“Don’t worry about the King. He has no illusions about his parents.”
Jakob speaks confidently, and he knows King Anson better than most people, but I still feel a flicker of misgiving. You can know that your parents are flawed human beings, but that doesn’t mean their failings won’t cut you to the core.
“I assure you, little fox,” Jakob says, taking my hand. “There’s nothing in those papers that will come as a surprise to King Anson. He was fed the most terrible stories about his parents growing up as Varga’s captive. He never knew what to believe. It will be a relief for him to untangle the truth from the lies at last. If your concern is for the King, you can put it out of your mind.”
I take a deep breath. “Thank you. I was worried I might upset you, too.”
He strokes my cheek, gazing at me with gentle eyes. “As long as you’re safe and happy, that’s all that matters to me. Tell me what you’ve discovered.”
“All right. I’m still only part of the way through the boxes but this is what I’ve found out. Have you heard about the Charbonneau Bank scandal?” He nods, and I explain how the memos show that the King and Queen helped cover up the fact that their close friend, Jean Charbonneau, was stealing profits and charging illegal fees for a decade. He became staggeringly rich while the country was falling into recession. “There was also the murder of Narcissa Bellay and her children. There’s strong evidence that her husband, Charles Bellay, Queen Penelope’s cousin, killed his family rather than tell them he’d lost their fortune, but the King and Queen put pressure on the coroner to report that it was Narcissa who killed her children, and then took her own life.”
“Damn,” Jakob says hoarsely. “I suspected as much about the banking scandal, but I never heard about the Bellays. What were the King and Queen thinking?”
“Probably that they were being loyal to their friends.”
“That sort of loyalty disgusts me.”
“Yeah. Me too.” I gather the papers up and start stacking them into neat piles. “You don’t think this is going to cause too much trouble when this gets out, do you? I don’t want to be responsible for another revolution.”
“The only alternative is to suppress it. Are you comfortable with that?”
“No. Of course not.”
“The King won’t be either. Don’t underestimate him, little fox. He’ll know how to handle this. He’ll be just fine.”
I hope Jakob’s right. Peace is so tenuous and everyone’s scarred, inside and out. I want Paravel to heal as fast as possible. I want Jakob to heal quickly too, but it’s not only his body that’s in pain. His heart and mind are, too.
I put the papers aside and draw closer to him, wanting to talk to him about something while he’s in a receptive mood. “Jakob, the day that Reynard Desjardins and the Levanter brothers were executed, I think you were involved. Your scar…” I touch the place on his shoulder that’s marred by a bullet wound.
Jakob pinches his brow, his eyes squeezed shut. For a moment, I think he’s going to tell me never to ask him about that, and then he murmurs, “You better get up here.”
“Pardon?”
“On the bed. Come on.”
He puts his arm around me and gathers me closer. I crawl into bed with him, careful of the bandages on his body. Jakob eases his arm around me, wincing in pain.
“Wait, I shouldn’t—”
“I’ll only not hold my woman if I’m dead,” he growls.
I give in and lay down beside him, careful not to let my feet brush against his.
Finally, he murmurs softly, “Go on, then. Ask me.”
“About that day?”
“Yes.”
I hesitate, uncertain this is the right time. “If you’re sure. I’ll understand if you want to wait until you’re stronger.”
“I’m off active duty for the foreseeable future with all these injuries. I may as well deal with the shit in my head now.” He kisses my forehead gently. “You’ve been through a horrible time, too. Let’s deal with all our shit together.”
I smile crookedly at him. “That’s the most husband-like thing you’ve ever said to me.”
He laughs softly, but winces a little, too. “I’m trying. I remember you haven’t technically said yes to being my wife. I’m on my best behavior.”
I think carefully about what I want to know about Jakob’s past and the things he did to serve the King. “It was you who was ordered to rescue the Levanter brothers and Reynard Desjardins from execution, wasn’t it?”
“No. Not ordered. I volunteered. King Anson tried to talk me out of it. It’s the only time I went against him.”
“You couldn’t sit around and watch it happen, could you?”
“I kept seeing poor little Tilly’s face as I told her that her father had been arrested. Matilda, I mean. I’d known her since she was a child. She knew it would mean his death. She couldn’t even cry, poor little wretch.” He squeezes his hand over his eyes. “That was the last time I ended up on my back with too much time to think. Fuck, I hate this.”