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“You are to tell me everything so I may make a full report to her.”
He nods, all signs of my lover gone, and naught but a soldier stands before me. “What I dared not say in front of the king was that as we traveled farther west, we continued to find his holdings fully manned. On our return trip, the marches were crowded with Rohan’s troops as well. We were not able to get through unseen and were chased from Ancenis to Baugé before we managed to evade them.”
My next words are carefully chosen. “Will they carry the tale of your presence back to Rohan?”
“No.”
I nod in approval. “Likely no more than a simple defensive maneuver, then. What counsel would you give the queen?”
He scrubs his face with his hand, wincing as it brushes against his swollen eye. “To get word to her councilors so they are not caught unaware.”
“Do you think Duval would be allowed to receive a message from the queen?”
“Possibly not, but we must try.”
The next part is the hardest, but he may have some insight I do not. “I am sorry,” I say softly. “Sorry that I spoke out about your connection to the general, but I could not keep silent in the face of the vile accusations made by the regent.”
“I would rather be imprisoned for defiance than have anyone think me capable of such an act. But now you will have drawn his attention and need to be alert. He is every bit as dangerous as Lord d’Albret was and will poke and prod at us for weaknesses.”
“You do not have to tell me that,” I mutter. “Why is he so set against believing anything you have reported?”
Beast’s entire face hardens, and his heart quickens. “Because he thrives on war and discord and does not care what lives are lost, as long as there is the opportunity for glory and power.”
“But how does that serve the king?”
“The king is only the second most important thing to men like Cassel. The first is his own self-interest or else he would at least have entertained the report. Mayhap he wishes it to come to a head so he can ride into the fray and declare himself the savior.”
“Surely the king would see through such raw self-interest?”
“You saw the way he watched the man. A noxious mix of fascination and admiration, tempered by only a sliver of doubt. That is what makes the general so dangerous—the sheer power of his will pulls others into its path.”
“How will we ever get the king to listen, let alone act?”
“I don’t know that you can” is Beast’s stark reply.
As I consider his words, Gen appears, her eyes wide. “He is coming!” she hisses.
“Who is that?” Beast asks.
“Genevieve. Who is coming?” I ask her. “The guard?”
“No! The general!”
Merde. “We have to go,” I tell Beast as Gen grabs my elbow and begins pulling me away from his cell door.
“In here,” she whispers, tugging me into the cell next to Beast’s. This one does not have a solid wooden door, but iron bars. However, if we press ourselves into the corner and draw the shadows around us, he will not be able to see us unless he has reason to enter the cell. We hide not a moment too soon—the heels of Cassel’s boots echoing off the stone walls. Gen nudges me, then points to the suit of armor against the wall behind us and to the right. Cassel is reflected back in its polished surface.
He is not rushing, but strolling, as if he has all the time in the world. He glances at the small table holding all of Beast’s possessions before continuing to Beast’s cell.
“Prove to me you are who you say you are, else I will believe you are merely some charlatan sent by my enemies.”
Beast’s voice rumbles out of his dark prison. “Have you never looked in a mirror?”
“That merely tells me there is more than one ugly man of exceptional size in France. You have no proof that I was in Brittany as you claim.”
“There were and are a dozen witnesses who heard you boast of your occupation of that holding during the war. It was one of the moves that brought you so quickly to the attention of King Louis.”
“Present your witnesses. Let us see how their stories hold up under my questioning.”
“I’m not interested in proving anything to you.”
“Then I will have no choice but to believe you are making all this up and have been planted by my enemies.” His voice drops. “The queen perhaps.”
“What would you accept as proof?” Beasts wonders. “The great welts and bruises that never faded from my mother’s throat and reminded her daily of how you held her down as you dishonored her?”
Cassel’s heartbeat, which has been steady until now, comes more rapidly. “Would she come to court to make that claim? For if she does, no one will believe her. The fact that she conceived proves that she enjoyed it.”
Of all the lies men have fashioned around women, this is one of the most hateful.
Beast holds no patience for it either. “Some philosophers subscribe to that view, but the real world tells a far different story.”
Cassel puts his hands behind his back and considers Beast. “So my son is the notorious Benebic de Waroch. The man they say can carry an ox in each hand and fight a dozen men at once. This sounds like a son I would be willing to call my own.”
Beast’s heart thuds against his chest so loudly it is all I can do not to cover my ears. “Whatever strengths I have do not come from you,” he growls. “I have acquired most of them myself, while others are gifts from the saint who claimed me at birth.”
“Claimed you?” Cassel snorts. “Who would claim such a child? Did you make an offering to him? A sacrifice on his altar?”
“No. You did when you forced yourself on my mother. I am the result of that offering, and Camulos claims all such offerings as his own.”
“Is that all it took?” Cassel’s voice holds a faint note of interest, as if he is intrigued by the idea of acquiring more such sons. “If you have no desire to prove this to anyone, why claim you’re my son?”
“I would have gone happily to my deathbed never having met you. It was not I who informed the court.”
“No.” The single word is drawn out, thoughtful. “It was not you. What is the girl t
o you?”
“What girl?”
“Do not play the dumb beast with me. The Lady Sybella. She is the one who told the king.”
“She is nothing to me.” I nearly cheer that Beast does not rise to the bait. “One of the queen’s most trusted attendants, serving Her Majesty just as I do.”
“That is a lie. She claimed you were connected to her sisters.”
“That part is true. My sister was married to her father, years ago. I myself learned of it only recently, and it has naught to do with my service to the queen.”
As silence falls between them, General Cassel begins to slowly pace in front of the cell door. “And yet she shared this knowledge with the court. Why is that, I wonder?”
“I have heard she has a great fondness for justice.”
“But how would she come to know of this connection between us?”
“Captain Dunois told her.”
Cassel stops walking. “Did you know Captain Dunois well?”
“We fought together in the Mad War, then served on the queen’s council together. He was one of the most loyal, valiant, and honorable men I have ever known.”
The general’s bark of laughter raises my hackles. “Is that what he told you?”
“It is what I observed with my own eyes.” The ire in Beast’s voice would surely worry a less vainglorious man.
“He turned his back on his liege and threw in his fortunes with the dukes rebelling against the crown. When last I looked, that was the very definition of treason.”
“That is where his honor shines brightest. His liege overstepped, moving without cause to usurp power, lands, and titles legitimately held by others. That he stood against those illegal ambitions when so few others did is a sign of great integrity. Even a king must obey the laws.”
Cassel shrugs. “The king is the law. He can change them at will.”
