Chapter 18
Meg fell into step next to Galen as Theo started up the stairs.
Galen leaned down and took her hand, steadying her despite the fact her steps were sure.
“Stay by me. Don’t say anything. Theo’s got this dog and pony show planned down to the last second, no doubt, but Phillip will lose his cool at some point and I may have to step in. ”
He said it so casually, as if his protecting Theo was as second nature as breathing. That’s because it is.
She nodded and squeezed his hand, and then they were through the door at the top of the stairs and into another world.
Meg hadn’t had nearly as much time to examine Thalania when she and Galen were rushing to beat Theo there, and the tunnels were just tunnels. Impressive for their scope, but not particularly jaw-dropping.
The palace changed that.
She stopped short and took in the great domed ceiling, the tile beneath her feet that looked positively ancient despite being shined within an inch of its life, and the framed paintings lining the wall that had to be priceless.
She recognized a few of the styles, though Meg had never been particularly into art.
The fact she recognized them at all spoke to their value.
This is where Theo grew up. This is where Galen’s spent the last decade and a half.
“This room used to have double the amount of art, but Theo’s mother thought it should be enjoyed, so she spread it out through the rest of the palace. After Mary died and Teddy remarried, Katherine kept things the way they were.” Galen gave her hand one last squeeze. “Stay close.”
Theo smoothed a hand down his shirt. He’d changed since they’d seen him last and now he wore slacks and a button-up. He glanced at her. “After this, we’ll talk. All three of us.”
Talk about the future.
She nodded, her heart a caged beast in her chest. Meg had meant every word she’d said to Galen, and every word she’d said to Theo. She loved them. She wanted to figure it out. Find some sort of compromise that wouldn’t drive them all insane.
It had to be possible.
She really, really hoped it was possible.
“Let’s go.” Theo led their strange little procession out of the room and down an equally impressive hall, its thick white walls making her think of the home in Greece they’d left not too long ago.
But where Galen’s place was sparse and strangely comfy, this one radiated cold power.
It was a reminder of how different the worlds they came from were.
And, for the first time, Meg just didn’t give a fuck.
Theo and Galen might have been raised completely different than her, but if she was going to fight so hard to scrub off her history, she would allow them to do the same.
The only thing that mattered was the future.
It had enough hurdles without her throwing a few more up because of her issues.
She would likely never be comfortable with their wealth, but she was willing to try to get over the money stuff if it meant having these two men in her life.
She half expected him to lead her to an honest-to-god throne room, but the door Theo walked through ended in a glorified sitting room.
The room held an array of chairs and couches that were all artfully arranged to create an intimate setting where deals were obviously made.
Seven people filled them, four men and three women.
Meg automatically categorized them as she took up a position next to Galen, three steps behind Theo.
The older man with the distinguished mustache was a good tipper, and he had kind eyes that didn’t quite mask the intelligence and ambition there.
She would have pegged him as a CEO or someone high up in a corporate office based on that combined with his expensive suit.
The two women under fifty looked at Theo as if he was a piece of prime rib that had been delivered specifically for them.
The older woman had to be approaching ninety, but from the other six’s body language, she was the one to watch.
The final three men were cast from the same mold—rich and ambitious—though they couldn’t look more different in their coloring, ranging from pale and blond to dark brown skin and black hair.
She couldn’t see Theo’s face from her position, but the line of his shoulders told her everything she needed to know. He moved like a soldier stepping onto a battlefield he wasn’t sure he’d survive. “Thank you for coming.”
“Curiosity, my dear Theo,” the mustached man said with a smile. “It’s not every day that a prince returns from exile.”
“Former prince.” This from the young-ish blond woman. She wore a designer dress in a tasteful baby blue that showed off her lean legs.
Meg glanced at Galen, but he was too busy watching the seven to notice her.
It reinforced her feeling of being embattled, though no one had said anything particularly vicious yet.
She pressed her lips together to stifle her questions.
If they made it out of this the way Theo obviously had planned, then she’d have time for her questions later.
The door swung open and a man walked into the room.
He was like a smaller, diminished version of Theo.
