Stealing Kisses With a King (Kings of Carolina #3)- Sylvie Stewart Page 0,71

known as pathetic before this.

I didn’t respond, instead choosing to continue staring out the window at the darkening sky.

“All right, everyone,” Alice spoke up. “Trevor and his team are looking into the leak, and they’re conducting a series of individual interviews. Regardless of the private source’s identity, we need to focus on countering the negativity in the public eye. For every article that undermines Prince Malcolm’s qualifications, we need ten focusing on his suitability, his vitality, as well as the interest surrounding the coronation events.” I couldn’t help but look her way as she commanded the room from her seat at the table. “Communications is working on a press release and will provide options to us soon. They’re also reaching out to their contacts in the press. We need story ideas to propose to press members to draw focus away from the speaking issue.” She was all business and had I not been miserable, it would certainly have made me smile to see her in her element.

“I’ll make a list of charities and initiatives to which Mal has lent his influence.” Always the Boy Scout, Leo was. He’d be hard pressed to come up with a list half as long as his own, however.

“It wouldn’t hurt to switch focus to his athletic pursuits—highlight his fitness and good health,” Clara suggested.

“Hot shirtless pics would definitely make an impact,” Ruby offered.

Alice scowled. “We’re not auctioning him off at a bachelorette party; we’re promoting his suitability for the throne.”

Not offended in the least, Ruby just shrugged. “Still, couldn’t hurt.”

Good God. My fate was in the hands of a horny car mechanic, a fashion-design student, and a man who once confessed his number one bucket-list item to be witnessing a salmon run. The fact that traveling to space didn’t even make Leo’s top ten should have me questioning his general sanity on its own. Thank God for Alice.

Her sharp focus on damage control only drove home what lay at stake here. Had she not been so focused on her lists, she’d likely smack me in the face and tell me to get over myself. My personal humiliation—as much as it stung—was trivial in the face of the crown’s image in the public eye.

Being a royal meant focusing on the bigger picture. There was real danger in this—maybe not the same kind as falling off the palace roof, but serious danger nonetheless. A people’s loss of confidence in the crown developed quickly because doubt was an insidious beast. And it would be impossible for me to effectively lead if my own people doubted me.

Throughout history, royal families had been overthrown by strategically-placed elements feeding on the people’s waning confidence. It wasn’t as if we were still in the days of beheadings and raping and pillaging, but the principal remained true. And while the Feldlands was, by no means, an absolute monarchy, our family still shared responsibility with parliament for running the country, and the people maintained a right to call for an end to our family’s reign.

It was the entire reason my father was stepping down—so a young, healthy monarch could invigorate the country’s belief in the crown and make them feel secure.

The irony that my father’s own loss of words during a speech to the nation served as the catalyst for his stepping down wasn’t lost on anyone, so the situation was delicate indeed. We needed to fix this, and fix it fast.

So it was a good thing I had a wizard for a girlfriend.

Chapter 19

Alice

“It’s a bit touch and go at the moment, Your Majesty,” I confided to King Gregory when he pulled me aside in the palace’s formal dining room. I’d often found amusement in the notion that I didn’t even know enough people to fill the endless seats in this room—but I’d never been particularly outgoing, not to mention my lack of royal title to recommend me.

He nodded, watching his son where he stood across the room, hands in his pockets and shoulders tired. “I admit he appears more… distressed than I’d anticipated. He’ll need a thicker skin.”

“True. But it’s good he understands the gravity of the situation, even if he’s taking it hard.”

“He’s always prided himself on being a quick thinker, so I suppose this has to smart.” The king understood his son so well, I was always warmed to see. There’d been a time when witnessing such connection between parent and child had triggered bouts of melancholy at my lack of such a relationship of my own, but I’d