A Royal Kiss and Tell

An intimate supper party at the home of a newly appointed lord erupted into chaos when a maid new to the household was discovered to have run away in the middle of the evening. The party was quickly disbanded. In the following days our intrepid hostess and family departed for the country for the rest of the summer and has not been heard from since.

Ladies, for the bit of dust in corners that does not come away with a good feather duster, balling up a slice of brown bread and dabbing in the corner will do the trick.

—Honeycutt’s Gazette of Fashion and

Domesticity for Ladies

AMBASSADOR REDBANE CALLED on Leo in the common room of the Clarendon Hotel quite unexpectedly the morning of the Farrington supper. He seemed agitated, as if he’d been chased by a pack of wolves.

“Good morning, Redbane,” Leo said, looking up at him from the morning papers. “Is everything all right?”

“Your Highness,” Redbane said, clutching his hat. “It is imperative you leave for Alucia on tomorrow’s outgoing tide. The royal ship stands at the ready.”

Leo froze for a moment. “Tomorrow? Why?”

Redbane removed a letter from his pocket. “The British foreign secretary has requested it. They have some outrageous idea that you may be plotting with the Weslorians against the king, or involved in something even more nefarious. They have come to me, asking that the king remove you from England at once.”

“I beg your pardon?” Leo tossed the paper aside and stood up. Redbane handed him the letter.

Leo quickly scanned the contents. It was a formal request to be presented to his father that he be removed at once for reasons of “poor conduct.”

“Poor conduct?” Leo asked.

“It is a more palatable excuse for their accusations that you are plotting against your father. They want no trouble, Your Highness. They can’t have any sort of plot being hatched here.”

“I am not plotting against my father,” Leo said. “And if anyone suspects that is so, they need only follow me back to Alucia, where I will reveal the truth about my activities here,” Leo said curtly. He rubbed his eyes. “Has a dispatch been sent to my father?”

Redbane nodded.

Well, this certainly put a damper on things. Leo suspected his father would give no credence to the talk of treason, but he knew he’d give quite a lot of credence to the charge of poor conduct.

“It is in the best interest of Alucia,” Redbane added.

“Fine, I understand I must go. But on Monday.”

“But Your Highness—”

“There is nothing that will sway me, Redbane. There is one last thing I must attend to before I go.”

Redbane pressed his lips together.

“Is there anything else?” Leo asked.

“No, Your Highness.”

“Then you may go,” he said irritably, gesturing the ambassador away.

He was made distraught with this news. He still didn’t know where one of the women was, and he didn’t know what would happen this evening. But it was the thought of losing Caroline that made him feel so ill. He’d known this moment would come, that he’d have to say goodbye, but he’d fought to keep himself from dwelling on it. He had to face it. She’d come to mean so much to him. She’d come to mean everything to him. She was the light his soul needed. How could he leave? He didn’t know how he could go on, knowing that he wouldn’t see her for a very long time, and when he did, it would be in Alucia and he’d likely be married. If not to Eulalie, then to someone else.

His mood soured over the rest of the day as he tried to think his way clear of this dilemma. He dressed for the night, but he had that odd feeling again of not fitting right in his own skin. As if this new person he’d become didn’t fit his body. As if loving a woman was something he wasn’t built to do. He burned for her. He did. He even lifted his shirt, half expecting to see a mortal wound there.

What had he done? Had he taken the virtue of a woman he truly loved only to leave her? At the time, it had seemed imperative, the only thing that was right between them. Today, with this banishment hanging over his head, it seemed entirely wrong and selfish.

He glanced at Freddar, older than him by twenty years. “What do you say, Freddar, are you ready to return to Alucia?”

“Je, Your Highness. I miss my family, I do.”

Leo didn’t miss his family. He would miss Caroline more. So much more.