Chapter 36
Thirty-six
James
For some reason, King Patrick insisted I be present when he gave Victor his verdict. I couldn’t begin to explain why. Moral support? I’d fully read him in on everything Victor had done, so it wasn’t like the man needed me to fill in the blanks.
Beatrice was in attendance as well, along with two of my knights.
My knights were here to escort Victor to the navy, as his knights weren’t to be trusted.
Victor had bribed them a long time ago into allowing him to go about as he pleased, so they were absolutely not trustworthy.
I’d called in Dame Temperance and Sir Collins for this.
They were immovable rocks when it came to Victor and wanted him out of the palace as much as everyone else did.
They’d not listen to anything he offered them.
Although I’d love to be a fly on the wall when Victor tried. That’d be the best entertainment all week.
We were in King Patrick’s study, in much the same configuration as the last meeting, when King Patrick had warned Victor he only had one more chance.
I once again sat in a chair facing Victor, his parents in armchairs on either side of us.
Silent tears streamed down Beatrice’s cheeks, but she didn’t look upset so much as mortifyingly embarrassed.
Today’s luncheon and the public dissolution of Helena’s engagement were still hitting her, and she could barely look at anyone.
Victor, for his own part, ignored his mother’s tears completely. Instead, he kept a wary eye on his father in between shooting me glares, like he knew I was the root cause of all this.
He wasn’t wrong.
I somehow kept a stern visage, not smiling, playing the part of the disappointed brother. Not too hard to manage because Victor was very disappointing.
“Victor.” King Patrick had his head in hand, not even looking at his son. He sounded exhausted and absolutely done. Just done. “Why did you demand Julia Crovan to bed?”
Victor, interestingly, turned a shade paler.
He didn’t look very good anyway; he’d clearly not slept well the night before, although he could hardly still be footsore a week later.
No, this was likely due to overindulgence of his drug of choice.
His face and hair were so haggard he resembled a vagabond.
Only the clean clothes he wore gave the illusion he was a prince.
Still, he seemed to realize he’d pushed his father too hard. And for once, his mother wasn’t coming to his defense.
“She came on to me!” Victor protested. “She approached me, wanting a night of fun!”
King Patrick lifted his head. He still didn’t look at Victor but instead at me. “James, if a young girl approached you and offered sex, what would you say?”
“Eww,” I replied promptly.
“Of course you would,” Victor yelled at me. “You like men!”
“Even if it had been a young man, or any young person not of age, my answer would be eww,” I corrected. Why must I explain this? Wasn’t it obvious? Victor’s moral compass was truly broken. “What’s so sexy about bedding a child?”
“It doesn’t fucking matter if she came to you first,” King Patrick snarled, finally turning his head so he could glare at his son.
“She should never have tempted you. Worse, you threatened our relationship with the Crovans with this stupidity. I realize you’ve never paid the right attention to your lessons, but surely even you know the Crovans have been a long-standing support to the throne!
Do you not realize how much damage you nearly caused us? ”
I did because I’d lived through it. The lack of support from the Crovans had almost cost us this entire country.
Their military support had always been instrumental, from the very beginning of this country, as they were one of the founding families.
I could believe Victor didn’t know, though, because he truly didn’t pay attention during his lessons.
Victor seemed to realize arguing wouldn’t gain anything in his favor and snapped his mouth shut.
“Duke and Duchess Crovan have demanded justice for their wronged daughter, and I agreed. It’s the only sensible way forward.” King Patrick kept glaring. “Which is why you’re not getting any further chances. Victor, from this moment forward, you are stripped of the name Kronenscheld—”
Victor sat up abruptly, jaw dropping, spluttering out a denial that didn’t even make sense.
“—and stripped of the title Crown Prince. You are no longer considered a member of the royal family.”
“You can’t do that!” Victor’s voice went up into the frequency of attic bats.
“I’ve already done it.” King Patrick picked up a folder off his lap and practically threw it against his son’s chest. “The judges signed off on it without any deliberation. No one wants you ruling over this country.”
Victor yanked open the folder to stare at the first page, and I watched with morbid fascination as all color drained from his face.
Indeed, entombed bodies had more color than he did.
Had he been warned of this very moment so many times that the words had sounded like the wind passing by?
Had he failed to realize he’d shaved away people’s patience and mercy with each heinous act?
He truly looked gobsmacked to be sitting there with a decree denouncing him in his hand.
“Your mother has some mercy for you,” Patrick continued, “which I’ve taken into consideration. For your many sins, you’ll serve on board a naval vessel for one year—”
“You can’t!” Victor blurted, animated once more, this time with horror. “You know how seasick I get!”
Oh, he got seasick? Even better. A year of continuous nausea sounded like a fitting punishment to me.
“I can’t trust you on land,” King Patrick stated flatly. “I can’t even put you in a monastery for fear you’ll charm your way out again. So a ship on the high seas it is.”
The idea of this degenerate in a monastery sounded hysterical to me. Could we try that if the ship failed? Because I wanted to watch that show.
“After you’ve done a year on the ship, you have two options,” King Patrick said. “You can be in exile at one of your mother’s villas, with a limited staff and budget, for the rest of your natural life. Or you can be exiled to another country entirely with only one lump payment. Which will it be?”
Victor stared at his father for a long moment, as if doubting his sanity and his ears. Then he croaked out, “Is there absolutely no possibility of me returning to my rightful seat?”
King Patrick was brutally honest and brusque in his response. “No.”
