Chapter 11 - Turn the Room
Elise jumped onto the Wheel and kicked the release bar.
The disc spun.
Not fast enough to throw anyone, but fast enough to smash its outer wooden rim into the iron floor latch beside it.
A deep mechanical crack rolled under our feet.
Then the old service gates dropped from the ceiling.
One crashed between Renard and Lucien.
Another split Vautrin from half his men.
The throne room exploded into motion.
"Now!" Lucien shouted.
Royal guards who had been waiting for a chance tackled two of Renard's men. Guests ran for the side galleries. Mathurin pulled Severin behind a pillar.
I dragged Elise off the Wheel.
"How did you know?" she yelled.
"Your grandmother taught me the palace!"
"The queen was not my grandmother!"
"This is not the time!"
Even she laughed at that.
Then Renard appeared through a gap in the gate.
He grabbed Elise's arm.
I hit him with the brass tube.
Hard.
He let go more from surprise than pain.
Lucien reached through the bars and caught Renard's sword arm until two loyal guards pulled him down.
For one breath, I thought it was over.
Then Vautrin shouted from the far side of the gate.
"Open it, Edouard, or the city goes hungry by Friday!"
The king stared at him.
Vautrin held up a leather ledger.
"Every grain contract. Every military loan. Every creditor. Mine."
He tossed it into a brazier.
Flames climbed the cover.
Elise lunged, but the gate blocked her.
Our proof was burning.
Then Prince Lucien said, "Let it."
Everyone looked at him.
He reached inside his coat and pulled out a second ledger.
"You really should stop keeping only one copy of things, Chancellor."
Vautrin's face changed.
Lucien smiled.
May you like
"I found yours three weeks ago."
And that was when I realized the prince had known far more than any of us.
