Chapter 4

Charlotte finished her breakfast at her own pace. She wiped her mouth, sipped half a cup of water, and only then stood to change.

She chose a plain gray gown and pinned a single silver hairpin in her hair. The whole effect was deliberately understated, exactly what one would expect from an overlooked, unfavored daughter.

But her eyes told a different story. There was something behind them that no fifteen-year-old girl should have possessed.

She studied her reflection in the mirror and gave a small, satisfied nod.

Before she left the room, she picked something up from the table and tucked it into her sleeve.

Joanne had been waiting in the great hall for nearly half an hour.

She was in her early forties but looked younger, thanks to careful upkeep. She wore a deep plum velvet gown with pearl buttons down the bodice, and a gold-and-pearl tiara sat perfectly in her coiffed hair.

Every detail, from the diamond brooch at her collar to the silk gloves folded in her lap, declared exactly one thing: she was a woman of considerable standing.

But her expression had soured. Half an hour of waiting, and no one had bothered to bring her so much as a cup of water.

"Where is Princess Charlotte?" she asked the maid beside her. Her tone had already sharpened.

"Her Highness said she would be along once she changed. She asks that my lady wait just a moment longer."

Joanne scoffed and tapped her fingers against the tabletop.

She had come here to settle a score.

Isabelle's letter had spelled it out plainly. Charlotte was looking into the wedding gifts, and she had evidence that the Rivers family had been skimming military funds. If any of that reached Edward, the Rivers family was done for.

She needed Charlotte to hand over that evidence.

And she needed Charlotte to understand that wearing a crown did not put her above her mother.

A few more minutes crawled by before Charlotte finally appeared.

She walked in at an easy, unhurried pace, glanced at Joanne, and dipped into a slight curtsy. "Mother. You came."

Joanne waited for her to kneel. She didn't.

Charlotte straightened, crossed the hall, and sat down in the chair at the head of the table.

Joanne's face went rigid. "Charlotte, you see your mother and you won't even kneel?" Her voice was low, but each word landed like a blade. "It seems being a Princess has made you forget your place."

Charlotte picked up the cup of coffee her maid had just brought in, blew across the surface, and took a sip.

She set the cup down and spoke without hurry. "You jest, Mother. By the Westvale protocol, a Princess Consort has no obligation to curtsy before a noblewoman of a lower rank.

"You hold the title of Duchess, and I hold the title of Princess Consort. If anything, you should be the one curtsying to me."

She paused. "But I greeted you as family, out of respect for our bond as mother and daughter. That should be more than enough."

Joanne's expression darkened. She hadn't expected Charlotte to throw protocol in her face.

Charlotte used to barely string a sentence together. What had gotten into her today?

Joanne drew a deep breath and forced her temper down. "Fine. I won't argue over formalities. I came because there's something I need to ask you."

Charlotte folded her hands in her lap. "Go ahead, Mother."

"Do you have a copy of the wedding gift registry?" Joanne's eyes narrowed. "There are entries on that list that should never have been recorded."

Charlotte didn't deny it. She nodded. "I do."

Joanne extended her hand, and her tone left no room for argument. "Hand it over."

Charlotte looked at that outstretched hand, and a slow smile crossed her face.

In her previous life, this was exactly how it went. Whatever Joanne told her to do, she did, without question, without so much as a whisper of refusal.

By the end, every last wedding gift had been skimmed clean. She'd spent three years in the prince's household without a single decent piece of jewelry to her name.

Charlotte's voice was quiet, but every word carried weight. "Mother, I've already given that registry to Prince Edward."

Joanne's hand froze in midair. "What did you say?"

Charlotte picked up her coffee and took another sip. "He said he'll look into it personally.

"And you've come at just the right time, actually. He should be here soon. Maybe you'd like to explain to him why the items on the registry don't match what was actually delivered."

The color drained from Joanne's face. She shot to her feet, and her voice climbed a full octave.

"Charlotte, have you lost your mind? The Rivers family is your own family! If we fall, what good does that do you?"

Charlotte tilted her head, and her expression was pure innocence. "Good? What kind of good are we talking about, Mother? The kind where you skim my monthly allowance? The kind where you swap the wedding gifts for counterfeits?"

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Or the kind where you use me as a pawn, marry me off to the prince, and throw me away once I've served my purpose?"

With each one she named, another shade of color drained from Joanne's face. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't worry, Mother." Charlotte pulled something from her sleeve, set it on the table, and slid it across.

Joanne looked down, and her eyes widened.

It was a single sheet of paper with one line written across it: [Military procurement ledger for the Rivers family. Original held in the Royal Court of Justice vaults.]

"I've already had a copy of the ledger delivered to the Royal Court of Justice." Charlotte's voice was perfectly even, as if she were commenting on the weather.

"The Lord Chancellor should have it by now. If you leave now, Mother, you might still have time."

Joanne's legs gave out. She dropped back into her chair, her lips trembling, unable to form a single word.

Footsteps echoed from the corridor, and Edward strode in with two guards at his back. His gaze moved from Joanne's ashen face to Charlotte's composed expression, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Duchess, perfect timing." His voice was cold as frost. "I was just about to send for you."

Joanne shot to her feet, but her knees buckled, and she dropped to the floor. "Your Highness, forgive me. I didn't know—"

"Didn't know what?" Edward tossed a stack of papers onto the table.

"These are three years of military procurement records for the Rivers family. I had them audited overnight. Three hundred thousand skimmed from soldiers' wages. Seventeen shipments of substandard goods passed off as quality. Nine batches of outright forgeries."

Each number dropped his voice another degree colder.

He sneered, "Tell me, Joanne. Did your husband, Richard, know about this?"

Joanne knelt on the floor, shaking, unable to speak.

She couldn't answer. If she said yes, the Rivers family was finished. If she said no, she was finished.