Chapter 12 - The Prince's Secret
The gates were raised only after Renard and his men were disarmed.
Vautrin was placed under guard, but he kept smiling.
That worried me.
Lucien laid the second ledger on the table.
"Three weeks ago," he said, "I found duplicate treasury payments in my household accounts. I thought a clerk was stealing. Then I found payments connected to Captain Renard, the widows' fund, and Sainte-Agathe tower."
I stared at him.
"You knew I was alive?"
"I suspected."
Anger hit me so hard I stepped toward him.
"And you left me there?"
Elise caught my sleeve.
Lucien did not defend himself quickly. I respected that more than an excuse.
"I needed proof Vautrin could not erase," he said. "If I moved too early, he would have killed you and called it illness."
"So you used my daughter as bait."
His eyes shifted to Elise.
"She volunteered."
I turned on her.
"You what?"
Elise winced. "This part was always going to be difficult."
"You stood on that thing because he asked you to?"
"No. I stood on it because it was the one place Vautrin couldn't quietly drag me away. Half the court was watching."
She was right.
I hated that she was right.
Lucien tapped the ledger.
"Tomorrow we hold a public tribunal. Not a private council. Every accusation, every document, every witness."
Vautrin laughed from across the room.
"Tomorrow?"
We all looked at him.
He sat in a chair with his hands bound.
Calm.
Too calm.
"You may want to check the north barracks before planning tomorrow," he said.
Lucien's face tightened.
"Why?"
Vautrin leaned back.
May you like
"Because by sunset, half the army will believe the king has been taken hostage by his own son."
Outside, the first alarm horn began to blow.
