Lucky Charm (Reverse Fairytales Book 2)(55)

“Whatever you need,” replied Leo smoothly.

“I can help with that,” butted in Dean.

I looked at him expectantly.

“I’m a policeman. I worked under Grenfall. I was so pleased to find out that you fired him this morning. It was the talk of the station.”

“You are a policeman?” I’d just assumed he was a carpenter like Daniel.

“Yep.”

“Perfect. Can you help Leo?” I thought for a second. Something I remembered came to mind. “Actually, I need someone to look into a guy known as The Regent. He’s a high ranking member of the Magi Death Squad. The highest. He’ll probably be someone already in power with a lot of money and a lot of influence. I need to know who he is. Do you think you can set up a squad to look into that?”

“I’m just a police officer. I’m not sure I’ll be able to start an investigation on my own. I don’t have the authority.”

“I’ll come into the headquarters tomorrow and let everyone know of the changes. I’ll make it known that I’m looking for a new secret task force that has something to do with the anti-Magi sentiments. Then, between us, we can pick from those that look like a good fit. Until then, we’ll keep the full reason for the task force quiet. I don’t want everyone knowing we are looking for The Regent. He could even be a member of the force. Leo can help with that too.”

“Sounds good!” replied Dean, looking like the cat that had got the cream.

After the meeting, I retired to my office. Jenny had already started making it a bit more liveable and less severe by adding a vase of flowers and some nice paintings of Silverwood on the walls. There was a long way to go to completely remove any trace of my father, but it was a start.

Now that the air had been cleared and everyone knew fully what was going on, it made me feel so much more at ease with everything that was happening.

Jenny had been instructed to organize the garden party-cum-meeting with the Freedom of Magic. Leo and Daniel were going to be sorting out the corruption within Silverwood’s Police force. And Cynder and Luca were working with me to make sure that the competition to choose one of them didn’t turn into the farce that last year’s had.

For the first time in weeks, I finally felt like I had everything under control.

Of course, like everything else in my life, the feeling of control was short-lived.

The nightmare started when I pulled the first of the day’s papers towards me. The front cover had a photo of Cynder and I coming out of the police station the night before. I’d expected as much, but the part that worried me was the fact that, thanks to our actions last night, Cynder was way up in the polls. Despite him being a Mage, he was beating Luca by a large margin. In fact, Luca’s popularity was at an all-time low.

I sighed and pushed the paper to one side. I’d have to tell Luca to plan something special for our date, something the public would enjoy. Sitting in the movie theatre eating popcorn might be my idea of a good night, but it wouldn’t be enough to win the public over.

I picked up the rest of the papers to read later. I wouldn’t be showing them to Luca, and with some luck, he’d be too busy to read them. He didn’t deserve to be so low in the ratings.

I found him chatting to Jenny about the upcoming garden party. It was due to take place the day of our date. It meant that the televised interview would have to take place the day after that which was fine with me. I hated the necessity of it all anyway.

“Luca, I know you are helping Jenny, but I’ve been thinking...”

“Yes?”

“Our date next week. I know I’m supposed to plan it, but I’m very busy. I was wondering if you could come up with something a bit special?”

He bounded over and gave me a kiss. “Absolutely, I’ve already got some ideas! It will be perfect, I promise.”

I gave him a small smile and left them to it. I knew Jenny would help him too. With a party and a date to organize, she’d be in her element.

It wasn’t until later that I brought myself to look at the other papers. If the first one was bad, the rest were infinitely worse. There on the front page of the first was the photo that Leo had shown me days before. The one of Cynder and his ugly stepsisters. Underneath the photo was the caption in large letters.

Kingdom in shock as Cynder’s hidden wife is exposed.

The rest of the papers had led with the same story. Just as Leo had believed it, now the kingdom did. Everyone now believed that Cynder was married.





Evidence


“I don’t know anything about this.” Leo sat opposite me in my office. I watched as he massaged his temples.

“What about your informant? Could they have gone to the press?”

“Yesterday, I would have said no. He’s been my friend for years, and I trusted him completely. I guess I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

The door opened, and Cynder walked in. I’d invited them both up here for an urgent meeting. Leo had beaten Cynder to it by a couple of minutes. I passed the paper to Cynder to let him digest the contents.

“I’m so sorry, Cynder,” began Leo. “I was just looking out for Charmaine. I didn’t know anything about you, and I was worried about a stranger coming into the palace. I didn’t leak this to the press, but my informant must have. I’ll deal with him, but I obviously can’t take this back.” He smacked his hand down at the paper. I’d never seen him mad before.