Page 114 of Scandal Queen

The King didn’t even flinch but I sensed Ollie slump next to me.

“Are we all going to ignore that too? We’ve all seen the toxicology report. It had nothing to do with what Bella had taken; it was how much.”

Silence, again.

“Maybe we should all start thinking about the fact Bella’s last week of her life was spent listening to us all argue, dragging our shit through the dirt like any old riff raff. Oh my god, she actually didn’t want to exist in a world where we carried on with the same shit we’ve put up with our entire lives.”

“John, that’s enough.” Ollie’s voice rang with control.

“Oh please, brother, don’t you dare tell me you are happy for us to sit here, closed up like this. You’re the one who started this; you’re the one who told us we should be different.”

“I made a mistake.”

John leapt from his chair, his finger stabbing in Ollie’s direction. “I knew you wouldn’t see it through.” He turned wild eyes for me. “I told you, Leia. I told you. He will always choose the family way.”

I cringed and I wanted to say otherwise but I couldn’t. Since we’d left Fenmore, Ollie had morphed into the man I’d first met. His face bore a calm mask, his emotions tightly under control.

The man who’d driven to find me in the night, to tell me he no longer wanted to live like this, well, I’d lost him in the corridor of St Mary’s hospital.

John stormed from the room and the Queen sniffed.

“Margi, let’s get some sleep.” The King stood from staring at the closed curtains and came to the sofa where we sat. She patted my hand and stood, shaky on her legs. She turned to me as she gripped his hand.

“This is like a terrible nightmare, Leia.”

I nodded but what could I say. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

Once they’d left, we lapsed back into that deathly silence. Eventually I got up and peeped out of the curtains. It was dark and grim, heavy rain clouds hung over London. I peered a little closer, my breath catching in my throat. Through the gates I could see a flicker of a light, and then another.

“Ollie.” I waved my hand for him and for a brief moment his stiff mask slipped as his tortured gaze swept over me. “Come and look.”

He stepped to my side and I held in my breath as he brushed against me. I wanted to hold him, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to be held right now.

“It’s the people. Look, they’ve come to the palace.”

Beyond the gates, lit by the street lamps and the candles they were holding, members of the public huddled together against the biting wind.

His fingers sought mine. “My sister is dead, Leia.”

I nodded and swallowed around the lump in my throat. “Their princess is dead too.”

More candles illuminated the sky. The glow of faces, too far away to see their expressions.

“Ollie. You have to get the truth out. Even if it’s the last thing you do. Don’t let her death be in vain. Be honest in your grief.”

“The way you were honest with me when you didn’t tell me your mother died of a heroin overdose?”

The air gushed out of my lungs. “What would have been the point? You knew anyway, when I told the doctor at the hospital with Daisy, I could see it in your eyes. You didn’t look even slightly surprised.”

Anger mingled with my grief, creating an overwhelming volcano that wanted to explode.

“Of course I knew.”

“But you loved me anyway.”

His face dropped. “I’m sorry. Yes, I loved you anyway. I can’t not love you.”

“Let the people love you then, Ollie. Get the truth out there, show them the humanity of the crown, and they will. And do you know what?” I held in a cry. “Maybe by doing that you’ll achieve more than you’ll ever have done by taking on Bright Futures that day. Maybe this time you will actually get to save a life. Some girl, somewhere, might think of Bella when she goes to take a pill, and maybe just maybe she’ll throw it away instead of taking it.”