Renard was not amused. “He cannot escape?”
“He’s lashed to a table and barely conscious. He’s not travel ready.”
Renard shook his head, voice automatically lowering. “If shecancarry him, shewillcarry him.” He nodded and met Taillefer’s eyes. “I must see him.”
“As you wish, my brother.”
THEtwo sons of Pyrenee entered Taillefer’s workshop in a rush of boot heels across stone, Renard leading the way. They were so loud that there was movement on the table—a surprise and a relief to Renard.
The crown prince kept walking until he bumped into the table, jostling the stableboy. The boy’s eyes opened, slit at first and then wide. Fearful. They were swollen at the edges—he’d been crying, recent and hard.Good.
“Are you here to kill me?” the boy asked, his voice bone-dry.
“No,” Renard spat, taking in the prisoner’s form.
He was lashed to the table as Taillefer had guaranteed, a festering wound longer than a man’s hand running the length of his sternum. Fevered sweat sat heavy across his brow, capillaries broken at his bindings where he’d struggled. He’d already suffered. Again,Good.“I’m here to make sure you’re still in one piece. Has my mother visited you? Or the princess?”
“Amarande? Does she know I’m here?” Ignoring the first question, Luca looked to Taillefer.
The younger prince answered, “She knows nothing, but she isn’t the sort to let that stop her.”
At this, the boy dared to smile. Renard slapped him.
“She won’t be rescuing you. If she hasn’t come yet, she won’t come at all. I will make sure of it.” Renard nodded, almost to himself. He turned to his brother, who fiddled with items of torture on the small pedestal table. “You are ready, are you not?”
Taillefer nodded, tugging on the golden jacket, the cut of it crisp along his shoulders. “I planned to spend an inordinate amount of time perfecting my hair in the mirror before the ceremony, but yes, otherwise, I’m prepared.”
“Your hair is glorious, but no one will be looking at you anyway.”
Taillefer feigned pain and Renard almost rolled his eyes.
“You will stay with the stableboy here—get him dressed and escort him to the wedding. She must see him in the audience. The threat must be clear.”
“Am I not to stand with you at the altar?”
“Yes, fine. I will place him under guard. But you will oversee all of it. As long as this boy and his stupid dimples are alive, my hold over the princess is enough that she will marry me.”
“Of course, Renard.”
“Have him prepared by the time the bells toll again. And if you can do something to make him not nearly as handsome when she sees him, all the better.”
Taillefer smiled and gave a nod.
And then the almost king returned to his castle to retrieve his bride.
CHAPTER
48
THEprince’s footsteps disappeared up the stairs and Luca released a deep breath.
Renard had tried kidnapping and made no qualms about only having him around to keep Amarande in line, but love was something that he couldn’t orchestrate, let alone break.
Luca would win. Love would always win.
And now he’d be in the chapel with his princess. Renard’s paranoia actually played in his favor. Luca couldn’t believe it. If the pirates could be there, too, there was so much they could do. The five of them, they could surely get out of there mostly alive. His princess had rescued him, but now he had the chance to return the favor.
It was enough that he almost smiled again.
