Maud stepped in front of her son, shielding him from Emeline, David, and Marjorie’s ire. She didn’t have to – none of it was focused on him anymore. Jon forced himself to take a breath – this was something he had not foreseen. The kind and sweet Princess Maud – a murderer. What had happened to these people?
‘Sister?’ Emeline said, blinking through tears. ‘What are you . . . Why are you saying this? Are you protecting him?’
Maud matched her twin’s tears with her own. She shook her head. ‘I did it. I put the venom in the whiskey. I was so angry.’ Maud ran through a quick version of what she had told Jon. Her trip to Plymouth. Poppy. The revelation that the King had been responsible for sending Poppy away. ‘I was poisoned myself. Poisoned by this uncontrollable rage at the life torn away from me. Matthew is right – we are in prison. Father played the guards’ game. And right then, I blamed him.
‘I knew something was wrong that day Matthew came back from Balmoral. He was different, distracted. Next time we came here, he was even more so. I resolved to keep a close eye on him. I followed him one day to the pantry, then to the wine cellar. I saw the secret compartment. I saw the venom. It took me a while to piece it together.
‘I saw the opportunity of this Christmas Day in just the way Matthew had described. But I didn’t have time to develop misgivings. Plymouth happened last week. My anger was fresh. I poured the venom into the whiskey, and when I did, I felt something like peace. It wasn’t until later that I realised quite what I’d done.
‘I remember watching my father die and thinking, “I did that. I poisoned him. Now all I have to do is get away with it, and then that’s it.” Such was the setup of the day, by his own design. I didn’t know that we would fixate on the whiskey so easily. I didn’t know that Emeline would suggest Jon investigate matters. But it was alright for the first few hours – my guilt had not claimed me yet. I’m sorry, Jon, but you weren’t exactly much of an opponent, at least at the outset. I started to think that maybe I could get away with it, but then the guilt consumed, followed by the remorse. What had I done? What had I really just done? The anger was so fresh, the desire for revenge. My wanting to cover my tracks became less of a thrill and more a desperate attempt at keeping some kind of family. I had resolved to tell you, Jon – when I told you about Poppy. But then Thomas . . . And now my boys. It’s all too much.’
‘Your boys. The most important thing to you,’ Jon said.
‘I may not have loved Thomas as hard as I loved Poppy. But Thomas gave me my two sons. And I would do anything for them.’
‘You would even confess your sins when one of them is called into question.’
Maud nodded. ‘I did it. I killed my father. I killed the King of England. What came over me? I do not know. But I do know this. Whoever I was when I poisoned the whiskey, that person melted away, she got to leave this place and Maud remained.
‘A scared little girl without a father.
‘I do not desire pity. I desire the exact opposite. This is my confession, and I will tell the police this to the letter when they arrive. I desire them to lock me up and throw away the key.’
Emeline fell to her knees, retching. ‘Oh, dear God in heaven, Maud . . . what did you do?’
Matthew stepped out from behind his mother, regarding her with untrustworthy eyes.
Marjorie gave a husky chuckle. ‘Oh, daughter. My poor sweet thing.’
This was not the reaction anyone expected.
‘Is it not the way when you have twins? One gets the brains, and one gets the looks. I always thought you were the lucky one, but you may have appreciated a brain cell this once.’
‘Mummy?’ Maud said with an alarm that stretched as far as her confusion.
‘Do you honestly think your father would see you upset, or hurt, or heartbroken? He wanted for you whatever you wanted for yourself. He would never hurt you. The irony was that by his inaction, he would have. You would have been tossed to the wolves, child, if your little affair had come to light. So I was the one who took the action that the King did not. I commanded the establishment to send your little plaything away, Eric didn’t even know I’d done it until she was gone, and I ended the discussion by declaring her dead. Poor little Maud, your poison found the wrong cup.’
‘What?’ Maud said. ‘Then Father was . . . ’
Marjorie chuckled again to interrupt but offered nothing further.
David, always the first to get his opinion registered, was evidently still trying to catch up. Once he had, he surged forward, towards Maud. ‘You bitch. My brother!’ He grabbed Maud by the neck and thrust her against the wall.
Maud gave a cry out in pain as David dug his long fingernails into her neck. ‘Ahh . . . ’ David gripped even harder.
‘This is for my brother, you disgusting creature!’
‘Uncle!’ Emeline was on him then, pulling at him, trying everything to make him loosen his grip. David did not relent, with a surprising amount of strength. Matthew could only watch much as Jon did, frozen there in absolute shock. Emeline finally got one of David’s arms to move, but the old man quickly batted her away. Emeline went colliding into the wall – her head giving a heavy thunk – and came to fall on the carpet, groaning.
Marjorie gasped as Maud’s face turned purple. David was killing her, whether he meant to or not. Jon glanced towards Marjorie – she was letting this happen, she had the means to stop it. Jon knew it because he knew her secret. He had read it plain as day in the King’s medical notes.
‘Princess Marjorie, stop this,’ Jon said. ‘Please.’
Marjorie was suddenly completely sober. But she was wrestling with her secret, not wanting to let it go after so long.
‘I am going to watch your life drain from your eyes, just like you watched my brother’s,’ David yelled into Maud’s face, as she struggled for a breath that could not come.
Emeline was groaning on the carpet. Her forehead had a large cut on it, and blood was running down her face.
‘Your Royal Highness! Princess Marjorie,’ Jon yelled, as Maud’s eyes started to flicker like the light of a dying star.
For the first time that day, Marjorie saw him, and saw what was happening with complete clarity. Jon knew he didn’t have to step forward and do it for her then.
Jon had stumbled upon the secret without knowing what he was looking for. The King’s medical files.
‘David, stop it,’ Marjorie said.
‘No, Margey, you will thank me in the end.’ He sounded evil, like a devil had taken him over.
‘Stop it!’
Jon had found her secret in a place he’d never have expected: King Eric’s medical notes, in a part labelled ‘Sexual Health.’
Maud spluttered. Everyone in the room seemed to know that this would be the last splutter.
Who knew King Eric’s sexual health would be such a mystery. But it was.
David did nothing but tighten his grip.
Jon saw Marjorie see that this was her last chance. And that was good. Her secret would come out, finally.
Because the King was barren. He could not have children.
‘They’re your daughters,’ Marjorie shrieked.