CHAPTER 12 #3
The drive back felt like a parade route to my own execution. I'd managed to turn a simple charity luncheon into an international incident, committed millions of euros in spending I didn't have authorization for, and probably created a political crisis by improvising healthcare policy.
Archie was waiting in the palace foyer when we arrived, and my stomach did a complicated flip at the sight of him.
He was wearing that concerned expression that made him look more like Peter the riding instructor than Prince Archibald the Formal, and I wasn't sure if I wanted comfort from him or if I wanted to handle this disaster on my own.
"I heard," he said, falling into step beside me as we headed toward his mother's study. "Fifty percent funding increase?"
"It seemed like the right amount at the time. I was going for impressive but not insane."
"You may have overshot."
"Thank you, that's very helpful feedback for a speech I can't un-give."
He caught my arm, stopping me in the corridor. "Betty. Are you okay?"
The genuine concern in his voice made something in my chest loosen. "Not really. Someone switched my speech. Someone is actively trying to make me look incompetent, and I just played right into their hands by improvising badly."
"You didn't improvise badly. You improvised... enthusiastically."
"Is that prince-speak for 'you made promises you can't keep'?"
"It's prince-speak for 'you said things that people actually wanted to hear, even if the execution was chaotic.
'" He released my arm but stayed close. "The healthcare programs you described?
They're good ideas. They're things that should exist. You just announced them without going through proper channels. "
"So I'm not completely incompetent, just procedurally challenged?"
"Something like that."
We reached Queen Isabelle's study, and Archie paused outside the door.
"She's going to be angry," he said. "But she's also pragmatic. If there's a way to turn this into something positive, she'll find it."
"And if there isn't?"
"Then I'll make sure she knows about the speech substitution. Someone set you up, Betty. That's not your fault."
It was the first time since everything had gone sideways that someone had unequivocally taken my side. I wanted to hug him for it, which was confusing given that I was still supposed to be angry about the whole identity deception thing.
"Thank you," I said instead.
"Thank me after you survive the meeting."
Queen Isabelle's private study was exactly as intimidating as I'd expected: dark wood, leather-bound books, and furniture that had been specifically chosen to make visitors feel insignificant. She was seated behind her desk like a judge about to deliver sentencing.
"Princess Bettina. Please, sit."
I took the chair across from her. Archie remained standing behind me. Moral support or witness protection? Hard to tell.
"Your first public appearance was certainly memorable," Queen Isabelle began.
"Your Majesty, I can explain."
"I'm sure you can. The question is whether your explanation will involve taking responsibility or making excuses about circumstances beyond your control."
Heat flared in my chest. "If by circumstances beyond my control you mean someone swapping my prepared remarks for agricultural policy documents, then yes, I'd say that's relevant."
"Even assuming that's true, a competent royal should be prepared to handle unexpected situations with grace. You announced major policy initiatives without consultation or authorization."
"I announced increased support for children's healthcare. I'm sorry if caring about sick kids is controversial."
"The controversy isn't your support for children's healthcare. The controversy is your assumption that you have the authority to make unilateral spending decisions on behalf of the Crown."
She was right, and I hated that she was right. I had overstepped, regardless of the circumstances that led to it.
"You're correct, Your Majesty." The words came out stiff but sincere. "I should have limited myself to general expressions of support rather than specific commitments."
"Yes, you should have. The question now is how we manage the situation you've created."
"Can we actually implement the programs?" I asked. "The ones I mentioned? Are they actually good ideas?"
Queen Isabelle studied me with those pale eyes that missed nothing. "That's beside the point."
"No, it's not. If these programs would genuinely help Solmarian children, then maybe we should be looking at how to make them happen rather than how to walk them back."
"You've been in this country for two days. You know nothing about our healthcare system, our budget constraints, or our political processes."
"I know that children deserve medical care. I know that geography shouldn't determine health outcomes. And I know that if we have the resources to help more kids, we should use them."
"Resources that belong to the people of Solmarina, not to foreign princesses making promises they can't keep."
"Then help me keep them."
The challenge hung in the air between us. Queen Isabelle looked at Archie, who shrugged in a way that suggested he wasn't entirely opposed to his wife's audacity.
"Very well." Her voice was clipped. "You'll work with the Crown Council to develop a realistic implementation timeline for the programs you announced.
Elena will coordinate with the Ministry of Health to assess feasibility.
