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“Yes. We were friends long before she married Alex. Teagan is, in fact–” She stopped herself. “Teaganwas, in fact, my only close friend outside of my siblings.”

“I am so sorry, Elizabeth,” Palmer said and meant it.

“So, am I,” she said.

The door opened, and Rebecca entered the room.

“Your Majesty, the Prime Minister has arrived.”

“It’s been an hour?” Elizabeth asked, making Palmer feel pretty good about the fact that she’d lost track of time during the interview. “I had no idea. Palmer–” She stopped again. “Miss Honeycutt, I’m sorry I have to cut this short.”

“You didn’t. It’s been the hour you agreed to.”

Elizabeth stood. Palmer placed her cup on the table, reached for her bag, and slid her relatively blank notebook inside, along with the pen her mother had given her for Christmas one year, that was her favorite pen in the universe, and stood as well.

“Thank you for the time,” she said, not knowing what else to say.

“Of course. Thank you for coming. I’ll have them return you to the hotel. I assume we have your winter coat in a closet somewhere.”

“They took it when I came in, yeah.”

“Good. I wouldn’t want you to freeze.”

“You know, it’s the pants that are the problem for me. The coat just only goes down so far.”

“They make long underwear, too; the people who made your coat.”

“I know, but I don’t need it back home, and I’m only here for–” It was Palmer’s turn to stop.

She had no idea how much longer she’d be here, but it likely wouldn’t be long. This interview was nice, but it wasn’t all that informative to her story. It also wasn’t a very good interview; she’d taken no notes of substance. It had been more of a conversation between two people getting to know one another than an actual interview.

“Ma’am? The Prime Minister?” Rebecca persisted.

“I should go,” Palmer said.

“Right,” Elizabeth replied and added, “Please don’t walk backward to the door.” She winked at Palmer. “I don’t want you to run into the table there.”

Palmer laughed a little and said, “You heard her give me permission, right?” She looked to Rebecca. “I don’t want anyone out there thinking I’m a rude, inconsiderate American who refused to follow the customs.”

“I heard,” Rebecca said with a smile. “And I’ll show you out now, Miss Honeycutt.”

“Okay. Well, thanks again.”

Elizabeth nodded politely. Then, Palmer was in the hallway, being ushered down it by Rebecca, who left her with one of the guards she’d seen earlier. He located her coat and escorted her to the waiting town car outside. She climbed in, enjoying the heat immensely.

Not long after, she was back in the lobby of her hotel, wondering what the hell she was going to do with the interview she hadn’t really done.

???

A few hours later, Palmer had showered and was sitting in front of her laptop, staring at the blinking cursor. She’d learned things about St. Rais, about its new Queen today, but somehow, she still had nowhere to start. There was a knock at the door, which was unexpected since she’d eaten dinner down at the restaurant tonight and hadn’t ordered anything sent up. She made her way over, checked the peephole, and saw the bellhop.

“Yes?” she asked through the door just to be safe.

“Miss Honeycutt, there was a package left downstairs for you with instructions to have it brought up straight away. Shall I leave it?” he asked.

“A package?” she asked back before she opened the door. “Forme?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He passed her a long, flat box.