Beautiful Crown Princess

Chapter 4: The Coastline

The next morning, I went to Larkhaven with Lady Vale and a palace driver. I asked to travel without a photographer. The Queen's office approved it on the condition that I keep my first public visit brief.

I'd been back to the hotel once since the engagement, but I hadn't seen the harbor association or the people named on the redevelopment map. I wasn't going to pretend a palace briefing had taught me more than the town had.

My father met me at the Gull House entrance. He had placed a handwritten sign on the door: CLOSED FOR A PRIVATE VISIT.

"You're not supposed to make it look like a press event," I said.

"I'm making it look like a hotel that's closed."

The harbor office smelled like wet rope and old coffee. Three fishers sat around the meeting table with my former supervisor, Marta Valez. She pushed a folder toward me.

"They sent the summary after we complained," Marta said. "It says community members support relocation."

"Did they ask you?"

"No."

I read the summary. The wording was vague. It counted an online survey as a town meeting and included comments from people who didn't live in the affected area.

"Who submitted the survey?" I asked.

"Most names are blank."

"Can I take a copy?"

"You can read it here. I don't want the palace taking our original."

"I won't."

One of the fishers, a broad-shouldered woman named Ruth, crossed her arms. "Your picture is on the palace website."

"I know."

"Are you here to tell us the plan's good?"

"No."

"Are you here to promise you can stop it?"

"No."

Ruth held my gaze. "Then why are you here?"

"I'm trying to find out what's true before anyone asks me to stand beside it."

She looked at the folder. "That's a start."

It wasn't forgiveness. It wasn't trust. It was permission to sit down.

I spent two hours taking notes. I asked about the winter floods, the road closures, the fish market's refrigeration system. The plan had numbers for hotels and marinas but no price for keeping the market where it was. The relocation site sat farther from the harbor and would require trucks to cross a narrow bridge.

I knew the bridge. I'd driven across it in the Gull House van. It flooded during the highest tides.

When I returned to the capital, I took the notes to the Queen's office. She was in a meeting, but Lady Vale let me wait outside. Adrian emerged from a corridor before I had to ask.

"You've been to Larkhaven."

"I have."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know I needed to."

He looked at the papers in my hand. "What did you learn?"

"That the consultation summary is misleading. The relocation site floods, the market hasn't been asked, and the road plan doesn't account for the bridge."

He took the notes from me. "Let me see."

I gave them over. He read the first page.

"Did you speak with Ruth Bell?" he asked.

"She was there."

"She runs the fish co-op."

"She also runs a business that may be forced to relocate."

"Did she tell you that?"

"She didn't need to. Her building is on the map."

He continued reading. "We need an engineering review of the bridge."

"We need a new consultation."

"Yes."

I watched him. "You sound surprised."

"I'm not."

"Then why did you say we needed an engineering review before you mentioned the consultation?"

He looked up. "Because the bridge is a fact we can verify. The consultation is a fight we'll have to make."

"People are already being pushed toward a decision they didn't make."

"I know."

"You keep saying that."

"I know," he said again, then set the papers down. "I supported the plan because the coast needs investment. I thought the process was sound."

"And now?"

"Now I've seen enough to question the process."

"Will you say that publicly?"

He didn't answer.

I reached for my notes. "I'll give you a copy. Keep the original out of the palace."

He handed them back. "I'm not asking you to trust the palace."

"Good."

"I'm asking you not to assume I agree with my mother on everything."

"I don't assume that. I'm waiting to find out."

His gaze held mine for a second. Then he nodded.

That evening, I sat across from the Queen in her private sitting room. She had read the same report I had.

"You've created concern among the ministers," she said.

"I didn't create the problems in the report."

"You made a private review public by going to Larkhaven."

"I didn't speak to the press."

"You didn't have to. People saw you."

"People always see me."

"You know what I mean."

"I do. I just don't think it changes the truth."

She set the report on the table. "A public dispute could stall the entire investment. The old seawall is failing. A delay has consequences."

"So does a bad plan."

"Your father's hotel is in the affected zone."

"I know."

"You should be especially careful not to appear to favor your own interests."

I looked at her. "Is that a warning?"

"It's a fact."

"Then I'll keep the hotel separate from the project. I won't keep the town quiet for it."

The Queen held my gaze. "You don't understand how much the Crown has to lose."

"I understand how much the people who live there stand to lose."

She leaned back. "You have a way of making a simple question sound like an accusation."

"I'm asking a question. If it sounds like an accusation, maybe you know the answer."

For the first time since I'd met her, I saw her composure falter. Only for a moment. Then it was gone.

"Be careful," she said. "You are not a private citizen anymore."

I stood. "Then stop asking me to act like a photograph."