Chapter 13

The building inspection was completed early in the morning before anyone in the palace was even awake. Sola had been in such a deep sleep that her aid had practically pushed her out of bed to get her attention. Darred had already arrived at the palace with the report and was eagerly awaiting to meet with her. And as she brushed the sleep from her eyes, she hastily threw on a pair of slacks, and a button down shirt rather than dealing with the dress she was going to wear later in her afternoon meetings. This was one interaction in which time was of the essence.

Sola made her way down the halls towards the sitting room Darred had been instructed to wait in. She walked so fast that she easily out paced the herald whose job it was to announce her when she arrived. She even ignored the doormen who would open the doors for her, instead grabbing the handles before they could and swung them open with more strength than she intended, the wood slamming against the walls and sending a loud echoing reverberation through the room that shook the glass chandelier overhead. Darred had jumped at the sound and whipped around to face her.

"Your—"

"No need for that,—" She cut him off and walked around to sit on one of the plush chairs as the doormen closed the door to give them privacy. Sola smoothed out the leg of her pants as she gestured for him to sit on the couch next to hers. "Please, let's just get down to business."

He nodded and sat down where she directed him and opened his bag to pull out a decently sized file and placed it on the coffee table before her. "I went over it on the way here," He explained. "The exterior materials are up to code and utilizes bricks that passed inspection. "The cement holding them is of good quality as well, even if a little on the thin side, it still meets code."

Sola nodded, "So, does that mean… it's alright?" It all sounded good from what she could understand. For him to start on such positive notes, it had to be a good thing, right? One look at his face, and what hope she had crumbled.

"Afraid not." He turned the pages until he found the part of the report he was looking for. "The foundation is not nearly at a depth that can support the weight of the building. And instead of using rebar to support the higher floors, they opted to use low quality wood." He pulled out a few photographs of the wood supports and pointed at several sections where the wood was already splintering. "The wood is not thick enough to be structurally safe and it is also already fracturing."

It wasn't safe. That much was clear to her. She made a horrible mistake trusting Lott Dod and his low figures. And now she had to fix it and she would fix it no matter the financial cost of the project. "Thank you, Mr. Janren," She said. "Your persistence has been… remarkable. I can't even think about what might have happened if you hadn't brought this to my attention."

He gave a small smile, "It isn't over yet. You still need someone to fix it. And you need to get everyone out of there pretty fast."

He was right. But there are some things that needed to be handled delicately. This was one of them. "I know. And so long as this is a problem, I kindly ask that you not mention any of this to anyone until the crisis is over." She gave a small smile, "We don't want to cause a panic."

Dared raised a brow at her, "Those kids need to get out of that house. I think that alone will cause some kind of panic."

She shook her head, "Not if we take care of this in small pieces."

His eyes narrowed at her, "You mean cover it up," He said. "You made a mistake but you don't want any one to know about it."

"It's not a cover up."

"Not telling the people the truth is a cover up."

Sola stood up, "I believe you've done what you came to do, Mr. Janren." She spoke loud enough that the steward on the other side heard her and entered. He waited by the door with his hands folded in front of him, patiently waiting to lead the visitor out.

Darred shook his head at her and turned and left, not even bowing his head as he was required to. Sola didn't care. Right now, she had more important things to worry about.

Grabbing the file, she tucked it under her arm and left the room through the side door and walked down the hall in the general direction of her office. One of her secretaries fell into step behind her. "Move some of my appointments today around. And get me the representative of the Royal Engineers Corps as soon as they are available. As well as my public relations advisor," She ordered, paying them little mind as they rushed off to do as she asked.

Stepping into her office, she laid the file down on the desk and began to sift through the mass of reports and photographs. The foundation was only one of the problems. Among others, were problems with electrical wiring, locations of gaslines, water filters… the entire thing was a mess. Near the back, were a list of recommendations from the inspector with notes written in the margin that must have been added by Darred. The list was long, but the agreed overall best outcome was demolition.

Her heart fell as she ran through the scenario in her head. She could see the headlines "CHILDREN'S HOME CONDEMNED!" "QUEEN FAILS TO INSPECT HOME!" "QUEEN ENDANGERS CHILDREN!" Nightmares. All of them. She knows there has to be a way to fix this without drawing too much attention. There just has to be.

Hours passed slowly as she went through page after page, consulted with advisors she trusted to keep things quiet, as they worked to come up with a plan. So far, the plan was just a rough outline that required a tremendous amount of revisions, but it was still more than what she'd had in the morning. Tomorrow she could work on finalizing a plan, and then the day after begin the implementation. But for now, she wanted to put all of it out of her mind as she made her way to dinner with her mother and sister. The moment she was free to, Sola had kicked off her shoes and didn't care where she left them, knowing that someone would come across them and return them later. She didn't want to think, didn't want to worry about anything any more. Padding along the halls of the residence, she tried to push her focus onto more care free matters but nothing came to mind.

