“To Crovan House,” I directed my driver. I may have singsonged the direction, very pleased with myself. I’d managed to prevent a major disaster.
I hefted myself into the carriage and closed the door, settling into the seat, and only then noticed the odd tension. Lady Julia’s tears were still streaming but slowing, and she refused to look up from her lap. Helena, on the other hand, looked appalled. She also glared censoriously at the child like she wanted to shake her.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Helena growled toward me, still glaring at Julia. “This twerp didn’t even think about protection.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I now understood how she got pregnant in my previous life. “Lady Julia, were youtryingto get impregnated by Victor? Was that your goal tonight?”
She squirmed in her seat. I took the silence as ayes.
“Shidteus’s balls,” Edwin muttered, tone one of despair. He passed a hand over his eyes. “Lady Julia. If he’d gotten you pregnant, he wouldn’t have married you.”
Her head snapped upright, eyes wide with disbelief. “He would have had to!”
“You’re not the first noblewoman to have bedded him,” Edwin stated flatly. He met her eyes, and the fight drained out of this girl as he spoke in that level tone of his. The one known to squash lesser beings. “He’s fathered eleven children that we know of, four with other noblewomen, including Lady Elsie Cantrell. The reason she hasn’t been in court for the past year isbecause she gave birth to his child and then was sent out of the country. We all know why.”
The Cantrells were Margraves, and their rank should put Julia’s situation into perspective. She might have thought being of a higher rank would have forced Victor’s hand, but that wasn’t the case. I could see a palpable hit, the child’s face fading from red to deathly white in the turn of a moment.
“You?” Edwin continued. “You think you would have fared differently? I can assure you, you would not have. Oh, I have no doubt your father would have thrown a fit to have the prince marry you, to spare you the shame, but the prince is wildly out of control. In fact, he’s hanging on to his position as crown prince by a threadbare line as it is. He’s probably going to lose it entirely before the end of the summer at the rate he’s going. If you thought bedding him and having his child was your ticket to becoming a princess, you picked the wrong prince.”
I sat there and listened to Edwin and Helena dismantle this girl’s stupidity and greed without needing to interject a single word. This, before her parents got ahold of her.
I did not think Lady Julia would make such a mistake again.
Fortunately, Crovan House was not far from here, about halfway back to the palace. We arrived to find the entire house lit up, people running all over the place, calling for Lady Julia.
Well, I wouldn’t be waking people up.
We pulled into the driveway and I disembarked before the wheels had fully stopped. I flagged the first man I saw, who was in slippers and a robe, and quickly introduced myself. “I’m James Kronenscheld. Where might Duchess or Duke Crovan be?”
He whipped around, eyes going wide, and ducked into a quick bow. “Your Highness. They’re inside, but, um—”
“I bring Lady Julia with me.” I gestured to the others. “You can call off the search.”
“Thank fuck,” he blurted out. “Eh, uh, come this way.”
I followed only after I was sure I had my own party with me. Helena had the girl in hand, Edwin following to make sure she couldn’t bolt. From the expression on Lady Julia’s face, running had definitely presented itself as an option. Captain Rowan had split from us at the beginning of the driveway, as he was under orders to take Victor back to the palace and then sit on him. Only two of my knights stayed with me; the rest escorted Victor. Frankly, I didn’t trust Victor to be sensible, and Duke Crovan would be tempted to kill him if Victor was within range. Better to keep the two men apart.
My guide called to the others, letting them know Lady Julia had been found, even as he led me directly into the back right of the house, which turned out to be a study. Bookshelves lined the walls on all sides, a hefty set of chairs and a sofa arranged in front of a fireplace. There sat Duchess and Duke Crovan, quite in a state. Duchess Crovan wore her robe, her greying blonde hair up in a protective silk head thingy, and Duke Crovan wore nothing but his robe and slippers.
The second I entered, they immediately rose, confusion on their faces—then over my shoulder they spied their daughter and all thoughts of me abruptly fled. Duchess Crovan practically flew around me, grabbing her daughter in a tight hug.
“Where have you been?”
Lady Julia had no idea how to answer the question, but my sister had no such issue.
“She was whoring herself out to my brother.”
I winced. Not quite how I’d phrase it, but…well. Helena was not wrong.
Both parents froze, staring at us for the first time as if realizing why we were there. Duchess Crovan seemed tempted to start beating sense into her child, and if not for my presence and Helena’s, she probably would have.
She stepped back, no longer holding her daughter but eyeing her with the fury of a mother past her limits.
“So. You chose to ignore all our advice, all our warnings, and go after him anyway. Youfoolishgirl.”
Lady Julia flinched, tears once again streaming down her face. “I’m—I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize I was…I thought hewantedme there. I…”
“Go straight upstairs.” Her mother’s voice was cold with fury. “Take a bath, you reek. In the morning, you’re getting on the first ship for Wisdom Lake.”
