go deeper than the weather, but he knew the optics would be good.
He hated worrying about optics.
It was part of the world in which he lived, but he'd never feel comfortable with it.
When they reached the doors to the outside, the Council members went one way as Enzo and Victoria went through doors being held for them. Once they were in their SUV, he could see Victoria's shoulders begin to relax, but not too much.
She knew as well as he did that they could be photographed at any time until they reached the safety of certain portions of the palace.
With that in mind, they kept the conversation light, but not overly so - not to where they'd be seen laughing and it could be spun into them not caring about the gravitas of the Council sessions.
Even as they walked through the corridors to their quarters, they both chose to continue as they had been, but as soon as the doors closed behind them, Victoria let her shoulders drop completely.
"I'm so glad that's over."
Enzo wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. "You did fantastic."
"Thank you for supporting me when I needed it but without taking over or speaking for me.
" She turned into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I hope you didn't expect me to agree with you all of the time.
I know we hadn't talked about it, and I can't imagine we'll disagree often, but I won't just rubber stamp whatever you want me to. "
"I wouldn't think about asking you to do that. I'd hope that if we disagree we could discuss it privately first. My preference wouldn't be to have a public disagreement in the Council Chambers. I'm not saying we can't disagree in chambers, but not fighting." He tightened his hold on her.
The side of her head rested on his chest. "Agreed. If we are on different sides, hopefully we can both present our sides calmly as part of the debate without turning personal or vindictive or publicly contentious."
"Then we're on the same page. I would never ask you to compromise that."
She looked up at him and blew out a breath. "I don't want to talk about that anymore. I just want to enjoy an evening together."
Enzo smiled down at her. "I think that sounds perfect."
Laughter filled their quarters as they made a very simple meal together - that was all they could manage in the small kitchen in their quarters.
As they ate, they talked a little bit about their days. The Council meeting had taken most of the day. Between briefings, preparations, traveling, and the meeting itself, complete with interruptions, meant Victoria had done almost nothing else.
Not even check in on the investigation in the archives.
Enzo’s phone buzzed. He picked it up and looked at the screen. “Jeanette and her team asked if they could meet with us for a few minutes.”
Victoria glanced down at the comfortable closed she’d changed into. “Is there any chance we can go as we are?”
He sent a quick text. “They’re going to meet us near here. Not in our quarters, but we don’t have to go all the way downstairs. I doubt they expect us to be in formal wear.”
She rolled her eyes at him and carried their dishes into the kitchen and set them in the sink. If they weren’t getting ready to go to this meeting, she would have done them herself.
A few minutes later, they were seated with Jeanette and her team.
“We’ve made it as far as we can here, Your Majesties” Jeanette told them.
“At least for the moment. The painting is forged. We can’t know for certain what’s on the other side of the real one.
Nothing else is missing from here. Law enforcement authorities or others are far better equipped to find the thief and the artwork than we are. ”
Enzo nodded. “They’re already working on it.”
“We suspected as much.” Jeanette looked at one of her associates. “Terri and Tristan will be going to a couple of the other countries to attempt to find the pieces of artwork in those archives.” She turned to Victoria. “Nathaniel will be going to Southern Santiero.”
All Victoria could do was nod. Though she knew far more about the history of her homeland, she didn’t know enough about any of the artifacts to be of much help. “My mum would be a good one to talk to. She studied history at university and has worked with the historian on several projects.”
It would also give her mum a sense of purpose again. Victoria knew she’d been a bit adrift since she became a widow. Even though Victoria hadn’t been in Southern Santiero for most of that time, she’d kept a close eye on her family in general, and her mum in particular.
“There’s nothing more we can do here for the moment then?” Enzo asked.
“Correct, sir.”
He pushed back from the table. “Thank you for keeping us apprised of the situation.” Everyone else stood as he did. “Please let us know when you find more.”
There were murmurs of ascent from around the room before they all filed out.
“A meeting that could have been an email.” Enzo made the lament as they walked back to their quarters.
“Though I do understand why this particular one needed to be in person. If we hadn’t gone straight to our quarters after the Council meeting, it would have been fairly easy to have it in the Executive Wing. ”
Victoria nodded her agreement as he held the door open for her.
“Would you like to watch something together?” Enzo closed their door behind them.
“That sounds nice.”
Once they’d settled into the big chair together with a blanket pulled over them, Enzo navigated to the HEA TV app. “Whatever is on here?”
Victoria nodded as she pulled the blanket more tightly around her then laughed when the app opened.
A royal movie - one with a prince who was trying to hide his identity.
The accuracy was... questionable.
Enzo pointed out the errors with such conviction that Victoria couldn’t help but laugh.
As it came to an end, he ranted about proper ways to address members of a royal family. She tried to hide her smile as she snuggled closer.
“Are you laughing at me?”
Victoria looked up at him, to see his eyes had narrowed.
She shifted far enough to kiss the side of his jaw. “Never.”
His eyes narrowed as he pulled her closer to him. “I don’t think I buy that.”
One of his eyebrows raised as he stared at her.
Victoria tried to keep a straight face, but failed. “Okay, maybe.”
“It’s completely ridiculous and you know it,” he ranted.
“You don’t call a king your grace. That’s the title for a duke or duchess - and a prince is not your majesty.
That’s reserved for the monarch.” He settled back in the chair and pulled her closer.
“It would take a seventeen second web search to figure those things out.”
“True.” As hard as she tried, Victoria couldn’t keep the grin hidden. She never would have guessed that her husband would be willing to watch sappy movies without complaint. In fact, he’d suggested it. It didn’t surprise her that he nitpicked it from start to finish.
Maybe a royal movie wasn’t the best option.
“Don’t even get me started on how the line of succession works.” He blew out a breath. “At least that wasn’t a major plot point, just mentioned in passing as something that happened a couple of generations earlier.”
Linking her fingers with his, Victoria felt herself turn serious. “Order of Succession is something we need to talk about at some point soon.”
He immediately sobered. “In what sense? If, God forbid, something happened to me, my brother would be king. I can understand why it could be concerning, but you wouldn’t be turned out like they talked about happening a hundred years back in that kingdom.”
She shook her head against his shoulder. “Not like that. I know the expectation of the king’s wife. To give birth to at least two children.”
“Yes,” he replied slowly. “I see you as far more than the mother of my children, though. You know that, right? You are needed and loved.”
She was starting to believe that. “I know.”
Enzo kissed the side of her head. “I love you, Kiki. I can’t imagine doing life with anyone else.”
Victoria sat up and shifted until she could look directly at him. “I love you, too, Vincenzo. I’m so glad I said yes when you asked if I wanted to do something a little crazy.”
He kissed her and the rest of the world disappeared.
Eventually, Victoria found herself wrapped in his arms as they began to drift to sleep.
Maybe this would make a better HEA movie.
A fake fiancé.
A coronation.
Missing artwork.
Even as it occurred to her she knew they’d never do the story justice.
Rather than trying to figure out who would play them in the movie, Victoria decided to let herself succumb to the call of the Sandman.
Secure in the arms of her husband.
Knowing she was needed and wanted.
And not a fake anything.