Chapter Twenty-One

Remus checked around yet another servant's room. Most were bare or contained more dust and cobwebs than anything else. With a lantern he'd taken from a ceiling hook, he peered under beds and in chests of drawers. He mostly found spinnys huddling in their webs and mice who ran away in terror.

He found a diary under one bed. The maid had only written a couple of entries, mostly about family stuff. Remus took it even though it was likely useless. Sébastien had said to take anything written even if it looked unimportant at first glance.

The underground halls went quite far and were rather like a maze under the Castle. Remus took a new hall and found more empty rooms, so he didn't check all of the way down. He doubled back and tried to figure out where Sébastien had gotten himself too.

Something crashed, and the Prince shouted. Remus broke into a run, trying to guess where his voice had come from.

"Sébastien!"

He skidded on the floor at the mouth of another hall. A room at the end was brightly lit, and he raced in, expecting to find the Prince hurt.

Sébastien paced one end of the room with a hand covering his eyes, and he didn't appear hurt. "Fuck!"

"What happened?" Remus's heart pounded as he glanced around. A short shelf to one side had been kicked over, and a bunch of knick-knacks were shattered all over the floor. The wine book was open on the desk in the center next to a few sheets of parchment and a jug. Spare aprons hung on a hook, and a bed was in one corner next to a wardrobe.

"I didn't want to believe it!" Sébastien shouted. "I should have known. I didn't mean shit to him. None of us did."

"What are-"

"As soon as Mother died, and he had the opportunity-"

He kicked an empty jug on the floor. His boot sent it into the wall where it shattered, and shards skittered across the boards. He leaned on the opposite wall and thumped his head against it with his face flushed and his eyes squeezed shut.

Remus didn't know what to do besides go across the room and look at the desk. A large chest stood open by it with empty four-litre jugs stacked inside. One had broken. An empty jug sat on the desk, and the label pasted on the front was slightly crooked. Gilt lettering proclaimed it to be from Merry Meadow Winery.

It was called "Worth Stealing" which Remus figured was a joke and a way to proclaim the quality. The wine was supposed to be a sweet blue, and Sébastien had flipped to the last page of the book. The writing stopped halfway down with space for more wine notes.

"Merry Meadow used to be in Glasswood," said Sébastien. "They burned down before our Fathers met here. A terrible accident."

A letter by the book wasn't addressed to anyone or signed. The wine was to be a quiet gift, and when the meeting started, it was to be served since it was light and would go well with an appetizer course. All of the servants were permitted to have a glass because the peace was for all to enjoy.

Another note lay by that.

"Merry Meadows Worth Stealing-a light appetizer to start," Remus read in a mutter. "Save some of the Merry in case the Kings want more, and keep other wines on hand in case King Giorgio isn't partial to it. If all goes well, beg Elira, and the proper meal is served, switch to a deep, dry pink. It'll go well with the shrimp. Don't add too much salt to the sauce because King Jean isn't partial to salty food. Ease up on the spice too since it might upset his digestion, and I doubt the rest of the Soleilians can handle it either. We don't need them to be irritated because they've got achy stomachs. When we have the compote and cake, don't drizzle too much honey on King Giorgio's since he isn't big on sweets."

The writing was rather feminine, and it seemed the Countess had known a couple of things about the rulers. She'd been trying to direct things through the meal since men who've eaten a good dinner to their liking with excellent wine are more likely to be in a better mood.

The meeting was supposed to have started with wine and some light food to pick at. The talk would have been pleasant and polite to give both Kings and their men time to relax. They would have had a toast with nice words.

Provided that everything remained pleasant, the talk would have grown more serious at the High Table with everyone watching and listening. Small courses would have come out. More wine would flow, and hopefully, by dessert, the Kings would have reached agreeable terms.

In the morning, they would have gone over the official terms, created a document, and signed it. If they couldn't agree to anything, they would have parted, and the war would have continued.

They'd never gotten past the appetizer.

Remus's Father had never enjoyed heavy amounts of sugar. "Your Father didn't like salty food? Or spicy? That's all true?"

"Yes." Sébastien stared at the ceiling.

