Protecting The Princess - Nadine Millard Page 0,2

thing.”

Harriet tried her best to keep her tone even, lest her overbearing older brother accuse her of hysteria. Again.

In the two weeks since the failed attempt on her parents’ lives, the palace had been in turmoil. Harriet couldn’t move without a guard trailing her, most social engagements had been cancelled, and now Christopher, who had returned from his trip to Paris, was acting like a dictator, demanding that Harriet be sent away like a recalcitrant child.

“Harriet, we’ve been through this.” Christopher reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, his black eyes serious and devoid of emotion.

Harriet felt a brief pang of guilt that she was adding to Christopher’s rather enormous pile of stress.

As their father had been aging, Christopher had been taking on more and more duties in preparation for ascending the throne. And Harriet knew that the job of heir to the throne of Aldonia was a big enough mound of stress on her brother’s relatively young shoulders.

Now they had an assassination attempt to deal with. And this just after Alex had rocked the kingdom to its core by moving to England to become an earl.

Not to mention the nasty split in the Wesselbach family, which was heating up again since her estranged uncle’s death. Her cousin, the new Duke of Tallenburg, seemed determined to reopen old familial wounds, and Christopher as it turned out, had been trying to smooth things over with their odious cousin when the attack had taken place. That’s why he’d been in Paris. Meeting their cousin on neutral ground, so to speak.

But much as Harriet could sympathise about the enormous strain Christopher was under, she wasn’t about to have her life decided for her.

“Go to England with Alex and Lydia,” Christopher said with practised patience. “And stay there a while. Just until we get to the bottom of whatever is going on here.”

“I’m not a child, Christopher. You can’t just send me off when—”

“For God’s sake, Harriet. Do you not think I have enough to deal with without worrying about your safety, too?”

Harriet glared at her older brother, resenting the regal tilt of Christopher’s chin, the cold anger in his dark eyes.

“I understand that you have a lot going on right now, Christopher. But sending me on a ship to England hardly seems a reasonable solution.”

Christopher sighed wearily, and Harriet’s resentment grew. She hated feeling as though she were an intractable infant.

But she hated even more feeling like an inconvenience that needed to be removed so Christopher could concentrate on the truly important issues.

This was her home. And she was his sister, for goodness sake. Not just a royal.

Ever since the attempted attack and Christopher’s return home, there’d been a team of spies, agents, and soldiers working round the clock to figure out who had wanted her father dead, and if it was just the king or the entire family in danger.

Christopher had always erred on the side of caution in all of his actions, so it was no real surprise that he’d want her gone.

The problem was that he hadn’t asked her if she’d leave before writing to Alex about it.

As soon as she’d found out, she’d written to Lydia, Alex’s wife and Harriet’s friend.

Do NOT let that great big oaf of a man come to collect me as though I were a child, she had written in anger, and do NOT let Christopher bully either of you into thinking that Alex should leave you and the baby.

Harriet had been thrilled when Lydia had written the news that she was expecting.

Originally, she had planned to travel back to Chillington Abbey to visit with Alex and Lydia, and spend time with her new niece or nephew.

Now however, wild horses wouldn’t be able to drag her from Aldonia.

Her mother had always despaired of Harriet’s stubborn streak.

Well, it was out in full force now.

“Let me be very clear.” Christopher’s tone was as rigid as the set of his shoulders. “I will be writing to Alex to tell him to ignore your childish letter to Lydia and to request that he do his duty to this family and come to escort you to England. If he has more sense than you, which wouldn’t be difficult at this particular moment in time, he’ll oblige.”

Harriet gasped aloud at Christopher’s juvenile insult, but her odious brother ignored her.

“Lady Althea has kindly agreed to have you stay at her family’s home. It’s closer to the docks and is therefore better suited to your travel plans. Now, I suggest you