The Royal Romance - The Valtoria Diaries

Following protocol

Five excruciatingly long minutes had passed since the three of them had got into the car, and they were now almost back at the palace. Bertrand was sitting in the front of the car with the driver, and Jen was sitting silently with Maxwell in the back of the car as Bertrand ranted in their general direction.

"To even suggest that I could be capable of such things... the nerve of that awful little conniving man... but to declare it to a full courtroom... I'm.. simply flabbergasted."

"You'll get the chance to refute it all tomorrow," Jen said, taking Maxwell's hand. "I just can't believe he thinks spinning all these audacious lies about us will get him off."

Maxwell abruptly pulled his hand away from hers. She looked at him, a little concerned. He'd barely said anything to anyone since Anton had singled him out earlier. His face was fixed on the floor. She understood that he would be troubled by Anton's false accusations. She was upset enough, even in the knowledge that it was all lies, and nobody was questioning his feelings for her.

She was also less than impressed with herself for the way she had dealt with this onslaught so far. Initially, she'd been in shock. Then, she'd been upset. Then, she'd not known how best to comport herself to deflect any wrongful suspicion from the people around her. She had figured that getting overly cosy with her husband at that point would probably not have been the best course of action. She'd not had the chance to explain all this to Maxwell yet, but as soon as they got back to the palace, she'd take him to one side and make sure he was okay. They were just coming up the drive now.

"Well, only a complete idiot would believe anything that vile man came out with today," Bertrand growled.

Jen nodded, and watched the rain leaving trickles down the car windows, as the car slowed and arrived at the palace entrance.

Once the car stopped, Maxwell got straight out. She waited for him to rush around to open her door, just as he always did. However, he didn't arrive. Eventually, Bertrand opened her door for her, concern on his face.

"He seems like he's in a hurry?"

She looked curiously in the direction Bertrand was pointing. "Maybe he's not feeling too good. I could get that; the way Anton and his defence counsel went for him earlier."

"At least his character wasn't besmirched for all to hear," Bertrand whined as they made their way inside. "He was the lucky one out of the three of us today."

Jen wasn't so sure about that. "I'll talk to him. But I guess you need to speak to Rashad tonight to get your story straight."

"There's no story, Jen. There's just the truth. And nothing but the truth." He was truly enraged in a manner she had never seen him before. "Anton deserves to hang for his crimes, but our justice system enables him to cry innocence and smear the good names of his victims before he even goes to the cells? What sort of a country do we live in? What sort of a legacy is this for our children?"

Jen put her arm on Bertrand's, soothingly. "Hey. Call Savannah. Have a drink. Talk it through with Rashad. And just remember, nobody here believes a word of what Anton said. So why would the jury? Especially when you give them your side of the story tomorrow. I know you're a faithful servant to the monarchy. And so does Rick."

"Thank you, Jen," Bertrand sighed. "We have to put that nasty little man in his place."

"And we will," she agreed.

"Excuse me." Bertrand walked away, and she was met by Hana.

"Oh, Jen. What a day." She threw her arms around Jen, who welcomed her comforting embrace.