Chapter 34 #2
Victor spluttered, rounding on the man in a fine dander. “I’m your crown prince, not him!”
Captain Rowan didn’t even dignify him with a response.
“To Crovan House,” I directed my driver. I may have singsonged the direction, very pleased with myself. I’d managed to prevent a major disaster.
I hefted myself into the carriage and closed the door, settling into the seat, and only then noticed the odd tension.
Lady Julia’s tears were still streaming but slowing, and she refused to look up from her lap.
Helena, on the other hand, looked appalled.
She also glared censoriously at the child like she wanted to shake her.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Helena growled toward me, still glaring at Julia. “This twerp didn’t even think about protection.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I now understood how she got pregnant in my previous life. “Lady Julia, were you trying to get impregnated by Victor? Was that your goal tonight?”
She squirmed in her seat. I took the silence as a yes.
“Shidteus’s balls,” Edwin muttered, tone one of despair. He passed a hand over his eyes. “Lady Julia. If he’d gotten you pregnant, he wouldn’t have married you.”
Her head snapped upright, eyes wide with disbelief. “He would have had to!”
“You’re not the first noblewoman to have bedded him,” Edwin stated flatly.
He met her eyes, and the fight drained out of this girl as he spoke in that level tone of his.
The one known to squash lesser beings. “He’s fathered eleven children that we know of, four with other noblewomen, including Lady Elsie Cantrell.
The reason she hasn’t been in court for the past year is because she gave birth to his child and then was sent out of the country. We all know why.”
The Cantrells were Margraves, and their rank should put Julia’s situation into perspective. She might have thought being of a higher rank would have forced Victor’s hand, but that wasn’t the case. I could see a palpable hit, the child’s face fading from red to deathly white in the turn of a moment.
“You?” Edwin continued. “You think you would have fared differently? I can assure you, you would not have. Oh, I have no doubt your father would have thrown a fit to have the prince marry you, to spare you the shame, but the prince is wildly out of control. In fact, he’s hanging on to his position as crown prince by a threadbare line as it is.
He’s probably going to lose it entirely before the end of the summer at the rate he’s going.
If you thought bedding him and having his child was your ticket to becoming a princess, you picked the wrong prince. ”
I sat there and listened to Edwin and Helena dismantle this girl’s stupidity and greed without needing to interject a single word. This, before her parents got ahold of her.
I did not think Lady Julia would make such a mistake again.
Fortunately, Crovan House was not far from here, about halfway back to the palace. We arrived to find the entire house lit up, people running all over the place, calling for Lady Julia.
Well, I wouldn’t be waking people up.
We pulled into the driveway and I disembarked before the wheels had fully stopped. I flagged the first man I saw, who was in slippers and a robe, and quickly introduced myself. “I’m James Kronenscheld. Where might Duchess or Duke Crovan be?”
He whipped around, eyes going wide, and ducked into a quick bow. “Your Highness. They’re inside, but, um—”
“I bring Lady Julia with me.” I gestured to the others. “You can call off the search.”
“Thank fuck,” he blurted out. “Eh, uh, come this way.”
I followed only after I was sure I had my own party with me.
Helena had the girl in hand, Edwin following to make sure she couldn’t bolt.
From the expression on Lady Julia’s face, running had definitely presented itself as an option.
Captain Rowan had split from us at the beginning of the driveway, as he was under orders to take Victor back to the palace and then sit on him.
Only two of my knights stayed with me; the rest escorted Victor.
Frankly, I didn’t trust Victor to be sensible, and Duke Crovan would be tempted to kill him if Victor was within range. Better to keep the two men apart.
My guide called to the others, letting them know Lady Julia had been found, even as he led me directly into the back right of the house, which turned out to be a study.
Bookshelves lined the walls on all sides, a hefty set of chairs and a sofa arranged in front of a fireplace.
There sat Duchess and Duke Crovan, quite in a state.
Duchess Crovan wore her robe, her greying blonde hair up in a protective silk head thingy, and Duke Crovan wore nothing but his robe and slippers.
The second I entered, they immediately rose, confusion on their faces—then over my shoulder they spied their daughter and all thoughts of me abruptly fled. Duchess Crovan practically flew around me, grabbing her daughter in a tight hug.
“Where have you been?”
Lady Julia had no idea how to answer the question, but my sister had no such issue.
“She was whoring herself out to my brother.”
I winced. Not quite how I’d phrase it, but…well. Helena was not wrong.
Both parents froze, staring at us for the first time as if realizing why we were there. Duchess Crovan seemed tempted to start beating sense into her child, and if not for my presence and Helena’s, she probably would have.
She stepped back, no longer holding her daughter but eyeing her with the fury of a mother past her limits.
“So. You chose to ignore all our advice, all our warnings, and go after him anyway. You foolish girl.”
