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“No fever’s going to kick my rear that easily,” said Grandma. “Are you still cleaning up at that whorehouse? When are you going to get a real job?”
Grandma was definitely better.
***
Habits from years of scraping by didn’t leave too easily, and when Felix brought in the basket of food, they decided it was all still good to eat. After he brought in the rest of his stuff, he sent off the carriage drivers since they couldn’t hang around for ages until Felix decided he was going home.
He wrote a hasty note and told them to bring it to Rainier. It said Grandma was better, and he’d write again later.
Felix knew he couldn’t keep writing to the Prince forever too, but a few last letters wouldn’t hurt so he would know everything was fine.
Chapter Seventeen
Rainier struggled to focus on the ledger as he sat at the desk two weeks after Felix had gone. The thought of not being able to go riding or even see his Kitten was like a painful ache in his gut that wasn’t from hunger.
He hoped Felix’s Grandma had made it, and he was sure he’d get a note in a few more days. He was either busy helping his family and spending time with them, or they were grieving Grandma’s passing.
The day before, he’d transferred another eight thousand lans from the treasury to Felix’s account just to make doubly sure he and his family would be covered.
This had been temporary, but he hadn’t expected to miss Felix this much. Besides that, he had argued with Mum that morning in her rooms and told her mind her own business. She had argued back that it was high time he got married. Worse, she said the guy she approved of was a strict Christian, and Rainier wouldn't be able to convince him to play dirty games, and he needed to forget such disgusting acts.
He had walked out at that point.
Rainier didn’t care if someone worshiped Elira, the human's God, or a rosebush, but Mum was still trying to find a way to control his sex life even after he got married. He’d skipped lunch, and now, he was sure he’d hear it at dinner.
To top it all off, Baron Regger and his family had dealt with some setbacks on their trip, but they’d be there tomorrow according to a note they'd sent ahead. Rainier would have to act nice and smiley and gently let them down once they tried bringing things around to the main point of their visit. He wasn’t marrying the son, Billy.
He slapped the ledger shut even though he hadn’t finished. He was too tired to deal with more numbers. He put away the ledger and took some parchment from the desk that Mum had left lying around. Another set of drawers to the side held older records that they kept for a year. All of them were divided by date, and he noticed a couple weren’t properly organized.
He pulled them out and thumbed through a few others so he could slide them in where they belonged. She nagged him about putting things in their proper spot, and she couldn’t do it herself.
He paused on one when he noticed something, and he pulled out the sheet to stare at it. Mum had signed and sealed it. Of course, she hadn’t said a word to him and probably never assumed he’d see that.
Rainier threw the rest of the parchment on the floor and took that one piece with him as he marched out of the office.
"I can't fucking believe this."
***
“She sent a notice, and we did what she said!” The guard at the desk held up his hands.
Rainier forced himself to take a deep breath and not yell again. Of course, it wasn’t his fault, and the guard had been doing as told.
“Did Lance say where he was going?” asked Rainier. “Who was on shift when he was released?”
The guard shook his head. “Me, and he said nothing, Your Majesty. He simply took his stuff and left. It’s been nearly a week now, and I’m sure he’s had plenty of time to go wherever.”
“Are you sure he didn’t say one thing?”
“No, I swear, Your Majesty.”
“Gather up three men.”
Rainier almost wanted to pull out his hair. Mum had gone behind his back and entirely freed Lance from his sentence. That bastard could be anywhere by now, and he was sure Lance had been in the room when Felix mentioned that his Mother and Grandma lived in Yorn.
He probably had no idea that Felix had gone home, but he might be waiting around. Either way, Rainier was taking chances with that bastard, and something else had occurred to him.
Lance had a cousin in the city that he'd mentioned before. The relative looked ready to piss his trousers when he opened the door to find the Prince and three armed men standing there.
