Royal Secrets (31 page)

After waiting a brief moment to allow the photographers the opportunity to take pictures, both princes, Janessa, Alora, and the boys moved away from the press and headed for their cars.

“What do you think?” Garrett whispered to Stefano.

“I think we handled it as well as possible. Now all we can do is wait and see how the press spins the story.” Stefano put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Some prayer might help too.”

* * *

“Who are all those people?” Giancarlo shifted in his seat and pressed his nose to the limousine window.

Alora’s eyes widened when she saw the crowd that had gathered outside the palace gates. She guessed there were more than two hundred people, some with cameras and others simply looking on. “Are they all out there because of Prince Garrett’s announcement?”

“I’m afraid so.” Stefano nodded. “We hope this will all die down within a few days. Otherwise, the opening council session is going to be rather difficult for the family.”

Several guards had already positioned themselves along the drive leading to the palace to keep the crowds back as the limousine slowed and the gates opened. Their car entered, followed by Garrett and Janessa’s limousine and several cars carrying security personnel. When the limousine door opened, Stefano exited first and then reached a hand down to help Alora from the car. The boys scrambled out behind her as photographers pressed their camera lenses through the front gate.

Her hand still caught in Stefano’s, Alora reached out instinctively for Dante’s hand. Stefano reached for Giancarlo, and together they started up the stairs to the palace entrance.

Alora spoke quietly when she asked, “Did you expect the press to show up so quickly?”

Stefano nodded. “I was afraid they would. Let’s get the kids inside, and then we’ll go see what the initial reaction is to the news.”

A guard opened the door for them, and Alora was surprised to see King Eduard descending the stairs as they entered. “Stories are already popping up all over the Internet.”

Stefano sighed. “We expected that.”

“Our press secretary released our official statement a few minutes ago. Your mother has requested that we all dine together in the family dining room this evening. Until then, I suggest we start analyzing this media storm before it gets out of hand.”

Alora noticed the disappointed looks on her children’s faces as they realized Stefano wasn’t going to be able to join them for pizza after all. To her surprise, Stefano nodded down at Giancarlo. “Father, I’m sorry, but I already promised the boys that we would have pizza together tonight.”

Something flashed in King Eduard’s eyes but was quickly gone. He took a step closer and looked down at Giancarlo and Dante. “Stefano, I don’t believe I’ve been introduced to your young friends.”

“Father, this is Giancarlo and Dante DeSanto. Giancarlo and Dante, this is my father, King Eduard.”

Alora swallowed a sigh of relief when both boys bowed to the king.

“So it’s pizza you want for dinner tonight?”

Both boys looked up with wide eyes and nodded.

King Eduard turned to a servant standing nearby. “Anna, please inform the kitchen that we would like pizza on the menu for this evening.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Oh, we wouldn’t want to intrude on your family dinner,” Alora said quickly as Anna curtsied and started down the hall.

“Nonsense.” King Eduard waved away her concerns as Garrett and Janessa walked inside.

“We’re drawing quite a crowd,” Garrett said, a hint of nerves humming through his voice.

“Well, if we have people who wish to see the royal family today, perhaps we should take our afternoon tea out on the front balcony. It will do our citizens good to see that we expect life to continue normally.”

Giancarlo tugged on Alora’s hand and lowered his voice. “Mama, I thought we weren’t supposed to drink tea.”

Before Alora could answer, Janessa leaned down and said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure there will be some lemonade you can drink instead.”

“Oh, okay.” Giancarlo seemed to accept her answer.

Then Alora watched with amazement as her children were ushered up the stairs with the rest of the royal family. Within five minutes, Queen Marta joined them on the wide balcony and a servant wheeled a serving cart out with an assortment of finger sandwiches, scones, and cookies, in addition to tea and lemonade.

As everyone settled around a large wrought-iron table, Alora glanced out at the stunning view of the village below and was struck again with a sudden appreciation of her situation. Here she was in the company of royalty as they looked out over their storybook kingdom. She saw Giancarlo say something to the queen, and then Stefano laid his hand lightly on her shoulder before sitting beside her.