Narrower in both shoulders and face, his hair thinning on top, his eyes so cold Meg doubted they ever warmed.
His step hitched when he realized who occupied the room, but the surprise didn’t show in his expression. “Interesting gathering, Theodore.”
This had to be Phillip, Theo’s uncle. There was no one else it could be.
Theo pivoted easily to meet Phillip without ever actually offering the rest of the people his back. “Uncle. I bring glad tidings.” His smile lit up the room, and she would never know by looking at him that he loathed his uncle, or that the man had attempted to have him murdered.
A born politician.
But then, you knew that. It’s just another facet of Theo.
He turned back to the gathered people. “You see, there’s been a mistake. Let me explain.”
Theo didn’t give Phillip a chance to take control of the conversation, and he didn’t give himself a chance to react to seeing his uncle after all these months.
They had never been close, not when Phillip always had his eye on the throne, but family should have meant something.
He knew better. Of course he knew better.
The bastard didn’t even wait a week after his brother—Theo’s father—died to make his move. That was what Theo couldn’t, wouldn’t, forgive.
Then there’s the rumors of poisoning…
He turned with a practiced smile to the nobles gathered. “It seems my uncle was a little too trigger happy about declaring my parents’ marriage a fraud.”
Pierce Huxley pulled at the edge of his mustache and raised his eyebrows. “We examined the evidence provided, and I don’t see how that’s possible. The dates speak for themselves.”
“That would be true if my mother’s first marriage was legal.”
Phillip finally recovered and moved forward, attempting to inject himself between Theo and the nobles.
“It seems my nephew has taken the loss of this throne a little too hard and has brought you here to spin his conspiracy theories. I apologize for the inconvenience of you making a trip for nothing, but I will see him suitably dealt with.” He flashed a look at Theo over his shoulder that promised the kind of pain that could break a man.
If he didn’t win this, Theo wouldn’t be walking out of this palace alive.
Neither would Galen or Meg.
“Let the boy speak.” Yael Nibley, rose. At five foot-nothing with a cloud of white curls around her head and a jeweled cane she used to get around, she was still an imposing presence that silenced everyone in the room.
Likely because she had been head of the Nibley Family longer than any of them had been alive.
She turned dark brown eyes on Phillip, the force of her personality snapping at him.
“I, for one, would like to know what new evidence he’s brought. ”
Theo didn’t hesitate. “Of course, Lady Nibley.” He pulled out the documents he’d kept on his person since Meg discovered the truth. “If you’ll allow me.” Theo moved to lay them on the table in front of her. He went through what Meg had found, and the legalities behind it.
Pierce frowned. “You’re sure the birth certificate is legitimate? I was under the impression that something had happened to make it irretrievable.”
“A fire,” Phillip cut in smoothly, all honeyed words and false sympathy. “The clinic where Mary Mortimore was born was a small one in Germany and hadn’t had a chance to move their full backlist of paper documents to a digital format. The records were lost.”
Oh, no you don’t. Theo kept his smile firmly in place. “That’s true. This didn’t come from the clinic. This was a family-owned copy that I retrieved from my aunt, Alexis Mortimore.”
Phillip blanched. “I was informed that no such copy existed.”
“I’m afraid my aunt doesn’t hold much love for Thalania or the Fitzcharles family name.
She wasn’t inclined to do you any favors.
” If she had, Theo held no doubt that the birth certificate would have conveniently disappeared somewhere on the trip back to Thalania.
He turned back to the gathered lords and ladies.
“As you can see, because my mother was underage when the marriage certificate to her first husband was issued, that marriage wasn’t legal and is null and void.
As such, her marriage to my father stands as her one and only marriage. ”
“On the contrary—”
Theo spun on his uncle, his control slipping.
“I realize this is not a convenient realization for you, uncle, and I’m dreadfully sorry for that, but the fact remains you declared me illegitimate in error.
” He should have left it there, but long-banked fury got the best of him.
“You should have hired more efficient assassins if you wanted to remain the right hand of the future king.”
“I don’t know what you’re implying, but I resent it.”