Chapter 8 - Mother and Daughter
The room seemed to stop when I walked in.
Sixteen years of imagining this moment had never prepared me for the sound Elise made.
Not a word.
A breath.
A broken little sound from the child she had once been.
Then she ran.
I barely had time to open my arms before she hit me hard enough to make us both stumble.
"Mama."
I had not heard that word in her voice since she was five.
I held her face between my hands.
"Look at you."
She laughed and cried at the same time. "You look terrible."
"Sixteen years in a tower will do that."
A few people in the gallery laughed nervously.
Vautrin did not.
"Your Majesty," he snapped, "this woman is an escaped traitor."
I turned.
King Edouard looked older than I remembered. Smaller too.
"Did you sign my arrest order?" I asked.
No bow. No title.
The court gasped.
Edouard's eyes moved to Severin, who had entered behind me.
His face drained of color.
"You were dead."
"You were told I was dead," Severin said.
I placed his medical book on the table.
Then I opened my fist and set Queen Aveline's signet beside it.
The king gripped the edge of his chair.
"Where did you get that?"
"From your wife. The night before she died."
Vautrin moved toward the table.
Lucien blocked him.
"Don't."
For the first time, prince and chancellor looked like enemies.
I faced Edouard again.
"You signed the order. Tell me why."
His voice was almost too quiet to hear.
"I was told you planned to kidnap Lucien and flee the kingdom."
"And you believed it?"
He looked at me.
"I was shown a letter in Aveline's handwriting."
My stomach turned cold.
"What letter?"
May you like
Edouard looked toward Vautrin.
"The one that said Blanche Marceau killed her."
