Page 28 of A Valiant Prince

“Yes. I’m not totally sure, but I think it was some coverage of the anti-monarchist movement. That’s why she interviewed my father. She wanted the royal side of things as well. She covered some other things during her years there. Some business stuff, some other political stuff, but that was her big story,” I say.

I watch her as she flips through the photographs and documents. She circles back to a photograph when she’s done.

“What is it?” I ask her.

She frowns and bites her lip. “This man here,” she says, pointing to a young man in a suit with blond hair and piercing blue eyes. “I think that’s Lars Clausen. He’s an old friend of Uncle Hans’s from when Uncle Hans started his company. And the man next to him is Sebastian Bach. He’s another businessman who some claimed was linked to the anti-monarchists years ago, but there were many false accusations back then. It was a bit of a witch hunt. I don’t recognize the others though. And Sten’s not in the photographs. Did your mother interview him?” she asks me.

I shrug. “I honestly don’t know,” I admit.

“Your mom was hanging out with some powerful people,” she says as she turns and goes back to her computer.

“What do you mean? Because of my dad?” I ask.

“And the others. The anti-monarchists were powerful in Montelandia’s parliament back then. There were famous businessmen, politicians, even distant members of the royal family that wanted the monarchy dissolved,” she explains.

“I wonder how my father feels about all of that,” I say. I stop and consider Anna’s thoughts about this for the first time. “Anna?”

She turns back around.

“How do you feel about it?” I ask her.

“I…I’m not sure,” she admits. “I mean, would my country continue on without my family? Yes. But it’s more than that. The royal family is a symbol of my country. We also are a stable unchanging entity in politics. There are things to be said about the modern-day monarchies with elected parliaments and prime ministers. I can see why people want us removed but I also can see the good we do. I don’t know. It’s a strange philosophical question. There are whole courses taught about that sort of thing,” she adds.

“Well, clearly you’ve given this some thought,” I say to her.

She shrugs. “Yes…and no,” she says as she turns back around.

I decide it’s time to learn about my father’s country. While Anna works on god knows what on her laptop, I pull open mine and begin to search about my family, Montelandia, and the anti-monarchist movement.

I’m not sure how much time passes, but the sun begins to shine in the room, and when it reflects off the mirror above a dresser, I put down my laptop.

“Coffee?” I ask Anna.

“Yes, please,” she says without looking away from her screen. I want to say something about that not being good for her eyes but decide now is not the time to lecture her about proper eye care.

I get up and head into the kitchen. I find Lucas sitting at the table.

“Morning,” I say to him as I start to make some coffee. Thankful that we stopped for some necessities on the way here from the airport.

I make us coffee and head back to the room. Anna takes the cup of coffee from me.

“Thank you,” she mutters as she continues looking at the code on her screen. She takes a sip of coffee.

“You know what would go great with this?” she asks without looking up.

“No, what?” I respond.

She finally swivels around from the computer to face me. “Double Stuf Oreos!” she exclaims.

I raise an eyebrow. “You want Double Stuf Oreos with your coffee?” I ask.

“You haven’t tried that before?” she says in mock horror.

“Can’t say I have?” I respond.

“Can we go get some? Do you think they have it at the grocery store?” she asks, clapping her hands like an excited child.

“Uh, yeah, the grocery store most definitely will have those,” I reply with a laugh.

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