“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 trulycouldchange 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.
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. Silenttears 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?”
