x
It didn’t take me long to finish in Prince Gilbert’s room. I glanced down the hall when I exited, but I didn’t see any guards. Prince Chevalier said they’d be there, and they’d be discreet, so maybe they were just around the corner? Wherever they were, I trusted him, and I moved on to Prince Silvio’s room. Today, it was vacant. The bed was messier than it had been yesterday, and several pieces of jewelry lay forgotten on the table, like he left in a hurry.
Like Prince Chevalier dragged him out of bed and forced him to leave.
Is that what happened?
Whatever the case, I didn’t have to deal with Prince Silvio being a spoiled brat again this morning, and I was okay with that. Getting into the rhythm of work was helping me relax, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to handle him yet. Maybe after I had a little more time to calm down. Assuming, of course, that Jason didn’t come to tell me I needed to go home. Imagining that scenario wouldn’t help anything, though, so it was better for me to just stop thinking and work.
Handing everything over to Prince Chevalier was so freeing. Why hadn’t I done that earlier?
Prince Keith’s room was empty, too, but it had been yesterday as well. I hadn’t even seen him since the ball, and he’d been hard to find, as if he was hiding most of the time. Not that I could blame him. I’d wanted to hide most of that night, and I wasn’t shy like Prince Keith. The other princes were probably overwhelming to someone like him, except maybe Prince Licht. And Prince Yves. He respected Prince Licht’s need for quiet and solitude, and I thought he would get along well with Prince Keith. Unlike-
“Ivetta, your handsome and charming escort is here!”
Unlike Prince Clavis.
I sighed as I set the last neatly folded towel in its place on the towel rack in the bathroom. Prince Clavis was a handful, but he also knew what I’d been dealing with, and he was probably just here to cheer me up. He wouldn’t cause me trouble. Prince Keith, though-
I could easily envision the shy Prince Keith falling victim to a prank in his own bedroom.
“Prince Clavis, it’s rude to enter someone’s room without their permission,” I chided him, hurrying out of the bathroom to stop him before he got any ideas. He was standing in the middle of the room, his golden eyes taking it all in, and his grin told me he was already plotting.
“But you do it all the time, Ivetta,” he replied, his sparkling golden eyes landing on me.
“I’m a maid.”
“And I’m a prince. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, are there any fun secrets Keith is hiding in here? Oh, look, his luggage.”
I grabbed Prince Clavis’ arm as he took a step toward the unsuspecting luggage. “Prince Clavis-”
“I didn’t realize you missed me so much,” he said brightly, turning back to me with a wide smile. “It’s also rude to use someone else’s room for a romantic rendezvous, but if you insist-”
I rolled my eyes and swatted his hand away as he reached out to brush my hair back behind my ear. “You said you were here to escort me?” I asked, tucking the wayward strands back myself.
“To the library, yes, although if you’d like to change the destination, I’m open to suggestions.”
“The library is fine,” I said firmly. “I just finished, so we can go right now.”
He shrugged and led me to the door. “Well, I guess I can prank Keith later.”
“Please don’t prank Prince Keith. If you have to prank somebody, stick to your brothers.”
“Hm, you’re right. I haven’t gotten them all yet. Let’s see,” he mused, leading me out into the hallway. “I got Licht with the pit trap, and I nearly got Leon with the flour. Jin, Yves, and Nokto are out today, and Chev never falls for anything. That leaves Luke. Now, how can I get Luke?”
I sent a silent apology to Prince Luke wherever he was. Prince Clavis was quiet as we walked to the library. That, more than anything, filled me with dread on Prince Luke’s behalf.
“Got it,” Prince Clavis said suddenly, a devious smile on his face.
“Don’t tell me,” I said quickly.
“Oh, I won’t,” he replied, holding the library door open for me. “If I make you an accomplice, Chev will kill me, and I have so much left to do before I die. I think I’ll start by baring my soul to you about our dear friend Gil.”
I winced, feeling a chill despite the warmth of the bright sunshine filtering through the library windows. “Do you have to?”
Prince Clavis’ smile took on a sad appearance. “You wanted to know yesterday.”
I sighed. “Yes, I did. I just don’t want more stress today.”
“It’s up to you. Chev’s library is secure, and it’s my stress more than yours, but if you’d rather, we can talk about your little incident with Marge yesterday.”
The twinkle was back in his eyes, but I groaned at the reminder of my disastrous lunch break. “I probably could have handled that better.”
“No, I think you handled it pretty well. She’s been targeting you unfairly from the start.”
“From the start?” I asked, looking up at him curiously as he led me into Prince Chevalier’s private library. “I didn’t have any problems with her until Sariel tried to make me become Belle.”
Prince Clavis shook his head. “Why do you think she assigned you to the library?”
I stared at him for a moment. “I just thought that’s where she needed me.”
He laughed. “You’re such an innocent little dove. It’s a wonder you’ve managed this long. No, she can be a vindictive old hag, and if she doesn’t like someone, she assigns them to work with Chev, so they won’t stick around.”
I thought back to the day she hired me. She’d seemed a bit gruff, a bit blunt, but not in a way that made me think she took an immediate and personal dislike to me. I’d just assumed she was a no-nonsense woman.
“Why didn’t she like me?” I asked, still mystified.
“Who knows?” Prince Clavis asked, sitting down in Prince Chevalier’s chair. “But for you to stay and do well? That really gets on her nerves. She was overdue for someone to push back against her.” He picked up the book on the end table and glanced at the cover. “And better you than Chev, right?” he added, flashing me a smirk.
I shook my head and looked around the already sparkling room, cleaned from top to bottom when I was stuck in here yesterday. “All I wanted was a steady paycheck and consistent hours,” I muttered.
