The next day, I decided to forgo a morning wake-up call from Clavis, or another less noxious of my brothers, in favor of sleeping in. I needed to cut back how much time I was spending with Ivetta if I was to get any work done. The doctor and I had discussed visitors the previous night, and he’d agreed to let Belle see Ivetta this morning if she was up to it, so she wouldn’t be alone this morning.
Although I didn’t intend to sleep until noon. How easy it was to slip back into old habits.
I got dressed and headed down to the round table for lunch. The huge smile on Belle’s face told me that she’d seen Ivetta.
“Finally awake, Chevalier?” Leon asked with a good-natured smile as I took my seat.
“I guess I didn’t meet up to his standards for a wake-up call yesterday,” Clavis commented, grinning slyly.
“Compared to Ivetta? Not a chance,” Nokto replied, his crimson eyes glittering as he looked at me.
“You’re just in time!” Belle exclaimed happily. “I was about to tell everybody about my visit with Ivetta!”
“Take a breath,” Jin said, laughing. “Nobody’s rushing you.”
“Well, to start with, the doctor is an old worry-wart,” Ivetta said, ignoring Jin’s comment. “But I can see why. You didn’t tell me she looked so bad, Prince Chevalier!”
“She looked worse when we found her,” I said quietly.
Belle frowned. “I just don’t know how somebody could do that to her.”
“None of us do,” Leon said. “But you’re supposed to cheer us up, Belle.”
She smiled again. “Sorry. Anyway, we laughed about the doctor, and then I told her about the search and how upset everybody was. She was really surprised that the foreign princes got involved.”
“Chevalier, you didn’t tell her?” Silvio asked, irritated.
“I did. She has difficulty believing she could be of such great importance to those around her,” I explained coolly.
“She’s so darn humble,” Belle confirmed. “Hey, whatever happened with her mother’s funeral? I didn’t know what to tell her about that, so I didn’t say anything.”
“It was postponed until she was found.”
“So, it’s already happened, and she didn’t get to be there?” Belle asked, frowning again.
“She’s not going anywhere for a while,” Licht said.
“Too sad, Belle,” Leon reminded her.
Belle grinned at that, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “Oh, you want the juicy stuff?”
“Yes, please!” Luke said enthusiastically.
“A certain somebody kept coming up in conversation, come to think of it,” Belle said, looking meaningfully at me.
“Oh?” Keith asked, a smile on his lips as he glanced at me.
“It seems that this certain somebody’s frequent visits are really messing with her head,” Belle continued.
“You’re not teasing her, are you, Chevalier?” Yves asked. “Hasn’t she been through enough?”
I smirked. “What I do and do not say to her is none of your concern.”
“Is this a one-sided romance, then?” Nokto asked, grinning slyly.
“Oh, no. It’s two-sided. Ivetta’s just too stubborn to admit it,” Belle replied, her brown eyes sparkling.
“How long can our little dove hold out, I wonder?” Clavis asked, a suspicious gleam in his golden eyes.
“What I want to know is, how long has Chevalier been hiding this from us?” Jin’s sharp burgundy eyes met mine with a teasing smirk.
“I’m guessing three weeks,” Nokto said.
“Day two,” Clavis volunteered.
I ate my lunch in silence as everybody made their guesses, smiling to myself. As annoying as I knew the teasing would be, there was a relief in not having to hide it anymore.
“Hold on, Chevalier,” Leon said when I stood up to go. “Who was the closest?”
“I have work to do,” I replied coolly.
Clavis and Nokto were both right, in a way. She piqued my interest very early on, and I realized the depths of my feelings after the assassination attempt. But none of my brothers needed to know any of that. They just needed to know enough to keep their distance from her. After all, if I wasn’t going to pretend anymore, I also wasn’t going to be lenient if I caught any of them even looking at her the wrong way.
“Hey, Chevalier, do you have a minute to talk?” Jin asked, catching up to me in the hall.
“What is it?” I asked irritably, not checking my strides. I planned to see Ivetta at two thirty, which meant I had a lot of work to do in a very short time.
