Race for the Throne | Formula One

72. This Will All Be Over Soon

Head held high, I walked through the palace with a purpose. I had to get to Nick, warn him. It also kept me from seeing anyone I passed. I clenched my teeth, fighting the urge to find them all and tell them everything. I passed a few of them but I kept my gaze firmly focused in front of me. Any look from them would break me and I couldn't afford that. I had to keep them safe, it didn't matter what they thought of me as long as they were safe.

Peter was waiting for me in the courtyard. I slid into the car and we drove in silence to Nick's hotel. Guards trailed in the car behind.

Press was waiting outside of the hotel when I got there. A few shouted questions regarding the coronation.

"Your highness! What's going on in your relationship with Charles Leclerc?" one called.

I stopped and turned to him. "What relationship?"

Then I kept walking, back straight. I wanted to seem cold, distant, heartless even. And it was working.

I was escorted to Nick's hotel room. He opened the door and motioned for me to enter.

"I know I said it earlier, but I'm so sorry for your loss. Drink?" He walked over to the room's bar.

I shook my head. "I'm not here on a social visit."

"Please sit." Nick's brow creased at the seriousness in my voice. "What's going on?"

"I think there is going to be an attempt on your life at my coronation." I filled him in on pieces of what's been going on without telling him all of it. I left out names and the letters.

"Wait, let me get their straight. You're saying that there's a group that is trying to overthrow governments and that your family was assassinated by them but they're trying to make you work for them? And they want me dead?" Nick tried to wrap his head around what I was saying.

"That's what I'm saying." I tapped my fingers against the arm of the chair.

"We need to get security agencies involved, this is international security at stake." Nick jumped to his feet. "We have to make sure everyone is protected."

"We don't have any concrete proof of anything. I have someone attempting to turn a member but I haven't heard if it worked yet. I've taken measures to protect my people, you need to do so as well. The coronation is in a couple days, we need everything covered." I stood. "Make sure the guards around you are only ones you really trust."
"Is there anything else I can do?" Nick asked, pacing.

I handed him a paper. "Find this woman, she's the sister of someone who was involved. She might know something."

The paper had the name and information of Alvaro's sister.

Nick nodded. "I'm on it, I'll reach out to the different European security agencies to see if they can help with any information on this group."

"I'll see you at the coronation." I hugged him. "Let's hope we find something useful."

"You know your mother would never forgive me if I let something bad happen to you." Nick walked me to the door. "Does Charles know?"

"It's too late for that and no, I ended things with him. He wasn't cut out for my world, we never would have lasted." I opened the door, I didn't want to tell anyone the real reason just in case it somehow got back to Jacques.

"I'm sorry for that, you two were a good pair." Nick commented.

The corner of my mouth quirked. "We were, weren't we. But it's over now."

When I returned to the palace, it was eerily silent. I checked all the rooms, all my friends were gone. The last room I checked was my old room, the one Charles had stayed in. Empty. I rested my hands on the dresser there and sucked in deep breaths as a darkness closed in around me. Reaching up, I grabbed my shoulder, digging my fingers into the bandage viciously. My vision sparked with white as pain tore through my body.