Rae
Rae leaned back in her chair as the descending sun reflected off the snow and watched the three other women, the princesses. They all sat straight, not touching their spines to the backs of their chairs, wrists and ankles crossed.
The four of them had drawn up dining room chairs to sit knees-to-knees, and Josephine held her cell phone in her palm in the center of the group and looked at Rae with her huge, pale green eyes. She spoke aloud across the phone in English, for Rae’s sake, “Hello? Your Serene Highness?”
Rae almost rolled her eyes, but her father-in-law was the type to insist on that.
Prig.
No, that was too unkind. This was Wulf’s father.
A masculine voice that sounded eerily like Wulf, but hoarser, came out of the speaker, “Ja? Grand Duchess Josephine?”
“Um, yes, sir. I wanted to tell you that you were correct. I approached Wulfram on the ski slope this morning, and he said that he was breaking it off with the other woman, that he had already broken it off and was interested in forming a new attachment.”
“Splendid,” he said in Wulf’s voice again. “I knew that he would tire of the commoner.”
Josephine winced and bit her lip, but Rae waved her off. She hadn’t expected anything else. Indeed, she was counting on him underestimating her.
Josephine said, “And he said that he is thinking of marrying someone of his own status very soon. He asked me to have hot chocolate with him to discuss it.”
“Good,” Phillipp said. “I am pleased he is being logical about this. Marriages should be for logical, dynastic reasons, not personal ones.”
“Indeed, I’ve always thought that, sir.” Her green eyes laughed with Rae, who had sucked her lips into her mouth to keep herself from giggling.
She was enjoying this far too much and would probably be ashamed of herself when she got around to it.
Someday.
Josephine continued, “And so I had chocolate with him, and he asked me to marry him, and soon! In a few weeks!”
“Splendid!” he said. “I am glad to welcome you into our family as a properly bred daughter of the House.”
“We’re having supper tonight to finalize the details.”
“Perfect.”
“Thank you for alerting me to his situation.”
“The pleasure was all mine, Josephine.”
Josephine tapped the phone and asked Rae, “How long should we wait?”
“Just a few minutes,” Rae said, reaching behind herself to the room service cart for another donut. “Hot chocolate sounds good. Should we call room service for a pot?”
“Yes, please,” Josephine said.
They each had a cup of the creamy hot chocolate from the kitchens, and Rae leaned back, twiddling her fingers on her softening belly. The three of them had probably all been at Le Rosey, the Swiss boarding school where Wulf had developed such a taste for his twice-daily hot cocoa. She sipped her cup, the rich chocolate gliding over her tongue. The dark scent reminded her of kisses stolen in his office at home.
Rae cleared her throat. “Marie-Therese, your turn.”
Marie-Therese pushed her black curls behind her shoulder as she took her cell phone from her purse and dialed. “Monsieur von Hannover? This is Marie-Therese Grimaldi, and I wanted to let you know that I have spoken with Wulfram.”
“Yes?” Phillipp asked. His tone was positively chipper, which should have pissed Rae off because she knew exactly why he was so damn chortley.
Rae smiled. Here came the second punch of the jab-jab-uppercut.
Marie-Therese continued, “He said that he had broken it off with the other girl—”
“Yes, yes.” He sounded impatient with the rehash, but Marie-Therese should have no idea that he had already heard this story.
“—because she didn’t understand him, and he was very interested in renewing our relationship.”
“He did?” All the chortle had gone out of Wulf’s father’s voice, and confusion took its place.
“Yes, he said that he had had a revelation.”
“Yes, about the commoner.” His dismissive tone amused Rae because he really should be paying much closer attention.
“No, about God,” Marie-Therese said.
“God.” Phillipp’s voice had gone flat.
Across the phone, Marie-Therese’s black eyes flashed with laughter at Rae. “Yes, and he said that if I were open-minded, we could discuss a very important matter at supper tonight.”
Josephine clapped her hand over her mouth when Marie-Therese said supper, and her thin shoulders shook with giggles.
“Supper? Are you sure that he said supper?” Phillipp asked.
“Oh, yes. He said he had reserved a table for four at a private room in the restaurant.”
“For four?”
“Oh, yes, sir. I have to go. I’ll call you tonight and tell you how it went.”
“Wait! Are you sure he said four?”
Marie-Therese hung up on him.
The giggles that Rae had been holding down bubbled up in her throat, and she laughed. Laughing was so much better than screaming and crying.
With a little luck, if word of this got out, Rae might never have to fend off another interloper. Wulf thought that upper-crust social intrigues were oh-so devious, but this was nothing compared to the machinations of a small town cut off by culture and distance from most forms of entertainment.
Kira smiled at Rae, a small, regal smile of reserved amusement. “When shall I call?”
Rae checked her own phone for the time. Wulf would be home soon, and she wanted to clear these women out before he came back. No use explaining this to him. Wulf had enough emotional baggage, and Rae didn’t need him to fight her battles for her, not when she had an army of princesses to do just that. “Let’s give it a minute.”
Marie-Therese’s phone rang with a German number, so she let it go to voice mail while the four of them giggled at what must be happening inside Schloss Marienburg. Rae only hoped the castle’s servants weren’t bearing the brunt of it.
Rae’s phone clicked over to the next minute, and her predatory smile widened. “Kira, your turn.”
An evil light flashed in Kira’s pale blue eyes.
She might actually be enjoying this, and a joyous energy filled Rae that she had been even a small part of Kira’s rebellion.
Kira said into the phone, “Herr von Hannover? ’Tis I, Kira Augusta. I have happy news for you.”