He sighed, falling in step beside me. “Look, I’m really happy for you and all that, but you’ve gotta know this isn’t going to work, right?”
I glanced over at him and glimpsed Gilbert further down the hall behind us. “She’s not your mother.”
“But she’s a commoner, like my mother,” he said quietly, his expression darkening. “It’s really hard for a commoner to become royalty. Even if they learn all the rules and look like they were born into it, there are always going to be those who won’t accept them.”
“I’m aware of the potential difficulties.”
“Do you really want to put her through all that? When she could just settle down with a nice guy in town and have a quiet life?”
“That’s unlikely to happen,” I replied.
He narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about? It’s a miracle that nobody has snatched her up already.”
“Arranged marriages are more common among the lower classes than we realized,” I explained. “She has no parents to do that for her, and there are many who harbor suspicions that her mother was fleeing prostitution. As she explained it to me, no decent man would have her. She expects to be alone the rest of her life.”
His eyes widened in shock. “You’re kidding. Where did you get all this?”
“She told me several weeks ago.”
“That’s crazy,” he said disbelievingly, shaking his head. “Any man would be lucky to have her.”
“I don’t want any man to have her. I want to have her. If she doesn’t want the same, then I will respect that, but I won’t allow the foolish unspoken rules of lower- and upper-class societies to tell me that she should be discarded as unfit,” I said vehemently.
My outburst startled him, his burgundy eyes widening briefly, but he quickly recovered, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Never thought I’d see the day when you’d fall in love, Chevalier. But I guess you do know what you’re doing.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “And for what it’s worth, I hope everything does work out. So, when do I get to see Ivetta?”
“I will have to verify with the doctor, but I suspect Belle’s exuberance may have tired Ivetta excessively. Perhaps tomorrow.”
He chuckled. “I’d like to say you’re being a little overprotective, but I know better. Want me to stick around so you don’t kill Gilbert?”
We’d arrived at my office, and he nodded sideways down the hall behind us.
“That won’t be necessary,” I said, not sparing Gilbert a glance.
“Okay, then. But I’ll just be next door, so try to keep it down at least.” Jin waved over his shoulder as he headed for Leon’s office.
I let myself in to my office and left the door open for Gilbert to follow.
“Did that answer your question as well?” I asked, not looking at him as I went to my desk.
“No. I’d like to see her before I leave.” He took the seat across from me, and, as with our conversation yesterday, his smile was strangely absent.
“You do recall that you’re my prisoner, and I haven’t yet decided whether I will allow you to leave before the Emperor signs the treaty,” I reminded him.
His blood red eye met mine unflinchingly. “He won’t sign without me there to convince him. And, as long as Ivetta is here, I have no interest in war with Rhodolite.”
I smirked as I studied him. “You fell for her faster than I did.”
He shrugged and smiled ruefully. “You’re not the only one who wants her.”
“That is unfortunate for you, since I have no intention of letting you have her. But I wonder if you’ll still say that after you see her,” I replied coolly. “She doesn’t look the way you remember, and there is a potential for permanent damage to her appearance.”
“That doesn’t matter,” he said without hesitation. “A woman like her doesn’t come along very often.”
“No, I suppose not,” I said slowly. A few days ago, I would have found this entire discussion upsetting, to say the least. But we had reached an uneasy, though unspoken, truce.
And I was beginning to feel a slight twinge of pity for him.
He stood up. “I won’t be leaving until I see her, so unless you’d like me to stick around, you’ll arrange that as soon as possible.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He stared at me for a moment longer, a slight clenching of his jaw the only evidence of an internal struggle. Finally, he closed his eyes and sighed, shaking his head.
“I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” he muttered, and then he looked back at me. “If she’s happy with you, and you promise to take care of her, then I will respect that. But if she turns you down, or you hurt her, I will come back for her. Is that clear?”
He really did love her.
I stood up and nodded. “Perfectly. I do promise to take care of her, as long as she lets me. And if I ever hurt her, I would welcome you killing me.”