And you'll have additional security for your prepared materials going forward. "
"You believe someone switched my speech?"
"I believe in eliminating possibilities before assuming incompetence.
" She stood, clearly ending the meeting.
"Don't mistake this for approval, Princess Bettina.
You made promises without authority, and now you'll have to work twice as hard to deliver on them.
But I'd rather have a princess who cares too much than one who doesn't care at all. "
It wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement, but it wasn't complete condemnation either. I'd take it.
Archie walked me back to my rooms afterward, and I waited for a lecture. Instead, he was quiet, lost in thought.
"You really think someone switched your speech on purpose?" he finally asked.
"I think it's quite a coincidence that my luggage was sabotaged and my first public appearance was sabotaged and both incidents are unprecedented in palace history."
"But who would want to undermine you?"
I looked at him sharply. "Besides your mother, who made it clear she thinks I'm completely inappropriate for this family?"
"My mother wouldn't resort to sabotage. She'd simply make her disapproval known through proper channels."
"Then who?"
He was quiet for a moment. "I don't know. But I intend to find out."
We'd reached my door, and I hesitated before going inside. "Archie?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. For believing me about the sabotage. For not assuming I was just incompetent."
"You're not incompetent, Betty. You're learning a new world with almost no preparation, and someone is actively trying to make you fail." He stepped closer, close enough that I could see the concern in his eyes. "I'm not going to let them succeed."
The protectiveness in his voice made my heart do something complicated. This was the same man who'd lied to me for days, and yet here he was, defending me against unknown enemies and promising to keep me safe.
It was very confusing.
"Goodnight, Archie."
"Goodnight, Betty. And for what it's worth? I thought your speech was good. Chaotic, but good. You actually cared about what you were saying, and it showed."
He walked away before I could respond, leaving me standing in my doorway feeling surprisingly giddy and proud.
***
Archie
MY MOTHER WAS WAITING in my study when I returned from walking Betty to her rooms.
"We need to talk." She didn't rise from my chair, which she'd commandeered as if this were her office rather than mine.
"Can it wait until morning? It's been a long day."
"The speech disaster made international news within the hour. No, it cannot wait."
I closed the door and remained standing. Sitting felt like conceding ground. "She was sabotaged. Someone switched her prepared remarks."
"So she claims."
"So Roberto's preliminary investigation suggests. This wasn't incompetence, Mother. Someone with palace access deliberately set her up to fail."
Queen Isabelle's expression didn't change.
"Even if that's true, a properly trained princess would have handled the situation with more grace.
She committed the Crown to millions in spending without authorization.
She made promises she has no power to keep.
She turned a simple charity luncheon into a political crisis. "
"She also showed genuine passion for helping Solmarian children. The public response has been largely positive."
"The public response has been entertained.
There's a difference." She rose, smoothing her skirt with the practiced motion of someone who had never once appeared rumpled.
"Archibald, I supported this marriage because the alliance required it.
I accepted an untrained American because the Grand Duchess assured me she would rise to the occasion.
But what I've seen so far suggests otherwise. "
"It's been three days."
"Three days of destroyed wardrobes and chaotic speeches and behavior that would make the Condesa Maria weep."
I stiffened at the name. "The Condesa wasn't an option. You know that."
"The Condesa would have known not to promise fifty percent funding increases to rooms full of donors. The Condesa would have had backup clothing and contingency plans. The Condesa was raised to be a royal, not discovered making lattes in Oregon."
"Betty didn't ask for any of this."
"Neither did you. And yet you're both stuck with it." My mother moved toward the door, then paused. "I'm not your enemy, Archibald. I want this alliance to succeed as much as anyone. But success requires competence, and your wife has yet to demonstrate she possesses any."
"Give her time."
"Time is precisely what we don't have. The Congressional vote on the base agreement is in four months. If Betty continues to embarrass the family, if she proves as unsuitable as she's appeared so far, we may need to consider alternatives."
"What alternatives?"
She didn't answer. She didn't need to.
After she left, I sat in the chair she'd vacated and stared at the wall of portraits that lined my study. Generations of Falcieris who had made difficult choices for the good of Solmarina.
I thought about Betty's laugh at dinner, about the way she'd stood up to my mother in that meeting, about her determination to make things right despite being set up to fail.
She wasn't inadequate. She was unprepared and overwhelmed and fighting battles she hadn't known existed.
And I was starting to realize that I wanted to fight them alongside her.