Page 118 of Scandal Queen

Everyone grieved the young princess.

Even the journalists stood in silence: no questions being called, no desperate hunt for the news that would sell their papers.

I’d lost the sensation in my toes when Oliver caught my fingers and turned me to point at Daisy who stood with Bill by the gates. His Adam’s apple bobbed visibly at the sight of her and he motioned her over. She rushed into his arms and he swept her up, burying his face in her neck as they squeezed one another tight.

He whispered into her ear and then pointed at the crowd. Setting her down on the floor, he took her hand and then he continued to walk along, speaking to more people. Lots of them reached out to touch Daisy’s blonde hair, and I realised they’d probably never got close enough to a royal to touch them before. Had anyone, before Oliver held his Dream Free fundraiser down by the river in Bermondsey, that day when he’d touched my hair.

When rain started to fall, Bill came out with black umbrellas and we huddled under them giving final waves of thanks. Not like movie stars on a red carpet, but more like people who’d just survived a bombing during the Blitz. As we turned, I glanced down at the flowers and letters, the teddy bears that had been laid against the gates. More than I could count. More than I expected many people in the crowd could afford to give. It made my heart grow in size. From the corner of my eye I caught sight of a newspaper cutting someone had put in one of those plastic slip folders.

For one awful moment I thought it would be a cut out of the salacious gossip that had been printed the last few days. Instead, it was a picture of Oliver and Bella cut from an old newspaper, some old royalist must’ve kept it in a scrapbook. Oliver and Bella were both on horses and he held her reins, a fierce look of pride on his face as he guided his baby sister’s pony. In the background of the picture stood Zoe, the exact same woman who had taught Daisy to ride at Greystone months before.

I pulled on his arm and showed him the picture. He took it with shaking hands, staring at the image of two children both innocent to the devilish ways the world would get its hooks into them.

“She loved that pony, wouldn’t let anyone else touch it.”

“No?”

He bent a little and showed Daisy. “Look.”

“It’s Daisy!” My daughter took the picture in her hands while I met Oliver’s gaze.

“Come let’s get back inside. We can come back out again later.” He pulled me in tight, not caring of his public display of affection as he tucked me into his side. “I want to thank all these people for coming.”

“Ollie.” I cupped his cheek in my hand. “You already have.”

We turned back in through the gates and a respectful silence followed us until we were at the steps to the palace, then a deep and steady applause drummed along The Mall.

We watched one another, listening for a moment and then he guided me in.

The royal family had shown their humility, but the price they’d had to pay had been far too high.

Dixon waited for us. On a tray he held a hot chocolate for Daisy and a tumbler full of amber liquid which he gave to me. I shivered uncontrollably and Freya stepped forward and flung a blanket over my shoulders. I nodded with thanks, but I knew not just the cold had me shaking.

“Your Highness.” Dixon coughed. “The King would like to see you in the State Room.”

Oliver’s eyes darted to Freya, but she shrugged. “He hasn’t spoken to anyone.”

For a moment he closed his eyes, then he blinked them open and straightened his shoulders. He turned for the hallway leading to the formal apartments and I watched him go. A heavy sensation rocking deep in my stomach.

Twenty-Eight

Change can come slowly, the steady build of a swollen sea that will push and push until it rises over rocks and walls and drags away houses in its wake.

Or it can come fast, a typhoon created in a flash but with destruction that takes a long time to repair.

Change felt like it came like that to the royals. People thought that the typhoon came in the shape of me and I was the one who swept it all up. But the truth is that the change had already been in place.

It started the day Oliver Beaufort snuck into the offices of Bright Futures because he wanted to help people. Maybe I gave it some charge later that day in Janine’s office when I kept it real and told him how the world truly was.

Maybe the two things worked in tandem together.

Him and me. Him, me, and Daisy. The three of us. We’d created something the world had never seen.

“How do you feel?” I asked, reaching over to squeeze his hand.

“Like I’m having an out of body experience.”

Marcus cleared his throat and looked pointedly in the direction of the far wall. Oliver rolled his eyes, which in the circumstances hinged on ridiculous, but we all focused on the flat screen television.