Page 19 of Ascending

“I understand.”

“Understand what?” Elizabeth asked her, looking confused.

“I’ve been in this car all of a minute. I assume this is it.”

Elizabeth smiled softly and said, “I’ll have my private secretary reach out to you to arrange a more proper interview.”

Palmer lifted an eyebrow and asked, “You will?”

“Yes.” Elizabeth looked past Palmer out the window. “I see we’re here, Palmer. Have a nice evening,” she added.

The car came to a stop. Within seconds, Palmer’s door was opened for her, and the freezing air rushed into the vehicle.

“You’re only wearing a light coat. How do you put up with the cold?” she asked the Queen as she unbuckled her seat belt.

“I was born here. It’s in my blood. Thiscountryis in my blood,” the woman replied. “Have a nice night, Miss Honeycutt.”

For a moment, Palmer wondered at the change in name but remembered there was a man holding the door open for her.

“Thank you, Ma’am. You as well.”

CHAPTER 7

Palmer Honeycutt wasn’t at all what Elizabeth had expected. Her plan had been to chat with the woman for a minute, drop her back off at the hotel, and ask Rebecca to call her the following morning, telling her that she wouldn’t be able to do the interview. While sitting in that car with Palmer, however, Elizabeth felt oddly comfortable with her. It had helped that Palmer was obviously nervous and so freezing cold, and therefore, very entertaining to Elizabeth. It had also been nice to have even just one minute with someone who wasn’t concerned about her safety, security, or her coronation. Elizabeth had decided in that moment, when Palmer had turned back to her confused as to why she was getting dropped back off at the hotel, that she would do the interview. She didn’t trust her as she would an old friend, but she believed Palmer to be an ethical journalist who kept her own opinions out of her writing. That was all Elizabeth needed from a journalist writing a story about her.

???

“Your Majesty, we’d prefer she only be allowed in the public wing of the palace,” her head of security told her the next day.

“She’s a reporter. She’ll go through security. What do you expect her to do?”

“Ma’am, we have to be prepared for the unexpected.”

“I understand, but my office will be fine.”

“Ma’am, if you insist on an office, might I suggest your father’s private office, yournewoffice? We have plans for–”

“My own private office will be fine. You may have a tank and the army just outside the door if you’d like.”

“I’d prefer two men inside, along with Rebecca and Thomas.”

“Thomas and Rebecca will be in the other room,” she replied, referring to the Director of Public Affairs and her secretary.

“Very well, Ma’am,” the head of security said, bowing his head. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

“Is it true?” Victoria asked as she entered Elizabeth’s office unannounced, as washercustom.

“Iswhattrue?” Elizabeth asked back. “Thank you, Sven,” she added, dismissing the security head.

When he left the room, closing the door behind him, Victoria sat in the chair opposite Elizabeth’s desk.

“Are you actually considering giving some American an interview?”

“I am. Why?”

“An interview, Lizzy? Why? The American press is brutal. You’re going to give her all she needs to write some exposé about our family.”

“It’s not an exposé.”