Chapter 35
Thirty-five
James
I spent the next week putting things into motion and gathering the last of the information I needed.
The rumors revolving around Julia Crovan didn’t get very far, mostly in part because everyone present that night kept their mouths shut.
Victor sulked in his rooms the entire week and only opened the door to call for more wine or company, so he certainly wasn’t spreading rumors around the court.
He was probably attempting to protect himself by not saying anything, as his parents would flay him alive for this, but whatever his reason, I’d take advantage of his silence.
After all, he wasn’t going to be spared. I’d received all the information from Aurora that I needed in order to prove the business was a house of smoke.
And today…well, today was the day to put all those plans into motion.
The luncheon was in full swing and going well.
Everything looked lovely, of course, all the tables containing finger foods and cool dishes like sorbets to offset the hot weather.
In one corner, a quartet played lively popular tunes, and people happily milled about and chatted.
The mood was festive, the party the perfect stage for our plan.
We’d organized it with many small round tables scattered around the garden area, allowing people to mingle with a plate in hand without a formal sit-down.
It would give people a front-row seat to the action.
The better to make pretty fireworks go off.
Everyone had arrived, no one daring to refuse an invite from both a prince and princess. Beatrice probably had the impression I was throwing this luncheon in Helena’s honor as a sign of approval for Gillespie. She remained quite delusional about such matters. Well, she’d see soon enough.
Helena smiled brightly because she knew what this party was truly about. She spied me standing next to the table with her parents and winked before moving on, being the good hostess.
Her wink meant showtime.
Did I look serious enough? Hmm, felt like I was grinning. I lifted a hand to my mouth and subtly rearranged it into firmer lines. There, better.
“I’ve never seen Helena so cheery,” Beatrice commented near my elbow. “I think she’s finally seen Gillespie is a good match for her.”
I chose not to comment because, well, far too many pitfalls there. Instead, I addressed the king and queen as a brother earnestly concerned for my sister. “I do realize your heart’s set on the match, Mother, but do you have a plan in place to deal with everything?”
She turned her head carefully due to how her dark hair was piled in an elaborate way, making her top heavy. Her eyes held no thoughts. “Plan?”
“To deal with his illegitimate offspring, of course.”
From the expression on her face, she had no idea what I spoke of.
The king didn’t either and immediately demanded, “What children? How many?”
“Well, I’m no authority on the matter, I just looked into things as they came up, but I do believe he has three children. The eldest is a son”—I threw that tidbit in because it was sure to cause inheritance problems—“and by, I believe, three different mothers.”
King Patrick’s face turned stone-cold hard, and he stared at his wife with a growing tic at the corner of his mouth. “You didn’t know about this?”
“No!” Her hand lifted to her cheek, a high spot of color from both anger and embarrassment growing there. “No, my friend didn’t say a word about this! James, are you sure?”
“Perfectly sure. It’s part of why I asked. I’d hoped you did know and had a plan. Otherwise, well…” I gestured a helpless hand toward Helena. “How is she supposed to deal with them? I mean, a man’s indiscretions are one thing, but this? Oh. Wait, please tell me you know about the other things too.”
King Patrick closed his eyes in a manner suggesting he was already trying to rein in his temper. The tic was now at double time. Seemed his temper was unraveling quickly. “What things?”
It was like poking a sleeping bear. How many pokes to fully awaken its anger?
We were about to find out.
“Well, you do know he’s in massive debt?
” I looked between them, and Vuheia help me, it was hard to keep this concerned face on when I wanted to cackle.
From their horrified looks, no, they had no clue.
Didn’t surprise me. They were very careless people.
“It’s been reported to me that he’s in debt to banks, three loan sharks, various gambling dens, and of course Victor—they’ve both been embezzling from Aurora, you see.
In fact, the whole company I think was created in order to give them both more money.
They use its business account like a personal spending account.
All that included, the sum total of his debt lies along the lines of three hundred and fifty million gold. ”
Beatrice damn near fainted on the spot.
Considering our annual budget for running the palace and all its expenses was sixty million gold? I sympathized with her reaction.
Of course, Helena’s dowry was something like a hundred million, which was part of the reason Gillespie was so keen on the marriage. If he could lay hands on that money, he could get out of a lot of trouble.
King Patrick’s gaze upon his wife could skewer someone. He looked tempted, too. Beatrice stared across the lawn at Gillespie, who was laughing at something, with an expression both outraged and ready for murder.
“Aurora? Aurora isn’t a true investment company?”
“Oh, no, no, far from it. Just a paper company. I can give you the full reports later, but it’s not at all a legitimate business. Only royal coffers keep it afloat.”
“I’ll want those reports,” King Patrick ground out, his teeth making audible noises as he clenched them together.
“I had no idea about any of this,” Beatrice swore under her breath. “No one told me! I wouldn’t have put him up for Helena’s husband had I known!”
I did believe her, at least. “Mother, there’s one more thing. I know, I know, the man’s in enough trouble I shouldn’t add to it, but…well, he nearly cost us all good relations with the Crovans.”
King Patrick reached across the small table to seize my arm, expression intense. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t have all the details.” Which for once was true. “But I do know Gillespie owed some sort of favor to Victor, and Victor demanded payment in the form of Julia Crovan. I was able to catch them and pull the girl out of Victor’s bed.”
“She snuck into the palace?”
I shook my head and corrected Beatrice. “No, Victor wasn’t at the palace.
I had to hunt him down. He was in a very seedy brothel near the docks.
