Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Fifty-Four
6th April 1963
Mitte, Berlin
After a frustrating week spent filing reports and requisition forms at a desk in Rangsdorf, Kiki found that she was willing to go to the Provence of Hohenzollern for Spargel if she wouldn’t have to look at a sheet of paper the entire time she was there. Then she found out that Kat had threatened Ben’s mother. This was on top of the events of the previous week. It was moments like these when she felt like if she was the last sane person on the planet. It seemed like everything she had done to try make things better to had created an even larger mess. Kiki should have known that Kat would react the way that she had. If the Gräfin had errored in the past, it had always been in her excesses on behalf of those she cared about. That had always translated to loyalty towards Kiki’s family in the past, so it had worked out. Still though, Kat was clearly not thinking things through. She would burn the world down to protect others. But who protected Kat though?
The entire situation had all become too much for Kiki to handle and it needed to stop. When she had talked with Charlotte, she had told Kiki that when she was stuck in a hole then the first thing she needed to do was stop digging. What would even that look like? So far, everything she had tried had gone horribly wrong. “Did it ever occur to you that the secrecy you have engaged in is the real problem?” Charlotte had asked, “That is the reason why Benjamin’s mother doesn’t trust you.”
Kiki had tried to explain how her actions had been necessary considering the situation, only to have Charlotte stop her. “You are not guaranteed a happy ending here Kiki” Charlotte said, “When you got back together with your former boyfriend it was because you wanted something real as opposed to the sorts of offers that I know you have received. Unless you like the idea of being alone, relegated to being a broodmare or end up like Marie José and be used as a human shield against allegations that your husband is a homosexual, I would suggest that you face your demons.”
Apparently, that included pretending that white asparagus prepared dozens of different ways were not monotonous and figuring out what she was going to do to find a way out of her current mess. Because of how Kiki figured that everything that she had assumed about matters was wrong, she figured that it was time to try something that went against everything she had been told was proper. If someone was going to blow something up, then they would need to consult with an expert in demolitions.
Knocking on the door, Kiki waited until the door swung open and a Butler looked out at her. “The Fraulein isn’t home” The Butler said sharply. It seemed that he had a lot of experience with the sort of friends that Zella had and assumed that she was just another one of them.
“I’m not here to see to Marcella” Kiki replied, “I came to speak with Maria. Can you tell her that I am here? My name is Kiki and she will see me”
The Butler looked at her, he clearly wasn’t thrilled with having her around. Kiki figured that it was how she had dressed for comfort on a day off and what Ben had dubbed the Russian peasant dress that she was wearing was beneath his standards. The Butler cleared his throat, “If you could wait here in the vestibule while I check with Markgräfin von Holz” With that he vanished for several minutes leaving Kiki standing there.
Looking around, she saw that there had been several additions of art that had been added to the walls since she had last been in this house. When Zella and her little brother Walter had been younger, they had not been present. Probably because the odds of them being damaged or destroyed had been extremely high.
The Butler appeared looking shaken, “Your Royal Highness” He said, “I beg your apology, I didn’t recognize you.”
“I’m not here to have my presence be a big production” Kiki replied, “I have a matter I wish to discuss with Maria is all.”
“And that is why you came incognito?” The Butler asked, obviously looking for a face-saving way out.
“If that makes you happy” Kiki said in little more than a mumble.
Though Kiki knew the way to Maria’s home office, the Butler still insisted upon showing her the way and announced her as Imperial Princess Royal Kristina of Hohenzollern. She really wished that her father had not given her that title, if really did confuse matters.
“What can I help you with Kiki?” Maria asked when Kiki sat down in the chair next to the desk. It wasn’t until she looked across the desk at Maria that Kiki realized that she was sitting in the same chair that Zella had sat in while her mother scolded her over her latest infraction throughout her childhood.
“You helped Tante Kat tell her story, the one that was going to wreck her?” Kiki asked.
“Do you have a story like that?” Maria asked.
“No, not quite” Kiki said, “Just I’ve messed things up and I’m not sure what to do.”
“And you think that becoming a spectacle will get you out of it?” Maria asked, “I don’t think I need to tell you the problem with that.”
“I’m not trying to get out of anything” Kiki replied, “Just the story is going to come out and if the wrong person tells it, I’ll be a laughingstock. My life has become the worst sort of melodrama.”
“How bad could it really be?”
“Benjamin’s mother hates me because she found out that I’ve been keeping secrets from her for years” Kiki replied.
“Just who is this Benjamin?”
“He’s my boyfriend, on and off since we were fifteen.”
Maria was a bit surprised by that answer. It was something that only a few people had ever known about and certainly no one from the press had been allowed anywhere near them when they had been together.
“And the secrets you’ve kept?”
“The whole stupid Princess thing” Kiki replied, “She just blew up at me over it. She said I treat ordinary people like playthings.”
“Do you?” Maria asked.
“No” Kiki said, “But after finding out about how I killed those two men it was entirely too much.”
“You mean that ambush where they were trying to kill you?” Maria asked as she started opening drawers to her desk.
“That doesn’t make what I did right” Kiki replied.
Maria produced a tape recorder and plugged a microphone into it.
“Can you please start at the beginning?” Maria asked, “How did you meet Benjamin?”