“Apparently,” Talia gave a little shiver, “the call came from inside the castle.”

Sophia’s blood rushed through her ears to the point where she had to strain to hear Talia’s next comment.

“And I get the sense from the way everyone around here snapped to attention that the tip didn’t come from some random groundskeeper or scullery maid. I may be wrong, but the way these reporters are dancing around, I suspect the leak came from someone high up on staff, or even a member of the family.”

“Or a member of staff working on the orders of a member of the household.” She ground her teeth. This had James’s fingerprints all over it, and James worked for the duchess. So much for not commenting on the personal affairs of castle guests. Had it pained him a little bit to break long-standing protocol, or had he been all too happy to heed that order from the lady of the house? She’d have to ask when she pinned his uptight ass to the wall.

She stood and took two steps before Talia caught her by the wrist and pulled her back. “Calm down.”

“Oh, I’m calm. Dead calm.”

“Okay, then you need to get to alive calm before you fly off the handle.”

“I make no promises about keeping anyone alive.”

“I’ll lock you in this stable if I have to, because as much as I’d love to see you knock a few snooty bastards down a peg, the production is in a precarious position, and don’t think I didn’t notice all of our problems started when the Ice Queen-Mother waltzed into the castle.”

Sophia folded her arms across her chest and stewed.

“We still have a job to do,” Talia pushed. “The filming schedule is at a standstill, the studio is already forking out extra time and resources, our director’s gone AWOL, and hey, no judgement here, but you also seem to be sleeping with the daughter of the people who own our set. The duchess is holding a lot of cards here, and we’re sitting on a pair of twos. Do you really want to call her bluff?”

She wasn’t wrong. As much as Sophia’s insides screamed in frustration, nothing Talia had said fell flat. And honestly, Sophia had swallowed more with less at stake over the years. There wasn’t any real reason she shouldn’t do the same right now. The duchess may have the upper hand with the press and procedures, but Sophia could at least pull the movie back on track.