“I couldn’t tell my brother about it. He had just been coronated, and I detested our father.”
Grenville cursed his own impotence. If the king who had so vehemently opposed their father found the woman who used to be their father’s lover… Well, he could easily imagine the backlash. So he had to keep the investigation top secret.
It wasn’t until years later, when he was nearly ready to give up on the investigation, that he received word that she had been found. The report stated that she had already passed away and that the year after she returned to her homeland, she bore a son. Based on the timeline, he arrived at the conclusion that the baby was his father’s son—and his younger brother.
“I did not know that she was with child. Had I known, I would have taken much greater care to ensure her safety. All I did was shove a bunch of gold in her hands and sent her as far away from the danger as I could.”
Giles thought this was a heroic effort, one far beyond the capacities of most ten-year-old boys. But he also knew that saying as much would do little to ease the prince’s remorse.
“Poiret had a very hard life after she returned home. They scorned her for cozying up to the enemy,” Grenville said with a heaviness in his voice. The boy had been taken to an orphanage, but Grenville’s investigators inquired at several institutions and couldn’t determine whether the boy had survived. In a continent full of war orphans, it was impossible to locate a single boy when you didn’t know so much as his hair color. “About two years ago, I made a goodwill appearance at an intimate party in a neighboring kingdom, and I was gifted a painting… Yes, it was that Poiret original. It was Gordon who gave it to me.”
The man said his late mother had painted it. His first name and age matched the report Grenville had received about Poiret’s son. His face even resembled hers.
“The only evidence I have of their familial connection is that painting and Gordon’s testimony. But I knew then that he was her son.”
He also sensed that art dealership was in Gordon’s blood. At a later date, he reached out to Gordon, and they began a discreet, exploratory correspondence from there. When Gordon hesitantly shared that he wanted to see the kingdom his mother had visited, Grenville was very pleased.
“I wanted to atone for my sins. Even though I knew it would not bring her back and could not erase the suffering either of them had endured.”
Grenville knew it was inevitable that Gordon would not think highly of the kingdom that had caused him and his mother so much suffering. Still, Grenville yearned to atone for the regret that tormented him.
“As for what happened to Gordon after he came to this kingdom, you boys are already well aware.”
Gordon’s correspondence with the king’s brother and his connection to the royal family had to remain strict secrets. But when he told Grenville that he wanted to open a gallery, Grenville provided the funding. And when Gordon wanted an in with the nobility, Grenville did him the favor of introducing him to Minister Saquille.
“I recognized immediately that he was going to exploit me, but I didn’t care…and at a certain point, I exploited him right back.” Grenville’s lips quirked up in a self-deprecating smile. “Gordon wanted to sow discord. Extreme discord. And when I determined that I could not stop his quest for vengeance, I thought I might use him to quash the warring political factions.”
Despite Grenville’s insistence that he did not want to be king, Minister Saquille seemed hell-bent on finding any crack in the system that would allow him to put Grenville on the throne. He wanted Grenville as his puppet, and Grenville was tired of it. But the king’s younger brother removing Saquille from office and dissolving his faction was guaranteed to cause an uproar among the nobles involved in palace politics, so he decided self-destruction was the wisest strategy. He would see his wish fulfilled by letting himself get caught up in Gordon’s conspiracy.
After a thoughtful pause, Giles muttered, “Is that so.” That explained why Gordon had acted without regard for his own safety and why his goals had seemed so vague: He was under the influence of two people with very different intentions. With this revelation, all the pieces fell into place.
“As much as I hated my father, I am his son,” Grenville said. “I made the mistake of believing this would all serve me well.”
“Uncle, please stop chastising yourself like this,” the crown prince protested.
In the end, as the head of the operation, Minister Saquille, fell from grace. In spite of a brief moment of instability, parliament had settled and was moving in a good direction. In the long term, this could have been the most advantageous political transformation the kingdom had seen in many years.
But…why is he telling us all of this? Giles thought. Knowing about Prince Grenville’s personal circumstances was helpful, but Giles could not see what it had to do with him or what he should do about it.
Richard, apparently, was thinking along the same lines. “I am humbled that you have confided in us, Your Highness. But what is it you wish of us?”
From the way the king’s brother spoke, it was clear he did not intend to let Gordon’s crimes slide. Given that, what did he want from Richard and Giles? If all he wanted to do was open up about the past, then there was nothing further for them to discuss—he needn’t summon them away from the royal ball for the conversation. He could have shared this with them the day before, or after the ball.
A bad feeling washed over Giles.
“Gordon has become obsessed with Clayburn’s daughter,” Grenville said.
“What?!” Giles clenched the armrest of his chair. Prince Grenville averted his gaze uncomfortably and squinted his eyes a little.
“She does not resemble Justine physically in any way, and though I have only briefly spoken with her, I don’t believe their personalities are similar either. Yet somehow, that girl reminds him of his mother. That’s my theory, at least.”
“Prince Grenville, please, what exactly are you trying to say?”
Grenville paused, then said frankly, “I want to arrange a meeting between her and Gordon.”
“But that’s madness!” Giles said. Richard clamped a firm hand on his arm to prevent him from jumping out of his chair.
“Naturally, their visit will be supervised. I’ll have guards watching them, and Gordon will remain shackled. I just… I don’t want Gordon to be dragged down by the past any longer.”
“But why Fio—that is, what does him meeting Miss Clayburn have to do with that?” Giles asked, but even as he said the words, he began to understand. Perhaps, when he met Fiona, someone reminiscent of his mother, Gordon’s mind could be brought to the present, and he could let go of his past.