Chapter 64

I forced myself to my feet. The tailor, after making sure I was upright and unharmed, immediately rushed from the room to retrieve a towel and a servant to clean the mess.

My soggy notes were beginning to fall apart in my hands, to wet to even maintain their paper shape.

“Linda,” I said, going to her.

She scrunched her nose as I came close, as if the very sight of me disgusted her. I was disheveled now, true, with my gown damp in some places and my hair a mess. But even so…

“Can I have those names again?” I asked. I knew she had written them down same as me.

She quickly hid her notepad from my sight. “If you lost those names, then this is on you, Piper. You need to learn to take responsibility.” She narrowed her eyes. “We wouldn’t want anyone to think you had unfair advantage.”

“It’s not like that,” I said.

She continued on, like I hadn’t said anything. “At least half of our table will look good, and the royal family will be able to tell who did which half.”

“That goes against the spirit of the event,” I said. “We’re supposed to work together. Adversaries cooperating, like the Luna is supposed to.”

“I don’t care. You are a hindrance, not an adversary. Surely the royal family will understand that.”

Linda walked by me and out the door. The other girls all shunned me, except for Susie, who gave me a sympathetic wave.

I looked at the fabrics left strewn at the place where we had been, but we’d tried on so many things, I could remember exactly what we had decided upon. I tried to remember what I could.

At the very least, I could guess about Linda’s preferences, after having heard them drilled into my head for an hour. Using that knowledge, maybe I could at least make a compatible half of the table, even if it didn’t match up exactly.

After writing down the fabric and color names I could guesstimate were maybe correct, I rushed down to the kitchen to look through the cookbooks again.

I was there, pouring over the pages, when one of the King’s servants found me.

“You have been summoned to stand in audience with the king,” the servant said.

I swallowed thickly. It wasn’t the servant’s fault that I was maybe about to die. If I ran, however, he’d probably been ordered to chase me. I doubted I would get very far.

So I buried my fear deep down, rose my chin in defiance, and decided to face my inevitable end. I only hoped Nicholas could hear of it and intervene before I was hanged for treason, or some other charge.

The servant led me out of the kitchen and around the winding hallways until we entered the King’s personal chambers.

He was sitting in a chair at the head of a six-person table. When the servant and I approached, he offered me the chair to his left.

“Piper. Sit.” It wasn’t a question.

I immediately sat.

A pair of Joseph’s guards were standing against the wall. The servant who had guided me returned to standing at the door but did not exit.

With the secret out, perhaps the King did not see the need to keep his threats private anymore.

He was quiet for a long moment, simply eyeing me with a stern, joyless expression. When he did finally speak, he did so with a low, too-calm tone.

“Piper, you have gone against my express wishes. Not only have you exposed Nicholas’s sorted dating history, but you have also tarnished the reputation of the nobility.”

I wasn’t entirely sure how Nicholas’s having dated me was directly connected to ruining the reputation of any of the nobility. But, with the anger that seemed to simmer under the King’s surface, I decided not to argue the point.

“Now the public has begun to piece together a timeline of when you dated, and all that has occurred since,” the King continued. “Some are even beginning to question if Nicholas isn’t Elva’s real father.”

I went carefully still. Oh, I was starting to see now, where his anger came from. Dating a commoner was one thing, a mistake that could be easily forgotten, but for a noble and a commoner to share a child was a grave error that usually ended in someone’s untimely demise.

The King leaned forward in the chair. “You understand the importance in this, even if you couldn’t before, yes? You must reveal who the true father is, to clear up this… misunderstanding.”

My thoughts moved in a whirlwind, but I couldn’t think of a lie convincing enough. The truth was, I had no idea who the baby’s father was. I had thought it might be someone in the underground organization, but I couldn’t be sure. And I had no names to even begin searching.

Theoretically, only my sister knew the father of her child. Even then, with everything she had been involved in, I wasn’t sure she could be certain either.

“A royal illegitimate child is a threat to the order of succession. Even if she is not Nicholas’s child, the perception that she is would be enough to cause ruin under those that wish to rebel against us.”

I understood the danger here. The King would protect his bloodline. If I didn’t say the right thing, Elva and I both might perish.

“She’s just a little girl,” I said, fear squeezing my chest. I couldn’t get enough air. “Please don’t hurt her.”

“I will have no need to, if you give me a name. One name, Piper. Who is the father of that child?”

“I…”

What could I say, but the truth? Elva wasn’t mind, but my sister’s. I had no idea who the father was. I hadn’t been part of my sister’s life since years before, and I only came into it after Elva was already born.

Julian had told me not to tell anyone. But surely he would understand, if the only other option to truth was death.

Worse, Elva’s death.

“I…”

I closed my eyes and wished for Nicholas. I didn’t know where he was, but he swore he would protect us. Where was he when I needed him? Why wasn’t he here?

My only comfort was that he might have been protecting Elva. Yes, if he was with Elva, he would keep her safe. It didn’t matter what happened to me.

I opened my eyes, to see the King rise from his chair.

“Now, Piper.” He waved for his guards. “Or did I need to arrange for more substantial questioning. I am trying to be civil. Do not make this difficult.”

“Oh, I see I’m interrupting a party in here,” said Julian, suddenly at the door.

The servant there tried to block his path, but Julian masterfully sidestepped him, then twirled to slip around him.

Julian sauntered casually across the room, not paying much attention to the guards closing in or the King with his hands curled into fists on the table.

“Not now, Julian.”

“I was simply looking for Piper. Oh! There she is.” Spotting me, he came to stand behind my chair, blocking the guards from getting closer. “This wasn’t a very good place for hide and seek.”

He tugged at my arm, forcing me up from the chair.

“Wait one minute.” The King growled, waving a finger. “She’s not going anywhere until I get my answer.”

Julian looked at me, eyes the very picture of innocence. “What’s the question?”

I opened my mouth, but it was the King who answered, bellowing now.

“Who is the father of that child?!”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Julian said, shrugging.

“It is?” I said softly.

He winked at me, then looked at the King.

“Nicholas is Elva’s dad.”