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Back at the hotel, the group gathered in Caitlin’s room to discuss what had just happened.
Sebastian couldn’t suppress his frustration as he paced. “You don’t think the King has some twisted interest in Caitlin, do you?”
James frowned. “Come on. The guy’s in a wheelchair. What could he even do to my sister? It has to be about the attack on the Prince.”
“I don’t buy it,” Sebastian said coldly. “That’s just a cover.”
He didn’t like any of this. Even though Caitlin was going by Esme, even though her face had been altered, she still had that figure, that presence–she was hard not to notice. And to someone like the King, who spent all day cooped up in a wheelchair, who knew what kind of dark fantasies brewed behind polite smiles?
Sebastian had been in that same position once–immobile, helpless, angry. He knew how twisted a man could be when robbed of control. That kind of internal damage didn’t just go away.
“If that’s really what’s going on, what do we do?” Tyler asked grimly. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this. It smells like a trap.”
“Athea’s still a country withws,” James insisted. “They’re not going to do something to her in broad daylight. Why don’t we head to the pce and wait outside? If she doesn’te out after <i>a </i>while, we’ll take action.”
“Fine,” Sebastian agreed reluctantly. “We’ll do that for now.”
He was deeply worried about Caitlin’s safety, but James made a good point. At least they’d be close by.
But the convoy transporting Caitlin didn’t head toward the royal pce.
Instead, the vehicle turned down a different road and finally pulled up to the National
Administrative Building.
Caitlin’s eyes narrowed. She looked around through the tinted windows. This wasn’t the pce. She leaned forward and asked, “Excuse me, where are we? I thought we were going to the pce to meet with the King and Queen?”
The guards didn’t respond. Their expressions remained stone–cold.
The car came to a halt. They opened the door and motioned for her to step out.
She had no choice but to follow, entering the government building under silent escort.
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From the opposite side of the square, a man exited the building and caught sight of Caitlin walking with the guards. He froze, narrowing his eyes. That woman looked exactly like the violinist who had performed for the King the other night–Esme.
Why was she being escorted into a government building by royal guards?
Inside, Caitlin was led to a reception room. The guards instructed her to wait and left her alone.
She looked around, reading the text disyed on the wall, and quickly realized where she was. This was the headquarters of Athea’s civil administration–where the nation’s most powerful ministers met and worked.
Athea was a constitutional monarchy. The King held supreme power, but directly beneath him was the Prime Minister, who managed state affairs. Below the PM were the Cab ministers: heads of the departments of Interior, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Justice.
Could it be that the King was meeting with the ministers here today? Was she to be summoned after the meeting?
Having no choice, Caitlin sat and waited patiently.
<b>k </b>
Meanwhile, outside the pce gates, Sebastian and James remained parked in their car at a safe
distance<i>. </i>
Both men watched the main entrance like hawks. A car passed through the gate, but no one emerged.
That car came to a stop at the pce steps, and out stepped Utah, the royal secretary. He entered the building and made his way to the King’s study.
Inside, King Leif VI was reviewing documents.
“Your Majesty,” Utah said with a bow<i>. </i>
The King nced up. “Back already? How’s Magnus?”
“I went to visit the Prince earlier. He’s out of danger. Her Majesty is staying with him at the hospital.”
The King nodded. “Good.”
“On my way back from the hospital, I had to deliver a document to the Administrative Building. And while I was there… I saw the guards escorting Miss Esme.”
Leif VI paused. “They took her to the Administrative Building? Why?”
“I followed at a distance,” Utah said carefully. “She’s currently in a reception room at the Ministry of
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Justice. It appears she was taken there by orders from Minister Maxwell.”
“Maxwell wants to see her?” The King’s expression darkened with confusion. “What for?”
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Could it be because of his own private meeting with Esme? Had word of that reached the Queen, who then told her brother, Maxwell, the current Minister of Justice?
“Does Maxwell think I’ve been inappropriate with the girl? Is that why he summoned her?”
Leif frowned deeply. If that was the case, then he had inadvertently dragged her into trouble.
“Your Majesty, I don’t think that’s the only reason. From what I’ve gathered, Miss Esme was present during the attack on the Prince. She even helped save him. The Queen and the rest of the royal family know about this. The police have it on record.”
Utah hesitated before continuing. “So it’s possible that Minister Maxwell summoned her to ask about the incident. Perhaps he’s suspicious of her motives.”
The King’s gaze turned cold. “Esme saved my son. If anyone should be questioning or rewarding her, it should be the Queen and me. Maxwell has no right to act on his own.”
“Your Majesty, forgive me for saying this, but… what if Her Majesty herself is suspicious of Esme?”
Leif raised an eyebrow. “Suspicious?”
“From the Queen’s point of view, the entire thing seems too convenient. Why was Esme at the scene of the attack? Why was she the only one to help Magnus? The attackers were all killed–no evidence left behind. No one knows who was behind it. To the Queen, it might look like Esme staged the whole thing to gain favor with the royal family–perhaps to get close to the Prince.”
Leif didn’t respond. He wheeled himself slowly away from the desk and headed for the door.
Back at the Administrative Building, Caitlin had been waiting for nearly thirty minutes when the doors finally opened.
The guards stood aside with disciplined precision. A tall man in his early forties entered the room. He was broad–shouldered, dressed in a dark uniform, with sharp features and an imposing presence. Authority seemed to radiate from him.
“Minister, this is Miss Esme,” one of the guards announced.
The man turned and looked at her.
“You’re all dismissed.”
The guards exited silently, closing the door behind them.
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Caitlin rose to her feet and studied the man across the room. Based on the insignia on his uniform —and the titles she’d seen on the wall earlier this man had to be the Minister of Justice.
But why was *he* the one meeting her?
–
She had been told she was going to the pce to speak with the King and Queen about the Prince’s attack.
Why had she been brought here instead?
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