Lady Julia flinched, tears once again streaming down her face. “I’m—I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize I was…I thought he wanted me there. I…”
“Go straight upstairs.” Her mother’s voice was cold with fury. “Take a bath, you reek. In the morning, you’re getting on the first ship for Wisdom Lake.”
Oh, the super strict temple on its own island? The one known to reform errant teenagers? Excellent idea. That should keep her safely out of trouble for a while.
Lady Julia raised her head sharply, her mouth open on a protest.
“It’s either that,” Duke Crovan rumbled, his anger a live, pulsing thing, “or I throw you out of the family immediately. If you’d rather whore your way through life, that can be arranged.”
Lady Julia’s mouth snapped shut. She nodded in resignation and walked out of the room, presumably up to her bedroom.
Duke Crovan seized my hand in a tight grip. “Your Highness, and you as well, Princess Helena, thank you. As tempted as I am to beat sense into her, I wouldn’t wish my daughter in such a situation.”
“You’re of course very welcome, but there’s a few things I must make you aware of.
” I tried to appear sympathetic to his situation but I was also crowing inside, because this would surely get Victor in lots of trouble.
In fact, this might be the tipping point, so it was rather difficult to keep my face straight.
“First, may we sit? I promise this won’t take five minutes.”
“Of course.” Duke Crovan seemed to realize he wouldn’t like this conversation but willingly waved us to the sofa.
Edwin took his usual stance near the door. I truly detested him being way over there. I wanted him next to me, dammit. I couldn’t very well insist upon it, though.
I sat, Helena at my side, and faced the Crovans.
“First of all, your daughter was brought to my brother by Lord Gillespie,” Helena said. “My supposed fiancé. We’re not entirely sure why, only that Gillespie owed my brother some sort of favor, and your daughter was payment rendered.”
Both parents immediately issued noises of shock.
“What?!” Duchess Crovan screeched.
Duke Crovan, on the other hand, went very, very still, his grey eyes burning with rage. “My daughter. As payment. How can you possibly know this?”
“I’m trying to break my engagement,” Helena stated plainly.
“For, well, obvious reasons. James has been helping me. He’s kept a spy on Gillespie for several weeks now, and through the spy, learned of tonight.
Once we were warned, we left to intercept the girl before she could have something worse done to her. ”
“We found her in Lunar,” I interjected quietly, and watched the duke’s eyes close in resignation. No one had good intentions when meeting there. “She was in bed with Victor by the time we arrived, but fortunately not, uh, fully engaged in intercourse. No risk of her being pregnant.”
“There’s that,” Duchess Crovan said, despairing even as she slumped sideways over the chair’s arm. “Kaysn bless you. If not for your intervention, she’d be either despoiled or pregnant. How stupid of her.”
“You have indeed done us a huge favor tonight. Can I ask your silence?” Duke Crovan asked.
I spread both hands. “I normally would promise silence but there’s no point. Victor won’t keep her confidence.”
“Zinos damn it.” Duke Crovan rubbed his face with both hands. “A good point. Her reputation is beyond tarnished, then.”
His wife hissed angrily, “That’s the least of our worries at the moment. She’s so close to being an adult and still makes these decisions? She’ll ruin herself completely if left to her own devices.”
Carefully not saying anything there either… “I’ll do what I can to squash him, but Victor’s a loudmouth. The best I can offer is shoving him back under house arrest.”
Duchess Crovan didn’t like my offer, but saw there was nothing to do about it. Her brows compressed into a straight line. “Unfortunately true.”
“No,” Edwin corrected from his place near the door. “There’s a way to turn this about.”
I twisted in my seat to see him. “What are you saying, dear heart?”
“Frame it as an abduction.” Edwin’s grin was not at all to be trusted. “Despite a lapse in judgement, the girl’s innocent, a victim. The true perpetrators get their due justice.”
Helena laughed in delight. “Edwin, this is why I love you. Yes, let’s do that.”
“I do like this idea very much,” Duchess Crovan said, expression also lifting. “My daughter doesn’t deserve the grace, but I hate to see her life destroyed by one childish decision. If you’re all agreeable?”
“We are,” Helena promised her.
“Then let’s use an abduction as our cover story. I’ll coach my daughter in it well.”
Duke Crovan seemed relieved. “We’ll still send her away. Hopefully the rumors won’t spread far and will have died down by the time Julia returns to us. I think a few years would be best. Thank you, Your Highness. Please, let us return the favor.”
Duchess Crovan nodded. “You’ve done so much for my family tonight. If there’s anything I can do…”
“There is, in fact.” Helena gave them a winsome smile. “Help me. I would consider it a favor returned if you’d come to my engagement luncheon and serve as a character witness against Gillespie. I do not want to marry that man.”
“After seeing what he’s willing to do? I don’t blame you.” Duchess Crovan nodded firmly. “We’ll be there.”
“Oh, we’ll be there. I’ll be quite loud about how a man of his caliber shouldn’t marry into the royal family.”
I grinned. “Excellent. Then we’ll see you both there.”