By Royal Decree

Chapter 10

Sunday morning was a day for all of them to attend church. But after services they would be free for the rest of the day. The king had no public appearances. Nanny and Charlotte had slept in Daphne's room to make sure when she was sleeping the poison did not reverse course and she was safe. Daphne woke with a large headache she was convinced she had a bagpipe band playing in her head. Opening her eyes was painful and if Nanny and her mother were not standing over her telling her they knew she was awake she would have turned over and went back to sleep.

"My dear daughter you cannot hide we are expected to sit with the king in the royal pew today at church. We have a duty to perform and we will do it with honor and integrity."

"I was almost killed last night do I not get a pass for that?"

It was nanny who answered.

"You are made of much stronger stuff than hiding in your room. If you do not go then we cannot find out who hurt, you."

Daphne sat up and was sorry as soon as she did the pipes suddenly got louder.

"Are you suggesting I should be a sitting duck?"

Charlotte reached over and took a lock of Daphne's hair and removed it from her face. In all her years she had served the crown she never once thought she would have to put her daughter in harm's way. Charlotte wanted to tell her she did not need her to put her in danger but that was not the case. She needed Daphne to interact with the women, so they could determine who was trying to hurt her and why.

"There is something I need for you to understand."

Daphne nodded her acceptance she would do what she could to understand what her mother was going to tell her. She waited.

"When I was much younger, younger than you are now I fell in love with the prince who now is the king. We were forbidden to marry, and to mend my broken heart I became an agent for the crown. I took on a persona of a very dumb woman, and I have kept that persona for all these years. Only the now king, your father, my brother Charles, Justin, and the Marquis of Wigan's knew of my brilliance. I was able to decode messages being sent from France and America and I made sure the mother country was safe. Now I need you to be strong for me and help us protect the crown. I need you to be the bait I swear we will protect you. We have a lot of agents who will protect you Jamie and your cousin Victor being two of them. Nanny and I will also protect you. All you must do is make yourself accessible to the girls and we will find out who is trying to hurt you along with who is working for France and a traitor to our country. Can you do that for me?"

Daphne sat there in shock, she had never heard her mother talk with such intelligence in her entire life. Where had this woman been all of Daphne's life? She would trust this Charlotte with her brilliance and cunning since she trusted the dim witted one she had known and loved all her life.

"What do you need of me?"

"I need you to just be yourself but with the girls. I will have the king order Mr. McDermet to have a practice for your dances so the four of you do not grow rusty. For the rest of the day I want you to be in the company of the girls to see if they strike and we can stop this nonsense."

Daphne was still in awe of her mother and she could not help a million questions flying through her head. The least important of them she blurted out to her mother.

"Did you have a code name?"

Charlotte laughed of all the questions she could have asked her this was the easiest to answer without divulging secrets she had kept all these years.

"I did it was quite silly I was called the Crimson

Cipher. Now get ready for church and we will start our day praising the lord and thanking him you are still alive."

Charlotte left to get dressed for Church and Nanny helped Daphne get ready. When Jamie arrived to accompany Daphne to church he was surprised to see her so chipper she had a huge smile for him which warmed his heart.

"Did you sleep well Luv?"

"I did thank you."

They met the others at the carriages today Daphne and Jamie would be riding with Lilly Olivia, Emily and their mothers. Today was all about trying to get someone to attack Daphne. Daphne was sure if someone were out to kill her they would be suspicious about them being placed with Daphne but no one else saw this as a problem. During the carriage ride the girls flirted with Jamie and he smiled and played along as if no one had tried to kill his lady. He had been sent word by the king of what the plan would be and how they would be protecting Daphne.

After Church they were all invited to have lunch with the king. When Daphne looked around the room she could see it was heavily guarded she would never be able to tell if they were there because of her or the king. No one would make any kind of move with so many guards they not only had one at each entrance, but there was a guard every 30 feet from each other. It was at lunch the king made his announcement the girls would be spending the day rehearsing for their dancing performance in less than a week.

At dinner that night they all once again dined with the king. Emily was very happy about this development since her outburst about Daphne and her mother the very first night she had not been invited back. After dinner they were all invited to entertain the king. Charlotte was surprised the king picked on her after all she was not one of the young maidens. To her surprise he had a harp brought into the room for her to play. He seemed to remember he used to spend hours listening to her play. Charlotte decided to play Fantasia on Themes from 'Oberon' the one she remembered the king used to love listening too. Daphne was enjoying her mother's performance she had not heard her play since she was a child. To her dismay the king called on her next, she had only one musical talent and it was the flute, so she played for everyone glad when she was finished, and it was someone else's turn.