Since the disaster that was the children's home became a strong possibility, her mind had been so preoccupied that she'd barely taken more than a passing glance at the gossip magazines that she enjoyed and she had been too exhausted to even watch her favorite programs on the television at night. Worry over a disaster that had yet to happen consumed her so much so that she felt it was impossible to relax. But maybe… Sola smiled as she remembered where exactly her sister had been these past few days. Perhaps dinner would be a distraction all on its own.

Sola walked through the doors to the small family dining room where her mother and sister were already seated engrossed in a conversation about their mother's recent engagement at the veterans hospital. Padme eagerly listened to some of the grievances that had been mentioned at the event, and gave a few small recommendations that may help. A small adjustment in budget to increase pensions, donations to research medical interventions to improve quality of life… Sola shook her head as she took her seat. Her sister was acting as if she hadn't just been on a romantic get away with a hot stud. That had to change.

She let out a loud yawn as she stretched her arms high over her head. "I've had enough talk about work," She said as she rolled her neck. "I haven't seen or heard from you for days, sis! I need details."

Padme laughed, "Details?"

She groaned, "Yes details! Hey, I always told you about my dates. Now dear sister it is your turn to spill." Sola leaned forward on the table and directed her full focus on Padme to compel her into speaking. She really needed the distraction.

Padme glanced between her sister and mother, who looked at least mildly intrigued albeit hidden behind a practiced mask. With a slow breath, she shook her head. "You know, there really isn't much to tell…"

"Oh, please! You two were having eye sex way before you even left! Don't tell me you didn't even try the real thing."

"Sola!" Padme scolded, her cheeks flushed as she looked between her sister and her mother again.

The older woman gave a dismissive wave. "Oh, Padme, I was young once too," She said giving a knowing smile. "I know what happens between a handsome young man and a beautiful woman."

Padme groaned and buried her face in her hands. "You're not helping, Mother!"

The arrival of dinner gave her poor younger sister a small reprieve as the servants brought them roast duck and collard greens with sliced potatoes dressed in a cheese sauce and herbs. The table remained quiet while the servants laid out the spread before them and make sure that everyone had everything they needed before standing in a line at the side of the table and gave a small bow of their heads in unison before departing out the doors.

Sola served herself a nice duck leg and scooped a heathy amount of potatoes on her plate before sucking some of the grease off her thumb and starting the conversation back up with her sister once more. "If it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to give us all the details, but just give us… something," She said.

Padme looked down at her plate before rolling her eyes, "Fine," She said reluctantly, as she poked at her food. "We… went shopping, swimming, we talked a lot, and spent the evening watching the sunset."

Sola rotated her hand in a coaxing motion, "And?"

"And what?"

Sola wanted to scream at her sister. She wasn't just asking about what they did. A weekend spent doing fun activities was one thing, but enjoying them, and enjoying the person you're with is another. She had a feeling about this guy. A really good feeling. The attraction between him and her sister was so obvious and the days they had spent together was the perfect opportunity for them to figure out if there was more than just the physical attraction between them. Padme had to realize that. "Come on! Was it nice? Did you have fun? Was it romantic? What's he like? Give me something!"

A forlorn smile crossed her face as she gave a small nod. "Yeah… it was… very, very nice."

The eager smile on Sola's face fell as she watched her sister carefully. "What is it?"

Padme shook her head. "I like him." She said it as if it were a bad thing. "I really like him."

"Oh, sweetie, you're in love!" Sola smiled as she rose from her seat and embraced her young sister. "I'm so happy for you!" She pulled back and held her at arms length and frowned as she watched the sad look on her sister's face carefully. This didn't make sense. "Why are you upset?"

Padme shook her head, "It'll never work."

"You don't know that."

"But I do," She said. "You might not have paid much attention to our tutors, but I did." Sola still did not understand, and so waited for Padme to explain. "The Marriage Law of 1920. No royal shall marry nor be romantically involved with a member of a foreign family of the same class, nor one subservient to a foreign power."

"Padme…"

"The law is clear. I figured, maybe getting him out of my system would be enough to let me move on… but, it's only made it worse." Padme looked across the table to their mother, "What do I do?"

Sola looked at her too, hoping their mother had some idea about what can be done so that her sister could be happy. The older woman closed her eyes as she did when she was in deep thought. Silence filled the room as they waited patiently for answers. The chime on the clock dinged, and their mother bowed her head and shook it slowly before looking at both her daughters with a sad look on her face. "There isn't much we can do," She said. "You can ask him to leave his work—"

"I can't do that," Padme answered.

Their mother nodded, "Then, all you can do is step down from your duties, and renounce your titles."

Both girls' faces fell at the only options available. That couldn't be it. There had to be other options. This was her sister they were talking about! Her happiness! It wasn't like she was having an affair with a criminal. It wasn't fair!

The doors to the dining room flew open as one of Sola's handmaids briskly approached her. She stood up when she came to her side and waited for what the girl had to say. "Majesty," She began before leaning close to whisper in her ear. "You have a call from the director of the children's home."