FIVE
SO THEY walked Laura through the magnificent palace grounds, across the manicured lawns and past the extravagant fountains, down through the tiered rose gardens, brushing around the edge of the woodland area, following a path that was worn from years of royal tread. The moon was full. The woodland held night birds Kelly had never heard before, their calls eerie and wondrous in the moonlight. Nightingales? Maybe. She’d never heard a nightingale. She remembered feeling romantic all those years ago, wishing she’d hear one.
Romance was for the past. She was a sensible woman who’d learned her lesson.
She walked silently on the left of Laura. Rafael walked on her right, holding his mother’s arm lightly.
He seemed protective, Kelly thought, and wondered why. Was there a reason he needed to protect her? She seemed a totally self-contained lady.
‘So who gets to support Matty at the coronation?’ Laura asked and there was a deathly silence.
‘Coronation?’ Kelly said cautiously.
‘Uh-oh,’ Rafael said.
‘You knew it was coming,’ his mother said. ‘Didn’t you?’
‘Yes, but…’
‘But you intended to be back in Manhattan. Not possible now. Not possible ever. You need to be part of it, Rafael.’
‘Dress uniform,’ he said with loathing.
‘You like your dress sword,’ Kelly said and he shook his head.
‘I look ridiculous in a dress sword.’
‘You look…’ She hesitated.
‘Magnificent is the word you’re looking for,’ Laura said fondly. ‘His papa looked wonderful in dress regalia too.’
‘And it did a lot for Papa,’ Rafael said curtly. ‘I suppose I have to be there.’
‘Of course you do,’ Laura told him. ‘Crater’s been organizing it while you’ve been away. You need to swear all sorts of things—basically whatever Matty would have to swear if he was old enough.’
‘I think Kelly should do it,’ Rafael said and Kelly winced.
‘Hey, not me. I’m not royal material.’
‘Neither of you sound committed,’ Laura said cautiously.
Kelly said solidly, ‘That’s because I’m not.’
‘You know, this country does need a royal presence,’ Laura said. They’d reached the gate into the dower house and paused. The dower house was a miniature castle—exquisite. The garden here was a mass of wild flowers and shrubbery that seemed almost a wilderness. Kelly could smell jasmine and roses and…gardenia? Honeysuckle? The scene in the moonlight was fantastic.
But Laura wasn’t focusing on gardens. She had a wider picture. ‘This country’s been let go,’ Laura said, speaking earnestly to both of them. ‘Neither Kass nor his father cared a toss about the country. Rafael, it nearly killed your father…’
‘It did kill my father,’ he said bitterly.
‘A fall from a horse killed your father.’
‘And then he wasn’t permitted near the old Prince because disability made him nervous. So he couldn’t do a thing.’
‘Rafael’s father tried to manage the economy of the place,’ Laura explained to Kelly. ‘He did what he could to make things easier for the people of Alp de Ciel. Then, when he was injured, his father, the old Prince, simply took all his royal duties from him.’
‘Which pretty much killed him,’ Rafael said. ‘So why you’d think I’d want to pick up the pieces now…’
‘Your father would want you to.’
‘My father’s dead,’ Rafael said. ‘I’m a toy-maker, Mama.’
‘And a good one,’ she said warmly and stood on tiptoe to kiss him. ‘But the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Prince of the blood and toy-maker on the side.’
‘I’m a toy-maker,’ he repeated. ‘I’ll do what I must here, and nothing more.’
‘See, that’s just the problem,’ she said. Instead of opening the garden gate, she hitched herself up to sit on the drystone wall round the garden. She swung her legs against the stone and surveyed Kelly and Rafael with care.
‘This country is a responsibility,’ she said. ‘A huge responsibility. And Matty’s too little to take it on.’
‘No one’s taken it on for the last fifty years,’ Rafael said.
‘Your father tried to. It wasn’t his job but…’
‘You’re right. It wasn’t his job. It isn’t mine.’
‘It is,’ she said forcibly. ‘You’re Prince Regent. The country needs you.’
‘Don’t you start,’ he snapped. ‘Kelly’s already blackmailed me into staying.’
‘Ah, yes,’ Laura said softly. ‘Kelly.’
‘Hey, don’t look at me,’ Kelly said, startled. ‘I’m not even royal.’
‘I’m sorry, my dear, but that’s where you’re wrong,’ Laura said sternly. ‘You were royal from the minute you married Kass. You were even more royal the moment you bore him a son. This is your country.’
‘It’s not my country.’
‘Someone has to take responsibility for it,’ she said sadly. ‘It’s impoverished. Everyone knows that. The industries need a complete overhaul—the farming techniques are antiquated. There’s money in the royal coffers to subsidise improvements, reform, but nothing’s done. So far there’s been little protest by the people. We have an extraordinarily accepting population. But now…’
‘Now what?’ Rafael said ominously and his mother kicked the stone wall some more and looked from Rafael to Kelly and back again.
‘Now there are three countries leading by example,’ she said. ‘Alp de Montez, Alp d’Estella and Alp d’Azuri. Three of the four principalities created all those centuries ago and almost destroyed by generation after generation of royalty who bled them dry with their own greed. Within the last few years each of these three countries have had their governments transformed. Each royal house has finally taken responsibility for their countries. They’re now run as true democracies with an overarching sovereign. Their industries are thriving. Tourists are attracted in droves and the people here are looking at their neighbours and asking why not us?’
‘They can do it,’ Rafael said nervously.
‘No, dear, they can’t,’ his mother said. ‘They being individuals within this country who want change. There’s no avenue for change. The only
