The morning descended into no small amount of chaos after that. In the middle of the requisite hullabaloo, Grandma revealed a startling truth of her own; I was, in fact, adopted, after my birth parents had been forced to give me away for my own safety. This tied back into my unexpected inheritance, which left me scratching my head even more. But the lady on the other end of the phone who'd delivered such a stunning piece of news proved more than helpful when she came over later in the day to discuss my somewhat meteoric accession to a throne I'd never dreamed I'd sit in this lifetime or the next. I'd always joked about being a hidden backup princess, but I'd never dreamed it would actually happen.
Happen it had, however.
"I know this must come as a terrible shock to you," the lady said, as we sat at the kitchen table. Sarah was attending to my grandmother, who'd taken a bit of a turn; despite knowing my hidden royal status, the news of my leap to first in line had given her a bit of a jolt, and Sarah was working hard to calm her down. "But everything's happened so suddenly. I can't imagine what was put in place to make a mass murder like this happen, and I'm in the forefront of the investigations going on." She sighed and shook her head. "I understand you must have a million questions, but right now, your safety is of the hightest priority."251Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgSgDo4Nwg0
I nodded. I was still mightily confused, and more than a bit worried for what this would mean concerning my life going forward, but I wasn't about to descend into a headless-chicken state of worry. Instead, I began planning in my head what I was to tell my friends and coworkers. Since my place in the line of succession had never been made public, I knew I couldn't tell them I was now heir-apparent to the throne of the United Kingdom and thus the Commonwealth, as they were likely to be interrogated by less friendly agencies than the one who now held my safety in their hands. The lady came up with a smart solution.
"You can tell them you're going into protection in case someone tries to cozen you into revealing where the heir is," she said. "That way, you're safe, and so are they. And it's not an entire lie."
I had to smile at her guts. "I tell white lies all the time," I said with a chuckle. "Just don't tell my grandma; she's got a nasty hand with that cane of hers."
The lady smiled. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine," she said.
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Once I'd put my affairs in order, I was whisked away in a black car, with a half-dozen others containing decoys going in other directions. "Just to throw the murderers off the scent," the lady told me. "They have a vague idea of who to look for, but they don't know exactly what you look like. And don't fear for your grandmother; we've made arrangements to keep your house under 24/7 surveillance to make sure no one can get to her who isn't approved by you."
"Just the mailman," I told her, and she made the appropriate notation in her phone. "Jesus."
The lady nodded her understanding. "It is scary," she said. "I don't blame you for feeling a bit off kilter. I'd be the same if I were in your shoes. But you're not alone, and when you are crowned, you'll have all the help in the world to get you used to your new role."
"Does this mean I get to have a whole run of corgis in the palace?" I asked with a sly smile, and the lady laughed, which helped unleash a bit of mirth from me. I was still scared shitless, but it felt bloody good to laugh. I suspected such moments would be few and far between in the coming days, but I was determined to grab what small moments of hilarity I could in the middle of the rather sudden storm that had sprung up around me.
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