A fine tremor invaded Victor’s limbs and he abruptly turned the other way. “Mother?”
She still shed silent tears while staring at him. Only now, disgust was mixed in with her sorrow. “The only thing I’ll do for you is provide a living. Make your choice.”
Poor Victor stared at her, aghast, like he had no idea what to do from here.
I was quite curious as to what he’d choose. This punishment and options of exile hadn’t been presented to him in the first life.
How far did the thread of fate extend? Did it wind through even death, ensuring the person still died in the same manner? Or would it only insist on dying at a certain time? Could death be cheated altogether if fate was changed enough?
With Victor, I had a feeling I’d find out. And the answer with Victor would tell me if I could save Edwin this time. Or what I had to do to make sure Edwin wasn’t killed.
I was quite alright sacrificing Victor for answers.
A moral reprobate he might be, but stupid he was not. Victor’s head dropped and he whispered, “I’ll take the villa house.”
The most sensible choice, to be sure, because then he still had a guaranteed living. He’d blow through any lump sum in a few months’ time. Victor had no idea how to budget.
Lifting his head, he stared at me with hollow eyes. “I suppose you’ll take my position.”
“I can’t be made king,” I reminded him. “Helena would be my choice in replacing you. But we’ll see, I suppose. Father, Mother, any other words?”
Both shook their heads, and I gestured for my knights to step forward. They both seized Victor by the arms and dragged him, unprotestingly, from the room. The door shut behind them with a sort of finality.
“I don’t know what to do now,” Beatrice whispered in the silence of the room. “My heir is banished, my daughter’s engagement broken, all in the space of an afternoon.”
Yes, it was a bit much all at once. Even I could agree there. “Mother, I would suggest letting things ride for a month or two. Just step back, breathe, get some perspective. Rushing into the next decision won’t do anyone any good.”
She pressed the back of her hand against her forehead. “I’m going to go lie down.”
“Do, rest,” I encouraged her.
Beatrice exited the room, each step heavy, as if she had rocks in her shoes. She had always leaned toward the dramatic, but in this case, she had every right to be upset.
When the door closed behind her, I shifted, intending to rise and leave also, but King Patrick lifted a hand to stay me.
“James, I have two concerns. First, my eldest has several young lords backing him.”
“Blekinsopp, Compton, Humphries, and Plupott.” I knew them all too well.
He grimaced. “Indeed. They’ll be outraged and no doubt cause trouble over Victor’s loss of power.”
“I anticipated such and have some safeguards in place. Still, I’ll help you wrangle them if they get too out of hand.”
“That’s very appreciated. They’re as loose in their morals as Victor, and unfortunately with the bad tempers to match. Now, the next thing—Aurora.”
“Ah. Quite.”
He let out a long, frustrated sigh. “I read through the report you gave me. It will cause us a great deal of trouble to end Aurora because of who has invested in it, but if we time it right, we might be able to save some face?”
“Use Victor as the scapegoat?”
“That’s my thought. It is his fault, after all.”
“Quite. He has some properties under his name, does he not?”
“Well, yes, but some of them are intrinsically tied to his position as heir. They’re not something we can sell or transfer, as they’re meant for the heir to the throne.”
I hadn’t known of that wrinkle. I’d just known the properties had been automatically transferred to me once I’d become king. Huh, interesting.
“I would reimburse all those who invested in good faith.”
King Patrick nodded as if exhausted. “I will. I’ll take care of that aspect if you’ll make sure Aurora is dismantled.”
“I can do that, certainly.”
King Patrick was trustworthy with this sort of thing, and I didn’t have the power to handle some of those properties, so I had to leave parts of the dismantling up to him. I made a mental note to have Edwin track the progress, however, so if anyone approached me with questions, I’d have answers.
I gave him a consoling pat on the arm. “I know this isn’t the outcome you wanted. For that, I’m sorry.”
King Patrick attempted a smile, but it faltered almost before its conception and left a tired, depressed man in its wake. “I fear I spoiled him too much as a child. If I’d been sterner with him, would he have been a better man?”
I had to bite my tongue because, honestly, I didn’t think Patrick a good parent in the slightest. Seemingly he didn’t expect an answer from me, as he kept speaking.
“I treated him as I did my other children. I did raise all three children the same, but only my eldest turned out reprehensible. Helena and Royce are more dependable, certainly more trustworthy. I wonder why Victor is so different from them?”
I couldn’t say anything about his parenting skills, but this was truth.
“Victor’s an adult now, Father. He’s responsible for his own decisions.
He can’t blame his upbringing for how his life is now.
Do not carry his sins upon you. You didn’t make them, after all.
All you can do is protect your country and let your child straighten his own life out. ”
King Patrick looked wistful for a moment. “Do you think his year at sea will teach him how to be a better man?”
I’d sooner bet on the tides reversing.
Note that I didn’t say that.
“Time will tell. For now, I’m off. There’s things to set in motion to clean up the rest of this mess. I’ll make sure to keep your office updated as we progress with Aurora.”
He nodded but just sat there. I had a feeling he’d be sitting there a while, playing a mental game of what-if. No good would come of it. I’d played the game far too many times.
If you wanted to change the future, you couldn’t fixate on the past. Putting all your efforts forward was the only way.
In the safety of the hallway, I let out a long, relieved breath.
Well, one problem down. Victor being banished from the royal family solved so, so many potential headaches before they could even form.
Now all I had to do was navigate the wake of his leaving and the other problems still looming in the future.
But it was all doable, right?