Then there was the fact no one even knew what car she’d taken or even what day Ines hadactuallyleft the palace. Since he had gutted his father’s insane border patrol with checkpoints everywhere, leaving only what was necessary, it would be easy enough to slip out of the country unnoticed.
And so she likely had.
But itwouldrequire planning, and the conclusion Alexandre had come to was that it had also requiredhelp—from more than just her loyal assistant. There was no way disappearing fordayswithout being found out could have happened without the mostpersonalintel.
So he went in search of his sister, doing his level best to maintain the roiling anger underneath an outer wall of frigid calm. He’d had such practice at hiding his feelings, it was second nature.
Why didn’t it feel like second nature today? Why did it feel like he’d been split open and his insides were pouring out of him? Why did the anger feel akin to grief? Why was everything so damn confusing?
Ines.
Perhaps she was the punishment his father had wanted for him after all.
When he found his sister, Evelyne was sitting alone in one of the parlors. She was sipping tea with her eyes closed. She looked tired. In any other situation, he might have reconsidered making demands of her.
But his wife hadrun away, and someone hadhelped her do it. Evelyne had survived labor, and though he worried about her sitting here alone in silence, the doctors had assured him everything had gone exactly as it should, and Evelyne was as healthy as could be.
And his wifewas missing. He gritted his teeth together and stepped into the room.
Evelyne’s eyes blinked open. “Oh, hello, Alexandre.” She closed her eyes again. “I’m a bit busy right now.”
He looked at her dubiously. She was curled up on the settee, drinking tea, no baby to be seen. Eyesclosed.
She opened them again, narrowed them.“Shoo.”
He stared at his sister for a full minute. “I beg your pardon?”
She sighed heavily. “Sorry.” She did not sound the least bit apologetic. “I have thirty minutes of alone time to sit with my tea in silence while Gabriel takes care of Gabriel.” Her irritable scowl softened into a smile. “I suppose there are some downsides to naming your child after his father. It gets rather confusing, but we can’t decide on a nickname.Ithink Gabby is quite nice. Gabriel thinks Gabri. They’re near the same, are they not? So why not just go with mine?I’mthe one who had to push him out of my body, aren’t I?” She waved a regal hand in dismissal. “Anyway, this is my quiet alone time. You’re not invited.”
He let his sister prattle on, but he did not pretend to care about what she was saying. “Where is she?”
Evelyne’s eyebrows drew together. “Who?”
“Ines,” he ground out.
“How should I know?” She gave a careless shrug, then after a moment seemed to take on at least some of the gravity of the situation. She studied him, tilting her head slightly. “You’ve lost your wife, Alexandre?” she tsked and shook her head. “What a shame, though I can hardly blame her the way you stomp about.”
He did not trust his voice right away. He breathed through the fury and some other feeling he did not know how to label.
Evelyne must have recognizedsomenote of seriousness in his expression, because she sobered. “Alex, I haven’t seen Ines. I’ve been exhausted and out of sorts, what with having ababy three days ago. And… Well, to be honest, I thought perhaps she was feeling a little tender over the baby, and that’s why I haven’t seen her. So I haven’t asked after her. Perhaps she’s in the library.”
“She has been missing from the palace for nearly three days.”
Evelyne blinked, looking well and truly shocked. But his sisterwasa good actress. “She ran away?”
“You’re telling me you had nothing to do with this?”
Evelyne’s gaze got a little cool. She leveled him with a hard look, but there was a softness in her eyes. “I would help Ines in a lot of ways and support her in more, but I wouldn’t do either at the cost of you.”
It hurt, because he knew she was telling him the truth, and he did not fully deserve the high opinion she had of him. Yes, he’d tried to protect her, and yes, he had tasked Gabriel with saving her from having to marry the awful General Vinyes last year, but there were also so many ways he’d failed her since she’d been a baby.
And still she saw him as a hero, even when he wasn’t one in the least. Father had still hurt her—physically, emotionally. No matter what stumbling blocks Alexandre had managed to erect, he had not been fully capable of protecting Evelyne.
“What will you do?” Evelyne asked gently. In the here and now. Married to a man she loved. Mother to a child she would love—better than anyone. It was not his doing that she had managed to find a good life. At best, he’d helped her survive.Shewas the one who’d figured out how to thrive.
While his wife hadrun awayfrom him. Likehewas a monster. Likehe’ddone something wrong, when all he’d done was work hard to do what was right, needed.
What would he do?
