Prince Alexander, upset, grabbed the crown and ruby out of Kaylie’s hand.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” the prince insisted.
Kaylie, dumbfounded, stared back at the prince. “I don’t know what I’m talking about? Me? Seriously? You remember what I do for a living, right? I’m an investigative reporter. I make a living going after people who are frauds and try and rip other people off with counterfeit goods, like the Santas in New York I told you about. I know a fake when I see one, and that crown is a fake. You don’t use glue on gemstones like rubies and diamonds. They’re too smooth and polished for glue to work, because glue needs some little rough spots to hold on to, and anyone who felt how much this weighed would know it isn’t real.”
“And that’s why no one is supposed to touch it, outside of Thomas and myself and my mother,” the prince fired back at her. He handed Thomas the crown. “Thomas, please put this away quickly. I don’t want anyone else walking in here and seeing it like this.”
Kaylie’s eyes grew huge. “So, you admit it?! It is a fake?!”
“Please, lower your voice,” the prince demanded. “Do you want everyone to hear you?”
“Do you mean everyone that you’ve been lying to about this crown for who knows how long?” Kaylie asked, getting more upset by the second. “I can’t believe this. You and your family tell me this whole story about how much this Christmas Crown means to the people of Tolvania, and how for centuries it has been part of your Christmas traditions, and how the priceless jewels, the special rubies and diamonds, that were used to make the crown, were to celebrate the belief and power of true love. You even have people believing this crown is magic, and making their own wishes for Christmas love when none of this is true…” Kaylie shook her head in disbelief as she watched Thomas put the crown in the black velvet box and hurry away. She had even started believing in the Christmas Crown, and how love could conquer all.
“I can explain,” the prince said.
Kaylie crossed her arms. “I’m listening. Please tell me the real crown is safely stored somewhere because it’s too valuable to display, so you use a fake one for this event to symbolize the real crown, and that everyone knows this?”
The prince took a deep breath. “No.”
Kaylie’s eyebrows arched. “No, as in the people don’t know you’re using a fake while the other one is stored away?”
“We’re not hiding the real crown,” the prince finally said. “We use this replica because we don’t have the real crown.”
“Then where is it?” Kaylie demanded. “Where is the real Christmas Crown, or is the entire story made up?”
“No, the story is true,” the prince said. He looked over his shoulder again to make sure they were alone and walked closer to her. He lowered his voice until she could barely hear him. “The real Christmas Crown was stolen about a hundred and twenty years ago.”
“What?!” Kaylie exclaimed. “It was stolen?!”
“Shhh, please.” The prince took her arm. “Not so loud. I can’t have anyone overhearing and knowing this. Come with me.” Still holding Kaylie’s arm, the prince started walking.
Twenty minutes later, alone in the drawing room, Kaylie didn’t know what she was more shocked to learn: that the Christmas Crown had been stolen one Christmas Eve during the Christmas Ball and had never been recovered, or that the royal family had hidden this secret from everyone in Tolvania for more than a hundred years.
“How did you ever keep something like this a secret?” Kaylie asked, still trying to wrap her head around the story. “Surely, when police started looking for it, the word got out?”
“And that’s why we never had anyone look for it,” the prince replied.
“What?!” Kaylie asked. “You never looked for it? This priceless family heirloom?”
The prince inhaled a deep breath before continuing. “Our royal family, going back generations, has always only allowed its head of security to move the crown. When it was stolen, there was only one security person who knew about it outside of the family. While it was unimaginably devastating, the family knew what a scandal it would be and how much it would upset the people of Tolvania if they found out the Christmas Crown was gone. The other grave concern was the safety of the royal family. If the word got out that the family’s security had been breached, it would put everyone at risk. So, the family decided it would be safest and best for everyone to never tell anyone what happened.”
“And the security guard never told anyone?” Kaylie asked, sounding skeptical.
“That security guard was Thomas’s great-great-grandfather, and his family has continued to be head of our security all the way up to today, so our secret has stayed safe, until now.”
Kaylie gave the prince a stunned look and laughed. “And now you expect me to keep your secret, too? This is insane, and it’s not right,” Kaylie said with conviction. “You are lying to everyone in Tolvania, to everyone anywhere who knows about the Christmas Crown. I understand a hundred years ago not telling anyone for security concerns, but after the family was safe, why weren’t people told the truth, explaining what you just explained to me?”
