The Princess Read online

  They drove for forty-five minutes until they came to a large stone house surrounded by towering trees.

  “This way,” one of the guards said.

  Inside, the house was lit by hundreds of candles in old silver candelabra. There were flags hanging from the ceilings and old, dusty tapestries on the walls.

  One of the guards opened a door and motioned J.T. inside, then shut the door. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. The stone-walled room was dark except for its far end.

  A big, gray-haired man sat at the middle of a table covered with silver platters of food. Behind his high-backed, tapestry-covered chair stood a tall, gaunt man.

  “Come in and sit down,” called the gray-haired man. “Have you eaten?”

  “I don’t like being ordered about at gunpoint,” J.T. said, not moving from where he stood.

  “Very few people do, but one has to tolerate such indignities during a war. I have venison, hare, game pie, and some of your American beef. There’s also quail that I shot myself. I don’t believe you’ve had dinner.”

  J.T. moved closer to the table. The man looked to be in his fifties but with the strength and constitution of a younger man. He was strongly built and J.T. was tempted to ask if he had wrestled the steer to death.

  “Ned,” the man said, “pour our American some wine.”

  J.T. gave a shrug and took the seat across from the man and began to fill his plate. “What’s so important that you made me miss my plane?”

  “Your president and I have a favor to ask of you.”

  J.T. paused with a piece of venison on his fork. “Roosevelt?” He gave the man a hard look. “Who are you?”

  “I’m the king of this country, such as it is.”

  J.T. looked at the man awhile longer than began to eat. “I heard you were on your deathbed. You don’t look very sick to me.”

  “You will address His Majesty properly,” snapped the gaunt man behind the king.

  “Ned is very protective of me,” the king said, smiling. “But I don’t think we’re going to teach an American to be subservient. I assume my granddaughter is safely on her way to Escalon to take her rightful place.”

  J.T. didn’t answer. He had heard the king didn’t know what was going on with his granddaughter, but he obviously knew something. J.T. wasn’t going to play his hand and tell the king more than he already knew. “Why don’t you tell me,” he said at last.

  “All right,” the king said. “I believe it started right after my granddaughter began her tour of America. She was kidnapped, probably by someone from Lanconia, then she was to be shot. I believe you, at the risk of your own life, saved her. I will be eternally grateful.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “With your help, she went to the American government to ask for help in reinstating her to her throne. Your army insisted she marry an American and put him on the throne beside her. I believe their objective is military bases in my country.”

  “Among other things.”

  “Ah yes,” the king said. “The vanadium. But then Aria had already agreed to give that to America. Am I correct so far?”

  “I’m not bored yet.”

  The king smiled. “You were chosen to be the husband and I must say, after looking at your family tree, for an American, your ancestry is quite good.”

  J.T. didn’t reply to that but kept eating.

  “The two of you lived in Key West, where you were stationed and where my granddaughter learned to be an American. You must tell me about the photograph that appeared in the Key West Citizen of Aria and your mother. Mrs. Montgomery looks to be a delightful woman.”

  “She’s married. Could you get on with this? I’d like to find another plane leaving this country and get home. I have war work to do there and I can’t afford to be gone any longer.”

  “Ah, your war job. More wine, Lieutenant?” the king asked, and motioned to Ned to refill the glass. “Now my granddaughter has returned and she has, with the help of that bumbling American ambassador, gotten herself reinstated as Princess Aria. And she has once again put her life in danger.”

  J.T. stopped eating. “I was told she’d be protected.”

  “Who can I trust? Ned here is the only person I know to be clear of this plot and he stays with me. I cannot trust Aria’s advisers, her relatives, even her ladies-in-waiting.”

  “Can you find out who put the imposter princess on the throne? That woman has been kidnapped; maybe you can find out something from her.”

  “I sent her to America,” the king answered. “When your president radioed me that my granddaughter had been taken while on American soil, I saw right away the hazards. It could have forced Lanconia into the war. I sent Ned south to get Aria’s cousin, who, except for fifty pounds or so, looks like Aria. She was sent to America immediately to pose as Aria.”

  “Aria said that if you found out she was taken, it would kill you.”

  The king looked at his wineglass. “I am harder to kill than that. Duty and country come first, before personal involvement.”

  “She is just like you.”

  The king smiled. “Your spats are well known, both in America and Lanconia. She is a very good mime, isn’t she?”

  “What do you want from me?” J.T. asked.

  “I want you to remain in Lanconia.”

  “Not on your life,” J.T. said, rising. “I want out of this place. My country is at war and I am needed.”

  “You have already been replaced.”

  “There aren’t many people who know as much about ships as I do,” J.T. said. “I’m not easy to replace.”

  “How about Jason Montgomery? He took over two days ago. Think he’ll be able to do the job?”

  J.T. sat back down. His Uncle Jason was his father’s youngest brother and J.T. hoped that someday he would know as much about ships as his uncle did. “He’ll do quite well. Who is helping my father run Warbrooke Shipping?”

  “Your mother and one of your brothers who was wounded. He prefers to convalesce behind a desk in the shipping office instead of in an army hospital.”

  “You seem to know a damned lot,” J.T. said angrily.

  The king put up his hand to halt Ned. “I have become very interested in you and your family in the last few weeks. I wanted to make sure I could trust you.”

  “I wouldn’t trust anybody if I were you. I never saw a place so riddled with intrigue.”

  “I agree, which is why I want someone who I know is not involved to be near my granddaughter to protect her.”

  J.T. took a deep drink of wine. “Would you mind telling me why anyone would want this backward country? Is vanadium that valuable?”

  “No, but uranium is,” the king said mildly. “Just after the war broke out, Lanconia was found to have several deposits of uranium. I realized right away that if this were made public knowledge we would be part of the war because countries would want control of the uranium. I did my best to keep it secret, but obviously someone knows and someone wants control of the country. Whoever it is must know that Aria is not someone easily controlled so he or she tried to get rid of her.”

  “Then who is left? I don’t imagine you’d go down without a fight.”

  “I was probably next on the list. My granddaughter Eugenia, Aria’s younger sister, would be queen, and she could be controlled rather easily, I’m sorry to say.”

  “You have no idea who wants Aria dead?”

  “It could be anyone or a group of people. I want you to stay and find out, or if not that, stay and protect her.”

  “She’s too hardheaded for anyone to protect. Look, this isn’t my fight. My own country is at war, and if I’m not needed in Key West, I can tote a rifle as well as any man.”

  “But this is something not any man can do. I have told your president that if he releases you to me, I will sell the uranium to America.” The king handed J.T. a sealed envelope stamped TOP SECRET.

  J.T. opened it reluctantly because he knew what it con