The Royal Romance - You Can't Uneat The Apple

Lay low

"Lightning strikes again, hope's down the drain

Everyone's to blame but me, it's all some conspiracy

What a hand to play

What a welcome to betray

When I could have had it all for keeps

I threw it all away"

                                Mark Morriss - Lay Low

***

You couldn't have cut the atmosphere in that drawing room with a knife. You'd have needed some sort of medieval weapon, because the atmosphere was stratospherically huge. After about fifteen minutes of this harrowing limbo, in which all manner of awful possibilities as to what his father was up to had flashed through Maxwell's imagination, he was actually considering heading down to the armoury (with Bella in tow, of course, she'd love all the pointy shiny things in there) to locate such a weapon. But then he heard a rush of footsteps in the corridor, and saw the flash of movement through the small window in the door.

Drake shot up and pulled open the door, looking to his left. "Adelaide. She's making an exit."

Madeleine got to her feet and stormed past him at speed, presumably to accost her mother.

"No sign of Dad?" Maxwell asked.

Drake was peering down the corridor to his right. "Looks like he's on his way out too... yep. Now coming."

Maxwell gave Bella a tiny-fist bump. "Stay with Auntie Flower-lady, okay?"

Bella nodded bravely, and he dashed out of the drawing room - straight into his father's path. "Dad... what's going on?"

"I expect you back home this evening," was his ominous reply, as he brushed him to one side. "We will discuss it then."

He stormed on, and towards the palace exit, where Adelaide was already being seen to her car. Maxwell watched, still very nervous about what this meant.

"Haha!" Bella tottered through the drawing room door and held up her arms. "Haha back."

"Yeah," he said, picking her up and spinning her around. "Haha's back...." But as they pivoted around, he caught sight of a third person pacing down the corridor from the direction of the meeting room, at speed and with purpose, and fury in his eyes.

"Dada," Bella said, matter of factly, as Rick approached, coming to a determined stop in front of them.

"Maxwell, hand me my daughter."

"Whoa, Rick, is everything oka..."

"NOW, Maxwell."

Gulp. He did as he was told, and Bella's whimpers of complaint did little to help the awkwardness of this situation. He looked at Rick, helplessly. "Just.. tell me, what did my dad say in there?" Did he... No.. he couldn't have known, surely...

Rick just shook his head, and called into the room. "We will reconvene the Council meeting at once. Where is Countess Madeleine?"

"I'll go and find her," suggested Hana, and she scurried towards the palace doors. Rick, holding tightly onto a nervous looking Bella, headed back to his right and towards the meeting room.

Maxwell looked at Drake nervously, as Kiara stood up and strutted out past them.

Once she was out of earshot, Drake sighed. "I don't know what this is about, Beaumont, but I wouldn't want to be you right now."