Gillespie escorted Julia Crovan there. Again, the girl’s virtue is intact”—mostly—“but clearly Gillespie and Victor are in tight cahoots to be giving each other such favors.”
Helena, like she was the stage director for a theater, sent the Crovans to my side at the perfect moment.
They looked far better today, Duke Crovan in a proper day suit of pale cream, his grey hair brushed away from his face, and appearing every inch the duke he was.
He wore a smile, but it was marred by the tightness around his grey eyes.
He was clearly worried and trying to mask it.
Duchess Crovan had matched her husband, wearing a cream dress, her greying hair in an elaborate updo, rubies hanging from her ears and on her choker.
She also looked worried and still upset, which I didn’t blame her for.
“Your Majesties.” Duke Crovan gave them a bow and then reached out to shake my hand. “Your Highness, thank you so much again.”
“Of course, Duke Crovan. I couldn’t very well leave a young girl there.”
To the listening parents, Duke Crovan launched into his speech.
“My daughter went missing last week. I had no idea where she was. If not for Prince James finding her, I’d have no idea she’d been abducted.
Then to hear she was at a brothel, being used as currency?
My heart’s in shreds. Please, I do implore you, there must be some kind of punishment for Gillespie and Crown Prince Victor.
They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this behavior any longer! ”
I saw the final nail hit home in the coffin. Victor’s demise was imminent indeed.
King Patrick straightened. “I will hear this from the horse’s mouth before judgement. Gillespie!”
Gillespie wasn’t one for nuance apparently. He skipped right over, smiling.
King Patrick didn’t hold back with his voice, either, letting everyone at this party hear. And most of the partygoers were listening, all their eyes turned on us.
“Gillespie. Did you take Julia Crovan from her house and deliver her to Victor at a brothel?”
Gillespie did a classic double take. “How do you know about that?”
He was too stupid to dissemble. Fortunately.
Duke Crovan turned and punched Gillespie dead in the mouth. He had a mean right hook. I admired both the swing and the picture Gillespie made as he practically flew backward, landing in a splay of limbs and almost knocking his head against a table.
Then he started crying, sobbing, hand cradling his split lip. “You hurt me!”
He honestly sounded five. I was being generous—more like three.
Marchioness Gillespie flew to her son’s side. “Duke Crovan, how dare you!”
“I?” Duke Crovan yelled, hands bunched into fists at his side. “I dare? Your son—and I use the term loosely, as he’s no better than the projectile diarrhea of an orc with clap—dared to abduct my daughter and then give her to Crown Prince Victor as payment.”
She still looked upset, but now her ire was directed at her son. She hissed at him even as she tried to drag him to his feet. “Percival, what did you do this time?!”
“Mom,” he whined, not really cooperating, “he hurt me! Do something!”
“I’m going to hurt you in a second!” Marchioness Gillespie seemed to mean it, too. “Answer the damn question!”
He reeled in shock. Apparently, his mother had never spoken to him like that before. “I, uh, I was just doing what Prince Victor told me to! You said to make friends with him!”
“Asyn, Mother of All, preserve me,” she breathed, eyes closing for a second. “How could you be so stupid? Duke Crovan, my profound apologies. We will, of course, make amends—”
“The only amends you can make is by throwing your son out of your house and cutting him off.” Duke Crovan did not mince words.
Did I mention how much I liked him?
King Patrick came to stand at Duke Crovan’s side, his shoulders back, an air of false calm about his person. “Percival Gillespie, you have admitted to abducting a peer of this realm, a child no less, for the worst of purposes.”
“Your son told me to!” Gillespie’s head kept spinning around like he was expecting help to come from some quarter.
To my utter lack of surprise, none came.
“My son I will deal with. I’m dealing with you right now.” King Patrick seemed absolutely fed up with this shit, and I think he realized if he didn’t make an example of Gillespie now, it would set a dangerous precedent. “Percival Gillespie, your betrothal to my daughter is ended as of this moment.”
I couldn’t do a happy dance, but on the inside, I was doing a jig.
Yes! Finally! I was over the moon about this success.
It proved I truly could change the outcome of events, which was cause for celebration in and of itself.
A clean success was a boost to the morale.
But I was also happy for my sister. I caught Helena’s eye, and she was beaming, not even trying to hide her joy.
Gillespie’s jaw flapped about like a landed fish, managing little more than croaking sounds.
“Furthermore, you are stripped of your title. I will not accept a man of your morals among the peerage.”
Marchioness Gillespie collapsed on the spot and let out a wail, crying into her hands.
Her poor baby boy had been fucking around, and he was currently in the find-out stage. I didn’t see this going well for him.
“Duke Crovan.” King Patrick waited until the man faced him before continuing.
“For my son’s part in this, I fully apologize.
He was already on thin ice, but I cannot pardon his actions any longer.
He is forthwith stripped of the Crown Prince title, and I will send him on a yearlong voyage with the navy as penance.
Even when he returns to the palace, it will be without prestige or access to his coffers. I will not support him any longer.”
This surprised me. I hadn’t thought King Patrick was ready to call it quits with his son. He apparently was. Or felt like he had no choice anymore. Whatever the reasoning, I was delighted. Now, I finally had a chance to really promote Helena as the next queen.
Gillespie got up to his knees, sobbing, then stood and ran out of the party. Marchioness Gillespie looked up pleadingly at her friend, but Beatrice had already turned away from her, skirts noisy as she practically ran inside. No help there.
Me? I got far too much enjoyment out of the drama.
I did love it when plans worked out in my favor.