Chapter 51
Fifty-one
Edwin
It turned into an incredibly long day.
No surprise there.
Once Helena was informed of what had actually happened, she was outraged and demanded to be part of the investigation.
Knowing Knight Commander Harland had a wide soft spot for her—he had been her childhood knight—I approved.
She made sure to have tears in her eyes when she entered the interrogation room, demanding to know what she had done to be treated and framed like this, and Commander Harland visibly lost his shit.
Never say Princess Helena didn’t know how to work a situation to her advantage.
Anyway, it took most of the day to get the full story out of Lord Chuffey, although we all could guess his motivation.
It had boiled down to the obvious: He didn’t want Helena on the throne.
Deep-seated sexism insisted she wasn’t fit, he wanted James to take it, and he thought discrediting her was the best way to force James’s hand.
The depth of nobles’ stupidity appalled me.
Anyway, it was over and done with, and I was going to my own home, by myself for once.
I needed alone time. I’d done far too much peopling recently, and I just wanted quiet.
James had argued, but I’d told him my mental health required it.
He needed to bond with Titan more anyway, he could play with his horse and leave me to myself for the space of an evening.
I had a brand-new book to read, a hot bath to soak in, and if anyone dared to interrupt my plans, I’d—
I woke up groggily, the side of my head throbbing, completely disoriented and confused. I’d been walking home, hadn’t I? Walking home was the last thing I remembered.
But now I was sitting upright on the ground, my arms tied behind my back. Had I been abducted?
I still wore my glasses, somehow, although they sat crookedly on my nose. Lifting my head, I surveyed the area, trying to get my bearings. Jittery panic tried to set in, urging me to get up and run. But run where? I had no idea where I even was!
It smelled of the sea, the strong scent of brine invading my nose.
The place felt damp, too, like I was close to the wharf?
The wooden floor was rough and dirty, and the beams high overhead looked old and damaged.
Since the rebuilding, some spaces had been left aside for renovation later, and this smacked of such a building, one waiting to be properly rebuilt.
A whole side had caved in, leaving a giant mountain of debris in its place.
The remaining windows were all boarded over, as well.
Two—no, scratch that, three men hovered in the far corner and talked in rushed tones. I couldn’t pick out many individual words, but I recognized the three men.
Lewis Heaton, Ralph Maynard, Quinby Bray. Lewis was easy to pick out, with his flaming red hair, and he looked so incredibly pale his freckles were more like ink dots. My abductors were the other three lords who had been trying to court Prince Royce and convince him to ascend the throne.
Had they been cohorts with Chuffey?
Chuffey claimed he’d acted alone, but to be honest, I hadn’t entirely believed him. I didn’t think anyone had.
Now, I was pissed. By all rights, I should be cozied up with my book, not sitting here with a headache because of these assholes. Perhaps I should be scared, but that was not the foremost emotion right now. Anger had won out.
I sat there watching them, realized no one had noticed I’d awakened, and decided I had better announce my presence.
If I could be loud enough, perhaps someone on the outside would hear me.
The wharf wasn’t really a quiet place at any time; there were still pubs open until late into the night.
If I was right about my location, I should be on the footpath near one of the pubs.
I’d take my chances.
I wasn’t a loud man by nature, but I truly put effort into my volume as I spoke. “ANYONE OUT THERE?! HELP!”
They jolted, whirling around and staring for a second, caught off guard.
Then Bray stormed toward me, expression quite cross.
He wasn’t a small man, and his footsteps made the floor under me jump.
He’d lost his tie at some point, shirt open at the throat, and his five o’clock shadow was very pronounced, making me think he’d not shaved at all in a few days.
His dark brown eyes snapped with anger and fear as he looked at me.
“You! Stop calling for help and answer my questions! What happened to Chuffey?”
“My good man, there’s no reason to abduct me to get an answer to that question!”
Was I being loud enough? I didn’t know how to be louder without straining my throat, though. Where was Allen when I needed him? He was so loud by nature he had to consciously lower his tone in the office. He could be heard across an ocean if he put his mind to it.
Bray stopped in front of me, glaring, but under the glare he looked scared. His feet kept twitching, like he wanted to run. “Answer our questions. No one’s telling us anything. Is Chuffey under arrest?”