"The Countess might have written it. What's the other one?"

"The note saying it's a quiet gift meant the servants weren't to say anything. They were supposed to think it came from King Jean."

"It's not signed." Had he told the winery to drug it and paid someone to set the place on fire afterward so they'd never speak a word? Except they'd fucked up or perhaps they'd done it on purpose…

"It doesn't matter." Sébastien was still flushed as he approached the desk. "They thought it was a gift given to be pleasant and that the King didn't want to brag about it or appear as though he were showing up King Giorgio who sent nothing ahead. They would have thought that meant he intended to do his best to bring peace and wished to set their mind at ease. He was the enemy, and didn't want to be that anymore."

"But all of the wine was poisoned."

"That's Uncle's handwriting. He sent someone to ensure the wine was made, poisoned with some concoction, and delivered." Sébastien sat and clenched his fist on the desk as Remus's gut twisted. "Neither King was responsible, it wasn't a mistake, and it wasn't a third party from beyond our two countries or a servant. I heard about the winery burning down, and later…I didn't want to believe he'd go so far or that he'd started eyeing the throne so soon. Remere might have won and succeeded in overrunning Rowland…so many variables could have gotten in the way, and Corentin still went for it."

Remere would have been poisoned or assassinated in some form if he'd won victory for Soleil. Perhaps Lord Dubois, who had fought in the war, had already been working with him, and he could have ensured something. Remere never would have had a chance in the long run.

"I thought he truly loved Jean," Sébastien said in a small voice. "Uncle helped with tactics, advising, everything, but he was already plotting. It wasn't only after Jean's death and his becoming Regent when he finally saw the way."

The war hadn't started right after the werewolf incidents. Jean, grieved over the death of his wife and oldest son, had threatened and blamed Rowland. They'd gone at each other over letters. With Giorgio refusing to keep werewolves essentially imprisoned in certain areas, Jean had started planning for real. He'd sent Remere and Sébastien to Finkin to ask for an alliance to up their numbers and possibly ease the path to victory. Finkin had refused, disgusted by Soleil's slavery. With no alliances offered from anywhere else, Jean had still decided to pit Soleil against Rowland.

"I should have known as soon as Mother died, and he realized a war was possibly on the horizon, he'd see a way. Who knows what he told my Father in private to influence him? Uncle knew he'd get everything he wanted-the throne-me-" Sébastien's shaking voice cut off.

Why would Corentin see a way to Sébastien when he would have to wait and play things by ear? If war started, Corentin would have had to focus on getting Jean and Remere out of the way first. Sébastien, being too young to take the throne, would come last and later so it wouldn't look too suspicious. If he'd failed with Jean and the older brothers, Sébastien would have been the least of his worries.

Unless Maxime was wrong, and it hadn't been a lord.

"Sébastien," started Remus. The Prince refused to look at him. "Did Corentin…"

"He knew I liked sweet, pink wine. I thought he was trying to make me feel better the night Mother and Enzo died, and…"

Remus's stomach dropped as he remembered Sébastien's refusal to drink with him. It wasn't because he'd been trying to avoid something that felt too intimate with Remus. He'd been plied with pink wine by his Uncle who'd been the one to abuse him.

Remus had never suspected the Regent. A sick lord? Yes. Not a family member. Not incest. Looking at a young boy in that way was already something Remus couldn't fathom in the first place.

It was beyond revolting. How could a man look at his nephew, the son of his brother, a child, and feel…that?

"He said I must have wanted it because I'd still been getting into his lap at thirteen. I didn't know the little touches in private back then meant anything…I think he'd wanted me for years."

Sébastien had told Uncle, "Sorry you can't perch me in your lap anymore." That was why he'd brought Remus to the Regent's room that day when Corentin had felt like scolding him. Being alone in the Regent's private quarters was too much even if they were living in a different home, and he'd felt so unsafe, he'd brought the person he hated, desperate to have some kind of buffer.

Sébastien had been forced to live with his abuser and see him every single day for years. Remus almost wanted to throw up.

"He dropped me like a damn whore when I was too old for hi-"

Sébastien cut off as something scraped in the hall ahead.