Chapter 33

C HAPTER 33

DAYS UNTIL THE CORONATION: TWO

It's been twenty-four hours since Graves dropped us unceremoniously on the doorstep. My mom, Brooke, and Naomi are leaving for the airport any minute, and I still haven't heard from Theo, but I can't bring myself to leave London.

Not until I know why he taped that paper to my door.

Naomi and I are watching TV in my bed when Brooke pushes the door open and plucks a bottle of wine and a wheel of cheese out of the nearest basket. "I'm taking these."

"Knock yourself out." I pick up the TV remote and turn the volume down. Theo would be mortified by how much royal press coverage I've been consuming, but I can't stop thinking that there's something off about all of it.

Brooke picks up a corkscrew and opens the bottle of wine. "Wait. They're talking about you!"

"What?"

"They showed a picture of you! Turn it up!"

I turn the volume back up as my picture is replaced with one of Henry.

"… life-saving blood transfusion…" an anchor is saying as the screen zooms in on a small, colorful bandage on Henry's left arm.

"Quite a heroic thing to do, innit?" the other anchor chimes in.

"We've always known he's a cracking lad…"

"Theo saved me from a freaking volcano! Why aren't they talking about that?" I'm indignant on his behalf.

"Henry's going to be so smug about this. He'll never let Theo hear the end of it," Naomi says.

Brooke props her hip against the wall and takes a swig from the bottle. "If Theo wanted to be a hero, he could have donated."

"He volunteered, but his blood type didn't match mine. Henry and I are both AB negative."

Brooke tilts her head, studying the picture of Henry on the screen. "What blood type does Theo have?"

"O positive."

She frowns at me. "Are you sure?"

"That's what Henry said."

"But that means…" She shakes her head. "I need a piece of paper." She rifles through one of the gift baskets until she finds a pen and uses the back of a Get Well Soon card to sketch a rough table. She stares at it for a minute, chewing on the back of the pen. Finally, she looks at me and blows her overgrown crisis bangs out of her face. "Theo and Henry don't have the same parents."

Naomi's eyes widen with shock.

"That can't be right," I say.

Brooke hands me her Punnett square. "It's impossible for the same two people to have an AB-negative child and an O-positive child."

I glance up at the TV, where the news anchors are still singing Henry's praises, two days before his brother's coronation. A chill runs up my spine.

I turn to the royal expert in the room. "Theo told me there were cheating rumors in his parents' marriage. Do you know about that?" I ask Naomi.

"Of course. There are cheating rumors in every royal marriage."

"Was it his mom?"

She slowly nods. "There were whispers that right after the wedding, the Queen had an affair with one of her advisers. Do you think…"

She trails off as we turn our attention to the news, which has finally switched from the story about Henry to a quick coronation countdown update.

"Holy shit," Brooke says, echoing my thoughts perfectly. She looks at me, her eyebrows sky-high. "I don't think your boyfriend is the rightful heir to the throne."

My entire world flips upside down.

Naomi grips my hand. "What are you going to do?"

I turn to Brooke. "How did you know law school was the right choice?"

She shrugs. "I just felt it in my gut."

"There wasn't a sign?"

She must hear something desperate in my voice, because she studies me for a long moment. "Wanting a sign is your sign, Wren."

Well, that was not as helpful as I hoped it would be. I give her two sarcastic thumbs-up.

Before I have a chance to process any of this, it's time for them to leave for the airport. I spend so long hugging everyone goodbye that the Uber honks three times.

"Don't forget to call," Mom says. (Once she realized I wasn't getting on the plane with her, she bought me a new phone.)

"I won't," I promise.

"And come home soon."

"I will."

"Remember that your dad and I love you," she says as Brooke drags her toward the door.

I follow them to the front porch. "I know."

"And call me if you need a divorce lawyer. I know a good one." She kisses me on the head.

"We're going to miss our flight," Brooke says, and Mom gives me one last wave as Brooke forces her into the back of the car.

An uneasy silence settles over Clarence House when they're gone, punctuated by the ticking of a large grandfather clock in the corner. "What now?" I say out loud, because I'm procrastinating the inevitable. I do another lap of the ground floor, skipping the fruit baskets (I'll never eat another passion fruit again) and stopping by a box filled with cheese and crackers. I tuck the whole thing under my arm and am climbing the stairs when the doorbell rings, and my heart stops.

I open the door, and my hopes crash.

"Victoria." She's the last person I ever expected to visit.

The princess is wearing boyfriend jeans and a beige crewneck sweater that looks like fall. "Careful. Your excitement is overwhelming," she says with a straight face.

"Why are you here?"

"I was bored," she says with a shrug.

"If you feel guilty, you can tell me."

Her eyes slowly narrow. "Why would I feel guilty?"

"For being bitchy when I was dying of sepsis."

"You threw out my insulin, so let's call it even. Besides, I'm bitchy to everyone; you're not special."

Now that I know her better (and I'm not about to collapse from hunger), Victoria's insults sting less than they did on the island. "Can I help you with something?"

She whistles, and Comet darts out from behind a low hedge. She holds up a leash. "Want to go for a walk with us?"

I'm tempted to make a snarky remark about returning my dog, but I'm too distracted by her offer of fresh air and a chance to get some answers about Theo. "Am I allowed to leave?"

She arches an eyebrow and looks around the empty courtyard. "Who's going to stop us?"