Page 82 of A Game of Scandal

Sylla herself was somewhere in the room, already on the hunt for the device. Maud had slipped Laing’s watchdogs and entered the party disguised as a member of staff, thanks to Mrs Finch’s connections.

It had been decided that Max’s presence was too dangerous – it might put Laing on guard or cause him to panic – so he was grinding his teeth in a location nearby, accompanied by Izzy.

At Mrs Finch’s request he had agreed to a slim window of time before the prince and princess would be removed from the palace. They were not to be allowed past the throne room unless the threat had been completely dealt with, so we only had the duration of the presentations to finish our search or the entire place would be evacuated. A couple of hours at best. Tipping Laing off would be awful, but the welfare of everyone else had to come first. Still, it was all a risk – what if moving people out of the palace caused Laing or his associates to detonate the device early? There were no truly safe options, apart from putting an end to this ourselves.

Max had men everywhere, all hunting for the device and ready to disarm it once it was found. Still, given the size of the rooms involved and the number of people within them, I felt my heart sink. It was no small task.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a head full of unique and lovely rose-gold curls. “I think I see a friend of mine,” I said to Mother, who waved me away.

“Darling, go and enjoy yourself. I’ll have a gab with my friends, and enjoy bragging about how graceful your curtsey was.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to leave?” I asked, one last desperate attempt to get her to safety. “It’s so warm and you must be tired after all your hard work. Now the presentation is over, I can hardly be considered unchaperoned in the middle of this crowd.”

Mother laughed. “Tired? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world!”

“Of course,” I said weakly. “I’ll come and find you later.”

With a wide smile, she disappeared into the press of people, and I headed in the direction of Marigold.

“For heaven’s sake, Lockhart,” I heard her say as I approached. “It’s a party in a palace. At least try to look like you’re enjoying yourself.”

“Bloom, if I get blown to pieces in the company of this bunch of stuffed shirts, I’m coming back to haunt you,” was the response from the devastatingly handsome man standing beside her. Marigold’s husband, Oliver Lockhart, was extremely grumpy and extremely beautiful. He seemed to actively dislike everyone apart from his wife, who he clearly adored, much to my brother’s amusement. Oliver and Max had some sort of strange friendship/rivalry that I couldn’t begin to understand.

“If you’re getting blown up, then I think we’ll all be haunting on the spectral plane together,” I said, sidling up to the couple.

“Felicity!” Marigold exclaimed, pulling me into a tight hug.

“Your brother’s not here, is he?” Oliver scowled. Then, when I turned to him, he reared back in alarm. “What the hell is on your head? You look like a swan that’s been the victim of bad taxidermy.”

“Oliver!” Marigold smacked his arm.

“No, he’s not wrong,” I sighed. “I feel as though I’m about to keel over at any moment. At least it’s not as hot as the seventh circle of hell in here. Oh, wait. It absolutely is.”

Marigold smothered a laugh. She looked beautiful, her generous figure clad in a silk gown of silvery blue that flowed like water down her body. Her dipping neckline highlighted the stunning necklace that she wore, a sparkling circlet of the deepest red rubies and delicate green emeralds, fashioned to look like a chain of lush red roses. It was magic, and I suspected further evidence of her husband’s devotion – red roses meant passionate love, after all. Mari had taught me that.

“I know we’re supposed to be on guard in a dangerous situation,” Mari confessed, “but I can’t help getting distracted. Who’d have ever thought I’d be here, in Buckingham Palace? My family asked me to try to smuggle out a napkin so they could have it framed.”

“I’m glad you came,” I said. “I know you didn’t have to, but given that Laing doesn’t seem to have connected you to the investigation…”

Mari’s face went fierce. “We might not be in London now,” she said firmly, “but I’ll always be a Finch. Of course we came.”

“Then we should get to work,” I said. “Sylla, Maud and several of Max’s men have split the rest of the spaces between them. If you search the west side of this room, I’ll take the east. Given the amount of damage they’re hoping to do, Winnie believes the device must be at least the size of a loaf of bread, so there are a limited number of places it could be hidden. We’ve been informed there will be a timer, and that it won’t be set to detonate until after the presentations are finished, and the prince and princess are present.”

“That gives us some time,” Mari said. “Thank goodness those awful presentations are endless. We’ll find it.”

I nodded, then glanced over to where my mother stood with her friends. We would find it, I told myself. Because, after all, we had no choice.

CHAPTER FORTY

I had not got far into my search when a man stepped out in front of me, blocking my path.

“Lady Felicity.” Edward Laing smiled. “How nice to see you. Won’t you dance?” It was clearly not a request.

“You’re here,” I murmured as he pulled me on to the dance floor. I hadn’t been sure whether he would attend or not. On the one hand, it had seemed unlikely he would put himself in harm’s way. On the other, as I was learning, Laing was full of surprises.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, the smile still on his lips. He looked every bit the affable gentleman, not a hair out of place, a perfect fit in his surroundings.

Was it possible we had it wrong? That the palace wasn’t the target at all? As I was twirled round the sweltering room in the arms of a villain, I found my head swimming.