6

It had been an uneventful evening with the other couple dining in their quarters. Ianto hoped she did not catch a chill, it had been quite the sudden downpour and although he was used to them he knew many other realms did not suffer rain such as this. He had hoped that the misunderstanding would be shaken off. Ianto expected the royal coupe to join them for breakfast but they did not materialize and he was now confused by the events of the least few days. Especially as he had overheard staff talking and it was clear that the young queen had in fact complained about something very vigorously, in perfect English.

He was still pondering why she might have pretended not to speak the language when Fredrick entered and stood to one side of the doorway with his cheeks sucked in. Never a good thing. Ianto leaned back and motioned for the newspapers and as they were placed down his keen attention to detail noticed one missing, immediately looking at Fredrik who looked even more 'lemonish' as he nodded to an aide and the paper was placed down.

The still frame that Malcolm had deleted the night before was in living colour as the headline screamed of a liaison between their younger king and the queen from another realm, the angle of the shot making it look like his hand was on her fucking butt.

"Wow" Ianto finally said one he found his voice "That is… how the hell did they get it to look like that… I mean…. Wow."

"Wow?" Jack asked as he leaned over Ianto and stared at the hodograph. "Oh. Wow."

"Yeah… that seems to be the word of the day here" Ianto rose from the table, too angry to eat now as he slammed down the cup he had partially lifted.

"Come on love, we can prove this is an angle trick, we all know you like my arse" Jack assured him, then sighed as Ianto stomped from the room.

"Wow" Jack said softly to himself "he's pissed now."

.

.

Queen Anah stood with her head held high as she walked along the garden path, Ianto watching her from the sidelines as she moved to allow the cameras a good angle. She knows angles this one, eh?

Ianto could not work out what her game was. She was speaking slightly accented English as she addressed the media scrum Ianto had not called, his hackles rising as he saw that she was in charge of this farce, pausing to say that she was confused by the young king's advances…. What? Ianto's mouth fell open as he stood watching, the press catching his look of pure shock as she started to cry.

Jack walked form the other side of the entranceway, coming to a stop by the young queen and he addressed the press "I can assure you that everything within these walls is under constant review and any and all allegations are taken seriously."

Ianto turned to leave and found Malcolm there. "Don't' worry, we have this under control. To that end, here are press packs that show timestamps photos taken form different directions showing that his majesty did not, in fact, touch the queen at all. There was a three to four inch clearance at ALL times. This is backed up by the video footage. Also there!"

Jack had walked towards them and as he neared them he reached out his hand and Malcolm handed him the packs. To Ianto's confusion, Jack did not walk out to hand them over to the press like he had hoped, instead he looked down at them and then walked off.

Ianto looked at Malcom with annoyance "So… what is he doing?"

"I… I don't know Malcolm admitted, running after Jack who he had thought would be the first to defend Ianto from the rooftops. "Hey!"

"We cannot release these" Jack said once the door was closed and he looked past his brother at his seething mate "I am sorry darling, I swear to god. But it is a diplomatic incident as it is. Hopefully he can talk her down and she will say she was mistaken. If we hand these over it is… embarrassing. Could cause a war."

"For whom!" Ianto demanded "her? Jack… you think I am NOT embarrassed right now?"

"I now love but they are guests, you think our realm is the only one watching right now?" Jack begged "Please, give her the chance to come down off her high horse, yeah?"

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Ianto was conflicted. Part of him knew Jack was making a valid point but the other side of him wanted to scratch her eyes out. She knew what she was doing this was no mistake. The fact her accent was fading with each fucking interview told him…. Ianto's thought processes stalled out as he watched the TV screen, his mouth falling open as she stood with those crocodile tears saying she had proof that he was a womanizer. Him. Ianto?

Then Lisa stood in frame and Ianto felt the earth falling from beneath his feet.

What?