CHAPTER 2
In the SUV, Luis yanked off his brimmed hat before he shrugged out of the drab brown coat Mikel had used to disguise him as an unidentifiable prison visitor. The clink of his medals reminded him of Odette’s shackles, which brought him a grim satisfaction.
“How did the meeting go?” Mikel asked from the seat beside Luis. There was no inflection in his voice.
“We won’t have to worry about the press. Yet,” Luis said, but he had another concern to address first. “Before we discuss what Odette said, I need to check in with Francisco. We will decide if my presence is needed at the Palacio de la Ley.”
Mikel pulled a cell phone from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and handed it to Luis.
“Gracias,” Luis said, hitting the speed dial for his most trusted political advisor, Francisco Vargas. “Francisco, what is the situation?”
“Un momento. I will go to the guest office where our conversation will be private.” Luis could hear voices in the background, a click, and then silence. “El Principe Raul created quite a stir.” Francisco’s voice held satisfaction. “He delivered the speech with a great deal of emphasis.”
Luis understood that to mean that Raul’s delivery had been more fiery than Luis had planned. The same words could sound very different depending on the tone in which they were spoken. “Is that a problem?” he asked.
Francisco gave it a moment of thought. “Had Su Majestad done so, it would have been considered heavy-handed. El principe, though, is young, so it was appropriate.”
“And the response?”
“Nothing unexpected yet. We will find out when the action begins behind the scenes.”
“Where is Raul now?” Luis asked.
“On his way back to Castillo Draconago. He made a most dramatic and regal exit before the consejeros could get organized to lobby him. We agreed that it would be wisest not to be dragged into conversation with one faction or another.” Francisco’s tone became more personal. “You can be very proud of el principe, Se?or. He spoke and acted like a future king.”
His words lit a glow of fatherly pride. Francisco was an exacting critic and did not compliment where it was not deserved. “I will return to the castle as well, then.” He nodded to Mikel as he spoke so he could inform their driver of their destination.
“Do you wish me to meet you there?” Francisco asked.
“Only when you feel you have gathered all the useful information you can. Your instincts are invaluable.”
“Gracias, Se?or.”
Luis handed the phone back to Mikel. “Raul did well. He exited before the consejeros could buttonhole him.”
“I am sure he was excellent. He has learned from you.”
Luis nodded and turned his mind back to his alleged daughter. A maelstrom of anticipation, disbelief, regret, fury, and yearning ripped through him with such power that he clamped his hands on his thighs to withstand the surge.
“According to Odette, there is a DNA record stored in a private databank that proves she gave birth to my daughter. That daughter’s name is Grace Howard, and she lives in Iowa. That is why Odette traveled there two and a half years ago.”
Luis wanted to go straight to the royal jet and fly to the U.S. to find out if Grace Howard was really his daughter.
“Odette is a manipulative, lying psychopath,” Mikel said in a matter-of-fact way. “Is the DNA her only evidence of this claim?”
“Based on the rest of our discussion, I believe it is.”
“Did she tell you where the databank is?”
“No, but I am sure Quinn can find it. Although I hate to ask her when she is dealing with wedding plans.” The thought of Gabriel’s happiness with his bride-to-be drained away some of Luis’s fury at Odette. His nephew had weathered his trauma and come back from it stronger than before.
“I believe Quinn will be happy to have a valid reason to avoid some of the more tedious meetings,” Mikel said. “But even if the DNA is authenticated, it does not prove that this particular woman, this Grace Howard, is your daughter. The DNA could have come from some other child.”
Luis ran one hand over his face. “As I am aware. But if it is authenticated, it means that somewhere in the world, I have a child. DNA does not lie.”
The hope he had been quelling with an iron control flickered to life again.
“I understand that family is of the utmost importance to you, Se?or, but we must go slowly. If nothing else, there is the succession to consider, given that this child is illegitimate.”
“Fortunately, my ancestors were not respectable citizens, so they made provisions for heirs born out of wedlock,” Luis said. “I can acknowledge her as mine, and she will be a princess.”
“And next in line for the throne after Raul, a role she has no training for and may not wish to fulfill,” Mikel pointed out.
“I understand the complications,” Luis snapped.
Mikel merely nodded. “Please tell me everything that Odette said.”
Luis repeated the conversation almost verbatim, a useful memory skill he had honed over his many years of being king. “Only five people should know of this. Outside this car, that includes Raul, Quinn, and Gabriel,” Luis said. “Odette must be kept in solitary, with no visitors allowed, until we get ahead of this situation. I don’t want her releasing any information to the media.”
Mikel nodded before he said, “Remember that we are limited in how long we can keep a prisoner in solitary confinement without offering a valid reason.”
“And she will know that, of course,” Luis said with a snarl of anger.
“Indeed.” Mikel’s tone turned reflective. “One wonders why Odette chose this particular time to share such a bombshell with you.”
“It is impossible to know what goes on in a mind that twisted,” Luis said.
His hatred of Odette had intensified to the point where he wanted to return to the medieval way of punishment. He wanted to seize her with his own hands, hurl her off the highest point of Acantilado Alto, and watch her body smash onto the rocks below. He wanted her to survive, as legend said two others had, so that her broken, agonized body could be dragged back up to the pinnacle, where he could fling her off again. Then he would stand atop the high cliff and smile as the waves battered her body against the boulders until the sea sucked her under forever.
Since civilized kings no longer had that option, he would have to be satisfied with prolonging her miserable captivity.
An unpleasant thought struck Luis. “Grace may wish to meet her birth mother.”