The prince shook his head. “That can never be done. People would lose faith in us. If they thought we didn’t tell them the truth about the Christmas Crown, they’d think we were hiding other things from them.”
“Are you hiding more things?” Kaylie asked.
“You don’t understand…” the prince started.
Kaylie shook her head. “No, you’re right, I don’t. I’ve made my living fighting for the truth, and this lie you’re telling seems pretty self-serving to me. I think people deserve to know the truth. They shouldn’t be coming here every Christmas thinking they’re seeing something special. They’re making silly Christmas love wishes when it’s all a big fat lie. It would be like the Mona Lisa not being real, and all the people who have traveled from all over the world to come and see it don’t know. It’s just not right. People need to be told the truth…”
The prince’s eyes darkened. “What are you saying? That you’re going to tell them? I can’t let that happen.”
Kaylie bristled. This wasn’t the first time someone had threatened her when she was about to expose them, and it instantly triggered her reporter instincts to try and protect herself. She glared at the prince. “What are you going to do? Lock me in your dungeon? You said you really had one, or was that just a lie, too?” She was about to say more when the prince’s cell phone started sounding off with a string of texts.
Annoyed, the prince glanced at his phone and Kaylie saw his expression change from shock to fury, and then she heard Christmas carolers coming from his phone that sounded familiar. She stepped closer to see what was upsetting the prince so much and she froze when she saw he was watching the video she’d taken at the tree lighting ceremony of the Christmas carolers and the crowd singing along. Only the video clip he was watching was the one that she’d taken that included the prince, the queen, and the princess, with their backs to the camera, singing along with the carolers, arm in arm.
“No!” she gasped, her heart stopping. She couldn’t breathe. “No! No! No! This can’t be happening. I never meant for anyone to see that video…”
The prince, shocked, turned his anger on her. “You did this?! This is your video? My daughter is in this video, and my mother. What have you done? This has gone viral. It’s everywhere!”
Kaylie, horrified, rushed to try and explain. “No one was supposed to see that video except me. I swear. I didn’t mean to send it. It must have gotten sent with the others by accident…”
“There are others?!” the prince fumed.
“Just some of the village, for my story. That’s all,” Kaylie answered.
“Your story?!” the prince asked, looking like his head was going to explode. “I knew it! I knew you were here to get some undercover story…”
“No, wait,” Kaylie jumped in, trying to explain. “It’s not a story about you or the family, it’s just about Tolvania and the Christmas traditions. That’s it. It’s just a feature on the village. I would never write a story about your family after what you told me…”
“Just like you’d never take a video of us and post it around the world,” the prince said with a scornful laugh that cut to Kaylie’s core. “How do you expect me to believe anything you say? I can’t believe I trusted you when I knew better, and now, I’ve put my family at risk...”
Kaylie fought to find the right words to say to try and make it better. “That video only shows the back of you. No one will know…”
The prince held up his phone that had dozens of texts. “Everyone knows, including all the other media outlets that are running the story.”
Thomas entered, looking as upset as the prince. “You saw the video, Prince Alexander?”
The prince’s jaw clenched. “Yes, Thomas, I did. Please escort Miss Karlyle to her room and have her pack her things immediately. Stay with her. Don’t leave her alone for a moment and get her out of here as fast as you can.”
Kaylie, upset and filled with guilt, touched the prince’s arm. She had to try and make him understand. “I am so sorry. This was an accident. I swear. I can fix this. I can call right now and have them take the video down immediately…”
When the prince jerked away from her touch, she flinched.
“The only thing I want you to do is leave, immediately,” the prince said. “Before I have you arrested and don’t think I won’t do it.”
When the prince locked eyes with her, she saw he was deadly serious. She felt a chill down her spine. “I’m so sorry…” she whispered.
The prince didn’t wait for her to finish before he strode over to Thomas. “Don’t let her out of your sight.” A second later, the prince was gone.
Kaylie’s eyes filled up with tears. “I swear, Thomas, this was an accident…”
“We’d better hurry, before the prince changes his mind,” was all Thomas said.