Prince or not. I told him I didn't care. . . .'
Sobbing engulfed him. Elizabeth squeezed her little brother, wishing she could radiate comfort to him as Ariel did to her. The treecat caught her distress at the boy's unhappiness.
Elizabeth might be Ariel's human, but he was fond of her brother. Jumping from the table, the 'cat set his true-hands against Michael's leg and purred loudly.
Eventually, Michael's tears stopped. Releasing him, Elizabeth wiped away tears of her own.
'I . . . I'm going to miss Dad, Beth,' the boy managed. 'How can you be so brave? Aren't you scared about being Queen?'
'Yes,' she admitted, 'but I have you and Ariel and Justin and Mom and lots of other people to help me. I only wish I didn't need to be Queen quite yet. I wish Dad . . .'
A sob rose hot and thick in her throat. She felt Ariel's soothing mental caress, although the 'cat's true- hands still rested against Michael's leg. With the 'cat's support, she managed to choke back the sob.
'I wish things were different. I wish that we could follow the plan we designed—college first, then some on-the-job training. Now I don't have a choice.'
'And I still do.' Michael looked at her, the beginnings of a mature resolve forming beneath the tear streaks. 'Thanks, Beth. You've been a lot of help.'
'Good.' She reached out and squeezed his shoulder. 'There's still time before dinner. Let's go upstairs. The next week is going to be filled with the coronation, the viewing and the funeral, along with all sorts of public receptions. This may be our last chance for a bit of peace.'
'After you, Your Majesty,' Michael said, with a deep bow and a flourish of his hand.
The Queen giggled and, scooping up Ariel, preceded the Crown Prince from the room.
In the Crown Chancery of Mount Royal Palace a very exclusive council met. They numbered five: Queen Mother Angelique, the Duke of Cromarty, Duchess Caitrin Winton-Henke, Dame Eliska Paderweski, and Lord Jacob Wundt.
One was wife, another sister to the late King; the remaining three had been his close associates, both professionally and personally. Only one thing could have drawn them together at a time when each longed only for privacy to mourn, to compose thoughts and lives torn asunder by the King's sudden death: their loyalty to the King and his ideals . . . and to the abstraction that was the Star Kingdom of Manticore.
That did not mean their sorrow didn't show. It sat at the table with them like a sixth member of their party, one they did not mention but whose presence they all felt. And King Roger, though his body even now was being autopsied and prepared for public viewing, made an almost tangible seventh.
'Coffee, Allen?' Dame Eliska pushed the carafe across the table's polished wooden surface.
The Duke, slim and elegant, his hair showing silver that had not been there when he began his tenure as Prime Minister, shook his head. 'I don't dare. My stomach is roiling.'
'Tsk, tsk, Allen,' the Queen Mother said, her teasing tone almost convincing. 'Prime Ministers should never admit to possessing either upset stomachs or nerves.'
'I'll remember that,' Cromarty promised. 'Still, I haven't been Prime Minister very long. Given current events and the inevitable challenges my majority is going to face, I almost wish another party would take over.'
'Pshaw,' was the Queen Mother's only response.
'You've been Prime Minister longer than poor Elizabeth has been Queen,' reminded Lord Wundt. 'Poor, poor child. What a terrible burden she must bear.'
'My `poor, poor child,' ' Angelique said almost tartly, 'is now your reigning Queen. Such comments forget the dignity of her office.'
Jacob Wundt had been the Lord Chamberlain for the House of Winton since the middle of Samantha II's reign. Whip-thin, tall, and balding, he had seen Samantha succeeded by Roger and now would see Roger succeeded by Elizabeth. It was his quiet, sincere desire that he not see the throne change hands yet again.
His position, privy to the workings of the Royal Family yet not one of it, granted him patience with the Queen Mother.
'Of course, Your Majesty,' he said softly. 'I stand corrected.'
It was Caitrin Winton-Henke who looked sharply at her sister-in-law.
'Angelique! Your grief is no excuse to forget yourself. Jacob said nothing more than what each of us is already thinking.'
Angelique Winton would not have accepted a reprimand from anyone else, but Roger's beloved sister had always been friend and confidante to the impoverished commoner who had found herself elevated to Queen.
'Jacob,' she said, turning to face the Lord Chamberlain, 'I apologize.'
Knowing the Queen's pride and temper (a temper Elizabeth had inherited in full) better than most, Wundt accepted her apology with a smile.
'We're all weary, Your Majesty, and likely to be more so before the next several days have passed.'
'And Elizabeth will be the most weary of all,' Winton-Henke added. 'Thank goodness she has Ariel to support her.'
Eliska Paderweski cleared her throat. 'And if
Dame Eliska's first ambition had been to serve as a Manticoran Marine but, on medical leave following injuries received during an action against a Silesian pirate base, she had discovered a talent for handling people and paperwork. This, coupled with the ferocity of her Marine training, had made her an ideal member of the Palace administration. Over time, she had risen to serve Roger in the coveted role of Chief of Staff.
'I don't wish to sound callous,' Paderweski continued, 'but I've already received numerous requests for interviews with Queen Elizabeth. I refuse to push her, but an official statement from the Palace would be helpful. Until a formal Council of Regents is appointed, this group must make a few temporary policy decisions.'
'And,' Cromarty added, 'when Parliament convenes its special session tomorrow morning before the formal Coronation, I should have some idea of what the royal pleasure will be.'
Duchess Caitrin Winton-Henke lifted a hand for attention. 'Why hasn't Elizabeth been asked to join us?'
'I wanted to give her some time to recover from viewing the holo of the accident.' The Queen Mother's voice broke on the last word. 'She watched it three times and, despite Ariel's support, she was very upset. I thought it would be easier for her if she had an opportunity to rest.'
'Perhaps.' Caitrin Winton-Henke tilted her head in a mannerism that recalled her brother. 'I'm not certain I would care to have my fate discussed without my presence.'
'Discussed only,' Cromarty reminded her. 'We can't decide anything for her. As difficult as it may be for us to accept, the college girl of yesterday is our Queen today. We can advise, but we cannot do a jot more.'
Silence filled the small room, broken only by Queen Mother Angelique reaching to refill her coffee cup.
'Then shall we proceed?' Dame Eliska said briskly. 'As I see it, we have three issues in front of us: the choice of a Regent, the selection of the Regency Council, and Elizabeth's marriage.'
Cromarty nodded. 'If we could begin with the Regent, that would be helpful. The Regency Council, most probably, will be formed from those candidates we select.'
Dame Eliska activated a note pad. 'An obvious candidate is Queen Angelique; another is Duchess Winton- Henke.'
No one protested her nominations. Angelique had been married to King Roger for almost thirty years, for twenty-five of which he had been King. Her astute knowledge of politics was respected within the Palace. Although, in the interest of presenting Roger as a strong, decisive monarch, she usually refrained from public statements of policy, those times that she had chosen to speak had left no one in doubt about her understanding of the important issues.
Caitrin Winton-Henke had retired somewhat from palace life after her brother had provided first Elizabeth, then Michael to separate her from the likelihood of inheriting the throne, but Samantha II had not permitted her second child to grow up in blithe ignorance of political realities. Even though she had been Crown Princess comparatively briefly, Duchess Winton-Henke took seriously the responsibilities that went with being a member of the peerage, and her husband made most of his own decisions in consultation with her.
