Page 29 of The Phoenix (Spy Girl 6)
The Olympic Ball is in full swing when I return, and the dance floor is quite crowded. I want to shout from the top of my lungs about the general, but I can’t.
I spend about fifteen minutes making my way around the room when I finally spot Daniel and Lizzie tucked into a corner with Peter and Blair.
“Have you seen Lorenzo?” I ask them.
“Not since dessert,” Peter replies. “What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing really. I just needed to talk to him.”
“What about?” Lizzie asks.
“His mother,” I reply. “She was upset when I saw her last. I thought he might want to check on her.”
“That woman has a heart made of iron. I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Lizzie says, rolling her eyes.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I say, realizing that the queen and I aren’t all that different. We’ve both been fighting for Lorenzo and Montrovia in our own ways.
All of a sudden, chaos breaks out as numerous royal guards rush through the ballroom and down the hall toward the queen’s study.
I take a steadying breath.
Moments later, Juan is at my side. He tightly grips my elbow and leads me out of the ballroom and toward Lorenzo’s quarters.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“The queen,” is all he says.
He puts me in the study and then basically stands watch at the door. The moment feels very much like the night I was questioned after I saved Lorenzo for the first time. I’m expecting General Agueda to march into the room, military guards in tow, coming to arrest me for upsetting the queen.
I know I was a little harsh with her. But then I realize that she might have called the general and told him that I knew the truth. That I knew about Arcadia.
I take a deep breath, readying myself for a fight. I glance over at the spot where I know I can access a secret door. One that would take me to the war room, where I could wag the spotted dog’s tail and get the heck out of here.
Ultimately, I decide to stay.
And the longer I wait, the surer I am that he doesn’t know. For, if he did, he would have been here immediately, whisking me away before I could reveal the truth to anyone else.
Forty long minutes later, Lorenzo appears, throwing the double doors to his study open with considerable force.
“You should know that my mother tried to kill herself tonight. Because of something you said to her.”
“She what? Is she okay?”
“Thankfully, yes. I happened to find her before she could do real damage.”
“Real damage?”
“She slit her wrists.”
“Like this?” I ask, flipping my arm over and horizontally sliding my finger across my wrist.
“Yes. Why does that matter?”
“Because, if she really wanted to kill herself, Lorenzo, she would have sliced vertically in order to hit an artery.”
“How can you be so callous about this?” he yells in anger. “All eyes are on my country for the Olympics; everyone keeps telling me something horrible is going to happen here, but no one can tell me what; I’m supposed to pretend to care for a woman I don’t love; and, if that’s not enough stress, the woman I do love chose this moment in time to upset my mother so much that she tried to kill herself. Well, thanks, but I don’t need that kind of help. You’re dismissed.”
“I’m dismissed?” I say with disbelief.
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Well, that’s too bad for you because I now know who is behind the coup. The coup that is going to start during the Olympics. Which happen to start tomorrow. But, whatever, I’ll just be on my way.” I make a move to leave.
Lorenzo grabs my hand, pulling me toward him. “Who?” he demands.
“General Agueda. He and your mother were having an affair. She was pushing for you to marry because he was blackmailing her. She thought, if you had a queen, she could back out of the public eye, and no one would care what he said. She was trying to protect you and the monarchy the best she knew how.”
“The general and my father were good friends. I don’t believe you.”
“Okay, fine. I should also tell you that I recognized the general from a photo in your mother’s office. When my mother had figured out the plot, she’d tried to meet with your father. He was out of town, so she met with someone else and gave him a packet of information. In all the people that I met here, I had never seen that man—until tonight. Your mother told me that he’d put on weight over the last six years. Probably started gaining it about the time Alessandro was killed, don’t you think? And, more than likely, he’s been waiting for his chance this whole time because, when he got drunk, he would tell your mother that he was going to become the leader of the world’s military, specifically mentioning Arcadia. I believe he and Alessandro had a deal. Alessandro takes over the country, and the general controls the military. That’s why, over the past six years, he’s been drinking more heavily and gained so much weight. Because he’s not only already committed treason; he’s also planning to do it again. This freaking week.”
Lorenzo tightly grabs my face and kisses me hard. “I’m sorry. I should never doubt you. I was upset about my mother.”
“I know. I’m sorry your mother felt she had to do that, but I have a feeling it was also for your benefit.”
“She barely scraped her wrists.”
“Yes, she felt desperate and needs help, but maybe arresting the general and taking that pressure off her forever will help her situation. I suggest you unhand me and make a call.”
He removes his hands from my face but lets them slide across my shoulders, down my arms, and to my backside. “My hands adore being on you, but you are right.”
Very quickly, he is on the phone to the admiral, calling him to his study, while I call both Intrepid and Gabriel.
It’s determined that, after his incident with the queen, the general left the castle and went to the apartment that he keeps in the city. And, after confirming that his wife and two daughters are safely at their vacation villa on the eastern coast, we discuss a plan. Lorenzo wants to send in his special forces, but, fortunately, I talk him into letting Intrepid and Gabriel go alone. We don’t know who he can trust in his military right now.
While Lorenzo takes to the war room, I ask Juan to escort me to the queen’s chambers. When we get there, I march past her personal secretary, who seems to be on guard.
“You can’t go in there,” she says, chasing
after me.
“I’d like to speak to the queen alone, please.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible—” she starts to say, but the queen puts her hand up to stop her.
“Leave us, please, Mara.”
After Mara does as told, closing the door behind her, I sit on the bed next to the queen. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. The words I spoke to you were quite harsh. For that, I apologize.”
“How did you know about Arcadia?” she asks, squinting her eyes at me. Maybe truly seeing me for the first time since I arrived in her country.
“The press deemed me the orphan princess, and it’s true. My mother was murdered. In front of me. Ask me why.”
“Why?” she says.
“Because she was a CIA agent who took a couple of weeks off work when her old friend Ares Von Allister asked her to look into why Alessandro had tried to kill King Giovanni. I don’t know if he told you all this when it happened, but the king was trying to make sense of it. He searched Alessandro’s belongings and found a dollar bill for a country called Arcadia with Alessandro’s photo on it as king. Your husband was afraid, so he turned to Ares because he trusted him. Ares then turned to my mother.
“After a few weeks of sleuthing, my mother figured out the conspiracy and who was behind it. She had been instructed to give that information to Giovanni directly, but he was out of town, so she contacted one of the two other men she was told she could trust and ended up meeting the general. She gave him a packet full of the truth. Instead of telling the king, I believe he called the man named in the plot, who then ordered the hit on my mother.”
“Is that why you came to Montrovia?” she asks.
“Yes. I needed to protect your son.”
“And you fell in love with him? Or was that just an act to get close?”
