Royalty Secrecy

A Mystery Letter

Lauren stares at the letter for a moment, stunned. "What?" Lauren asks shocked.

"Compose yourself, Lady Lauren. We're in public," Tori says.

"Oh. Of course," Lauren frowns.

"Are you okay? What does it say?" Dinah asks.

Lauren holds out the letter to Dinah as Tori looks over to read it.

"'Lady Lauren, the Princess will never be yours and you will never be queen. Leave court now'," Dinah reads.

"Sounds like someone wants me out of the way," Lauren's face hardens.

"How dare anyone send a letter like this to a member of our house!" Tori's face hardens.

"It's probably someone plotting against me. I wonder what this person has planned," Lauren says.

"Whatever it is, I don't intend to let them win," Tori says.

"Yeah! No one messes with our Lauren," Dinah's face hardens.

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this," Tori says.

"There is one other thing... Ariana confronted me earlier today. She thought I'd written a threatening note to her," Lauren says.

"Most interesting. You, Ariana, and Lord Niall would be seen as the three favorites still in contention for the crown. If someone's targeting the three most likely suitors to win, then Niall may have also been given a note," Tori says.

"And if he didn't, it might mean he's the one messing with you and Ariana," Dinah says.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. It could simply mean that whoever is behind it wants Niall to win," Tori says.

"Yeah and no one wants that more than Niall himself," Dinah says.

Tori uses a handkerchief to pluck the letter out of Dinah's hand before returning it to her.

"Dinah, put this somewhere secure. If you two haven't already wiped away any traces, we may be able to get a fingerprint off it later," Tori says.

"Got it. Be right back," Dinah says. She dashes off with the letter.

"For now, Lauren, you must continue as though nothing has happened," Tori turns to the green-eyed girl.

"You think that's best?" Lauren asks.

"It could be that distracting you from the ball is exactly what the culprit desires," Tori says.

"So that means?" Lauren frowns.

"You should continue to keep up all appearances of enjoying the festivities. I suspect this is nothing more than a childish prank but I'll investigate it. You stay focused on tonight and the Princess," Tori says. She turns to go.

"Victoria... Wait. Earlier you said 'no one does this to a member of our house'," Lauren says.

"And I stand by that," Tori turns to face Lauren again.

"Well, it's just... After tonight, if the Princess does choose me, I doubt we'll get moments like this again. There's something I always wanted to know. Why did you sponsor me? It seems odd for you to go on a recommendation from Dinah, given how little you seem to trust her," Lauren says.

"Dinah spoke highly of you... And..." Tori trails off.

"The truth, Victoria?" Lauren says.

"Very well. I was desperate. To be honest, I had interviewed several noble ladies and gentlemen about taking on the task. But none were up to my standards. And by the time I realized that we might be left with no suitor at all, it was nearly too late. When Dinah found you, I had no choice but to take the gamble," Tori says.