Page 111 of The Heir Apparent
She nodded as she scraped the cupcake liner and the melted candle into the bin. Mary was one of those people who seemed a different creature outside her professional environment. She was softer in her own domain. “Our mum left when we were kids and our dad’s in care. Alzheimer’s. Early onset.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.” She picked up the folder I had brought with me from the van. “So, this is all of Chino’s stuff?”
“Yes,” I said. “Louis brought him over from Bulgaria last year, so his vaccinations were already up to date. I’ve done the paperwork, so you just need to take him to that address in a few days, and they’ll fly him to Australia. I’ll be there to collect him when his quarantine is done.”
She nodded.
“He might be a bit of a terror,” I said, looking around at their slight home.
She smiled again. “Chino was actually a gift from Prince Frederick to Prince Louis. Your brother was always talking about how much he loved your dog in Australia, so your father decided to get him a pointer for his birthday. I helped pick him out from the breeder’s website and I went to fetch him when he landed at Heathrow. It’ll be nice to spend time with him again.”
The rooster clock crowed to herald the new hour. Mary and I smiled awkwardly at each other.
“Did we ever meet at Astley, Mary?” I asked.
She wiped down the counters with a sponge. “A few times. The Dowager Duchess of Somerset would occasionally let me into your suite while she was getting ready for dances. I’d help pick her shoes. You were pretty quiet.”
“I’m sorry I don’t remember,” I said. “I was a bit of a zombie then.”
She shrugged. “You won three prizes that year. Chemistry, biology and maths—the most of any upperclassman. And at the ceremony, I came onto the stage and gave you three bunches of flowers from the student body.”
The blue delphiniums, the gerbera daisies and the white lilies wrapped in squeaky cellophane. Two small arms struggling around the arrangements. A swell of applause. Papa was in the audience, although he left before the ceremony was over.
“Of course,” I said. “I remember you.”
Her smile quickly faded. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention it sooner. The Queen asked me not to. And I was worried you’d think I was some kind of stalker. But it’s not like that. I just always looked up to you. The royal family used to give me so much hope when I was a kid. And that’s how it should be. The institution just needs to address its past so it can move forward. I thought leaving the way you did was amazing. It was the shock they needed. So when you came back, I jumped at the chance to work for you.”
I shook my head. “I’m just sorry I’ve made it impossible for you to keep working at the palace.”
She tossed the sponge into the sink and leaned against the counter. “It’s fine. You’re right. I’m too smart for all that.”
“Yes, you are.”
Her eyes flicked towards the rooster clock. “We should get going. Your flight leaves in a few hours.”
“Oh, wait,” I said and pulled the envelope from the pocket of my hoodie. I handed it to her. “This is for you.”
She used two fingers to spread open the envelope, looked at the cheque inside and then snapped it shut. “Your Highness, no.”
“Firstly,” I said gently, “it’s Lexi. And secondly, yes. Buy a house. Turn Williams Carpet Cleaning into a franchise. Use it to get your father into a nicer place. Personally, I think you should start your own crisis communications firm or something. But it’s your money to do with as you please.”
Her eyes brimmed and she shook her head until she finally stopped and clutched the envelope to her chest. She smiled through her tears. “I’ll need my first client.”
“Well, I’m about to blow up my life and turn everyone against me, so I’m in desperate need of help.”
We embraced in the dim light of her mother’s kitchen. Then we went out into the street with Chino and hopped into the van. I held the solid weight of him in my lap as we cruised towards Heathrow, wondering if I would ever return to the seat of my family’s power. Three centuries ago, my ancestor Barbara Villiers had transformed herself from impoverished noblewoman to concubine to de facto monarch. Her line had looped and whirled through decades of war and advancement, through pandemics and famines, through weak monarchs and towering ones. As London rippled outwards and its buildings grew taller, the crown had been slowly, slowly inching towards me. I did not expect it; I did not desire it. And when it spun into view and hovered above my hands, I found that I couldn’t do what needed to be done for it to be mine.
My name could have been Alexandrina, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Queen, Defender of the Faith. I could have worn gold and had my face etched into coins and believed myself to be divine. But it would have been a lie. What made me special was that I was Isla and Frederick’s daughter and Louis’s twin.
It was time for me to become Lexi Villiers.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
29 December 2023
I had always liked the anonymity of airports, all that humanity packed in together, the terminals humming with stress and possibility. As long as I didn’t hold up the security line, no one ever gave me a second look. So I walked through Hong Kong International Airport in a hoodie that was as good as an invisibility cloak, feeling lonely and displaced, but perhaps finally free.
