if she didn’t sit on a chair, I was expected to stand.
Claudius, who was standing next to Gertrude, his arms also crossed and his face set, continued. “Just this evening we received a disturbing message. A threat really. A video of you and Hamlet… how shall I say?… engaged in… indelicate acts… has been uncovered.”
I wrapped my arms around myself and squeezed hard, as if covering my suddenly naked body. I turned to look at my father, who had retreated to the wall and had loosened his tie. “How can that be?” I asked. “Hamlet and I never recorded…” I couldn’t continue. I shuddered and wound my arms tighter across my chest.
“Who’s to say how these things happen?” Gertrude said in a clipped voice. “The point is,” she continued, tapping her fingertips together quickly, “it is in the hands of someone who wants to hurt us, and that someone is demanding money. Now, we are willing to pay to keep you safe from public scorn, but in return, you must do something for us.”
“What?” I rasped.
Claudius leaned back on the dark wood desk next to his wife. Sinking down, a whisper of a smile on his face, he explained, “We need you to get information from Hamlet.”
“What kind of information?” I asked, swallowing hard.
Gertrude straightened up and touched her French knot. “Ask him why he’s been behaving so strangely. Find out his plans. He’s been so secretive lately. Your father says that love is the reason, but we’re not convinced.”
I put up my hands, gesturing for them to stop. None of it made sense. I wanted to ask where the video was taken. And how. Hamlet and I never had sex in a public place. Not once. I wondered momentarily if Hamlet had secretly taped us, but I dismissed the idea. He was a lot of things, but sleazy wasn’t one of them. It didn’t have to be Hamlet, I realized with dismay. All kinds of people had access to every room and crawl space in the castle. It could have been anyone. Hamlet had warned that someone would try to get to me. I should have believed him.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “It seems to me that paying would be in your best interest. I mean, Hamlet’s in the video, too.”
Claudius took a step forward and was suddenly too close. “Let us just say that there’s far more of you to be worried about.”
My arms, which had slipped down, popped back across my chest and I stepped away from Claudius. “I’m not doing this. You’ve been using everyone to get to Hamlet, and I’m not going to allow myself to be used by you.”
Gertrude sniffed and began walking to sit behind her desk. “Then the video will come out. And you will leave the castle. Indefinitely.”
I spun around to face my father. “Dad,” I begged.
“Do this, Ophelia. Or leave my home.”
I couldn’t believe he meant it. And yet, deep inside, I knew he and I had reached the breaking point. He no longer wanted to deal with my crap. He had warned me, as had my mother, that being with Hamlet would come at a price. What never occurred to me was that my family would end up paying, not just me. Protecting me blindly was no longer an option for him, and, even if it was, I couldn’t ask him to do it.
I shifted from foot to foot, looking at my three accusers. “I’ll make it easy for everyone. I’ll leave tomorrow for Paris and live with Laertes for a while.”
Claudius snarled, his gaze drifting the length of my body. “If those images come out, there won’t be a person in the Western world who won’t know your face… etcetera.” He squinted at me, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly again.
I took another step back. If I didn’t like the way he was looking at me, how would I feel about the rest of the world doing the same? It was humiliating enough when my clothes had been on and the pictures published just showed a kiss. But more? I shuddered and shut my eyes tight, trying not to imagine what might be on the video.
But then a thought occurred to me. “How do I know you’re not making this up? Dad, have you even seen the video?”
“I didn’t want to,” he said, pulling at his face.
“Well, I do,” I announced, not really sure that I did but certain that if I watched, I would