A Royal Internship | Complete

Chapter Fifty-Four

I must have shocked Janet because it took her a moment to respond to me.

"Janet?" I waved my hand in front of her face. "Janet are you there?"

"Sorry." She shook her head, "I was thinking of all the things I might be able to find digging up dirt on that man. What did you need?" She made a little note on the front page of her clipboard and then looked up to wait for my answer.

"I need Marinette and Semret, please." I repeated the request for what must have been the third time.

"Right, yes." She stood up and left the room. "I'll be right back." She pulled out her phone and sent a text before disappearing into the hallway.

I paced the floor a couple times, hoping I had a solid enough plan in place. This would be my only chance, so it had to work. Moments later, Janet returned with Semret and Marinette in tow.

"Okay," Janet sat down on the couch across from where I was standing. "Let's get this started!"

"It's not a meeting," I laughed, "I just need Marinette to get me an outfit ready. I'll explain that in a second. First, let's talk Josh."

Janet rubbed her hands together like a fly preparing for dinner.

"Janet, can you just go start looking please? You're going to drive me crazy!"

She held her hands up in defence. "Yes, going. Gone."

She picked up her clipboard and disappeared into my office, probably listening from the other side of the door instead of working if I knew anything about her at all.

"Semret, I need you to come with me and discuss something with Abigail."

She nodded and stood up, ready to leave.

"And Marinette, I need an outfit that screams Montalivet. Like 'I could be your queen one day' level Montalivet."

"Oh, Miss!" she squealed. "I knew it!" She bounced out the door and down the hallway, presumably to wherever my garments were made.

"Let's go, Semret," I said as I passed her. "It's time to get Abigail on board."

"Yes, Miss Levin." Semret smiled and followed me down the hallway. This is going to be the hardest part.

As we passed through the door into the staff area, Semret finally spoke. "What exactly am I helping you with?"

"I need to have Abigail on board with reassigning you to this work, or you might get in trouble," I say, trying not to notice her worried look. "But basically I need some research. I think there's a picture that might exist that would prove I've known Clarence longer than Josh said, but it's going to take a lot of work to find it. I don't even know who took it or exactly when."

* * *

When we got down to the offices and stepped through the door, the whole office stopped for a moment.

"Hello," I said to everyone while they stared at me. "Don't worry, no one special. As you were."

My assurances didn't work as the eyes of the whole office followed me across the floor to Abigail's door. I knocked four times and then clasped my hands together in front of me, waiting for her to open.

"What?" She said, before turning to face us. "Oh, it's you. Semret, don't think I didn't notice you went missing."

Semret hung her head and looked at her shoes. "Yes, Ma'am. I'm sorry. I'll make up the time."

"She works for me," I pointed out, stepped into Abigail's office without asking for her approval. "And I think you know you're only narrowly hanging onto this job anyway. So, please take a seat and let us discuss what's going to happen now."

Abigail's eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped, taking her body along with it until she was sitting in her office chair. I closed the door behind us and walked over to Semret's side.

"So," I took a page out of the king's book with intimidation, tapping my toe on the ground. It seemed to be working as well on Abigail as it had on me.

"I'm going to need Semret for a task," I said firmly, hoping my intimidation was still working. "I had hoped to ask you nicely but I can see that won't work, so I'm going to just tell. We have a project we need to work on for a couple days and then she'll be back at her sad little table doing way more than you probably pay her for. Okay?"

Abigail stood up to look me in the eyes. "If you think I'm not taking this up the chain, you're wrong. I'll bury you."

I stepped towards her, causing her to stumble back slightly.

"I'd like to see you try," I said, hoping my threat worked. I really don't want to see her try.

When Semret and I left the office, I was shaking from head to toe, but I had what I wanted. Semret was free to work on the picture search for me.

"What are you going to do?" she asked me as I left.

"I'm going to go figure out how to spin this. Somehow."

Maybe I shouldn't have burned the bridge with the most experienced public relations person I know.

I left the room and almost immediately crashed into Janet.

"I was just coming to find you," she laughed. "I have good news or bad news."

"Bad first," I sighed. Isn't that the way everyone likes it delivered?

"No," she shook her head. "It's one thing, but I'm not sure if it's good or bad."

I raised my eyebrow, hoping she would tell me.

"The queen has requested your presence after dinner."

"Great," I sighed. "I guess I'll have to go to dinner then." We were almost back to my room when I realized she hadn't gone off to find Clarence. "What are you doing?" I asked her.

"I'm following you to your room so I can kill you," she said with a straight face.

"Seriously, please."

"I found something," she said, pushing me through the door and into the office. "And I think you need to see it."