I shrug. “Who doesn’t?”
“Oh, but his is big, and it’s ugly.” His eyes brighten with anticipation. “You are not going to like it.”
“Try me.”
He rubs his hands. “It has been brought to my attention that Henri de Bellay is a revolutionary, an anti-royalist involved in a conspiracy to topple the House of Valois-Montevor.”
That nincompoop Julian must’ve spent the last twenty-four hours gossiping and soiling Henri’s name!
I roll my eyes. “Your scoop is yesterday’s news. The conspirators disbanded ten years ago, and their conspiracy never went beyond talk.”
A mix of surprise and disappointment flickers across Kurt’s face, before he schools his features into an impassive mask. “Very well. I shall go to the other room now, and we shall see if Henri has renounced is anti-royal beliefs as you seem to believe.”
He strides out the door.
The smart aleck pulls a chair and settles next to me, tablet in hand. “Let’s watch together, shall we, Your Highness? It’s going to be fun!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Istare at the tablet held by Kurt’s man sitting next to me. On the screen, Henri is a broken figure as he lies limp on the floor. His face is a swollen mess of bruises and blood. My heart clenches at the sight.
Someone pours a bucket of water over him. Henri stirs to life. Another man slaps Henri’s face for good measure. Henri gasps, jerking back to full consciousness. Kurt’s mercenaries try to set him in a chair, but he can’t sit unaided. They drag him to the wall and prop him up against it. His strong, vigorous body is barely holding together.
What did they to do you, my love?I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment to hold back the tears. I reopen them.
Kurt steps into view on the screen.
“Where’s the key, Henri?” he asks, his tone deceptively calm.
Henri lifts his eyes to Kurt but says nothing.
Kurt repeats his question. “Where is it?”
“I don’t know,” Henri manages to say, each word labored.
“Of course, you do! Give me the key, and your dream of bringing down the royals will come true.”
“I don’t know where the key is,” Henri says again.
“If you’re worried about royals’ personal safety, let me assure you they’ll be just fine. Do I look like Robespierre or Lenin to you? Have you ever met a multibillionaire communist?”
He halts to let his goons laugh obsequiously.
“Of course, not,” he continues, answering his own question. “I’m like you, Henri. I want the Montevor royals deposed, not dead.”
Henri searches Kurt’s face, and I fear what he might be thinking.
You can’t trust this man not to harm us, my darling!And even if you could, it’s the wrong question to ask yourself. My family could’ve cooperated with Kurt, but we chose to fight him. I,too,chose to fight him. If you love me, you must respect my choice.
Will you?Or am I looking at another video of you, ten years after the first, that’s going to break my heart all over again?
His body springy with hope that he’s close, Kurt adds, “You can still have Eugénie, if that’s what your heart desires. Wouldn’t that be the best of all worlds?”
“Where is she?” Henri asks. “Is she all right?”
“She’s in a room at the other end of this hallway, waiting. My guards haven’t laid a finger on her.”
Liar!They’ve laid all their fingers on me. I wasn’t sexually assaulted, thank God, but the way they searched me came damn close.