An unexpected sense of belonging rushed through her, along with a sense of anticipation. As she glanced down at the reporters gathered at the palace gates, she prayed that the people of Meridia would accept Garrett’s choice.

Chapter 40

“Have you seen the news?” Caspar demanded.

“Yes,” he said, his voice surprisingly calm. “It appears the royal family has jumped the gun, so to speak.”

“I’m not talking about that. Luigi was arrested.”

A small sigh escaped him. “They must have found something.”

“What are we going to do if he talks?” Caspar asked edgily.

“He’s not going to talk. He wouldn’t dare.”

“Even if he doesn’t expose us, Prince Garrett’s announcement throws everything off.” Caspar paced across the room and shook his head in frustration. “You said yourself that the timing needs to be perfect.”

“His secret was going to come out in a couple days anyway,” he said dismissively. He knew his destiny, and he had no doubt that everything would fall into place in the end.

“How can you be so calm? I have a great deal of money tied up in this venture,” Caspar reminded him. “If I can’t start drilling by year’s end, I will be ruined.”

“Don’t worry, my friend. You help get me into power, and you’ll be richer than you ever dared imagine.” His mind calculated quickly, and he smiled. “In fact, we may be able to use today’s events to our advantage.”

“How?”

“You leave the media problem to me. A few well-placed phone calls will turn it in our favor. For now, I have another job for you before you leave town.”

* * *

Stefano searched through Internet articles on his laptop while Garrett and Janessa did the same on the other side of his father’s worktable. His mother had insisted on going for a walk with Alora and the boys after dinner while the rest of them dealt with the business at hand. From behind his desk, Eduard shook his head. “Well, the news has definitely gone global.”

“I know. There are already thousands of results on the Internet search engines.” Garrett looked up at him. “A lot of them are pretty neutral though.”

“That’s a good thing,” Janessa offered.

“You need to look at this one.” Stefano shifted his laptop so everyone could see it before pressing the button to view a news video clip. In it, Archbishop Leone reacted to the news.

“I understand Prince Garrett has the freedom to change religions, but I am relieved that he will never take the throne. I feel it would be inappropriate for him to rule this country when he doesn’t belong to the church this kingdom was founded on. I would hope that if the day ever did come when he would ascend the throne that he would step aside and let someone else rule who is more connected to our citizens.”

“I suppose it could have been worse,” Janessa sighed.

“Yeah,” Stefano muttered. “He could already know that a Mormon will rule someday.”

His cell phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket and answered it. His jaw tensed as he listened to the police chief’s latest report. He was only on the call for a couple minutes before he said good-bye and looked up at his father.

“That was the police. They received an anonymous tip about an hour ago.”

Garrett’s eyebrows drew together. “About what?”

“Apparently someone noticed something odd at the home of my old classmate Jacques Neuville.” Stefano drew a deep breath. “They just finished searching his house, and they found Belinda Parnelli’s body hidden in a freezer.”

Janessa looked up at him, horrified. “Who’s Belinda Parnelli?”

Stefano’s stomach clutched at the thought that this young woman was dead because of her involvement with his medical treatment. He took a moment to make sure his voice was steady. “She’s a nurse who was kidnapped several weeks ago.”

“Do you have any idea why?”

“She’s the one who ran the tests on me for Merid’s syndrome.”

Silence hung in the room for several long seconds.

Janessa was the first to speak. “You think someone is going to publicize your medical problems?”

Stefano nodded. “Mine and Uncle Elam’s. With everyone buzzing about Garrett being Mormon, the announcement that Uncle Elam and I cannot have children could destroy the monarchy.”

“We’re not going to let that happen,” Eduard insisted. “We already have Luigi in custody. Now it looks like we’ve found his accomplice. We may have silenced everything before they could use the information as they wanted.”

“I still don’t understand what their motivations were and why they didn’t publicize the news as soon as they received it,” Janessa said skeptically.

