Chapter 9 - The Queen's Last Letter
Vautrin finally lost his temper.
"This has gone far enough."
"No," I said. "It went too far sixteen years ago."
Edouard ordered the old letter brought from the royal archive. While we waited, nobody sat.
Elise kept one hand around mine.
Lucien stood near Severin, reading the physician's notes line by line.
When the archivist arrived, he carried a red box sealed with black wax.
Inside was a letter addressed to the king.
Edouard unfolded it.
I recognized Aveline's handwriting immediately.
Or almost.
The curves were right. The pressure was wrong.
The final sentence read: Blanche has betrayed us. Keep Lucien from her at any cost.
"May I?" I asked.
The king handed it over.
I turned the page toward the light.
There, beneath the ink, were faint guide marks.
Someone had traced her handwriting.
"Aveline never ruled paper with pencil," I said. "She hated lines. Said they made words feel imprisoned."
Lucien looked at the letter.
"Can that be proven?"
"Yes."
I removed the brass tube from my sleeve.
Inside was the tiny strip of numbers I had protected for sixteen years.
"Your mother gave me this the night before she died. It is not an account. It is a cipher key."
I placed it beside the forged letter.
"Aveline knew someone had been copying her hand. So she started hiding a second message inside her official letters. Every seventh word, then every third."
Elise leaned closer.
"Decode this one."
I did.
The hidden sentence appeared slowly, one word at a time.
TRUST BLANCHE. ARMAND KNOWS. CHECK THE WIDOWS' FUND.
No one moved.
Armand Vautrin backed away from the table.
King Edouard stared at him.
"Armand?"
Vautrin's face went flat.
Then every door in the throne room slammed shut at once.
May you like
Captain Renard drew his sword.
And pointed it at the king.