He held out his hand, and I shook it.
“But I still want you gone,” I added. “Tomorrow. After you see her in the morning under Leon’s supervision.”
His innocent smile came back into play. “Leon, and not you? I’m touched by this surprising display of trust.”
“Don’t push it,” I warned.
He chuckled. “If I may make a suggestion, Julius would be an excellent addition to her guard detail. He answers to me above Leon. Failure to keep her safe would result in punishment from Leon, you, and me. You couldn’t ask for better incentive.”
“I will take your suggestion into consideration. Now get out before I decide you’re too much of an annoyance,” I snapped.
He left without another word, flashing me that deceptively charming smile. But I wasn’t really annoyed with him. I’d always thought of him as a military and political rival, and yet, the victory I’d won had been in an entirely different arena. Ivetta was well on her way to becoming mine, and Gilbert was giving up gracefully.
Although she would kill us both if she learned of this conversation or our agreement.
I went to visit her later that afternoon, carrying a book as usual. She was already awake, and her face lit up when she saw me. I’m sure my reaction to seeing her was similar.
“Hello, Prince Chevalier,” she said shyly as I took her hand in mine.
“How was your visit with Belle?”
“Is the doctor controlling who comes to see me, or are you?” she asked teasingly.
I smirked. “It’s a joint effort. But I’ve heard no complaints so far.”
“No, I guess not. I was glad to see Belle, but she has a lot of energy.”
“She didn’t overly tire you, did she?” I asked, frowning slightly.
“I’m fine. The doctor only let her stay for fifteen minutes, anyway.” Her smile was so beautiful, even in her mangled face, and her green eyes were still captivating.
“Good.” My thumb moved back and forth over her hand gently. This had become my preferred method of expressing physical affection in her delicate state, something that she readily accepted without complaint.
Although she was already looking away, embarrassed.
“Belle said you almost killed Prince Gilbert.”
My smile faded, and I sighed. She was purposefully steering the conversation in what she felt was a safe direction.
“There was a lot I didn’t tell you to keep you safe.”
“I know,” she said quietly.
Of course, she knew. There was nothing she could tell her torturers. If she could, they likely would have killed her before I arrived. Maybe. Or maybe they would have tortured her anyway, just for the fun of it.
I’d have to talk to Leon about Julius. Gilbert had a valid point.
“But much has come to light now, so there’s no harm in telling you some of what was happening. Earlier this year, a baron who was a member of the anti-war faction attempted to broker a deal with Obsidian. His barony was on our shared border, and such a deal would have been detrimental to Rhodolite’s security. Troops from Obsidian were already en route when I got word of the rebellion. I had to strike quickly with a show of force to keep them at bay.”
“The purge,” she said, realization setting in. “But why didn’t you just explain that to Prince Leon?”
“Nokto had been gathering intelligence on Obsidian’s movements within Rhodolite, and during the purge, we found proof that Obsidian was not only developing new weapons, but supplying arms to the anti-war faction here, as well as rebel factions in Benitoite and Jade. There was some evidence to suggest an informant had been planted in the palace, and Clavis was conducting an investigation into the matter. I couldn’t risk telling more people than was absolutely necessary.”
“And you knew all of that before Prince Gilbert came.”
I nodded.
“So, if Prince Gilbert thought you knew at least some of that, why did he come here? Surely, such a move was incredibly dangerous for him.”
“The same reason the other two princes came. They had heard rumors of the king’s demise and wanted to determine the state of our kingdom.”
It was very possible that all this information was overwhelming her, but she pressed me further. “But Prince Gilbert wasn’t involved in…what happened to me.”
“No. A noble from my faction, Baron Flandre, secretly joined the anti-war faction and planted one of his servants here as his informant. Flandre sent the assassin, and when he found that I couldn’t be eliminated so easily, he instigated your abduction. His barony is also on the border with Obsidian, and he was attempting to broker a deal similar to that of the other baron earlier this year using information he hoped to get from you.”
“Why did Prince Gilbert help you?”
I smiled ruefully. “He took a liking to you, little dove.” To put it mildly.
