Persuasion in the Pantry [Maid for More #1]

Chapter 41 Part 1: ... In Regnum Defende

[Recommended soundtracks for this chapter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7WmbWdcE3k

https://open.spotify.com/album/47EZSFnxOST9ZYthouNMB6 ]

At four o'clock Edward Oxford made his way half way up Constitution hill to the north side of the Palace. He knew the way Victoria's coach would travel to Hyde Park. The Royals were so pathetically predictable and it irked him. His father had never been predictable a day in his life and it been a constant source of torture for his mother. Edward considered himself an excellent student in all things that mattered and he had learnt that torture had its uses. So, on the anniversary of his father's death eleven years ago, he would honour the man who had taught him his first lessons in life.

He felt the pistols rub against the thin linen of his gambroon trousers as he walked past the gates of Buckingham Palace and joined the milling crowds around the Marble Arch. It had been reported that Albert had attended Woolwich Dockyard alone earlier that afternoon and Edward was anxious to see if the Queen would be present for her evening ride. He had not gone to such devious and extravagant lengths to be foiled now.

Edward watched Albert's carriage roll up the Pall Mall and into Buckingham knowing that it would not be much longer until his moment arrived. Surely the young Queen would be waiting for her consort before leaving the Palace grounds. It was pitiful really that a woman controlled the country when the most she should be allowed to control was a household. Edward laughed to himself and disconcerted bystanders shifted uncomfortably around him. He didn't care. It was almost time.

At six when the sun hung low to the ground, the Palace gates opened with a loud groan of metal, and the procession emerged. Two outriders cantered forth and soon after Edward glimpsed the Prince and Queen in a droshky pulled by four white horses with two equerries trailing behind. They turned sharply left and travelled up the hill towards him, with the walls of the Palace gardens on their left and the palings of Green Park on their right. Edward removed the pistols from his pockets and tucked them into his armpits under the cover of his coat, stooping low to give the impression of a hunched appearance. A curious couple eyed him suspiciously but did nothing and he nodded to them with a sneer before pushing his way to the front of the crowd. His fingers itched over the trigger but he remembered Hadfield's advice and quietened his mind. He needed a clear head and a steady hand to topple the monarchy. It would take a single man with a single purpose, and that man would be him.

The carriage was almost before him and as Victoria's attention was distracted by a soldier on horseback, Prince Albert's gaze met his own and narrowed. Edward smirked and raised his first pistol in a dueller's stance, aiming between the haughty blue eyes of the Queen of England.

~

Verushka paused at the top of Grosvenor Place and saw the entire scene unfold before her. She peered over the Duke of Wyvernstone's shoulder at the immense throng of people between her and the Queen and it gripped her soul with fear. Her brother had obviously ridden like a man possessed and found her, footsore and frenzied as she was running through Westminster. He had tossed her upon his horse and took her back through the streets he had come with singular purpose. Her mission was to find the assassin, and find him she did.

"Jay!" Verushka whispered urgently. "There, there!" She indicated the man stooping awkwardly within yards of the Queen.

Jay's gaze followed the tip of her pointed finger and located the culprit as he slowly withdrew his weapon. Jay's horse reared and bucked between the pressing crowds and he knew there was no way to make it to Victoria in time. At the corner of his right eye he saw three policeman who he recognised from Division A running through Green Park and vaulting over the palings that separated the park from the road. Someone had alerted them into action but even as they pushed through the excited teeming crowd, he knew that they would not make it in time. However, to his left a commotion drew the attention of both the crowds and the Queen.