Page 61 of A Wise Prince

“Right…lit.” I roll my eyes. My sister and I are only four years apart, but we might as well be a hundred years apart.

My mom walks into the room, interrupting our sisterly chat. “You two should get packed. I think our plane leaves at five thirty tomorrow morning.”

“Ugh! Seriously? That’s like so early!” my sister whines.

“Well, at least it means we’ll have most of the day free. The palace is beautiful. We could go horseback riding?” I suggest.

My sister stops mid-whine and looks at me. “Really? They have horses?”

I grimace remembering my ill-fated ride with Auggie. “Yep,” I say, pressing my lips together to keep from saying more.

“Sweet! I’ll go get packed,” she says as she stands and heads out of the room.

My mother sits down across from me. “Do you know what’s going on?” she asks me.

I shake my head because I don’t really know what’s going on, not completely anyhow.

“Is something wrong?” I ask her, prodding her for information.

“I…don’t know. Dad wouldn’t say,” she admits, folding and unfolding her hands, a nervous habit she never lost even after seven years in the public eye.

“I’m sure it’s nothing, then,” I state. “Dad would tell you if it was something serious.”

She gives me a pointed look. “Would he?”

I know Dad shares many things with Mom, but I’m now left wondering what he doesn’t share.

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

August

“Liza?”I urge her to continue.

She places her shaking hand on the table and looks into my eyes. “I…don’t know everything. I mean, it doesn’t make sense, so I know I must be missing some things. At first, I thought they were just talking about politics and elections. I didn’t really pay much attention. But then…I heard Chris’s name. Something about…letters of patent. But it wasn’t until I kept hearing your name that…well, I started to listen more. Whatever Jared says he is, says he wants…he’s lying. It’s part of a plan to do something else, to…change something else.”

“Liza, I don’t understand.”

She shakes her head and her lip trembles. “Me either. Like I said, I only hear parts. Jared…he’s always going off and coming back. I see him meeting with people with briefcases and then the briefcases are gone. Whatever they are doing, it’s not legal.”

“Who is ‘they’?” I ask.

“The senator and Jared, and I think the senator’s brother and nephew too. There are a few others as well, but I don’t think they are related to them.”

“Others?”

She nods. “They…come to the house and have meetings, but it’s not about the senator’s district. Staff are never allowed in his study when they meet. I only overheard them because the dog got loose, and I was chasing him around the house. He got into the study through a doggie door and the senator called for someone to remove him. I closed the door, but the doggie door was still ajar, and I heard them say something about setting a trap and that they had the funds and that whatever it was they were going to do would eliminate their issues. But I think they were talking about people, not issues like platforms or whatever.”

“Was Jared there?” I ask.

She nods again. “Yes, and his cousin, Bill, and his uncle, Sullivan, and some guy, I think his name is Trent.”

“Are you here because Jared is here?” I ask her.

She nods. “They brought me and one other staff member to handle the household while they were in Europe. This is just a vacation this week. In a few days, we go back to Norddale.”

“Norddale?” I ask, recalling when Jared showed up at our party. “How long are they staying there?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. We’ve been over here for almost a month now.”

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