Page 81 of Prince

Nico paused with his fork halfway to his mouth and then returned the bite of grilled meat to his plate. “I beg your pardon?”

“He had back surgery a few years ago.”

Nico nodded. “He’s made a remarkable recovery.”

“With the ongoing help of strong narcotic pharmaceuticals, a lot of them.”

Nico sighed and rolled his eyes. “Sorry about that.”

Maxence said, “And so we return to square one, the conundrum of who shall take the throne of Monaco.”

“Dammit.”

“Absolutely, but I need names.” Max flipped over his cell phone lying on the table at his elbow. Two red dots were displayed on the black screen. He tapped the top one three times in rapid succession.

Dree, sitting beyond Nico over by the bookcases, paused with her fork suspended in the air. Lettuce leaves dropped off the tines onto her salad, and she blinked several times before she speared them again and ate the bite.

“Lady Christine, Alexandre’s sister, is in the direct line of succession. She’s the easiest choice because you and Alexandre will abdicate immediately. She’s next, assuming the elderly and male-heavy Crown Council will vote for a woman.”

Max shook his head. “She refuses to return to Monaco.” She’d departed and not left a forwarding address after their meeting with Alexandre.

“We’re probably going to need her vote when the Council meets. Besides, isn’t she scheduled to play a violin solo at the Sea Change Gala? We could conscript her then.”

“I have it on good authority that she will not accept it.”

Nico shrugged and knifed his lunch. “Alexandre exaggerates everything.”

“I heard it directly from her, and she threatened to send assassins after me if I managed to elect her.”

Nico nodded. “She would do that.”

Maxence chopped the slabs of steak on his salad into smaller pieces. “She specified that they would beninjaassassins, and she would abdicate immediately afterward.”

Nico laughed. “Jesus, my name didn’t come up, did it?”

“No.”

“Thank God. The serene and esteemed Lady Christine would probably send those ninja assassins after everyone who had ever uttered her name in connection with the throne, just to send a message.”

Maxence nodded. “She would be malicious.”

Nico chuckled. “Like however-many-greats Uncle François the Malicious.”

“Exactly. Christine would be so malicious, we would have to erect statues to her maliciousness.”

“Do you think she would disguise herself as a nun toescapeMonaco, instead of as a monk to slip inside and take the castle and the throne?”

“And thus, we return to the matter at hand, which is who would be a good and just ruler for Monaco and won’t run screaming in the other direction when we attempt to install them.”

Nico twitched his head to the side. “The Venn diagram of those two populations do not intersect.”

“That is the value of a hereditary monarch. The power falls to someone who has been groomed for the position but has not sought it.”

“If only it were possible to make sure that the person it fell to would accept it.”

Maxence nodded and forked another bite of salad into his mouth.

“I’m talking about you, Max.”