“I’m not sure about that,” she said quickly, unable to meet my eyes.
I couldn’t wait for her bruises to heal so I could see her blush again.
“He was probably just trying to save his own skin,” she continued.
I chuckled. “Gilbert is not one to crack under pressure. As soon as he heard you and the informant were missing, he guessed that you were Baron Flandre’s promised source of information, and he was instrumental in finding you.”
“That’s…surprising,” she said, exhaling slowly.
“You have a strange effect on princes, Ivetta,” I said softly.
She shook her head firmly, dismissing my statement. “None of this makes sense to me, but I’m glad it’s all worked out. It has, hasn’t it?” She looked back up at me questioningly. “If everybody knows about the arms dealings, some sort of compromise had to have happened, right?”
“You concern yourself too much with others and not enough with yourself,” I said, forcing a frown to my face, though this was just another one of her marvelously attractive traits.
“I’m safe now, and I’m going to heal. It’s a waste of time to worry about my current situation, right?”
“Clever of you to use my words against me,” I remarked, smiling again. “Yes, a compromise has been reached, and a peace treaty between all four nations has been drafted. But it can only be signed by the kings of each nation, so it will be some time until it can be finalized, and Belle must make her choice before Rhodolite can sign.”
“Well, at least something good could come of all this,” she said, obviously relieved. “I suppose I should thank Prince Gilbert, shouldn’t I?”
And this was another one of her attractive traits. Her ability to forgive past offenses and offer a fresh start. It encouraged the better nature of even the most heartless of beasts to rise to the surface. As I was well aware.
“That is up to you, but all the foreign princes are waiting to see you before they leave.”
She sighed and stared up at the ceiling. “You know what’s the most surprising thing about all of this?” she said slowly.
“More surprising than a maid bringing about an international treaty?” I teased.
“Even more surprising than that,” she said, once again steadfastly ignoring my tone. “Prince Clavis and Prince Nokto are actually useful.”
I had to laugh at her amusing observation. “They have an annoying tendency to mix business with pleasure, but yes, they are both useful. Clavis has a head for schemes, and Nokto’s best informants are women. He has perfected his…interrogation techniques quite well.”
Her green eyes were thoughtful for a moment. “Prince Clavis tried to warn me about all of this, but I didn’t think I could trust him. I guess he wasn’t just annoying me for fun. He was also sticking close so he could keep an eye on me, wasn’t he?”
“Yes, but you are correct not to trust him,” I confirmed.
“And I feel a little better about how hard it is to resist Prince Nokto sometimes. It’s almost like he can hypnotize me.”
“He hasn’t been giving you trouble?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
She shook her head. “Not since that time you caught him in the library. Well, the ball, but he apologized for that. So did Prince Jin and Prince Clavis.”
“Good.”
I fell silent for a moment, just staring down at her. She looked away nervously. How long would I have to wait until she could hold my gaze again? I knew how to force the issue, by teasing her relentlessly until her green eyes started flashing and she snapped at me irritably, but I didn’t want to push her. I did, and I didn’t.
“Would you like me to read to you?”
She looked up at me again, surprised. “You don’t have to do that, Prince Chevalier.”
“Perhaps you’d rather stare at the ceiling?” I asked teasingly.
“No, I guess not,” she said shyly. “But you can stop whenever you’d like.”
The downside of reading to her was that I had to release her hand to turn the pages. The book I’d selected was a collection of poetry I’d seen her eyeing one day in my library, one that she hadn’t had a chance to borrow yet. I glanced over at her after a few minutes. She’d closed her eyes, her face relaxed as she listened. The swelling was starting to go down. It would be a lie to say that I didn’t care how she looked. Appearance had never been something of great importance to me, but after she’d drawn me in with her other virtues, I’d become enamored by her physical attributes as well. But it would also be a lie to say that I was going to let any permanent damage change how I felt about her. She was alive, and she was the same beautiful person as always, and that was more than enough.
Which reminded me, I still needed to talk to Sariel.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufOo7oLL4d
