Chapter 6 - What the King Signed
I stared at the signature until the letters blurred.
"No," I said.
Severin did not soften it. "The king signed it the morning after Aveline died."
"He knew?"
"I don't know what Vautrin told him. I only know what I saw."
For sixteen years, I had imagined King Edouard as weak, grieving, manipulated. A man who had lost his wife and never knew what had happened to me.
That fantasy cracked in the crypt.
Above us, the palace bells rang twice.
Mathurin looked toward the tunnel ceiling. "Lockdown. Nobody leaves the palace."
"Good," I said.
Both men looked at me.
I closed Severin's book.
"If Edouard signed the order, then he will answer for it in front of the same people who watched my daughter on that Wheel."
Severin gave a bitter laugh. "You still think kings answer questions?"
"This one will."
We moved north through the crypt.
At the throne room, Elise was buying us time.
I knew because of the bells.
One bell meant arrest.
Two meant a formal royal challenge.
It was an old law Aveline had taught me: if a citizen accused a minister of theft from the crown and presented an exact account number, the king had to hear the accusation before punishment.
Elise had remembered.
We reached a fork in the tunnel.
A young palace servant stood waiting there, holding a lantern.
He looked terrified.
"Madam Marceau?"
"Who are you?"
"Theo. Prince Lucien sent me."
Mathurin raised his knife.
Theo lifted both hands.
"The prince says your daughter has seven minutes before Vautrin produces a written confession with your signature."
I almost laughed.
"My signature?"
Theo nodded.
"He also says the king believes it is real."
I looked at Severin.
Then at the old arrest order.
"Take me to my daughter," I said.
May you like
Theo swallowed.
"There's one problem. Captain Renard is waiting at the only door."
