Page 10 of Royally Scr*wed

I shake my head. “I don’t recall any of that. I mean, I knew about the rules that led to me becoming the crown prince. But, she’s also hadyearsto overturn Parliament’s ruling. Since I lived the bachelor life for much longer than anyone would have liked. And, of course, because Bethany and George have both come of age. George, is twenty-one now.”

“Exactly. Which would mean that if something happened to you –Georgewould take the throne. Shehaswent back to Parliament several times to plead her case and they’ve made it clear that there is no changing their minds. Even with your somewhat questionable social behavior in the past, Prime Minister Baron and Parliament still believe you are the best fit for King.”

“So this could actually be a coup, led by the Snowedens.”

“Anything is possible at this point.”

“Ozzy, I can’t see any of them going after grandfather though.”

“And that would bring me to the next suspect. The Snowedens are not the only ones at the top of the list. There is another gentleman who was noticeably missing from today’s earlier affairs,” Ozzy pauses for only a moment as he scrolls through some information on his phone and shows me a picture of…

“Anderson Levi,” we both say at the same time.

This doesn’t surprise me nearly as much as the thought of my own family being behind something so barbaric and downright cruel. Anderson has always had a reputation for being underhanded and dirty which is ironic considering he’s the head of our country’s defense team. Then again – he may realize that should I take the throne – his job would be at risk.

“He was pretty pissed when I turned down Henrietta. I don’t think she would be involved. But Anderson’s anger at not getting his way could explain the target on Charlie’s back.”

Ozzy nods. “I agree with you about Mistress Henrietta, she’s never given any of us a reason to question her motives or loyalty. She did warn us that her father was looking to buy out one of your companies and expressed her unease with his behavior at your birthday party.”

“We should probably touch base with Henrietta too. Maybe keep an eye on her too, for safety.”

“I’ll take care of it. That’s not all as far as Anderson is concerned. Video footage captures an image of a man fitting Anderson’s description entering the palace before your grandfather was attacked,” Ozzy flips his phone around and shows me the video. “Whoever that man was – there’s no visual of him leaving the palace.”

“How the fuck…”

“Honestly? I’d place money that someone on your grandfather’s detail assisted with this.”

“Do you know if anyone has spoken with Wade yet? Christ, I haven’t even checked on him since he came out of surgery,” I hiss and run a hand over my face in frustration.

I can barely keep things under control right now without dropping the ball. And to think, I may have to run a whole damn country.

Ozzy looks at me as if I’ve offended him. “Has anyone spoken to Wade?” he mimics. “I spoke to him myself.”

“And?”

“He’s still a little out of it, which is understandable. It doesn’t appear he was present when the attack took place though. He says the distress alarm tripped and he responded.”

I hold up a hand. “Wait. So, the king was without two of his guards?”

Ozzy shakes his head. “No. Sebastian would have been pres…” he doesn’t even finish his thought.

“Fuck. How did Sebastian get away unscathed? Something isn’t right. Sebastian is the one who claims he found grandfather and called the House Doctor. He told me directly that he was granted the day off and that there were no appointments on my grandfather’s diary. But he also did not have a drop of blood on him. If he attempted to render aid of any kind…”

Ozzy’s face scrunches in confusion. “Unless there was a very last-minute change to the schedule, Sebastian was on guard today. Wade was the one scheduled off.”

“Fuck. I had no fucking idea.”

“Nor would you. This isn’t on you Jude. Hell, even I dropped the ball here and didn’t make the connection until now.”

“Christ, Oscar. You’re merely hours out of surgery. You were shot at. The fact that you remember your name and can form coherent sentences is more than enough.”

“Jude, I took an oath years ago, to protect you and this family. I’m damn sure not about to stop upholding that oath now of all times.”

“Stop. Don’t go getting all weird on me. You’re still human.”

“Human or not – I think Sebastian was involved.”

“I agree. I haven’t heard back about how questioning went.”

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