“Keep smiling, Ivetta. As long as you’re smiling, you can’t lose, even when you fail.”
“Is that why you smile all the time?”
He shrugged. “When you fail as many times as I have, you have to find some way to live with yourself.”
I sighed and turned away to close and lock the door. “Well, I guess if you want to tell me, you can.”
“Oh, goodie, story time! Come sit here, Ivetta,” he said brightly, patting his lap. I leveled him with a glare and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Not a chance.”
He laughed and stood up, gesturing toward the chair. “Well, it wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of me to make you stand the whole time. Sit down.”
“That, I will do,” I said, taking the empty seat. “Go ahead.”
He leaned back against the bookcase in front of me, crossing his arms over his chest and one foot over the other at the ankle. “It all goes back to Bloodstained Rose Day.”
“Does everything go back to Bloodstained Rose Day?” I asked resignedly.
“Not everything, but a lot of things. Enough happened on that day to fill a year. But, back to my story, Cyran and I were escaping the Obsidianite prison camp with the few civilians we saved from the flames when Gil caught us. He said he’d let us go under the condition that I kill Chev for him, which I already wanted to do, so I agreed. Unfortunately, that hasn’t proved easy to accomplish. I still haven’t made good on that deal, and I keep ending up in situations where I need another favor from Gil, so it’s to the point that whatever he wants, I have to do.”
Prince Gilbert let an enemy prince, a traitorous soldier, and prisoners of war escape? On the strength of a verbal promise only? That didn’t sound like him.
“What kind of favors do you need from him?” I asked, curious despite my reservations.
“Assistance with my usual villainy,” Prince Clavis said casually. “Someone needs help, and I do something illegal to provide it.”
“Could you be more specific?”
He grinned. “Careful. You’re toeing the line into accomplice territory, Ivetta.”
“You said this was a secure location, and you know I won’t tell anybody,” I reminded him.
“True, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Most recently, there have been a lot of refugees fleeing Obsidian into Rhodolite and Jade. My jurisdiction borders Obsidian to the west and Jade to the south, so I get most of the refugees. Gil turns a blind eye to me taking them in, and he’s cut the border patrols, so it’s easier for people to escape.”
“That makes no sense,” I said, frowning. “Why would he do that?”
Prince Clavis shrugged. “I don’t know his reasoning, but it makes what I do easier.”
I pursed my lips, thinking. “Why are there so many refugees from Obsidian?”
“Poor government,” Prince Clavis replied simply. “The king, or self-styled emperor, doesn’t care how the nobility govern their individual territories, as long as they supply him with the taxes and resources he requires. Taxes are always high, and they go up whenever Obsidian is at war, which is most of the time. It’s not uncommon for the nobility to double, triple, or even quadruple taxes set by the king so they can line their own pockets with the extra money they take from the commoners. When faced with the choice of staying and starving to death or fleeing the country and risking execution if caught, many people choose to flee.”
“And there’s no other option? Nobody they can go to for help within Obsidian?”
Prince Clavis laughed wryly. “Rhodolite has spoiled you, Ivetta. Asking for help comes across as protesting the government, which summarily crushes any form of rebellion. At best, instigators face imprisonment. At worst, they’re executed. And, if enough people are involved, the nobility doesn’t have a problem massacring an entire town to make a point, because the population is large enough to support the loss of a few thousand people here or there. The soldiers we depend on to protect our people are just tools of war in Obsidian, trained to follow orders above all else or face harsher punishment than civilians, so they aren’t any help, either, and they’ll turn their blades against townspeople as easily as they will enemy soldiers. Which leaves me and my villainy as the only hope for the poor, oppressed people of Obsidian.”
“I’m not sure what you do constitutes villainy,” I said, standing up. “And I wish I hadn’t let you tell me this today.”
“You’re really going to leave before I reach the good part?” Prince Clavis asked, catching my arm as I passed him.
“Is ‘the good part’ actually going to make me feel better?” I asked wearily.
“Yes, if rescuing people in distress and offering them new lives makes you feel better,” he replied, grinning confidently. “Which I’m sure it does.”
“I’m glad you’re there to welcome those people into your territory, but how does that help them in Obsidian?”
He shrugged. “Well, when Cyran and I get wind of a rebellion and sneak across the border to fight the oppressors and rescue the victims, you could construe that as helpful. We usually win a few conscientious soldiers over, too. It’s risky business, since I’m a Rhodolitian prince and I’m illegally interfering with another kingdom’s enforcement of its laws, but as long as Gil and Chev look the other way and nobody else finds out, I get to keep my head.”
I tilted my head to the side thoughtfully. “Prince Gilbert and Prince Chevalier both know about all this, and they both look the other way?”
Prince Clavis nodded. “So far.”
I smiled up at him. “And you think you’re mediocre?”
He sighed, and his eyebrows pulled together as he smiled pityingly down at me. “Ivetta, I’m touched that you think so highly of me, but may I remind you they’re both geniuses?”
“Who both depend on you to do something they can’t.”
His golden eyes widened slightly.
“You’re not a failure, Prince Clavis. And I don’t think you’re a villain, either. Maybe ‘vigilante’ would be a better term for you. But if you’re done telling me all the things I’m not supposed to know, I need to get back to work, and I’m guessing it’s safe for me to clean in the main library with you here and guards out in the hallway?”
His eyes narrowed again, and he chuckled.
“You’re determined to make me like Chev, aren’t you?” he asked, following me out of the back room.
“I’ll settle for you not hating him,” I replied, smiling back at him.
“You’re very persuasive."
ns 18.68.41.141da2
