Page 41 of Dewpoint
“Sheis,” Benson and several of the guards growled.
Glad they were on the same page with me.
Benson received the confirmation we were waiting for and I let out a slow breath before heading outside where the press was waiting.
“Thank you for gathering so quickly and in this heat, so I will make my remarks brief,” I said calmly. “I will not be taking questions as the situation is ongoing and I won’t risk the investigations as is procedure and you’re used to.” I gave them a moment with that. “The moment I learned of my parents’ deaths, I had many questions.
“One of the main ones was about the plane itself and if it could have been an assassination attempt, especially as an elder’s aide treated me like a whiny princess for not wanting to immediately get on a plane. It seemedprudentto get more information instead of blindly doing anything in such a situation. After it was confirmed weather was a factor, I indeed flew home.
“More has been revealed about what happened after, and no matter your feelings about how I did it or if I should have—know I always do what I feel is best for Thovudin as I am now. And this is not about my being right to question the elders. At the time it seemed…” I paused trying to think of the correct word and not sound petty.
There really was only one word.
“Given. It seemedgiventhat there would be in-depth investigations into my parents’ deaths and the poor pilots who flew the plane that day. Of course there would be. And yet I was shut down immediately. I thought it was so there was no delay in my coronation, but that wasn’t the case, and my rightful position was manipulated for power.
“I couldn’t think why then? To make me look bad that I didn’t care enough about my own parents? It seemed that might be the answer because it’s exactly what most of you reported.” I glanced at a few in particular. “Hopefully, youlearnfrom this because of course I investigated. Of course I did no matter what the elders who tried to force me to mate said.
“The men who made it clear they would puppet me and take my power as queen for their own. The sad part is that I had to turn to two leaders in other countries for help and I will be eternally grateful to them because their investigations uncovered…” I glanced at Benson. “What did the one elder say? My parents forced the pilots to fly through dangerous weather because I threw a fit?”
“Something along those lines and completely untrue,” he chuffed.
I nodded and focused back on the media. “The pilots were well trained—the best. They did nothing wrong and gave my parents the option as they should have. Others in the royal family and otherpilotshave confirmed given what was known they would have continued flying as well.
“Accidents are called accidents for a reason. Tragedies the same.However, neglect is different. It was uncovered by examining the remaining engine that there was severe neglect to the plane. Completely outdated—”
“Who are your supposed sources to declare this?” one of the reporters demanded.
“Are you mad?” I asked him. “In what world would you ever have interrupted my father and not even addressed him properly?”
“You’re not your father,Your Majesty,” he drawled.
“You never spoke to Queen Amelia that way either,” Benson snapped. “And you make money running these false stories saying you have an insider in the castle and have first-hand information that the queen will beregentfor her firstborn male.”
I slowly looked at him and blinked. “That’s against our laws. When was this reported?”
“We really need to get your media person going,” someone grumbled from behind me.
I couldn’t agree more. “Well, glad I’m supposedly an outsider and know our actual laws unlike aseasonednews reporter.” It was hard to keep the sarcasm out of my tone, but I waved for our people to handle the guy.
And I was disgusted when people were shocked. It was against thelawto behave with blatant disrespect and not act appropriately toward the ruler of Thovudin. Did I think that was a bit outdated?
Probably.
But it was the fucking law.
“It is the law,” I reminded them. “And I follow the laws. They will be followed under my rule no matter what people say, and I will get to that.” I gestured over my shoulder as if hinting what was coming next. “I am not a pilot nor engineer, so I cannot give specifics, nor do I fully understand everything I read, but it was summarized well for me.
“The ground crew didn’t maintain the royal family’s planes, the castle runways, and more as they should have. The plane should have been able to withstand the lightning hit, but instead it caused a catastrophic explosion that killed everyone on board.” I swallowed loudly when people gasped and a few lowered cameras or couldn’t control their shock.
It took a few moments for most to seem to recover and it was enough time for me to gather myself and say what came next.
“The people in charge are the family of three elders. That was why any investigations I wanted were shut down. And if they could make me look bad in the process, even better. But all of the elders knew about the nepotism. Whether they knew about the financial crimes that were also involved since the funds weren’t used to maintain the planes—that remains to be seen.
“Given what was learned, there will obviously be deeper investigations and everyone who works in any capacity with the planes or landing strip at the castle has been taken into custody.Along with those three elders and their families. Currently, it is being categorized as neglect and the goal was embezzlement, but I am not ruling out this was possibly intentional.”
I ignored when people gasped or looked like they were going to explode with questions.
“We will learn more in time. Right now, we cannot know either way, and we will investigate as our laws allow.” I gestured behind me. “I stand here today because when I gave the order for the elders and their families to be arrested, I was informed the chief of police would handle it sometime after he picked up his dry cleaning.
