A Royal Affair

Truth Revealed

Tink knocked on Robin's door, drawing his attention from the etiquette lessons he was still trying to complete. She gave him a contrite smile. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Not really," he said, knowing the etiquette manual was always secondary to whatever task he was assigned. "Do you need me?"

"The Queen does," she replied. "She wants to see both of us."

Robin stood, grabbing his notebook and a pen as confusion filled him. He walked toward the door, asking: "What about?"

"There's an event we put on every year," Tink said. "It's coming up and we need to go into the main preparations for it."

"An event? The presentation of the Guardian Angel award?" he asked, knowing that was due to be given soon. He didn't know if he could stomach watching it go to an undeserving organization masquerading as one.

She shook her head. "That's coming up too but someone else handles that, not us."

"Oh," he replied, not sure if he was relieved or not as they entered the Queen's office. Tink announced their presence and the Queen looked up. She stood and invited them to sit on her couch as she moved to join them.

She sat down as she turned to Robin. "Did Tink explain to you what this meeting is about?"

He glanced at Tink before nodding. "She did."

"Good," the Queen said, looking pleased. "We have a lot to do and I'm going to need all hands on deck. Understood?"

"I do," Robin said, wondering if she would elaborate more about the party. If not, he figured he could get more information from someone else on staff. August was probably his best bet and if not, Belle.

She nodded, turning to Tink. "Where are we in preparations?"

"It's honestly just confirming our standing orders," Tink said. "Do you know how many people we need to prepare for?"

"Yes," the Queen said. "I would say two hundred. I don't think we'll get that many but I'd rather be overprepared than under."

Tink nodded. "Of course."

Robin wrote down the number in his notebook, wondering how many people they would actually get and how much waste they would have by the end of the night. He wondered what the palace would do with the leftovers and made a note to casually ask someone when he got a chance.

"What do you need me to do?" Robin asked her, looking up at the Queen.

"I need you to order a few things," the Queen replied. "Tink can give you all the information. All the companies should be familiar with our orders."

He nodded. "So I can tell them it's for you or do I need to use a decoy name?"

The Queen hesitated for a moment before answering: "They'll know it's for the palace but they may not know it's for me."

"Ivy used to use her own name," Tink said, referencing Robin's predecessor. She looked at Robin. "You can do the same or use my name. Whatever you feel more comfortable doing."

"Okay," Robin said, wondering why they didn't use the Queen's name. He figured no one would do business with them if they knew it was her.

The Queen nodded before leaning closer. "It is important that the guests for this party remain secret. No one outside of those attending and working the party should know who was there. And absolutely no media."

He frowned. "No media?"

"Correct," she replied. "The privacy of my guests is the utmost importance."

"Understood," he said, the hard look in her eyes unnerving. The guests for this party were either very important or very embarrassing for the Queen. Or was it that whatever would happen at the party would be embarrassing for all of them?