“I have to think their motivation was profit, but I don’t know why they were sitting on the information,” Stefano said. “Jacques could have stood to gain a lot if we had approved that offshore oil well. If our family was forced from power, it’s possible the ruling council might have overturned that decision.”

“And we already know Luigi was keeping Elam’s secret so he would keep getting paid,” King Eduard added. “My guess is that Luigi found out about Garrett’s baptism somehow, probably through one of those listening devices. Somehow he decided to team up with Jacques, and together they planned to exploit our family and get rich at the same time. Hiring Ambrose in a way that the payments could be traced back to Elam was just one more way to undermine our family’s integrity.”

Garrett shook his head. “It’s hard to believe that people would try to unravel centuries of tradition for money.”

“Hopefully everything is contained now,” Eduard said. “If all goes well, the media frenzy about Garrett’s new religion will die down within a few days, and when we walk into the council chambers on Thursday, we will be able to get back to business as usual.”

“Father, there is one thing I think we may need to change for the upcoming council session,” Stefano said.

“What’s that?”

“In the past, you’ve always had me remain behind at the palace in the event of any kind of tragedy.”

“Yes.” Eduard nodded. “Many countries follow similar protocols to make sure that in the event of a natural disaster or a terrorist attack someone will survive to rule.”

“And it is a good policy,” Stefano agreed. “But in light of my medical situation, I feel Garrett should be the one to remain behind.”

Eduard opened his mouth as if to object and quickly closed it again.

Stefano continued. “Most of our citizens are not aware of these security procedures, and keeping Garrett out of the spotlight this week might help us stay focused on the needs of our country instead of what the newspapers are printing.”

Slowly Eduard nodded. “Garrett, your brother’s right. Stefano will someday rule, but you are the future of the monarchy.”

* * *

Alora knew she was taking advantage of having an in-house babysitter, but tonight she needed to have a little time to herself outside of the confines of her room. Besides, she couldn’t deny that she had been disappointed when she had opened her door tonight to find Brenna standing on the other side instead of Stefano. Since Giancarlo and Dante had already fallen asleep, Alora had decided to take Brenna up on her offer to sit with the boys for a few hours.

Alora started down the hall, not sure if she should explore the palace a bit more or if she should try to find Stefano. She had been a bit disappointed that he had been unable to join her and the boys on their walk after dinner. Alora was astute enough to appreciate that the royal family had deliberately avoided speaking about the possible political ramifications of Garrett’s baptism while her children were present. She also could admit that she had been surprised when the queen had chosen to join them for their Sunday evening walk.

Stefano had remained with the rest of the family to help deal with their current political affairs while Queen Marta had been the perfect hostess, showing them around the grounds and giving the boys the chance to get some fresh air. They had kept to the far side of the palace, away from the palace gates and the prying eyes of the press and public.

When they had reached the yard near the gazebo, Alora’s thoughts had instantly turned to Stefano. So much had happened over the past few days. She had so enjoyed having him sit beside her in church today, but she knew it was an isolated event. Even if this blossoming romance did continue, he wasn’t likely to attend church with her again.

Alora thought of the paparazzi still camped outside the palace gates, and she realized that even if Stefano was willing to go to church with her, such an event would likely feed this current media frenzy.

Tension hung thick within the walls of the palace, but she was touched to see the royal family’s constant dedication to their country and their love of their citizens. Those same qualities were among those she had admired about her husband.

Even though Carlo had spent most of his career undercover, his love for freedom and his overwhelming desire to protect Americans from any perceivable threat had dominated his actions throughout their marriage. Ultimately his choice to dedicate himself to his country had taken him from her. Stefano would never work undercover, nor would he ever try to infiltrate a terrorist group, but Alora recognized that a certain amount of danger accompanied his public role in Meridia. Otherwise he wouldn’t have so many guards assigned to him.

She looked down at the cell phone in her hand and considered. She knew she could call Stefano to find out where he was, but the prospect of interrupting him while he was meeting with his father made her uneasy. She reached the hallway leading to the royal offices and hesitated. Just as she convinced herself that she would be intruding if she went looking for Stefano, she saw him in the hall.