He couldn’t deny any of those things.
Amarande’s unease with her lot grew with each second his fury rose. How could she marry this boy? How was this the best option?
Renard seemed to sense exactly what she was thinking, watching her face with an edge that told her he wished to stop her thoughts in their tracks. He looked to his brother for aid, but Taillefer had nothing to offer. His mother smiled.
They’re all mad.And each one thought her their pawn.
When the crown prince spoke again, it was nothing less than an undignified scream and spit—the edges of his blandness were fraying. “Mother, you mean to undermine me.”
“Renard, if the truth undermines you, then your footing is nothing but quicksand.”
“Leave. Now. Or I shall call the guards.”
The Dowager Queen stood. “That will be most unnecessary.” She turned to Amarande. “Don’t forget what was said here, Princess. Power is sometimes not the kindest lens to reality.” Her eyes skipped to her older son. “And some of us see more clearly than others.”
“Out, Mother,” Renard growled.
The Dowager Queen swept between her two sons, leaving in a very different way than she came.
Renard immediately advanced on Amarande. “Remember, Princess, if you do not marry me, you are dead, and your stableboy will suffer for it.”
Her eyes shifted to Taillefer. “He suffers already. What’s to stop me from taking him now and leaving this place?”
“My men will hunt you down.”
“And my blood will be on their uniforms. You will have no claim to my army, and your mother will gladly feed you to the wolves to retain your crown.” Her eyes shifted again to Taillefer. “Andyouwill be blamed, too. That woman doesn’t want any heir. She’d be better off without either one of you.”
Taillefer didn’t react, and Amarande wasn’t surprised—he wasn’t stupid. He needed his entire family in the ground for any meaningful chance to rule.
Renard’s eyes were ice. He leaned in to her, his voice low and seeming to rumble into her lungs. “I will say this one final time—”
“Your Highness?” a small, feminine voice said from the door. “We have finished with the wedding gown.”
Renard schooled his features and then turned to the maid at the door, who stepped back at the sight of him, his face still furious no matter how hard he worked to hide it. His voice, too, had an edge in it, though he tried very hard to soften it into the bland portrait he liked to project.
“Good. Get her dressed and downstairs within the hour.”
CHAPTER
47
RENARDpulled Taillefer into his study, fury lighting his features again as soon as he shut the door to Princess Amarande, across the way. Candles were lit, the dust gone. The marriage bed was piled in new sheets and linens, white and pristine. On a small aubergine pillow at the table, the crown of Pyrenee, striking gold and newly polished. The maids had lit lilac candles and placed vases of gilded roses around the room, preparing it for what was to come, though the new scents did nothing to mask the musty smell of disuse.
Renard flung himself into a pace. Taillefer settled onto a bearskin-wrapped bench at the foot of the four-poster bed. A painting of their sigil—the mountain lion—hung over the tufted headboard.
“There is too much time,” Renard said. “She is too trained. This wedding will not happen if she decides it will not.”
“Then go sit in there with her now until it’s time to haul her down the aisle. Don’t let go of her hand until you say the words uniting the kingdoms.”
As usual, Taillefer sounded completely unbothered. This greatly annoyed Renard.
“I cannot,” he spat. The crown prince sucked in a deep breath, his lungs seemingly failing to draw in air properly. “Everyone must believe she is here on her own volition. Ardenia may try to void the marriage and the coronation. We cannot give them any more fodder to do so.”
Taillefer picked something off his boot heel. “Having seen that council in action, if they want to void your marriage contract, they will. The princess has nothing to do with that.”
In anger, Renard knocked a vase of roses from a marble-topped table. It went down with a crash and he crunched across the crystal, his pace not slowed. “Where is the stableboy?”
Taillefer smirked. “Where do you think?”
