Page 117 of Smuggler's Beauty

The clause only stated that an eligible relative enacting it had to do so in person, of their own volition. There was not a mention of the makeup of the Senate at the time of the declaration. Aiden assumed Elenor’s ancestors planned for this last resort option to be taken in an emergency when Tanalia had a full, functioning government, and that it didn’t need to be spelled out that the assumption was that this would be done in front of senators. Not spelling out the obvious inlegal documents was always a bad idea, and Vinnie’s plan was exploiting every whirl of that loophole.

“Point.” Nannette moved past Evelyn into the antechamber. The Senate floor was directly ahead, behind another set of carved wooden doors that was far more impressive in person than the photos Aiden had cobbled together for his board. Arched doorways on either side of the chamber led to assembly rooms and areas for support staff.

“I want to check the room before you make your declaration,” Nannette said, and at Evelyn’s nod, she opened the doors and entered. She took in the rows of seats, the dais in the center of the far wall. Behind it, a large view screen framed in gilt scrollwork was mounted. Aiden knew she’d studied the building as extensively as he had, her familiarity with the layout apparent as she finished poking her head behind the curtains and examining the less grand doors on the other side of the room. They were both very big on knowing all the possible choke points in a building.

Nannette opened the doors and examined the bathrooms within. Satisfied, she returned to the group.

“I don’t like how empty this building is,” Nannette said, her eyes darting back and forth between entry points. “Wouldn’t there be at least a security team in place?”

“There was nothing in the file about security,” Elenor said. “And Vinnie’s files were extensive.”

Exhaustive, more like. Aiden had spent hours poring over all these details. He’d memorized the blueprints of every relevant building. L.I.N.D.A. had run an analysis of the Senate chamber’s security. It was designed to do some hardcore containment once Evelyn’s claim was confirmed by DNA, and he hated the idea of sending her into a box he couldn’t figure out how to break her out of. It seemed to be an unavoidable feature of the declaration, but he had asked Lillian to break into Tanalianservers on her own to double-check all the data. She’d come up empty. Aiden hated to take chances with Evelyn’s safety, and the sinking feeling in his gut was telling him that they’d overlooked something. The whole building echoed with every small noise they made, the absence of other bodies making their tense conversation doubly ominous.

“Tanalian politics are honestly sort of boring under normal circumstances. Before the Compromise, we were at each other’s throats, but by the time I left, it was mostly petty squabbles about municipal funding for honorary benches,” Evelyn said. They looked at her, various incredulous expressions on their faces. “What? People get very impassioned about honoring their dead heroes.”

“Heroes?” Veselko asked. “Aren’t you pacifists?”

“Heroes, yes. Poets, actors, scientists. You can only have so many fountains. Someone’s going to get spurned eventually.”

“I have so many notes,” Nannette said.

Aiden shook his head. “Okay, moving right along. You have to go up to the dais, make your statement, and prick your finger? And then you’re queen.”

“From what I understand, only one other person has done this, but yes. Once I do, there’s a period when the current monarch can appeal to a full meeting of the Senate if he or she does not wish to abdicate, but if that doesn’t happen, then I’m queen.”

Aiden watched the teeth sink into her lower lip, the deep, steadying breath she took as she steeled herself to move forward with the plan.And she doesn’t think she’s brave.He wished he could take all her worries and doubts away in this moment and let her see herself the way he did, the way the crowd outside did.

“Okay, here goes nothing. Wish me luck,” she said. Aiden pulled her into a quick hug and kissed the top of her head.

“You don’t need luck, dollface. You have us.”

She grinned at him, turned on the ball of her foot, and stalked to the dais. Her footsteps echoed throughout the empty building, and with every step, Aiden could see the determination in her grow. Veselko had turned the camera back on and was capturing her movements from the doorway of the antechamber, as close as he could get without following her inside. Aiden murmured a few lines, explaining what Evelyn was about to do into his mic and shifted to his side to keep an unobstructed view. She reached the platform, perpetually laid out with its ritual adornments. A gavel, a dagger, a chalice.

“My name is Princess Evelyn Alpertti, a crowned daughter of Tanalia. I hereby declare no confidence in my father, King Hubert Alpertti, a crowned son of Tanalia. I assert my right to ascension.”

Her words echoed throughout the empty room. He watched Evelyn angle her body to give Veselko’s camera the best angle down the long hallway, giving the galaxy at large an unobstructed view of her actions.

Smart of her to ensure the whole thing’s in frame. One less thing to have to defend later.

She picked up the dagger, and Aiden flinched as she ran it across her left index finger. Blood bloomed in a thin trail across the tip. She squeezed a drop into the chalice.

As the blood hit the cup, the view screen powered on.

No Confidence Protocol Activated

flashed across it. Veselko stumbled back from the entryway to the chamber as a clear forcefield activated, barring their entry and Evelyn’s exit. He saw her flinch and raise her uninjured hand to her ear. Her comm had likely gone dead with the barrier.Without thinking, Aiden took a step forward and was shoved back, stumbling into Elenor.

“This was in the file,” Elenor said, gripping Aiden’s shoulder.

His hands clenched into tight fists, knuckles white with tension. He’d known about the forcefield, but the reality of having Evelyn on the other side of it was harder for him to deal with than he’d anticipated. Data didn’t take into account the raging instinct in his blood that something was wrong, that they’d all overlooked a very basic fact while agreeing to this crazy, irresponsible plan.

Aiden looked down the long Senate chamber to Evelyn. She had wrapped her fingertip in a tissue and was holding her finger tightly with her fist. She smiled at him and shrugged. The rapid beat of his heart started to slow. She was fine. This was fine.

Then the sardonic look on her face faded into one of horror. Her eye-line was above his head, and Aiden turned to see what was behind them that had frightened her.

Smoke had started to pour out of the vents in the ceiling above them. Thick jasmine-and-chamomile-scented plumes filled the antechamber. Aiden heard a loud thunk come from those large, never-locked doors and had a sinking suspicion they were now barred from the outside.

“Okay, that wasn’t in the files,” Elenor said. She reached for her cravat and pulled it from her neck. She tried to shove it over Aiden’s mouth and nose, but he shook his head and shoved her hand over her own face, yanking his tie open and unbuttoning his shirt. He pulled his undershirt over his nose and made his way back to the barrier as his mother tapped the earwig in her ear and told Lillian that she loved her.