“It might be better if she didn’t. Odette is not a mother to be proud of,” Mikel said, his harsh tone surprising from a man so controlled.
“I believe it is important to know where you came from,” Luis said. If Grace was truly who Odette said she was, his daughter should have the opportunity to make her own choice.
Mikel shook his head. “With respect, I disagree. There are times when the past should be buried as deeply as possible.”
Luis wondered again where Mikel had come from—he’d arrived in Caleva with his young daughter eight years ago—but he refused to pry. Mikel would tell him when he was ready. Or when it became necessary.
“Mikel, my friend, today proves that the past refuses to stay buried, no matter how much dirt we heap on top of it.”
“What did Odette want?” Raul started to stand as Luis entered his private office, but Luis waved him back to his seat in one of the armchairs. Raul’s uniform jacket was tossed over the chair’s arm, so he wore only a black cotton T-shirt with his dress trousers. A glass of water dangled from his fingers.
“First, how did the speech go?” Luis unfastened the high collar of his own jacket before he sat in the chair nearest to his son.
“I’m sure Francisco already reported to you about it,” Raul said, but he grinned. “I was nervous as hell walking down the aisle to the podium, but once I got there and spotted some of the assholes who tried to grab the lily fields, I got pissed off. I enjoyed rubbing their noses in the fact that we defeated them. The speech just poured out of me after that.”
“Anger can be useful if channeled in the right direction. I am proud of you, hijo mío. I am also grateful that you were there to step in for me.”
“It was an honor to be entrusted with such an important job,” Raul said, the grin gone as his tone turned formal. “Thank you for your confidence in me.”
“Be careful,” Luis warned. “You may find yourself shouldering my responsibilities more often.”
“Pater, I am here anytime you need me. You know that,” Raul said. “But the consejeros might not be so happy about the substitution.”
“I already have half a dozen requests for private meetings,” Luis acknowledged. “I will definitely drop some of those on you.”
Raul nodded with a mischievous glint in his eye. “That will annoy them even more.” Then he sobered. “Was what Odette had to say explosive enough to be worth missing the address?”
“It depends on whether it is true,” Luis said.
Raul waited.
“She claims that I have a daughter, a half sister to you.” Luis watched Raul’s face. “Odette put her up for adoption right after the baby was born.”
His son straightened abruptly, but his expression gave nothing away. “Do you believe her?”
“I believe her enough to ask Quinn to find the private databank where Odette claims her daughter’s DNA analysis is stored.”
“If anyone can find it, Quinn can.” Raul hesitated before he spoke again. “Pater, I know how much it would mean to you to have another child,” he said with care, “but Odette is a psychopath. She lies without compunction to cause you pain.”
“Mikel said the same thing.” Luis leaned forward and locked his gaze on Raul. “I do not need another child. I am honored to be your father every day. I love you with all my heart and soul.”
“I do not doubt your feelings for me.” Raul reached across the space between them, and Luis took his hand, savoring the strength of his son’s grip. “You have been both a brilliant king and a wonderful father to me. That’s amazing, because just one of those roles is demanding enough.” Raul squeezed Luis’s hand before releasing it. “What worries me is that you will be hurt when Odette’s story turns out to be a complete falsehood.”
“You are a very perceptive young man.” No wonder Raul was not affected by suddenly acquiring a new sibling. His son did not believe Odette.
“You understand, though,” Luis said, “that if there is even a small chance that I have another child, I must do everything in my power to find her.” The image of a young woman in jeans and a sweatshirt flickered in his mind’s eye for a moment.
“Do you know where she lives?” Raul asked.
“In Iowa.”
Raul’s eyes widened. “That’s why Odette went to Iowa? To see her daughter?”
“To see her and nothing else. Odette did not speak to her.” How could a mother be within reach of her daughter and not touch her? That was a level of coldheartedness Luis could not fathom. “She felt that Grace—her daughter’s name—was not worthy to be her child because she wore blue jeans and spoke like a yokel. Odette’s words.”
“Why did that make her decide to kidnap and mutilate me?” Raul asked, his face tight with pain at what had happened to his cousin instead.
The horror of his ultimate responsibility for the abduction lanced through Luis again, but he kept his voice level. “Since she perceived her daughter as being damaged, she wished to damage my child. To cause me the same level of pain. She was lashing out at me for what she had done in the past. She knew what would cause me the maximum amount of agony.”
“Madre de Dios, she is a sick human being.” Raul’s eyes blazed with anger.
Luis had sensed something was off with Odette all those years ago. That was why he had broken off their relationship. Yet he had allowed her to remain friends with his brother’s wife, Hélène, and to become a sort of honorary aunt to Raul and Gabriel. Guilt had warped his judgment, and Gabriel had paid for it. Luis would never forget or forgive his terrible decisions.
“And now?” Raul asked. “Even if the DNA proves Odette’s claim, that doesn’t mean this Grace in Iowa is the same person as the baby.”
“One step at a time, hijo mío. One step at a time.”
“There’s something I don’t understand,” Raul said. “Why was it so urgent to meet with Odette about this when you were supposed to be giving a major speech?”
“She threatened to share the story with the media if I didn’t arrive within an hour. She was proving that she could make me dance to her tune.”
“It’s a pretty juicy story,” Raul said. “Are you sure she won’t release it anyway?”
“Given the inconclusive evidence and Odette’s attacks against us, I don’t see any respectable media outlet picking it up without confirming the facts with the palace. Of course, we will dismiss the story as the fabrication of a criminal madwoman.”
“Because it probably is,” Raul agreed.
Luis nodded, but he would be tempted to hover over Quinn, urging her to work faster to find his child’s DNA.