The Rebel Prince (The Season Series #3)

Chapter 35 - Part 1

The candles had burned low, the wax running rivulets over Genevieve's ornate candlesticks, before she finally insisted we all stop plotting and get some rest.

"But not you," she'd said in Pretanian, "I'd like a word, Tommy."

My gaze slid to Beatriz, who simply shrugged, as if to say I'd brought that upon myself. Frederico eyed the pair of us, then Genevieve, who flapped him away with a tsk and a swift, whispered chiding in Vareinnian. She finally succeeded in herding him towards the stairs when she instructed Rafael to carry him up if his two royal legs wouldn't. Much to Rafael and Beatriz's amusement and Frederico's affront, of course.

"Comtesse," I said, when we were alone, save for the servants hurrying past with the last of the dishes.

"I'd like to take the air," she said simply, "Suis-moi."

My rusty Vareinnian was enough for me to understand "follow me", and I grinned at her decision to use the less respectful suis instead of suivez.

"If I've offended with my penchant for nicknames, Genny, you have only to say so," I said, once the cool night air met us. Crickets chirped in the distant fields, where fires still glowed among the camped army.

Genevieve took a few steps into the town square before she turned to face me. "I could not believe it when Frederico sent word that you'd chosen to stay," she said, as if I hadn't spoken. "Why did you not flee home to the safety of Pretania?"

"Because Pretania will never be safe with Dulciana on the throne. She didn't hesitate to kill her own people to seize her crown, so I doubt she'd stop herself from killing Pretanians to keep it. Or to seize another from the man who jilted her. She's already tried to kill me to make sure she gets her way." I paused to gauge Genevieve's reaction, then went on when she did nothing but stare off towards the army's campfires. "This shouldn't come as a surprise, comtesse. Unless your husband dreadfully misled you about the state of his familial relationships."

She chewed her lip, weighing my words, before she seemed to remember herself and turned back to me. "I knew what I was getting into when I married him. I know what his sister is capable of." Her hand drifted to her embroidered bodice, lingering there for a moment before falling away. "But that still does not explain why you chose to stay here, in a hovel at the border of a dangerous kingdom, rather than go home to your palace to sleep soundly knowing you're safe."

"That's just the thing, though. Of everyone surrounding Frederico, you and I have the least the worry about. Dulciana tried to frame her attempts on my life in Relizia as accidents, but if I'm killed now, my father will have no choice but to retaliate. As for you...well, if I'm not mistaken, your uncle is King of Vareinne, is he not?"

"Oui, he is." She shook her head. "But he will not side with Frederico on account of me." This time, her other hand drifted to her bodice, the one with a ring to match Frederico's. "He will side with whomever is most likely to win, regardless of where I stand. My father had warned me not to get mixed up in Frederico's politics, and yet here I am." She sighed. "The things we do for love."

"Then I suppose it's a lucky thing I'm here to ensure your husband wins." I eyed her bodice. "And to ensure that the Vareinnian king stands with his niece...and her unborn child."

Her hand dropped from her bodice. She studied me, her pale eyes narrowed in consideration. "You're shrewd for a second-born. Have you no desire to go after your own throne instead of helping my husband win his?"

I smiled, shaking my head at the thought of stealing my brother's crown. "Andrew has always and will always be my future king. Unlike your husband, I actually love my elder sibling."