“Chuffey will be under the jail by the time James is done with him.” Truth, and not an exaggeration. “Why did you think discrediting the princess was a good plan? I mean, seriously, this was the best plan you could come up with?”
“She’s not fit to rule!” Bray snapped.
“Nimus take me, just because she’s a woman? You backed Victor and he’s an incompetent buffoon!”
Bray faltered, seemingly not having an answer.
I pressed him, still keeping my outrage on my face, hoping to draw answers from him. “Did you just slap this plan together? How could you have done something like this and thought it would work?”
“We didn’t slap it together, we planned everything carefully!”
Maynard stormed over to join his friend.
From the breath on him, he’d been imbibing heavily and swayed where he stood.
He kept clasping his hands over his rotund stomach before shoving them into his pockets, only to take them out again.
He was clearly nervous, but it was anger that poured out of his mouth as he snapped, “It wasn’t so careful if he got caught before he could even use this to discredit Helena.
And why in hell didn’t you verify with your own eyes that the files were on her desk?
How did they even end up in the Aurora office to begin with? ”
“I don’t know. I told you, I clearly left them on her desk!”
Oh, so Bray had planted the files. Good to know, good to know.
Bray paused and muttered under his breath, “Was it that asshole guard who moved them? I paid him, though. He should have kept his mouth shut.”
Guard? Oh dear, had we missed someone in the manhunt? “Which guard, the one at the judicial office or the one watching over Princess Helena’s rooms?”
Bray sneered at me. “Like I’ll tell you.”
“Why not?”
He paused, blinked, then frowned. “Would you even know?”
I rolled my eyes. “My lord, I have been working at the palace for fifteen years. I know everyone, I assure you. Which office?” Seeing he wasn’t sure if he should answer me, I started rattling off names.
“Hammerman, Cooper, Porter, Elmstone—oh, Elmstone? So the judicial office is where the leak originated.”
“I didn’t say anything!”
Maynard was done with his friend and growled, “Your face gave it all away. You have the worst poker face!”
“Then you shouldn’t have included me in your plans!” Bray snarled in return, getting in the other’s face. “The plan that was so fantastic it failed within the hour. For such a clever mastermind, you sure can’t make a good plan!”
“You liked it up until things went awry, I’d like to remind you!”
Heaton finally decided to join this conversation by hissing, “Will you both keep your voices down? If you give our location away, we’re fucked.”
“Like anyone will be looking for him,” Maynard said dismissively.
“You idiot, he’s Prince James’s lover! Of course he’ll be missed! It’s why I said we should leave him alone in the first place!”
Heaton at least seemed aware of the pitfalls in this adventure. He sadly didn’t have the spine to either remove himself or report his friends before he got caught in this web, which meant there was no saving him.
The three started arguing in earnest, ignoring me, and I had to wonder, why had I been taken to begin with? Were they hoping to use me as some kind of informant on their friend, or had it occurred to them they could use me to barter for Chuffey’s freedom?
They weren’t good at thinking of long-term consequences, were they?
I heard a rustling sound, like footsteps in a hurry on the other side of the window. Oh? That might be promising. I’d have to see if there was someone out there to help me.
“Oi!” Louder, louder, I must be louder. “I must ask again, why did you abduct me?”
The barred door abruptly flinched inward as something heavy and solid impacted it from the other side. My heart leapt into my throat and I prayed like never before. Yes, let this be a rescue party, whatever form it might take!
The lords panicked immediately, frantically running about, trying to find a way to get through a window.
You know, the boarded-up windows.
That no one had a crowbar for.
I will say, this was highly entertaining. Not as good as my book would have been, but it was a solid night of entertainment regardless.
Well, I found it entertaining. James was going to lose his shit.
Oh dear, an upset lover with trauma about me dying. Hmm, this suddenly became less amusing.
The fourth solid hit against the doors was enough to make the wood give way. There on the other side stood several burly men—dock workers, from their dress and appearance. Oh, I thought I recognized two of them?
“Edwin?” one of them demanded, eyes flaring wide. Then he turned his head to shout, “Someone get the guard! They’ve captured Prince James’s lover!”
Well, he certainly recognized me. Delightful. Saved me some legwork.
“You can’t lay hands on us!” Maynard bellowed.